IJ^I. ON BILLS OF MORTALITY. "25 



by near j 200 a year, that therefore Berlin muit be a 

 very unwholefoine place, and greatly prejudicial to, the 

 increafc of the human fpecies ; and that becaufe in focie 

 country places the births always exceed the deaths in 

 a great pioportion, thefe mult h^ proportionally fa- 

 vourable to it. But from this faft confidered alone, it 

 might have been quite the reverfe. The town might 

 perhaps be lar more wholefome than the country. 



Berlin, notwitliftanding this amazing mortality, has 

 been found to increafe in population daring the period 

 above named. Hence our pulitical calculators b.ave 

 jujlly inferred, that this f-ugmentation mull have been 

 occalioned by an influx of inhabitants from fome other 

 part of the world. But here they have ftopt. They 

 had only to advance a fingle ftep farther ; and then they 

 muft have feen, that of all thofe inhabitants who have 

 come to Berlin frqm other parts, no one of their births 

 could enter into the regifters of that place, though all 

 their (deaths muft be there recorded. Now, if 1200 

 people flocked to that town annually, and there took, 

 up their abode, it muft of neceffity happen, that on an 

 average the deaths muft exceed the births by that num- 

 ber, let the place be as favourable for the human race 

 as vou can fuppofe. in like manner, if thefe 1200 

 went from tVie country into the tov.'n, all their biithi 

 muft have appeared in the regifters there, and none of 

 their deaths ; fo that it would appear by thefe regiuers 

 tliat the country was as furprifingly favourable, as the 

 town was unfavourable for the human race. This, it 

 is plain, is a mere fallacy ; an argument that may tend 

 to miflead, becaufe the error is not extremely ob\'ipU3, 

 but wliich never ought to be employed by any one wha 

 J pretends to philofophic precifion. 



The fad is, that in every fituation, whether favour- 

 able for the human race, or the reverfe, where the in- 

 flux of ftrangers from other places is conliderobK-, 

 I the deaths muft be more num.erous in proportion to 

 ', the blrili*, if the regifters be accurate, tlrui th^v wnild 



