CITY CIVET. 



251 



much healthier. The superior longevity of the Jews is 

 strongly marked in this city. One death is annually 

 observed among twenty-six of thelsraelites, and one in 

 twenty-two and one-half among the Christians. In- 

 stances of considerable longevity, especially among 

 the women are not rare. Contrary to the usual observa- 

 tion, longevity is confined to poverty and married life. 

 According to an average of several years, no noble- 

 man, no wealthy person, no bachelor, and no unmar- 

 ried woman, has passed the age of ninety-five. This 

 is an interesting fact, but it is an extreme and an in- 

 sulated one, and does not militate against the gene- 

 ral conservative tendency of prosperity, which a va- 

 riety of evidence seems to establish. Palermo. 

 Mortality is here one in thirty-one. January, Octo- 

 ber, and November are the most fatal months; 

 April, May, and June the most healthy. Leghorn. 

 The average annual mortality here is one in thirty- 

 five. Among the Protestants and Jews, it is only 

 one in forty-eight, which is attributed to their great- 

 t>r affluence. Rome. From a recently recovered 

 fragment of Cicero (De Republica), an intimation is 

 conveyed that the neighbourhood of Rome has been 

 always unhealthy. Speaking of the choice of situa- 

 tion made by Romulus, he observes locum delegit in 

 rcgione pestilente salubrem. The population appears 

 to have been gradually decreasing till the last peace, 

 which has greatly revived it. In 1800, there were 

 150,000 souls ; in 1810, only 123,000. Within a 

 few years, it has gained 10,000. The annual mor- 

 tality is about one in twenty-five. There can be lit- 

 tle doubt that the force of the aguish disposition of 

 Rome might be considerably weakened by steady 

 and well-directed efforts, supported by a proportion- 

 ate capital ; but it is to be feared that such a com- 

 bination of circumstances will not readily meet at 

 Rome. In 1816, seventeen out of the twenty-two 

 French students were attacked with intermittent 

 fevers. The Villa Medici, in which they reside, was 

 formerly healthy ; but water brought at a great ex- 

 pense to embellish the garden, had been suffered to 

 stagnate there. Naples. The annual mortality 

 here is one in twenty-three ; a fact that one would 

 not have expected in such a delightful situation, 

 compared with pestilential Rome, where the mortal- 

 ity is less. The population of Naples is nearly 

 three times that of the ancient mistress of the world. 

 Brussels. The average mortality is very great, be- 

 ing one to twenty-six. Amsterdam. The population 

 ofthis once great city is decreased, in consequence of 

 declining commerce and political changes. And it 

 is not a little curious, as well as melancholy, to ob- 

 serve that its mortality has increased with the pro- 

 gress of decay. In 1777, the ratio of mortality was 

 one in twenty-seven a period when Amsterdam was 

 one of the healthiest as well as one of the most 

 flourishing cities of Europe. The deaths have now 

 increased to one in twenty-four, and Amsterdam is 

 one of the least healthy as well as the least prosper- 

 ous seaports of Europe. A decree was issued, 

 that, after the 1st of January, 1829, no burials 

 shall be permitted in towns or churches throughout 

 North Holland. Stockholm. Drunkenness appears 

 here, as at Berlin, to produce a large share of the 

 mortality. In a recent year, this city exhibited a 

 singular instance of an excess of 1439 more deaths 

 than births a symptom which it is painful to ob- 

 serve in a brave and industrious people. This dis- 

 proportion existed particularly amongst the garrison, 

 and is ascribed to the immoderate use of brandy. 

 Our authority affirms that this vice destroys die hap- 

 piness and prosperity of Sweden more effectually 

 than any war has ever done. 



The medical police of large cities deserves parti- 

 cular attention, because the nealth of multitudes de- 



pends upon the care which is taken by the magis- 

 trates to remove the causes of disease which origin- 

 ate in a great population. Knowledge of this branch 

 of medical science can be obtained only by attentive 

 observation, and the study of the different health re- 

 gulations of large cities under governments which 

 have paid particular attention to it. 



Cities, in a moral point of view. Much has been 

 said, written, and preached against the immorality 

 of large cities, and the feet cannot be denied ; but 

 immorality is not confined to them. The petty 

 vices of small places, though less glaring, are, per- 

 haps, equally injurious ; making up in constant re 

 petition for their comparatively less degree of noxi- 

 ousness. It is much more difficult, moreover, to 

 preserve one of the most important possessions, in- 

 dependence of character, in a small place than in a 

 large one. The cry against the immorality of large 

 cities should not make us forget the many great and 

 admirable things which mankind have been enabled 

 to perform by means of the collected strength or 

 talents and resources combined in large cities, and 

 their influence in forming the character of great 

 men, who could not have acquired elsewhere the 

 variety of accomplishment, and the well-proportion- 

 ed cultivation of their various faculties. At the 

 same time, we must allow that it is a very injurious 

 policy to strip a whole country of all which illus- 

 trates and ennobles it, in order to swell the trea- 

 sures of the capital. See Capital. 



CIUDAD, and CIVIDAD, in geography, the 

 Spanish word for city, from the Latin civitas, ap- 

 pears in many names of Spanish places ; as, Ciudad- 

 de-las-P almas, or P almas (capital of the island of 

 Grand Canary), Cividad-Real, &c. 



CIUDAD-RODRIGO (anciently, Lancia,or Miro- 

 briga) ; a fortress in Spain, in Leon, on the river 

 Aguada ; 45 miles S. S. W. Salamanca; Ion. 6 33 

 W. ; lat. 40 25' N. : population, 11,000. It is a 

 bishop's see. It was built by Ferdinand II. as a 

 rampart against Portugal, from which it is only about 

 eight miles distant. The fort, containing 6000 men, 

 was surrendered to the French under Massena, July 

 10, 1810, having been bombarded twenty-five days ; 

 and Jan. 19, 1812, it was taken by storm by the 

 British, under lord Wellington, after a siege of 

 eleven days. The cortes gave Wellington the title 

 of duke of Ciudad- Rodrigo, and the rank of a grandee of 

 Spain, of the first class. 



CIVET (viverra, Lin.) ; a genus of carnivorous, 

 mammiferous quadrupeds, natives of the torrid regions 

 of the ancient continent, particularly distinguished by 

 having a secretory apparatus, which forms a power- 

 fully odorous matter, known by the name of civet. 

 In general appearance, the species of this genus re- 

 mind one of the fox, which they also resemble in 

 habits ; but the tail is long, hairy and cylindrical, 

 and the claws though by no means so acute as those of 

 the cat, are still partially retractile, or cat-like. The 

 resemblance of the viverra to the feline race is in- 

 creased by the pupils of the eyes, which contract in 

 a straight line, and by the colour of the skin, which 

 most species have banded or spotted with black 

 upon a deep yellow or dun-coloured ground. The 

 tongue is studded with stout, horny prickles, and the 

 ears are of middling size, straight and rounded to 

 their tips. The pouch, situated near the genitals, is 

 a deep bag, sometimes divided into two cavities, 

 whence a thick, oily, and strongly musk-like fluid is 

 poured out. They are nocturnal, and prey upon 

 birds and small animals, and may be considered as 

 forming the transition from the musteline or marten 

 kind to the feline race. The genus has been divid- 

 ed into two sub-genera by naturalists, the first com- 

 prising the true civets } those having the pouch 



