1866.] CARPENTER — ON VITAL STATISTICS. 143 



actually interred, there can be no mistake. That the name, age, 

 and other circumstances attending the death of a citizen should be 

 actually entered in the register, without that person actually hav- 

 ing died, cannot be believed. Citizens may have died, and been 

 interred elsewhere ; they may have been interred at the cemeteries, 

 and by bare possibility an entry not have been made ; the returns 

 may not therefore be complete, but they cannot be gainsaid so far 

 as they go. That such and such numbers of persons were interred 

 at Cote des Neiges and at Mount Royal Cemeteries on such and 

 such dates, is recorded in black and white, and forms a record of 

 human life prematurely cut off, truly fearful to contemplate. 



It is no doubt true that several interments are made of country 

 residents : but the suburban districts are not populous enough 

 materially to affect the averages ; and the number of countrymen 

 buried from them is probably balanced by citizens who die or are 

 interred elsewhere. The census returns of population may indeed 

 be incorrect ; and therefore the assumed yearly increase, and the 

 actual rate of mortality per thousand. But there are three classes 

 of facts which are not affected by these chances of error, and 

 which are of the highest importance; viz.: 1. the comparative 

 mortality from one year to another ; 2. the comparative mortality 

 at different seasons of the year ; and 3. the comparative mortality 

 of children and adults. 



In accordance with a Municipal Bye-Law, weekly returns are 

 tabulated, at the office of the fcity Clerk, of all interments in the 

 burial grounds of the City of Montreal. They are compiled from 

 sheets sent from the "Catholic Cemetery;" and from the " Pro- 

 testant Vaults or Burial-ground." The latter is said to include 

 all interments made elsewhere than in the Cote des Neiges Ceme- 

 tery. These sheets are ruled to contain the 



No. 



Name. Date of Decease. 



Males. 

 Children. \ Married Men. \ Widowers. 



Bachelors. 



Females. 

 Children. \ Married Women. \ Widows. | Unmarried Women. 



Age. I Place of Residence. I Country. \ Disease 

 Years. \ Months. \ Days. \ Street. \ Ward. 1 ' 



The last two columns, in the Catholic sheet examined as a 

 specimen, and even the previous ones of place of residence, are 

 imperfectly filled up. With more care in the registration, and 

 with accurate tabulation extending over a series of years, these 

 sheets might afford materials for fixing the special localities of 



