REGISTRATIONRELIEF CHURCH. 



779 



The per-centage proportion of deaths by small 

 pox, typhus, and phthisis, was as follows: 



Ules. F?mnl<s. Total. 



Small -pox, 4-262 3935 4104 



Typhus, 6213 6-567 6389 



Phthisis, 18-152 21-073 19-599 



With respect to the principal diseases in the 

 first class, it appears that 2,520 persons died of 

 scarlatina, 3,044 of hooping-cough, 4,732 of measles, 

 and 5,811 of small pox. The ages of 1,056 per- 

 sons who died of small pox are enumerated, and 

 the number under 5 years of age was 887. It is 

 probable, therefore, that the majority of the 5,811 

 had never been vaccinated, and that about 1'2,000 

 die annually by small pox through the neglect of 

 the parents. 



The diseases of towns and of the open country 

 are shown to differ very considerably both in char- 

 acter and intensity. The following is an abstract 

 of two comparative tables of the diseases in cities 

 and in counties. 



The first comparison is between the 32 metro- 

 politan unions and the five counties of Cornwall, 

 Devon, Dorset, Somerset, and Wilts. The popu- 

 lation of the former, according to the census of 

 1831, was 1,594,890, and of the latter 1,599,024. 

 The rate of increase of the former, during the de- 

 cennial period from 1821 to 1831, was 20 percent.; 

 that of the latter 12 per cent. : according to which, 

 supposing the rate to remain constant, the popula- 

 tion of the metropolis, on 1st October, 1837, would 

 have been 1,790,4")!, and that of the counties 

 1,723,770. The area of the former is 70 square 

 miles, and there are, therefore, 25,578 inhabitants 

 to each square mile ; while the area of the latter is 

 7,933 square miles, and the population 222 to each. 



The second comparison is between the districts 

 of Aston, Bath, Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, 

 Carlisle, Clifton, Derby, Dudley, Exeter, Leeds, 

 Leicester, Liverpool, Manchester, Maidstone, 

 Newcastle-on-Tyne, Northampton, Nottingham, 

 Salford, Sheffield, Stoke-on Trent, Sunderland, 

 Wolverh impton, and West Derby, embracing all 

 the principal towns in the kingdom, and the coun- 

 ties of Essex, Gloucester (exclusive of Bristol and 

 Clifton), Hereford, Norfolk (exclusive of Norwich,) 

 Suffolk, Sussex, and Westmoreland. The popu- 

 lation of the former, in 1831, was 1,484,40'2, of 

 the latter, 1,656,455. The rate of increase in the 

 cities, from 1821 to 1831, was 31 per cent. ; in the 

 counties 1 1 per cent. Hence the population on the 

 1st October, 1837, might be estimated at 1,762,710 

 in the former, and 1,776,980 in the latter. The area 

 of the cities was 677 square miles, with a popula- 

 tion of 2,603 to each ; and the area of the counties 

 9,312 square miles, with a population of 190 to ! 

 each square mile. I 



From these two tables it appears that the excess 

 of mortality in the metropolis, compared with the 

 five southern counties of England, is 64 per cent., 

 or, in other words, that for every 100 persons who 

 died in those counties, 164 died in the metropolis. 

 The comparison of the other towns and counties 

 is rather more favourable for the former, the pro- 

 portion being as 100 to 158. 



Among the diversities which especially demand 

 attention, and by which there is least danger of 

 being led to false conclusions, are those which 

 relate to longevity, showing the varying propor- 

 tions of deaths in old age in different portions of 

 the kingdom. From a few instances of longevity 

 no inference can be safely drawn ; but the fact that 

 of the deaths in any district, a comparatively large 

 portion is above the age of 70, is a strong presump- 

 tion in favour of the healthiness of that district. 

 These proportions are found to vary greatly. In 

 the whole of England and Wales, out of 1000 

 deaths, 145 have been at the age of 70 and up- 

 wards; while in the North Riding and northern 

 part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and in Dur- 

 ham, excluding the mining districts, the propor- 

 tion has been as high as 210. In Northumberland, 

 excluding the mining district, Cumberland, West- 

 moreland, and the north of Lancashire, the propor- 

 tion has been 198; in Norfolk and Suffolk 196, in 

 Devonshire 192, and in Cornwall 188. In con- 

 trast, with this evidence of the large proportion of 

 persons who attain to old age in these more thinly 

 peopled portions of the kingdom, we find results 

 extremely different where the population is densely 

 congregated. In the metropolis and its suburbs 

 the proportion who have died at 70 and upwards 

 has been only 104 ; and even this proportion is 

 favourable when compared with that of other large 

 towns ; the proportion in Birmingham being 81, in 

 Leeds, 79, and in Liverpool and Manchester only 

 about 63. A comparison of the mining parts of 

 Staffordshire and Shropshire, and of Northumber- 

 land and Durham, with the rural districts surround- 

 ing each, exhibits great differences in this respect, 

 the former averaging 109, and the latter 176. A 

 very marked diversity also appears in the propor- 

 tion of deaths of infants in different parts of the 

 country. In the mining parts of Staffordshire and 

 Shropshire, in Leeds and its suburbs, and in the 

 counties of Cambridge and Huntingdon, and the 

 lowest parts of Lincolnshire, the deaths of infants 

 under one year have been more than 270 out of 

 1000 deaths at all ages; while in the northern 

 counties of F.ngland, in Wiltshire, Dorset and 

 Devon, in Herefordshire and Monmouthshire, and 

 in Wales, the deaths at that age, out of 1000 of 

 all ages have scarcely exceeded 180. 



RELIEF CHURCH; a body of Scottish dis- 



