DURATION ofr HUMAN LIFE. 39 
there were, to 100 births, 114+. deaths—That city is 
fuppofed to contain about 33,000 inhabitants. And at 
Breflaw, which contains about as many inhabitants as 
Philadelphia, the births are to'the deaths (taking the me- 
dium of two ftatements) as roo births to 119{ deaths. 
The proportions of births to deaths vary, in different coun- 
tries; and, in large towns, the proportion of the latter is al- 
ways higher than in country places, ceteris paribus. But, 
taking the principal countries of Europe, ex.gros, the births 
do nat exceed the deaths in any great degree—I have fub- 
joined a feale of thefe proportions, for feveral cities and: 
countries, not enumerated in the foregoing ftatements. 
The births (eftimated from the chriffenings) in Phila- 
delphia, in the year 1788, were 15833 and the burials, 
exclufive of negroes, amounted to 872s "The number.of 
negro births for this city, as appears by the bills for the. 
years 1789 and 1790, average.144 per annum. Suppof 
ing one-third of this number to be included in the chriftens 
ings, forty-eight muft be deducted from the lift of births. 
This will give 1536 births, to-872: deaths, for the year 
1788 :—and, taking the average proportion of births to 
deaths, for four years, it gives to 100 births, 5G: deaths. 
The average number of deaths, among al// the white in- 
habitants of this city, for the three laf years, is Q24 per 
annum. The proportion of births to deaths, in the Ger- 
man Lutheran congregation of this city, which compre- 
hends about one-fifth of all the white inhabitants, is, on 
an average of* fixteen years; as one’ hundred births to 
forty-five deaths: and therefore, taking the medium of | 
this: proportion and that above ftated, it gives to 100 births, 
50: deaths. The bills, for the white inhabitants in this 
city, for 1789 and 1790, give the proportion as only roo 
births to. 49,24, deaths; and, as thefe bills-are the mo? 
full: 
* The Rev: Dr. Helmuth, reétor of the German Lutheran church, in Philadelphia, -was fo 
obliging as to furnidh me with thele-lifts, 
