250 



CITY. 



ranlable measures against t|ie citien, many of which 

 had lost their independence before Napoleon dissolved 

 the German empire. He took away the privileges of 

 those which remained free ; and the congress of Vien- 

 na restored freedom to Lubeck, I lamburg, Bremen, 

 and Frankfort, only because the different powers could 

 not agree to whom they should be assigned. At 

 tlie same time, Cracow (q. v.) was declared an inde- 

 pendent city, with a republican form of government. 

 (For further information, see the articles Germany 

 and Italy.) The following works contain much 

 information on the rise and progress of cities: 

 Fr. Kortum's History of the Origin of the Leagues 

 of tlie Free Cities in the Middle Ages and in 

 Modern Times (in German), Zurich, 1829 ; Kich- 

 horn on the Origin of the Cities of Germany, in his 

 periodical Ceitschrift fur geschichtliche Rechtswissen- 

 tchaft, vol. i. page 147 et seq. Von Savigny, Schott, 

 and others, liave written on this interesting subject. 



Cities, considered in regard to politics. Cities, as 

 we have already said, naturally develope the de- 

 mocratic principle, and, on this and several other ac- 

 counts, are to be considered among the firmest sup- 

 ports of liberty. Well organized municipal insti- 

 tutions, in which the government is in tlie hands of 

 the citizens, afford continual nourishment to tlie 

 spirit of freedom tliroughout a country, and, in fact, 

 are more important, in this point of view, than the 

 mere possession of legislative privileges. Wise na- 

 tions, therefore, have bestowed the greatest atten- 

 tion on the establishment of free, well-organized mu- 

 nicipalities, while others have neglected this, in 

 then- zeal to secure the right of representation to the 

 people at large. The importance of cities, in this 

 respect, makes it very difficult, in a constitutional 

 monarchy, to combine the necessary liberty of mu- 

 nicipalities with the prerogatives of the monarchs. 

 In France, this has been a point of contest and le- 

 gislation ever since the establishment of the charter. 



Medical Statistics of Cities. [The following- ac- 

 count of the comparative mortality in large Europe- 

 an cities is given in the October number of tlie Me- 

 dico-Chirurgical Review, London, 1829.] It is well 

 known, that, in any given country, the deaths in a 

 city are more numerous than those in the rural dis- 

 tricts. This difference is principally felt in the first 

 five years of life, when many more die in London 

 than in the country. From five years of age to 

 twenty, the deaths in London are fewer. Between 

 twenty and fifty, many more die in London, on ac- 

 count of the large annual influx from the country. 

 In all cities, a large portion of disease and death is 

 to be assigned to the constant importation from the 

 country of individuals who have attained to maturi- 

 ty, but, having been previously habituated to fre- 

 quent exercise in a pure atmosphere, and to a simple, 

 regular diet, are gradually sacrificed to confined air, 

 sedentary habits, or a capricious and over-stimulat- 

 ing diet. These causes are not equally fatal to 

 those who have passed their early years within the 

 walls of a city ; and, after the age of fifty, the pro- 

 portion of deaths in London is smaller than in the 

 country. Jenner, and, very recently, doctor Baron, 

 have made some curious experiments on animals, 

 which indicate that a loss of their open range and 

 natural nourishment has, with them also, a tendency 

 to disorganize and to destroy. Doctor Baron placed 

 a family of young rabbits in a confined situation, and 

 fed them with coarse green food, such as cabbage 

 and grass. They were perfectly healthy when put 

 up. In about a month, one of them died. The 

 primary step of disorganization was evinced in a 

 number of transparent vesicles, studded over the ex- 

 ternal surface of its liver. In another which died 

 nine days after, the disease had advanced to the for- 



mation of tubercles on the liver. The liver of 

 a third, which died four days later still, had nearly lost 

 its true structure, so universally was it pervaded with 

 tubercles. Two days subsequently, a fourth died. A 

 considerable number of hydatids were attached to 

 the lower surface of the liver. At this time, doctor 

 Baron removed three young rabbits from the place 

 where their companions had died to another situa- 

 tion, dry and clean, and to their proper and accus- 

 tomed food. The lives of these remaining three 

 were obviously saved by this change. He obtained 

 similar results from experiments of the same nature 

 performed on other animals. In Glasgow, the a\cr 

 age annual mortality is about one in forty-four per- 

 sons. In Paris, the poor and the rich occupy the 

 two extremities of the scale. The mortality in the 

 one is nearly double that in the other. The average 

 is one to thirty-two. The number of violent deaths, 

 in 1823, was 690, of which 390 were cases of suicide. 

 Reviewing on one side, the great political, moral, 

 and physical events which have occurred at Paris 

 during a succession of years, and, on the other, tlie 

 progress of its population, Villerme has ascertained, 

 that whenever the people have suffered from any 

 cause, the deaths have correspondingly increased, 

 the births have decreased, and the mean duration of 

 life has been shortened. In periods of prosperity, 

 he has found results directly opposite to these. The 

 mean duration of life in Paris is thirty-two years and 

 some months. It was formerly estimated that one- 

 third of the inhabitants of Paris died in tlie hospitals ; 

 but Dupin has lately calculated that half the deaths 

 in Paris take place in the hospitals and other asy- 

 lums of charity. Not a fourth part of the inhabi- 

 tants are buried at private cost. In Geneva, tlie 

 average mortality for the four years ending in 1823 

 was one in forty-three, which is a greater mortality 

 than in some of the largest manufacturing towns, as 

 Glasgow, Manchester, and Birmingham. Peter* 

 burg. It is curious that the burials exceed the 

 births in the Russian capital, by 134 to 100. The 

 Russians attempt to explain this by the annual in- 

 flux of persons from the provinces. But this influx 

 is not peculiar to St Petersburg. The last men. 

 tioned city and Stockholm are the only known me- 

 tropolitan cities which present the preponderance of 

 death over production. The annual mortality of the 

 Russian capital is one in thirty-seven. Berlin. From 

 1747 to 1755, the annual mortality of Berlin was one 

 hi twenty-eight. Between 1726 and 1799 it improv- 

 ed to one in twenty-nine one-eleventh. Here the 

 beneficial change was retarded by the ravages, the 

 losses, the disappointments of war, and from 1802 

 to 1806, it had retrograded to one in twenty-seven ; 

 but from 1816 to 1822, a period of exultation and 

 tranquillity to the Prussians, the value of life took a 

 remarkable leap, and the annual deaths fell to less 

 than one in thirty-four. Vienna. In the middle of 

 the last century, the mortality of Vienna was one in 

 twenty, and it has not improved in proportion as other 

 cities of Europe. According to the most recent calcul- 

 ations, it is, even now, as one in twenty-two one-half. 

 Among 10,530 deaths, scarcely thirty-eight persons 

 are found to have attained the age of ninety. The 

 spirit of excessive regulation, the dread of novelty, 

 the restrictions imposed on the medical profession, 

 and political causes which need not be enumerated, 

 appear to have retarded the natural progress of this 

 city. The overweening paternity of the government 

 interferes with the trivial concerns of the citizens, ir 

 the same manner in which an arbitrary and untaught 

 father sometimes restrains the useful impulses of Tu's 

 children, while he permits an easy vent to their baser 

 propensities. Prague, the capital of Bohemia, 

 has only one-third the population of Vienna, and is 



