Value of Human Life in Canada. 



179 



Montreal was not the only city which was scourged by cholera. 

 Vaudreuil and Lachine, in its immediate vicinity, shared the 

 plague; but with how different results the following table will 

 show. 



Several causes may be assigned for the frightful amount of mor- 

 tality which the stern facts of the burial registers assign to the city 

 of Montreal. The first of these is emigration. The emigrants 

 are said to be a peculiarly unhealthy race of people, landed on 

 the shore only in time to die. If that were the cause, we ought 

 to find the mortality of Quebec greater than Montreal, as the 

 poorest and most sickly are unable to proceed further ; whereas 

 Quebec only loses 25 to 34 who perish at Montreal. Moreover, 

 the earlier years, when the emigrants were most numerous, were 

 far more healthy than the later ones, when emigration has con- 

 siderably slackened, and when those who arrive are much better 

 cared for. The principal way in which the emigrants affect the 

 returns is by increasing the population. This will probably lessen 

 the average of later years; to what extent the coming census only 

 can decide. It is the custom in each city to state loosely the sup- 

 posed number of its inhabitants; I have not been able, however, 

 to find any accurate returns beyond those given above. The tide 

 of emigration affected Toronto fully as much as Montreal ; yet its 

 mortality is considerably less than half that of its older sister. 

 As an offset to the increase of population, it may be necessary to 

 say, that, in each year but one, several of the religious bodies sent 

 in no returns (on the average, 6 each year). It is presumed, 

 however, that the number of deaths thus unregistered is but small. 



