During 1917, the deaths of 2,300 physicians in the United States and Canada were noted in The Journal. On an estimate of 160,000 physicians, this is equivalent to an annual death rate of 14.37 per thousand. For the fifteen previous years the mortality rates were: 1916, 14.08; 1915, 15.71; 1914, 14.41; 1913, 14.64; 1912, 14.13; 1911, 15.32; 1910, 16.96; 1909, 16.26; 1908, 17.39; 1907, 16.01; 1906, 17.20; 1905, 16.36; 1904, 17.14; 1903, 13.73, and 1902, 14.74. The average annual mortality for the period from 1902 to 1917, inclusive, was, therefore, 15.53 per thousand.
Ages.
—Of the decedents, 55 were between the ages of 21 and 30; 178 between the ages of 31 and 40; 367 between 41 and 50; 449 between 51 and 60; 503 between 61 and 70; 431 between 71 and 80; 170 between 81 and 90, and 27 between 91 and 100. The greatest mortality occurred at