From thefe fpecimens it appears, that the fame obje£l is 

 here placed in a variety of points of view, that tend to 

 give a very clear idea of the internal ftate of the country. 



Births, deaths and marriages. By infpefting the table, it 

 appears that the number of births and naarriajes have been 

 pretty generally recorded, but that of death has been but 

 little attended to. From the general tenor of thefe returns 

 however it is evident, that the births greatly exceeded the 

 burials upon the whole j fo that if we were to adopt the 

 ufual mode of reafoning on this head, we Ihould conclude 

 that the population of this country was increafing In a very- 

 rapid progreflion. In the parilh of Kilrenny above-men- 

 tioned, for example, the births for the laft 20 years have ex- 

 ceeded the deaths in the proportion of 34 to 20. The po- 

 pulation by this index therefore fliould be here on a rapid 

 increafe. The actual number of the people in this parilH 

 has decreafed in the courfe of 40 years no lefs than 262^ 

 Again, In the parifli of Jedburgh, the average births have 

 been 90, and deaths 45 : Yet the population has dccreafed 

 no lefs than 3000 fouls in forty years, if the returns have 

 been accurate, of which there is forae doubt, On the other 

 hand, in the parilh of Coylton, the deaths are 16, and the 

 births only 1 5 j but inftead of decreaiing, this fmall parilh 

 has increafed 140 in that p'eriod. And in the parilh of 

 Lauder, where the births and deaths are precifely 

 equal, the increafe of inhabitants has been no lefs than 300. 

 Thefe inftances, to mention no more, fufficiently prove, that 

 no conclufion can be drawn as to the wholefomenefs or un- 

 y^holefomeners of a place, from the births and burials alone, 

 I unlefs when accompanied with an account of the migra- 

 tions that have taken effeft either to or from a place. 



