suffering, is of less importance than the consideration that their condition may be vastly ameliorated. In one class of districts the mortality of boys below 5 years of age, is 145 in 1,000, in another 48 in 1,000: between the ages of 15 and 55 it varies from 18 to 11, implying a difference of 14 men constantly sick in 1000 living. In the former districts about 36, in the latter, 22 are constantly suffering from disease, and absolutely disabled from labour. If the population of the United Kingdom, and the adjacent islands (28,487,000), were as unhealthy as that of Liverpool and Manchester, 1,937000 would be ill, and 968,500 would die annually; whereas if the whole people enjoyed as good health as the inhabitants of other parts of England, only 1,026,000 would be constantly ill, and only 513,000 would die annually on an average. In the former case, the mean duration of life would be 25 years, in the latter 45 years. Whether it be possible or not to raise the standard of health to the height enjoyed in the healthiest counties, or to one still higher, the importance of the subject recommends it to a careful experimental investigation; because, when the character and causes of our diseases are known, some provision may be made for their alleviation; the extent of the injuries which they inflict upon the public will be determined; and the standard of salubrity, indicating an increase or diminution of physical strength, will afford the best index of the prosperity of the nation, and of the extent to which it is affected by atmospherical, political, or economical influences.

The method pursued in obtaining the following results is unexceptionable, and demonstrates that for the last century the mortality of children in London has constantly been on the decline.

I. Table showing the Births and the Deaths under 5 Years of Age, according to the "London Bills of Mortality," for 100 years, in 5 Periods of 20 Years each; also showing the Number dying under 5 Years out of 100 born.*

The general question of population has already been examined, and requires no further notice; but the deaths at different ages are so closely connected with health and with the great apparent changes in the diseases of this country, that we shall here present a comparative view of the rate of mortality that prevailed in England, Carlisle, Belgium, and Sweden, from an article in the British Medical Almanac for 1836. (See next page.)

Here it appears that the mortality of the whole English population, between the ages of 20 and 40, was higher than in Belgium and Sweden, while the mortality in early life was much lower; and if the Carlisle observations ever approximately represented the mortality of England, the waste of life in the 5 years of infancy has almost dimi

On the Diminution in the Mortality of Infants in England, by T. R. Edmonds, Esq.-Lancet, vol. i. 1835-36.

nished one-half during the last 100 years. Other observations support this probability.

II. Table showing, in each of Thirteen Intervals of Age, the Number of Deaths which occur annually for every 1000 Persons, living at the same Age, in England, Sweden, and Belgium.

In the 20 years, 1730-49, out of 100 born, 74·5 died under the age of 5 years. During the 20 years, 1810-29, only 31 8 died out of the same number. This table is from a paper of Mr. Edmonds, to whose investigations of the English population returns we shall have frequently to refer.

If half the children formerly cut off at an early age in England be now reared, and form part of the adult population; while the annual deaths between 20 and 30, instead of being 7·6, or 9.1, or 8.9 per 1,000, as in Carlisle, Belgium, and Sweden, are 10-1; it will appear that a vast number of weakly children are every year introduced into the English population, and that, unless proper means be taken to fortify the constitution in manhood, the relative vigour will not increase in the same ratio as the population.

Contrary to the Swedish observations, the mortality of females between the ages of 10 and 40, is higher than that of males: it is only in childhood, and after the 50th year, that the mortality of females is lower than that of males.

The extent to which, at five intervals of age, the mortality, and consequently the intensity of disease, differ in the English counties, is exhibited in the subsequent table (III.), calculated by Mr. Edmonds, on the ascertained ages of the living in 1821, and the deaths during the 18 years, 1813-30. The counties are arranged chiefly according to the rate of mortality among females between the ages of 15 and 60 years. Mr. Edmonds conceived that the mortality of males at the same interval of age would not serve as a good index of the healthfulness of a locality, unless we could abstract the detrimental effect of their occupations, leading to fatal accidents or to loss of health. In many counties also, the amount of the military and maritime population

(which was not enumerated) diminishes considerably the value of the apparent mortality of the male sex. (See Table III.)

III. Table showing for each County of England the Annual Deaths which occur for every Hundred Living in each of Five Gradations of Age, the Counties being classified according to the Mortality of Females between the Ages of Fifteen and Sixty Years.

The numbers representing the mortality in thirty-nine counties have been obtained by increasing the registered deaths oneninth part. In the case of Wales, Monmouth, Middlesex, and Surrey, the increase has been one-fourth part. The relative weight of each observation is indicated by the additional column representing in thousands the amount of the female popula tion of each county.

