334 On some Curiosities and Statistics of Parish Registers. 



Of the duration of life in the parish we get perhaps an approximate 

 idea from the fact that the average age of recorded deaths is thirty- 

 seven years^ three hundred and forty-six days. The lowest average 

 is in the first decade, viz., from 1813 (before which year age was not 

 registered) to ] 823, when it amounts to thirty-two years, fifty days. 

 And the highest average occurs in the last decade, from 1863 to 

 1873, when it rises to forty-four years, one hundred and fifty-four 

 days. But the trustworthiness of the earlier at least of these records 

 is probably aflPected by two causes, one that when there was no 

 resident clergyman some children may have died unbaptized, and 

 their interments consequently not been recorded. And another 

 possible source of error might be the uncertainty of poor people 

 generally as to their exact ages, and their well-known tendency 

 when very old to imagine themselves yet more so than they really 

 are. I find however no remarkable instances of longevity on record 

 at Cherhill. Eighty-nine, which occurs three times, is the highest 

 figure. The healthiness of our high Wiltshire downs is however I 

 think strongly attested by the fact that the two ages between which 

 most deaths appear to have occurred at Cherhill are under two years, 

 and between seventy and eighty years. An analysis of the whole 

 record gives the following figures : — 



Between 1 and 2 years old the deaths were 16.4 per cent. 



„ „ 15. J „ 



„ „ 12.6 „ 



10.7 „ 



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4 



With regard to the seasons in the year least favourable to human 

 life, it will I think surprize some persons to hear that the month in 

 which I find the smallest number of funerals recorded is " chill 

 October/' while that which shews the highest figure (with the 



