_Per cent._ Diabetes mellitus 95 Typhoid fever 92 Aortic regurgitation 84 Lobar pneumonia 74 Cerebral tumor 72.8 Tubercular meningitis 72 Gastric cancer 72 Mitral stenosis 69 Brain hemorrhage 67 Aortic stenosis 61 Phthisis, active 59 Miliary tuberculosis 52 Chronic interstitial nephritis 50 Hepatic cirrhosis 39 Acute endocarditis 39 Bronchopneumonia 33 Acute nephritis 16 It must be admitted that Cabot's findings are discouraging. They are not so bad as they would seem, however, at first thought. Death certificates, unfortunately, do not have the significance which they should have. Physicians are well known to be entirely too careless in their preparation and inclined to look upon them merely as legal formalities which cannot readily be avoided. It is furthermore difficult, as every doctor knows, to point to one immediate primary cause of death in every instance. Very often there is a combination of factors concerned and it is possible at practically every autopsy to find lesions not represented in any way whatever in the death certificate. It is unquestionably true that statistics of any kind must be based on information some of which we know to be inaccurate. This should not be used as an argument for discontinuing, absolutely, our search for knowledge. It is merely a reason why our clinical standards should be improved.