282 



NATURE 



\_Aug. 5, 1875 



of the other English towns. At I cicester, however, it shoots 

 up to twenty-two, and twenty-four on the second and third weeks 

 of August. As regards the whole year, the lowest averages of 

 infant mortality are — Portsmouth, 4*9 ; London, 5'7 ; and Bristol, 

 5 "9 : and the highest, Leeds, 8 '4; Liverpool, 9"i ; and Leicester, 

 9 "4. The season of minimum infant mortality is everywhere 

 during the spring months in the sixteen large towns of Eng- 

 land. The smallest spring mortality occurs at Portsmouth, the 

 smallest summer mortality at Bristol, the largest summer mor- 

 tality at Leicester, and the largest mortality during the other 

 nine months of the year at Liverpool. 



Fig. 2 shows the distribution of the mortality from diarrhoea 

 through the weeks of the year, in six large towns, the curves 

 being constructed similarly to, and on the same scale as, those 

 of Fig. I. 



The differences in the rates of mortality from diarrhoea indi- 

 cated by these curves, which are strictly comparable inter se, are 

 very great, and a comparison of the two extremes, Leicester and 

 Edinburgh, is startling ; the figures showing that for every one 

 who dies from diarrhoea in Edinburgh during the summer 

 months, eight die in Leicester from the same disease in propor- 

 tion to the population. 



From the beginning of November to the summer solstice, the 

 mortality from diarrhoea is everywhere small, being double, how- 

 ever, in Liverpool and Manchester as compared with London 

 and Portsmouth. It will be observed from Fig. 2 that the curves 

 begin to open out and diverge from each other in the end of 

 June. The curve for Edinburgh on no week reaches the annual 

 rate of 2 per 1,000 of the population. The highest for any week 

 are — Bristol, 3 '6; Portsmouth, 3*9; London, 5*5; Liverpool, 

 io'5 ; and Leicester, 15 '8, these two last places again standing 

 higher than any other of the towns. 



The following is a list' of all the large towns of Great Britain, 

 arranged in the order of the greater or less prevalence of fatal 

 cases of diarrhoea, during July, August, and September, the 

 figures being the average weekly death-rate for the thirteen 

 weeks, calculated on the annual mortality per 1,000 of the popu- 

 lation ; — In England: Leicester, 9*56; Salford, 7*15 ; Leeds, 

 7"02; Manchester, 7'Oo; Liverpool, 6*28; Sheffield, 6'20; 

 Birmingham, 578; Hull, 5*56; Nottingham, 5*36; Norwich, 

 5 "02 ; Newcastle, 4'6i ; Bradlord, 4*42 ; Wolverhampton, 4*03 ; 

 Sunderland, 3*89; London, 3*45 ; Portsmouth, 2*94 ; and 

 Bristol, 2"38 ; and in Scotland : Dundee, 2'I4 ; Glasgow, 1'90; 

 Greenock, 175; Paisley, 171 ; Leith, i'45 ; Edinburgh, 1-23; 

 Perth, I "08; and Aberdeen, 0-96. 



