154 



THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. 



[Dec. 



That is, three out of every seven children born in Montreal, die 

 before they are one year old ! ! Or, out of every 7 children under 

 five years of age, living at the beginning of the year, one (on the 

 average) will die before its close. Or, out of every 13 children? 

 of all ages under 12, living in the city, on the average one will die 

 during the year. It appears from the census returns, that even 

 of the children living on the Island outside the city limits, or in 

 any country district from Soulanges to Gaspe, out of every group 

 of 27 one must expect to lose his life within the year ; but if those 

 children had been taken to live in Montreal in 1864, two out of 19 

 would have been seized by the destroyer ; even if they had lived 

 amongst us last year, when children had a better chance of life 

 than ever before, death would have seized one in every fifteen. 

 Should these children spend July with their friends in the city, 

 for twelve consecutive years, they must expect to follow to the 

 cemetery twice that number of their companions. 



Lastly let us compare the slaughter of the innocents in Montreal 

 with their condition in different parts of England. Table 20 com- 

 pares the deaths of children of different ages with the total deaths 

 at all ages during the same year. 



20. Death-rate of Children living in Montreal and in 

 England, compared with every iooo deaths at all ages. 



Deaths 



under i 



year. 



Deaths 



under 5 



years. 



Deaths 



under 12 



years. 



North Lancashire. 



All England 



London 



Liverpool 



Montreal 



174-3 

 214-5 

 190.3 

 256.9 

 501. 1 



318.7 

 391.0 

 404.2 

 482.6 

 670.3 



377-3 

 447-4 

 453-4 

 528.6 

 703.2 



Excess of Montreal over Liverpool. , 



Do do North Lancashire. 



244.2 

 326.8 



187.7 



35i-6 



174.6 

 325-9 



The London death-rate of children is below the average, because 

 of the large immigration of adults. There is perhaps a 

 proportionate immigration into Montreal, for similar reasons. 

 Liverpool is a commercial city, like our own with great natural 

 advantages, but cursed with a neglect of the sanitary laws. It is 

 cursed also by drink and by debauchery, to a greater extent than 

 any other town in England. Being the most criminal as well as 

 the most unhealthy city in the island, it is called the Plague-spot 

 on the Mersey. Yet the plague-spot on the St. Lawrence is nearly 

 twice as fatal, in the first year of being, as the polluted queen of 



