PROGRESS OF KNOWLEDGE:. 279 



is still more remarkable. In London, 80 years ago, 

 the annual mortality was 1 in 20 ; it is now as 1 in 

 40. In Manchester, Glasgow, and other places, a 

 similar improvement has taken place ; but, in some 

 instances, the decrement in the rate of mortality 

 has been so much exaggerated that the deaths are 

 stated at only 1 in 74 a proportion which is alto- 

 gether incredible as occurring in any community. 



In France, the average mortality is 1 in 40; in 

 Austria, 1 in 38; in Russia, 1 in 41; and in the 

 United States, 1 in 40 ; whereas it is rated by Hum- 

 boldt as 1 in 30 in South America. In Paris it is 

 rated 1 in 32. 



From the greater accuracy with which statistical 

 returns are obtained and preserved in France and 

 on the Continent, and the inadequate means which 

 we have in this country of procuring correct tables, 

 as well as the great disparity between the results 

 obtained here and abroad, there is every reason to 

 suspect, that in England, sources of error have been 

 overlooked, and that the rates are consequently too 

 favourable. It is difficult to believe, for example, 

 that with us the rate of mortality should be so low 

 as 1 in 58 ; when in France, Russia, and Austria it 

 is ascertained to be so high as 1 in 40, 1 in 41, and 1 

 in 38. Still, however, the returns, such as they are, 

 show a manifest improvement in the value of life 

 within the last forty years, which can be ascribed 

 only to a greater degree of comfort among the 

 people, and a more skilful treatment of their dis- 

 eases. 



The principle which I am advocating is established 

 even by many of the continental returns, which are 

 more trust-worthy than our own. In France, the 

 annual deaths in 1781 were 1 in 29 ; in 1802, 1 in 30, 

 and in 1823, 1 in 40 ; and in Paris the mortality has 

 diminished, in seventy years, from 1 in 25 to 1 in 

 32 ; so that, though we neglect altogether the more 

 than doubtful statements as to Manchester and other 



