Phosphorus poisoning by matches will, however, shortly become very rare, for those containing the ordinary variety of phosphorus are gradually being superseded by matches of excellent quality, which contain no phosphorus whatever. § 276. =Statistics.=--The following table gives the deaths for ten years from phosphorus poisoning in England and Wales:-- DEATHS FROM PHOSPHORUS IN ENGLAND AND WALES DURING THE TEN YEARS ENDING 1892. ACCIDENT OR NEGLIGENCE. Ages, 1-5 5-15 15-25 25-65 65 and Total above Males, 11 1 2 8 ... 22 Females, 15 2 11 5 ... 33 ------------------------------------------- Totals, 26 3 13 13 ... 55 ------------------------------------------- SUICIDE. Ages, 5-15 15-25 25-65 65 and Total above Males, 1 6 20 1 28 Females, 6 33 24 1 64 ------------------------------------- Totals, 7 39 44 2 92 ------------------------------------- Phosphorus as a cause of death through accident or negligence occupies the eighth place among poisons, and as a cause of suicide the ninth. A far greater number of cases of poisoning by phosphorus occur yearly in France and Germany than in England. Phosphorus may be considered as the favourite poison which the common people on the Continent employ for the purpose of self-destruction. It is an agent within the reach of anyone who has 2 sous in his pocket, wherewith to buy a box of matches, but to the educated and those who know the horrible and prolonged torture ensuing from a toxic dose of phosphorus, such a means of exit from life will never be favoured. Otto Schraube[277] has collected 92 cases from Meischner’s work,[278] and added 16 which had come under his own observation, giving in all 108 cases. Seventy-one (or 65 per cent.) of these were suicidal--of the suicides 24 were males, 47 females (12 of the latter being prostitutes); 21 of the cases were those of murder, 11 were accidental, and in 3 the cause was not ascertained. The number of cases in successive years, and the kind of poison used, is given as follows:-- [277] Schmidt’s _Jahrbuch der ger. Med._, 1867, Bd. 186, S. 209-248. [278] _Die acute Phosphorose und einige Reflexionen über die acute gelbe Leberatrophie, &c., Inaug. Diss._, Leipzig, 1864. Phosphorus in Phosphorus Number of Cases. In the Years Substance, Matches. or as Paste.