Human Physiology. 13 



CHAPTER III. 



THE MORTALITY OF CLASSES AND CONDITIONS. 



Death-rate in Town and Country Sanitary Influence of Altitude 

 Drainage Comparative Longevity of Gentry, Tradesmen, and 

 Working Men Moral Causes of Excessive Mortality Whose the 

 Fault? 



IT was shown in a sanitary report made to parliament some 

 years ago, that in the healthy and almost entirely rural county 

 of Hereford the annual mortality was i in 64 15$ in rooo of 

 the population; in Oxfordshire, i in 50; in Lancashire, i in 



32- 



In the town of Preston the annual deaths were i in 33 ; in, 

 Broughton, a rural suburb, i in 56. 



In London, the mortality in some districts was i in 28; iiv 

 others, i in 57. 



In Manchester one twenty-eighth of the people were swept 

 away annually, while in one of its suburbs the deaths were only 

 one sixty-third. 



In the best part of Rochdale the deaths among citizens of 

 the same class were i in 43; in the worst, i in 22. 



In Leicester, the stocking-weavers living in the best parts of 

 the town lived on an average 25^ years; those in the worst, 

 17 years: the difference here was chiefly in drainage, as in. 

 Rochdale. 



In London the average of fever was i case to 690 people ; 

 but in certain alleys the proportion rose to i in 20 ; and there 

 were parts of Liverpool where the fever cases were i to every 

 7 or i o of the population. 



Elevation often makes a great difference in healthfulness. 

 It was not for nothing that castles and villages were perched 

 upon the hills. A high position has a finer and purer air, and 