From these results it will be seen that the influence of climate 

 is unmistakable. The summer temperature of the Scottish 

 large towns is several degrees lower than that of the English 

 towns, and we see that every one of the Scottish towns has a 

 mortality from diarrhoea lower than the lowest mortality of any 

 one of the English towns. Of all the large towns of Great 

 Britain the lowest death-rate from diarrhoea is that of Aberdeen, 

 which is at the same time characterised by the lowest summer 

 temperature. Further, the diarrhoea mortality of each town is 

 found from year to year to rise proportionally with the increase 

 of temperature, but the rate of increase differs very greatly in 

 different towns. This points to other causes than mere weather, 

 or the relative temperature and humidity of the place, as deter- 

 mining the absolute mortality. Thus the summer temperature 

 of Dundee and Perth is nearly the same, and that of Glasgow 

 and Edinburgh is also nearly alike, the excess being rather in 

 favour of Perth and Edinburgh ; and yet the diarrhoea mortality 

 of these two towns is respectively less than that of Dundee and 

 Glasgow. It may therefore be assumed that there is something 

 in the topographical, social, or sanitary conditions of Dundee 

 and Glasgow, which intensifies the evil effects of hot weather on 

 tie health of the people, so as to swell, for instance, the death- 

 rate from diarrhoea at Dundee to double that of Perth. At 

 Leicester the summer temperature does not exceed that of 

 Bristol ; but while the summer death-rate from diarrhoea at 

 Bristol is 2*38, at Leicester it is 9' 56 ; in other words, it may be 

 assumed that there are local peculiarities affecting the population 

 of Leicester, the effect of which is to quadruple the death-rate 

 from diarrhoea in that town as compared with Bristol. It is to 

 these local conditions we must look for an explanation of the 

 great differences in the death-rate of the different towns. The 

 highest average death-rate per annum for the ^period under dis- 

 cussion is Liverpool 30-6, Glasgow 30*5, Manchester 30*2, 

 Greenock 39*3, and Paisley 29-0 ; and the lowest is Portsmouth 

 20-6, London 23 'o, and Aberdeen 23 "3. Thus, for every two 



who die at Portsmouth, three die at Liverpool, Glasgow, and 

 Manchester, 



These facts'suggest large inquiries which call for instant and 

 serious attention. As one of the first steps of the inquiry, it is 

 most desirable to know exactly from a weekly registration of the 

 facts, whether the infant mortality is equally distributed among 

 all infants, however nursed, or whether it may not rather be dis- 

 tributed among them in very unequal proportion, according to the 

 manner in which they are fed. Those, for instance nursed at 

 the breast may be much less liable to succumb to diarrhoea in 

 summer than those fed on cow's milk or those fed on slops. The 

 unusually low temperature of December last very largely in- 

 creased the death-rate everywhere in the British Islands, particu- 

 larly from diseases of the respiratory organs and from many 

 diseases connected with the nervous system and the skin. The 

 gross number of deaths registered in the different large towns 

 showed that the excess of deaths thereby caused was very 

 unequally distributed over the country. If there had been a 

 more complete system of registration, for all the large towns, it 

 might have been possible, reasoning from the specific diseases 

 which proved to be unusually fatal at each place, to lay 

 the finger on those local conditions, inimical to health, to 

 which the high rate of mortality in each case was due. During 

 the cold months of the year — December, January, and Feb- 

 ruary — the mortality among females is very considerably in 

 excess of that among males in London ; for while during these 

 thirteen weeks the average death-rate among males rises 7 '8 per 

 cent, above the weekly average of the year, the death-rate among 

 females rises to 1 1 "2 per cent, above the average. Since the 

 facts of mortality for sex are only registered for all causes and 

 all ages, it is impossible to say from the present system of regis- 

 tration how much of the excess of mortality among females in 

 winter is due to sex, and how much to occupation, or even to 

 fashion. 



A comparison of the meteorological with the moitality records 

 shows in an impressive manner the influence of particular types 

 of weather in largely increasing or diminishing the number of 

 deaths from particular complaints. Thus, periods of unusual 

 cold combined with dampness in the end of autumn, cold with 

 drought in spring, cold in winter, or heat in summer, are accom- 

 panied with a proportionally increased mortality from scarlet 

 fever, whooping-cough (if these diseases be epidemic at the 

 time), bronchial affections, and bowel complaints respectively. 

 Again, as regards diarrhoea, for example, there appear to be 

 certain critical temperatures, such as 55°, 60°, 63°, and 65', at 

 which as they are reached, the mortality rises successively to 

 greatly accelerated rates. To work out the problem of the rela- 

 tion of the weather and mortality of our large towns, it is indis- 

 pensable for the comparison of the different towns with each 

 other, that the system of observation be uniform at all places, 

 particularly as regards the hours and modes of observing the 

 temperature, humidity, and movements of the air, and the rain- 

 fall ; and it is further indispensable that several meteorological 

 stations be established in each of the large towns. 



Alexander Buchan 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



Mental Science yournals, January, April, July. — The January 

 number opens with an article by Samuel Wilks, M.D., "The 

 Study of the Human Mind from a Physiological View. " Dr. Wilks 

 finds no more difficulty as regards the relation of the mind and 

 brain than in ' ' the association of other functions with their 

 respective organs." The main purpose of the writer seems to 

 be to show that men are very much of automata. In this he 

 thinks he has followed Dr. Huxley, who however, if he meant 

 anything, meant that men are a Itogether automata. The illus- 

 trations of the automatism of doctors must be alarming to the 

 nervous and ailing. Example: " Up to the present time I have 

 never seen a single case of leucocythoemia of the lympathic 

 glands, or the spleen, or simple idiopathic anaemia, without the 

 patient's having been saturated by iodine, quinine, and iron ; 

 but no case is yet recorded of these remedies having done the 

 slightest good." — David Nicholson, M.B., continues his "Mor- 

 bid Psychology of Criminals," and shows his vigorous common 

 sense in refusing to see that suicide is always an insane act, or 

 that there is any "madness in an idle- minded fellow preferring 

 to live ' like a gentleman ' by helping himself directly from 

 moneyed pockets, instead of sweating his life out witli a pick 