We leave the reader to investigate the causes which increase or diminish mortality in the several counties, and to compare their geological, botanical, meteorological, and economical states, with this table. It will be observed, that the healthiness of each class of counties decreases from Cornwall and Devon, the healthiest in England, to Cambridge, Kent, Surrey, and Middlesex, where the mortality is greatest. A slight diminution of the mortality, varying from 05 to 09 is required, between the ages of 15 to 60, in some of the counties where the maritime and military population was not enumerated, although its deaths are recorded in the parish registers. This correction has been made in Table IV.

Lancet, vol. i. 1835-36. No 12.

VOL. II.

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IV. Table showing, in each of Six Gradations of Age, the Mortality per Cent. of each Sex in each of Eight Classes of English Counties.

Except Cambridge, it will be found that, generally, the counties having the greatest proportion of inhabitants congregated in towns are the most unhealthy. Above 60, the mortality in these counties would have been higher, had the ages of the inhabitants of Birmingham, Bristol, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Manchester, Leeds, and some other large towns, not been omitted, in some unaccountable manner, in the specification made in 1821. Through this omission, and the uncertainty in the parish registry, it is impossible to ascertain the present mortality prevailing in many of our large towns. The population returns do not furnish materials for determining the mortality, except in the six towns subjoined: the absolute mortality in which is stated, on the assumption that the registered deaths are to be increased 20 per cent. in order to obtain the true number of deaths; while, in the whole of England and Wales, the estimated increase was 13.92 per cent. Fortunately the valuable observations collected in Glasgow by the "Committee on Churchyards," comprising an accurate return of the deaths during 15 years (1821-35), and two enumerations of the living, and their ages, come here to our assistance: they have furnished Mr. Edmonds the materials for determining very accurately the mortality in Glasgow during the three last quinquennial periods. The public spirit of the Glasgow town council, and the exertions of Dr. Cleland, in obtaining a second voluntary enumeration of the living, and their ages, in 1831, are as honourable to them, as the omission of the ages in 1831 is discreditable to the persons who directed that census in England and Scotland.

V. Table of the Annual Mortality per Cent. at every Age in Glasgow during the Fifteen Years, 1821-35, compared with the Mortality prevailing during Eighteen Years, 1813-30, in Six large English Towns, viz., York, Norwich, Plymouth, Hull, Portsmouth, Liverpool, and London.

*The apparent mortality of the male sex between 15 and 30, between 30 and 60

By comparing the mortality prevailing in these towns with that of England, it will be seen how much the chances of dying are increased among the mass of people dwelling in cities.

To show what variation has taken place in Glasgow during the last 15 years, the following table was constructed:

VI. Table showing, for each of Three Quinquennial Periods, the Average Annual Deaths which occurred in each Interval of Age, out of 100 Living at the same Interval; also showing the Annual Mortality for the Four last Years, exclusive of the Year of Cholera.*

This table deserves serious attention; it places beyond all doubt the remarkable fact that, "between the ages 30 and 60, the mortality of each sex increased 20 per cent. every 5 years. This is the case after deducting 10 per cent. from the actual average of the 5 years, 1831-35, for the effect of the cholera visitation in 1832. The mortality in 1832, between the ages of 30 and 60, really raised the average 20 per cent." By comparing the two last columns of the table with the third and sixth, it becomes evident that cholera increased the mortality principally between the ages of 20 and 70.

Through the ignorance, not yet wholly dispelled, of the conditions of animal existence prevailing when large towns were built, the social and intellectual advantages which they offered were in part neutralised, and in some instances overbalanced, by their baleful influence upon the health and physical strength of the inhabitants. It is probable that at one time the population of several cities in England was only maintained by immigration; and when large towns were designated "the graves of mankind," experience and calculation sanctioned the appellation. Besides certain vices, and the misery of the poor, in cities, the crowding in close rooms, the collection of putrid effluvia, and the imperfect drainage of excretions and refuse animal or vegetable matter, are the main sources of insalubrity where masses of men are collected. A city on a well-selected site, constructed with a view to the supply of atmospheric air, and the removal of all refuse matter, whether gaseous, and at all ages, has been diminished by 06 in the total, and in classes 1, 2, and 3; it has been diminished by 03 in classes 4, 5, 6, and 7; and by 10 in the eighth class. * Lancet, 1835-36, No. 12. The materials from which these tables have been deduced were communicated to Mr. Edmonds by Henry Paul, Esq., the convener of the Committee on Churchyards in Glasgow; and have been published in the Lancet.