- Apoplexy - stroke, cerebral vascular accident
- Brain fever - meningitis
- Bright's Disease - chronic nephritis (kidney disease)
- Cholera Infantum - At the start of the 20th century, when high standards of hygiene and sanitation weren't as widespread as today, parents often found their babies suffering from a frightening illness called "cholera infantum". It struck suddenly, causing severe diarrhea and vomiting. Of the 20 percent of children who died before age 4 in those days, some died from this baby cholera. Parents and doctors had little success in treating it other than by letting it run its course and hoping for the best. Researchers would later learn that cholera infantum was caused by a bacterial infection, treatable with antibiotics.
- Confinement - Child birth
- Congestion of the brain - A vague term, that could describe almost all brain problems; in younger people, it may have meant meningitis and in older people, possibly a stroke
- Consumption - A wasting away of the body, especially from pulmonary tuberculosis
- Croup - A hoarse croaking cough associated with swelling of the larynx and trachea and bronchi in infants. Occurs in epidemics usually in autumn and is now known to be usually caused by a virus
- Debility - general weakness, loss of strength
- Delirium Tremens - Confusion, restlessness, terror and hallucinations due to alcoholism especially during withdrawal
- Dropsy - An old term for the swelling of soft tissues due to the accumulation of excess water; edema quite often caused by congestive heart failure.
- Dropsy of the brain - encephalitis
- Dysentery - inflammation of the intestines (especially of the colon) with evacuation of blood and mucus. It often ked to extreme dehydration and death.
- Erysipelas - Usually be a contagious skin disease, due to bacterial (streptococcal) infection in the skin and subcutaneous tissues. Sometimes fatal.
- Fits - convulsions; epilepsy
- Gravel - kidney stones
- Inanition - failure to thrive, lack of nutrition
- Intermittent fever - fever alternating with normal temperature; usually malaria
- Intussusception - Where one part of the bowel telescopes into the next piece of bowel causing a blockage
- Lung fever - Usually pneumonia or tuberculosis
- Palsy - Often meant a stroke, but the correct usage is paralysis or difficulty with muscle control
- Paralysis - Generally means a stroke
- Phthisis [ty'sis] - A wasting disease but almost invariably will mean pulmonary tuberculosis. Any debilitating lung or throat affections; a severe cough; asthma.
- Phthisis Pneumonalis - Pulmonary tuberculosis,
- Puerperal Fever - Infection after childbirth due to poor midwifery techniques especially antiseptic measures. Infection entered through injuries to the birth canal leading to septicemia and often death occured within 3 weeks of childbirth
- Scarlatina - A sore throat with a rash that resembles scarlet fever but is less severe
- Scarlet Fever - Acute and potentially fatal infectious fever with rash caused by hemolytic streptococcus infection in the throat.
- Scrofula - Tuberculosis of the lymphatic glands, especially those in the neck. A disease of children and young adults
- Spotted fever - typhus
- Thrush - Off-white spots and ulcers occur on the mucous membranes of the mouth, tongue and other body parts. In the past would usually affect those debilitated by disease or extremes of age
- Typhoid Fever - Typhoid is infectious fever that causes severe diarrhea. If untreated, can cause death. Spread by contaminated food or water with human feces either directly by sewage or indirectly by flies
Links to mortality schedules on this site.
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