ON THE VITAL STATISTICS OP LARGE TOWNS IN SCOTLAND. 191 



in the towns reported on, is that which appears to arise from atmospheric in- 

 fluence or some other unknown cause, which seems to have a greater or less 

 effect on the human frame in different years. The influence of extreme 

 cold on the amount of mortality has been frequently noticed by writers on 

 this subject ; and though others have attributed the excess of mortality 

 which is sometimes observable more to sudden changes of temperature than 

 to extreme cold, it is very evident that excessive cold, though it is not the 

 only atmospheric influence to be guarded against, has a powerful influence 

 in producing a great mortality, and the effect of that influence is inversely 

 as the abundance of nutritive food, clothing and fuel at the command of the 

 people to guard against i£\ Table LXVI. testifies in the strongest manner to 

 the effects of temperature and the changes of the seasons upon vitality. 



The most fatal month in the year to human life is January, the per-centage 

 deaths of the total number of deaths ranging from 10 to 14^- per cent. The 

 next most fatal month is February ; and a singular uniformity prevails in the 

 per-centage deaths to the whole deaths in all the towns ; then follow Decem- 

 ber and March, and the mortality diminishes until July — August, gradually 

 increasing again with the fall of the year until it is at its maximum in Janu- 

 ary ; in short, having a close correspondence with the progress of the sun in 

 the ecliptic, the maximum intensity being when the sun is furthest removed 

 from our latitudes, and its minimum effects occurring when the sun is in the 

 neighbourhood of the northern tropic. It might probably be more correct 

 to say that the mean mortality accords with the monthly mean temperature. 

 The tables exhibit a somewhat singular feature in the proportional excess of 

 deaths in Edinburgh in the summer months over the other towns, combined 

 with a somewhat smaller proportion in the month of January, but an excess 

 in the month of December. These anomalies may possibly originate in the 

 topography of the town, or in the averages being for three years only for 

 Edinburgh and for five years for the other towns. Th& influence of high 

 winds in removing infection and disease has also been noticed by writers, 

 and is a subject of great interest in cdnnexion with the sanitary condition of 

 great towns, where the inhabitants are often crowded together in closely 

 pent-up houses, where a free circulation of air is not to be expected. 



Sir Gilbert Blane, in describing the effects of a hurricane which took place 

 in the West Indies, in October 1780, after some observations on its beneficial 

 effects on the prevailing diseases of the country, except where the old and 

 delicate suffered from mechanical violence, says, " This is a fact so paradoxi- 

 cal, that if I had not a concurrence of testimony, and in some degree my 

 own observation, I could neither credit nor would venture to relate it. It 

 had a visibly good effect on the diseases of the country ; fevers, fluxes, and 

 chronic diarrhoeas, the consequence of dysenteries, were also cured by it. 

 But the diseases upon which it operated most visibly and sensibly were pul- 

 monic complaints. Some cases, supposed to be beginning consumption, and 

 even the acute state of pleurisy, were cured by it*." 



In connexion with any inquiry into the sanitary condition of large towns, 

 it is therefore of importance to ascertain what state of the atmosphere is most 

 prejudicial or most favourable to health, operating as its changes do to a 

 greater or less extent, according to the local circumstances of these towns, in 

 regard to the free circulation of air, proper drainage, cleanliness, and the com- 

 forts of the people in lodging, food and clothingf . It is to be feared, however, 



* Select Dissertations on several subjects of Medical Science, by Sir Gilbert Blane, Bart., 

 F.R.S., p. 370. 



f The propriety of publishing meteorological tables for these towns in connexion with this 

 subject is sufficiently obvious, and would have been attended to, had not the construction of 

 the preceding tables necessarily occupied much more time than was anticipated. 



