6o2 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



The statistics disclose the very gratify- 

 ing fact that in ten years the general 

 death rate has decreased from 19.6 per 

 thousand to 17.8. This remarkable de- 

 crease is in the cities, where the rate 

 has fallen from 21 in 1890 to 18.6 last 

 year. The rate in the country has been 

 about stationary, having been 15.3 in 

 1890 and 15.4 in 1900. This extraordi- 

 nary decrease in the death rate of 

 cities has been due chiefly to improved 

 hygienic conditions. In the country a 

 corresponding gain has not occurred. 

 We may perhaps look for it in the 

 course of the next ten years, though 

 there is of course less room for im- 

 provement. New York City has one of 

 the best records of progress, its death 

 rate having decreased in ten years 

 from 25.3 to 20.4, making the city in 

 spite of its crowded tenement districts 

 as healthful as Boston and decidedly 

 more healthful than Philadelphia, in 

 which city the death rate has re- 

 mained practically stationary. But 

 there is room for further progress in 

 our eastern cities. Chicago has a death 

 rate of only 16.2, and nearly all the 

 cities of the northern and central 

 States have a low death rate, Minne- 

 apolis and St. Paul, for example, hav- 

 ing the incredibly low rates of 10.8 and 

 9.7, respectively. The most unfavor- 

 able conditions are in the south, the 

 death rate of New Orleans, for example, 

 being 28.9, an increase since 1890; and 

 that of Charleston, 37.5. about the same 

 as ten years ago. Almost as interest- 

 ing as the decrease in the death rate 

 is the decrease due to certain special 

 diseases. The following table deserves 

 to be quoted in full. It shows the 

 death rate due to certain diseases per 

 hundred thousand of population in the 

 registration area in 1900 and 1890 

 together with the increase or decrease 

 in the- rate. 



This table shows that consumption 

 is no longer the most fatal of diseases, 

 pneumonia having taken its place. 

 Deaths from consumption have de- 

 creased over 20 per cent., while a 



Causes. 



Consumption 



Debility, atrophy 



Diphtheria 



Cholera infantum 



Bronchitis 



Convulsions 



Diarrhceal diseases... 



Croup... 



Typhoid fever 



Dis. of the brain 



Malarial fever .... 



Unknown cause.. 



Inflammation of 

 the brain and 

 meningitis 



Hydrocephalus ... 



Dropsy 



Whooping cough. 



Paralysis 



Scarlet fever 



Septicaemia , 



Diabetes , 



Pneumonia 



Premature birth 



Old Age 



Cancer 



Heart disease 



Apoplexy 



Influenza 



Dis. of the kidney. 



Q 



54.9 

 43.1 

 .34.7 

 31.9 

 26.1 



23.2 

 19.0 

 17.8 

 12.5 

 12.3 



10.4 



7.8 



7.3 

 4.4 

 3.4 



3.1 

 2.7 

 2.1 



greater relative decrease is recorded in 

 the case of diphtheria and other 

 diseases. The diseases that show an 

 increase are chiefly those incident to 

 advanced age, death from old age itself 

 showing an increase of 20 per cent. 



ARCTIC EXPLORATION. 

 The steamship Erik has returned, 

 bringing welcome news of Lieutenant 

 Peary. It appears that he has suc- 

 ceeded in rounding the limit of the 

 Greenland Archipelago, probably the 

 most northern land, and has reached 

 the highest altitude yet attained in the 

 western hemisphere (83° 50'). Mr. 

 Robert Stein and Mr. Samuel Warm- 

 bath were picked up by the Windward, 

 but there is no news regarding Captain 

 Sverdrup. During the present autumn 

 Lieutenant Peary expects to make ex- 

 plorations and in the spring of next 

 year again to make the attempt to pro- 



