376 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



VITAL STATISTICS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



According to the report of the British Register General for 1859, it is esti- 

 mated that the population of great Britain, England, Ireland, Scotland, 

 and Wales, in the middle of 1858, was 22,626,334, and the excess of 

 births over deaths in the year was 246,488. The number of children born 

 alive was 959,676; 351,346 persons were married, and 513, 188 died; so that 

 on an average upon every day in the year 2080 children were born, 962 per- 

 sons manned, and 1405 died, leaving a gain of 675 as the result of the day. 

 Rather more than twice as many are born in a year as are married. To 1000 

 persons living in the two countries, the births in the year were 34 in Great 

 Britain, 27 in France, a very striking difference. The deaths, 23 in Great 

 Britain, 24 in France. Persons married, 15.5 in Great Britain, 16.9 in France, 

 a very near equality. 



In England and Wales, to every 1000 girls, 1045 boys were born, and 102 

 males died to every 100 females; but there are more females than males liv- 

 ing in England, and out of equal numbers living, 105 males died to every 

 100 females, the average in twenty-one years being 107. The births are 

 always most numerous in the first half of the year. There were 43,305 chil- 

 dren born out of wedlock in the year, or one in every fifteen of all the chil- 

 dren born alive. The proportion of boys among the illegitimate births is 

 larger than among the legitimate by about 2 in every 100. The marriages 

 of minors increase. The proportion of minors in 10,000 persons marrying 

 increased from 885 in 1843 to 1212 in 1858. The marriages in 1858 were less 

 than the average. The mortality was high. The number of merchant sea- 

 men at sea is calculated at 177,832, and 3486 deaths at sea among this class 

 are reported for the year. 



STATISTICS OF SUICIDE. 



A work on suicide, recently published by a Frenchman, M. Lisle, states 

 that in France, from 1836 to 1852, inclusive, there were 52,126 suicides, or a 

 mean of 3066 a year. Before 1836 the proportion was 1 suicide to every 

 17,693 inhabitants. In 1836 it was 1 for 14,207, and in 1852 it had risen to 1 

 for 9340. In 1838 and 1839 England had 1 suicide for every 15,900 inhabit- 

 ants; France 1 for every 12,480. Between London and Paris, for the same 

 years, the difference is yet more remarkable, the figures being, for London, 1 

 in 8250, and for Paris 1 in 2221. The north of France is the most prolific in 

 sttieides ; nearly half of the whole number belongs to the north, which has 

 increased its own ratio by one-third. The north has 1 in 6483, the east 1 in 

 13,855, the south 1 in 20,457. The department of the Seine, which includes 

 Paris, has risen with frightful rapidity; but Paris and Marseilles, and all 

 large centres, are the foci of suicides to a very striking extent. Russia stands 

 the lowest of European states in the scale, her suicides being only 1 in 

 49,182, while Prussia has 1 in 14,404, Austria 1 in 20,900, New York 1 in 

 7797, Boston 1 in 12,500, Baltimore 1 in 13,650, and Philadelphia 1 in 11,873. 

 The author maintains that suicide is not always a sign of mental alienation, 

 but, like every other human movement, obeys fixed laws, and that hence, 

 year by year, it can be confidently predicted how many out of a certain 

 population will commit suicide. The opinion is expressed that climate has 

 little to do with the matter, and the author says that in latitude from forty- 

 two degrees to fifty-four degrees the proportion is 1 in 38,882; from iifty- 



