152 



THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. 



[Dec 



The five coldest months are uniformly the most healthy ; the two 

 hottest, not only uniformly unhealthy, but so frightfully destructive 

 that July kills off 247 children out of every 10,000 of all ages 

 living, in addition to the 184 who die in November ; which is as 

 23 to 10, or more than double. This is nearly double the excess 

 of the terrible year of death 1864 over the most healthy of the 

 years 1858. These facts are brought out in fearful contrast in 

 the following table. 



1 7. Comparative Weekly Mortality of each Month, on the 

 average of 1 2 years, 1 8 5 5 - 1 866. 



Deaths of Children. Deaths of Adults. 



Yearly average to 

 1000 of all ages living 



Yearly average to 

 1000 of all ages living 



November 1S.4 January 9.7 



October iQ^iMarch.' 10. o 



December iQ.3JSeptember 10.3 



February 20. 2 February 10. 4 



Deaths of all 



Yearly average to 

 [ooo of all ages living 



ges# Total yearly mortality 

 to 1000 of all ages 

 living. 



January 20.6 



March 21.2 



May 22.5 



April 23.2 



September 25.3 



June 27.1 



August 30.8 



J ul >' 43-i 



July 

 June — 

 August . . 



October 10.5 



November 10.6 



May 10.7 



December 10.8 



April 1 1 . 6 



November 29.0 



October 29.8 



December 30. 1 



January 30. 5 



0.4! February 30.6 



5 March 31.3 



5 May 33-3 



April 34-8 



September 36. 1 



June 37-6 



August 47.5 



July 54-° 



1858. 

 1866. 

 1856. 

 tS57- 

 1S59. 

 1861. 

 1855- 

 1863. 

 1862. 

 i860. 

 1865. 

 1864. 



32.0 

 32-4 

 32-9 

 33-3 

 33-7 

 35-2 

 35-3 

 36.4 

 36.6 

 .36.8 

 ■37-8 

 ■45-3 



Average 24.8 



Excess of July \ 



over Nov . . J 2 4-7 

 Or as one to. . . . 2.3 



Average 



Excess of April 



over Jan.. . . 



Or as one to . . 



Average 35.5 



Excess of July) Q 



over Nov. . . j s " 

 Or as one to ... . 1.9 



Average 35.6 



Excess of 1864 ) 



over 1858 ) Ij " 3 



Or as one to 1.4 



But this is not all the contrast. It is rendered even more 

 marked by comparing not the months but the weeks of greatest 

 and least mortality. This is done for each year in table 18. It 

 will be noticed that the maximum is uniformly in July or the 

 first week in August. The minimum is always in one of the cold 

 months ; or at least, as shown in the notes, a cold week appears 

 with nearly as low a rate. There is one distinct exception for the 

 minimum of 1866, which appears in June : for this there is a clear 

 reason, which will presently be shown to add a striking confirma- 

 tion to the general rule. In the year of mother's woe, 1864, there 

 is an excess in July of 101 deaths over the 44 of October ; which 

 is the same as adding 51 per 1000 to the death rate of the city. 

 In the cholera year, the deaths rose from 33 to 281 ; which last, 

 if continued, would have added 195 per 1000 to the death rate of 

 the city. — a mortality which only admits of parallel with the plague 

 years- of London before the fire. In this table, the extremes are of 

 total mortality ; as we have seen but little change in that of adults, 

 there is no doubt that if the maxima and minima of children's 



