Before ascribing marked benefits to anyecific therapeutic measure in inlet fever, it is wise to ascertain the reaction of the untreated person, and the death and complication rate in this type of case. It is wise, also, to try to analyze the causes of death, for perhaps these causes may be so overwhelming that no therapeutic measure would be of any value.
In table 1 we 1ll attention to the morbidity and mortality rates of scarlet fever as compared with those of diphtheria since the year 1912 in the city of Cleveland. It will be noticed that, comparably, the morbmor-dbidityates of diphtheria remain a fairly consistent figure (table 1).
Abetter idea can be gained by a comparison of the death rates of scarlet fever and diphtheria per 100,000 estimated population according to the United States Mortality Statistics of 1922. The figures for the years 1913 to 1922, inclusive, show a