CAUSE OF DEATH AS A HISTORICAL PROBLEM

This article is primarily intended to summarize, from the point of vie w of medical historians, the multiple problems surrounding interpretat ions of historical demographic and epidemiological data and to point o ut the contextual nature of such information. Given the interest in th e charting of long-term trends in causes of death taken from historica l frameworks of disease interpretation and causality, there is an urge nt need to contextualize carefully the available records and place the m within religious, cultural, political, economic, and medical schemes . Stripped of such contexts, the understanding of causes of death beco mes almost meaningless, and statistical analyses distorted. This artic le therefore identifies issues which historical demographers need to c onsider when studying causes of death.