Mr. Worcester on Longevity. 43 
and the difference in condition between the old and the new states, 
there would be found, in the census, many irregularities in the dif- 
ferent classes of the inhabitants, produced by various disturbing 
causes, which Europeans, if we may judge from past experience, 
would not well understand, and some of which might not admit 
of easy and satisfactory explanation among ourselves; yet, notwith- 
standing these circumstances, the census, thus taken, would furnish 
the means of presenting interesting comparative views with regard 
longevity, or the chance of life, in different parts of the Union. 
It would also afford the means of confuting the unfounded as- 
sumptions of European theorists respecting the unhealthiness of 
our climate and the infrequency of longevity; and would proba- 
bly furaish evidence, that among the agricultural population of 
the Eastern and Middle states, the chance of life is as great as 
in any country on the globe, of which the statistics are well 
known, of equal extent and population. 
Other matters in addition to those which relate to the number 
of the different classes of the inhabitants, might be properly 
and advantageously embraced in the census, as the number of 
families ; the number of married persons, male and female ; the num- 
ber of inhabited houses, distinguishing those of stone, of brick, and 
of wood, whether framed houses or of logs ; houses of public wor- 
ship ; academies or grammar’schools, and common schools, togeth- 
er with the number of pupils. | Were these several matters em- 
braced in the census, we should have, laid before us every ten 
years, a highly interesting view of the state of the country in all 
its parts : and a comparison of each new census with those that 
preceded it, would afford a correct, and, should the prosperity of 
the country continue, an animating view of the progress of im- 
provement. In addition toa mere numerical increase of the inhabi- 
