THE CHARTS OCCUPATION. b5 



necessitating, in some instances, an arbitrary assignment of an occupation to its class ; 

 but it is belived that the classification here adopted, however imperfect, is preferable to 

 nono, in that it allows of a comparison of, so to speak, the different planes in the scale 

 of social position. Among those occupations termed sUUed will be found " mechanics," 

 while in the same class appear many of the mechanical trades specified as such. This 

 is owing to the fact that a few of the examining surgeons, in giving the occupation of 

 the men examined, did not specify the exact trade, but reported all men of mechanical 

 trades merely as mechanics ; but it was thought desirable to go by the record, and to 

 keep the sum-total. 



The chart of this class on " Disease," (Chart XXXIV,) which includes all causes 

 of rejection, shows a steady and regular increase of disease as we ascend the so-called 

 social scale from the unskilled laborer, whose muscular system is his reliance, through 

 the ranks of the skilled artisans and the dealers in merchandise, to the professional man, 

 whose brain is exercised almost to the exclusion of muscular action. But to guard 

 against hasty conclusions from the bare facts presented, it sJiould be constantly borne 

 in mind that diseases may, in many instances, have been contracted in, or developed 

 by, occupations other than those which the men were fouiul following at the time of 

 their examination. The very large ratio of Avatchmen rejected might lead to the con- 

 clusion that their occupation is a very unhealtliful one ; but it is iinquestionably the 

 fact tliat the greater number of watchmen were men who had become diseased or injured 

 in other occupations, and resorted to this as the least laborious. So in the consideration 

 of phthisis pulmonalis, it should be remembered that the disease \\v<\.y have been devel- 

 oped under very different circumstances from those surrounding the man at the time 

 of examination ; and it is not strange that the professions, and many of the skilled 

 occupations, since they do not require very great phj^sical exei'tion, should show a large 

 ratio of consumptives, A\'ho have been either compelled to a change of occupation, or, 

 being the weakly offspring of phthisical parents, have, of necessity, sought light employ- 

 ments. These remarks apply with equal force to many other diseases, and lead to the 

 conclusion that the mercantile and skilled occupations, and the professions, are not, 

 perhaps, in reality the hot-beds of disease they are generally supposed to be, but rather 

 the asylums for men already . affected or predisposed to disease. Many of the unskilled 

 occupations demand a degree of physical health and vigor not possessed by many 

 whose social position would naturally force them to follow such occupations, and, as a 

 consequence, they are compelled to endeavor, at least, to perform other labor requiring 

 less physical and a little more mental activity. On this account, then, it is far from logical 

 to conclude that the unskilled occupations are more healthful than the others, because 

 it requires no demonstration to show that their ranks must be recruited by men already 

 healthy. To the man of (what is called) perfect jjhysical healtli, whose ancestors 

 always labored with their hands, to the exclusion of their brains, there can be little 

 doubt but that a life of toil is more healthful than one of confinement and brain-labor ; 

 but, whih' in such cases the unskilled occupations might be regarded as most healthful, 

 there can be as little doubt that they would be destructive to the life of very many, 

 •who, b}' following a trade or profession, husband their vital energy, and thereby pro- 

 long their existence 



