ON THE VITAL STATISTICS OF LARGE TOWNS IN SCOTLAND. 201 



to 56*1 1 per cent, of the whole deaths. In England these proportions were re- 

 spectively 1*082 and 49*17 per cent. And in London the proportion of deaths 

 amounted to 1*36 per cent, of the population, and to 50*77 per cent, of the 

 whole deaths. In Manchester only 39*01 per cent- of the whole deaths take 

 place above 20 years of age, and 1*296 per cent, of its population. 



It is worthy of observation, that the mortality at the different ages in Man- 

 chester (the greatest manufacturing town in England) bears nearly the same 

 proportion to that of London, as the mortality at these ages in Glasgow (the 

 greatest manufacturing town in Scotland) bears to that of Edinburgh. 



It will be seen (Tables LXXIV. and LXXV.) that the proportion of deaths 

 under 5 years in Manchester is 10*83 per cent, of the whole deaths, and 0*639 

 per cent, of the population greater than in London ; and in Glasgow the pro- 

 portion of deaths under the same age is 12*07 per cent, of the whole deaths, 

 and 0*67 per cent, of the population greater than in Edinburgh. Again, it 

 will be found (Tables LXXVIII. and LXXIX.) that the proportion of deaths 

 above 20 years of age in Manchester is 11*76 per cent, of the whole deaths, 

 and 0*040 per cent, of the population less than in London ; and in Glasgow 

 the proportion of deaths above that age is 12*07 per cent, of the whole deaths, 

 and 0*016 per cent, of the population less than in Edinburgh. 



The average annual proportions of deaths to the mean population in the 

 towns of England, is exhibited in Table LXXX. In London the average an- 

 nual proportion of deaths during the years 1837-38, 1838-39, and 1839-40, to 

 the mean population of these years, was as 1 to 37*34, or 2*67 per cent.; in 

 Manchester as 1 in 28*06, or 3*563 per cent.; in Liverpool as 1 to 28*30, or 

 3*537 per cent.; in Leeds as 1 to 36*76, or 2*720 per cent.; and in Birming- 

 ham as 1 to 36*82 or 2*716 per cent.* 



We have already had occasion to notice the tendency which reckless po- 

 verty and the absence of artificial comforts in the dwellings of a large pro- 

 portion of the town population has to increase the number of improvident 

 marriages, and consequently of births. The effect of extreme poverty 

 in extending disease and mortality among the inhabitants of these towns, is 

 also apparent from the results exhibited in the preceding pages. Other 

 causes are mentioned as having a powerful influence in producing those fatal 

 effects observable in the amount of mortality in large towns, such as intem- 

 perance and inattention to cleanliness, together with a want of proper drain- 

 age and a free circulation of air among the houses of the poor. 



The abuse of spirituous liquors has been well described as "at once the 



* In regard to this comparison of the mortality in the English and Scotch towns, parti- 

 cularly iu early life, it is to be observed, that in several of the former, in the years compared, 

 there were unusually severe epidemics of small-pox, measles and scarlet fever, the mortality 

 from which falls almost entirely on the early periods of life. Thus in London, in 1838-39, 

 small-pox caused 3817 deaths, or 1 in 138 of the whole mortality, and in 1839-40 measles 

 and scarlet fever together caused 4535 deaths, or 1 in 10 of the whole mortality ; in Man- 

 chester in 1839-40 measles alone caused 1131 deaths, or 1 in 8-1 of the whole mortality ; 

 in Liverpool in 1837-38 small-pox caused 634 deaths, or 1 in 7"7 of the whole mortality, and 

 in 1839-40 measles and scarlet fever caused 934 deaths, or 1 in 9'8 of the whole mortality ; 

 while in Glasgow, and still more in Edinburgh, there have been no such virulent epidemics of 

 these diseases. 



Now these are epidemics which no doubt affect the poorer classes of the population in any 

 town more than the richer, but which extend rapidly through all ranks, and the extension of 

 which must be regarded as accidental, depending apparently more on the peculiar viru- 

 lence of the specific poisons than on any remediable causes. In estimating the average de- 

 gree of unhealthiness of a town, or drawing any inference as to the social condition of the 

 people, the mortality from such epidemics should be omitted from the calculation, or else the 

 estimate should be framed on the comparison of such a number of years that unusually severe 

 epidemics may be included in the records of all the towns. 



