ON THE VITAL STATISTICS OF LARGE TOWNS IN SCOTLAND. 197 



caused by diseases of the head, amounting to 0*047 per cent. The greatest 

 excess in Glasgow is by fever, amounting to 0*21 per cent. It is here to be 

 observed, however, that the great excess of deaths by fever during 1837, in 

 these towns, is included for Glasgow, though the amount has not been ob- 

 tained, and is not included in this table for Edinburgh : so that the excess of 

 deaths by fever in Glasgow over those in Edinburgh appears greater than it 

 really is. The excess of deaths by bowel complaint in Glasgow, over those 

 in Edinburgh, amounts to 0*20 per cent. For the per-centage of other diseases 

 see the Table. 



As Table LIV. gives the amount of deaths in Dundee by the different 

 diseases for the same years as those in which it has been obtained for Edin- 

 burgh, the comparison is still more satisfactory than for the other towns. It 

 will be observed, that the greatest excess of deaths in Dundee over those in 

 Edinburgh is caused by asthma, bowel complaint, catarrh, croup, dropsy, 

 hooping-cough, measles, nervous diseases, scarlet fever, and small-pox ; the 

 highest excess being by measles, amounting to 0*102 per cent. The greatest 

 proportion of deaths by all the other diseases is in Edinburgh. The highest 

 proportion of deaths in that town over those of Dundee is by decline, and 

 amounts to 0*137 per cent. For the other ■proportions see the Table. 



The names of only 33*8 per cent, of the fatal cases of disease have been 

 ascertained for Aberdeen, and exhibited in the tables for that town ; and as 

 these bear but a small proportion to the total amount of deaths, the propor- 

 tions to the population have been omitted in the tables, as they could form 

 no data for comparison with the amount of fatal cases of disease ascer- 

 tained for the other towns. The proportion of deaths by the several diseases 

 ascertained, to the whole of the fatal cases of ascertained disease, is, how- 

 ever, given in Table LII. 



It should be noticed, that for the different towns, with the exception of 

 Aberdeen, the diseases stated under the head " not ascertained," consist 

 chiefly of such diseases as the relatives of the deceased could not exactly 

 describe ; several of them being named in the registers " inward complaints," 

 &c. It is obvious, that to whichever columns the numbers under this head 

 ought to be transferred, very few of them belong to the columns of fever, 

 or eruptive fevers, the characteristics of which are so strongly marked. 



There are some cases upon the recording of which clue attention has not 

 been bestowed; yet the proportion of deaths stated in all the tables, but 

 those for Aberdeen, may be considered as being tolerably accurate. 



We have already called attention to the uniformity in the proportion of 

 deaths at the different periods of life by fever and eruptive fevers, to the 

 whole deaths, by these several diseases. Although in several instances there 

 is a considerable difference in the proportion of these diseases to the amount 

 of population, yet the uniform proportion of the mortality by these diseases 

 which falls on the different ages is very striking, and leads to the belief, as 

 before stated, that by a still more extended range of observation, and by a 

 more correct system of registration of the fatal diseases, we might find that 

 fixed laws regulate the amount of deaths at different ages by the several 

 diseases. 



Table LV. shows, that while the proportion of deaths by fever, under five 

 years of age, for the last three years in Edinburgh, amounted to 0'029 per 

 cent, of the population, it amounted to 12*4>1 per cent, of the whole deaths 

 by fever. In Glasgow (Table LVI.), while the deaths by fever, at the same 

 age, for the last five years, amounted to 0*053 per cent, of the population, 

 they amounted to 12*07 per cent, of the whole deaths by fever; being very 

 nearly the same proportion to the whole deaths by lever as in Edinburgh. 

 Again (same tables), while the deaths by fever, under twenty years of age, 



