142 



THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. 



[Dec. 



5. Eight Adjacent Counties: Returns of Baptisms and 

 Funeral Services. 



Year. 



i359 



i860 



1861 



1862 



1863 



1864 



1865 



Average of 7 years 



Do. Montreal 



Balance for the city, + and 



Supposed 

 Population 



98,160 

 101,977 



105.794 

 109,611 

 113,428 

 117,245 

 121,062 



109,611 

 93,5S3 



Births. 



4,087 

 4>°i3 

 3.935 



3,882 

 3,395 

 3,712 

 3,943 



3,923 

 4,545 



+ 62 



Deaths. 



1,881 

 1,787 

 1,799 

 2,020 

 1,823 

 2,019 

 2,045 



1,911 

 3,39o 



+ i,479 



Excess 

 of Births 



over 

 Deaths. 



+2,206 

 +2,226 

 +2,136 

 +1,862 

 +2,072 

 + 1,693 

 + 1,898 



-T2,OI2 



+1,155 



- 857 



Deaths 



per 



1,000 



living. 



19. 1 

 17-5 

 17.0 

 18.4 

 16.0 

 17. 1 

 16.9 



17.4 

 36.2 



Deaths 

 >er 100 

 Births. 



+ 26 



It appears, therefore, that although the average population of 

 Montreal is more than sixteen thousand less than that of the eight 

 counties, (making a difference greater than the whole population 

 of Vercheres,) it furnishes yearly 1479 more deaths, being at the 

 rate of 188 additional yearly deaths among each myriad of the 

 living population, which is more than double the country rate of 

 dying. 



It is found to be a standard fact in sanitary statistics, that, by 

 a compensating power in nature, extra deaths are accompanied by 

 extra births, so that if a city has above the normal number of 

 births in proportion to the population, it will be found to have 

 also an abnormal number of deaths. We find therefore that, for 

 the smaller population of Montreal, there is yet a yearly excess of 

 622 births ; yet in spite of this, there is a yearly loss to the city, 

 on comparing the balance of births and deaths with that of the 

 country, amounting to 857 souls, or 26 extra deaths out of every 

 hundred births. Such is the contrast presented, not by a single 

 year, as in the census returns, but by the average of seven years, 

 between the city and the country, both having the same climatal 

 conditions, and the balance of comforts and the means of living 

 being decidedly in favour of Montreal. 



C. Interments at the Cemeteries. 



We have been obliged to express doubts as to the accuracy 

 of the previous returns. Those of the census, even if correct, 

 apply to one year only. Those of the clergy apply only to 

 religious services ; and among them may be some which are not 

 accurately registered. But of the graves dug, and the coffins 



