How far can the general death-rate for all ages be relied upon as a comparative index of the health or sanitary condition of any community ?

Indices to the state of health or sanitary condition of a community are of the utmost importance to all, and especially so to those who are responsible for local sanitary provisions; and hence it is often asked, how far is the general death-rate of any year to be relied upon as a test of either the health or sanitary condition of any place or country ? I shall this evening try to demonstrate that the general death-rate of any one place, though in itself due to a combination of many complex causes, may, nevertheless, be used as a fairly reliable local index to health and sanitary condition, although a most faulty index as regards the comparative health or the sanitary condition of different localities.