[An introduction into statistics on the causes of death]

The doctor has an obvious tendency to underestimate the medical value of statistics on mortality and the causes of death. He often holds the view that the share of the doctor in the notification of a death is only related to the necessity of obeying the law on the legal status of the individual. This point of view is entirely comprehensible. The doctor has been brought up to look solely at the individual's destiny as it is affected by disease. But disease is also a mass phenomenon: under similar circumstances it affects many individuals at the same time. The statistics of morbidity and mortality bring into relief factors that work together in the genesis of disease. It is true that sources of error often make the real meaning of statistics difficult to grasp. It requires special experience to avoid wrong conclusions. Nevertheless, for those who know how to make critical use of them, the statistics of mortality and the causes of death are an important store of general and social medical knowledge. The subject deserves more scientific attention than has been the case so far.