142 REPORT— 1842. 



difference in the amount of annual marriages in Perth and in Dundee, would 

 be of moment. These two towns are situated within twenty miles of each 

 other, with every facility of intercourse by coach and by steam-boat. 



A large proportion of the inhabitants of Perth are in easy and comfortable 

 circumstances ; and it will be observed, that the average annual amount of 

 marriages in that city for the last five years is 1 to 159*72, while in Dundee, 

 where there is a large proportion of poor and destitute people, as appears 

 from the great proportion of burials at the public expense, the average an- 

 nual amount of marriages for the last five years, to the mean population, is 

 asl to 111-42! 



In Edinburgh, exclusive of Leith, the average annual amount of marriages 

 for the last three years, to the mean population, is as 1 to 136*39, while in 

 Leith, with numerous poor, they are as 1 to 110*06 to the mean population of 

 these years. In Glasgow and suburbs, where a very large proportion of the 

 inhabitants is in destitute circumstances, arising from the influx of labour being 

 greater than the demand, and from other causes, the average annual amount 

 of marriages, to the mean population, for the last five years, is as 1 to 120*29. 



And in Aberdeen, where the poor and destitute bear a much smaller pro- 

 portion to the whole inhabitants than they do in Glasgow, the average an- 

 nual amount of resident marriages is as 1 to 140*00*. It would appear 

 from these observations, therefore, that in those towns where there is the 

 greatest amount of* poverty and destitution, and where, as will afterwards 

 appear, the mortality is greatest, the annual number of marriages is the 

 greatest. It is to be feared a moral law is here shadowed out, the result of 

 physical causes ; but we would not, however, be understood as coming at 

 once to this conclusion, although in accordance with other observations, as 

 there is much yet required to be done by the statist before we can arrive at 

 a full and accurate knowledge of the social condition of the inhabitants of 

 large towns in Scotland. Were the registers so kept that we could ascertain 

 the ages and occupations of the parties married, more light would be thrown 

 on this subject. 



The law for the regulation of marriages in England allows parties from a 

 distance, by a residence of eight days before marriage in any of the towns, 

 to be recorded in the Register of Marriages as inhabitants of the town. 

 This is understood frequently to take place, and more especially where one 

 of the parties is an inhabitant of the town ; consequently the amount of 

 marriages for some of these towns, as exhibited in the reports of the Regi- 

 strar-General, must appear greater than they really are ; and, compared with 

 those towns of Scotland for which the marriages are stated in the preceding 

 pages, would lead to inaccurate results. It would be desirable to ascertain 

 the amount of the male and of the female inhabitants married of each town 

 and district, which is not shown in the Registrar-General's reports, with a 

 view to give an accurate knowledge of the proportion of the marriages in 

 any given place to the population of that place. It is necessary to remark, 

 that in the preceding tables of marriages, instead of deriving our informa- 

 tion from the amount of marriages which take place, and which are nearly 

 as imperfectly recorded in some registers as the births, owing to the care- 

 lessness and inattention of the parties themselves, we were obliged to have 

 recourse to the records of the proclamations of marriages, to which, in all 

 cases of regular marriages in Scotland, both the parties married and the 



* It is also worthy of observation, that in Perth, on an average of years, there are an- 

 nually married 8§ more females than males ; in Dundee 15f more males than females ; in 

 Edinburgh 41£ more females than males ; in Leith 9g more males than females ; in Glasgow 

 204 more males than females ; and in Aberdeen If more females than males. 



