432 



SURGEONS REPORTS ILLINOIS FIRST DISTRICT. 



Annual death-rate per one thousand inhabitants in sa'en cities from 1855 to 1864. 



It will be observed that the above comparative statistical report of the percentage of deaths in 

 every thousand inhabitants extends from 1855 to 18G0 inclusive. There are no data from which 

 to complete the comi)arisons up to the present date. 



No epidemics have prevailed iu Chicago since the year 1854, when the cholera raged with such 

 violence in the city. Our endemics are controlled by the seasons. In the winter and spring, our 

 chief disea.ses are pneumonia, bronchitis, rheumatism, and occasionally typhoid fever. During the 

 summer and fall, we are troubled with malarious affections, but only to a moderate extent. 



Among the diseases above mentioned, we find that acute and chronic bronchitis are most preva- 

 lent. Next in the order of frequency are acute and chronic rheumatism. 



With respect to the " character of the inhabitants, modes of life, and occupation, &c.," I have 

 to remark that nearly every country on the face of the earth is represented in our population, 

 although it is principally composed of Germans, Irish, Scandinavians, and northern-born native 

 Americans. But few adults belonging to these nationalities were born here, consequently their 

 diseases and cachexies partake, for the most part, of the medical constitution of the climates and 

 countries from which they have emigrated. 



Touching the question as to our " mode of living," we are compelled to acknowledge that it 

 ranges from the lowest quality of food and drink, raiment and dwelling-houses, up to about as high 

 a sweep of the gamut as any to which American civilization has reached. In this regard we take 

 in the two extremes of life in capital cities. The average population, however, is temperate, well 

 fed, and well clothed, although the construction of ordinary dwellings is not in accordance with 

 hygienic rules, nor adapted to the rigorous changes of the climate. 



We do not include the houses of the wealthy classes in this statement ; for here, as everywhere, 

 they are an exception to the rule of ignorance which prevails in the art and mystery of domestic 

 architecture. Some of them, indeed, are model dwellings, being well lighted and ventilated, with 

 spacious halls and lofty rooms, and possessing all the conveniences and luxuries which the highest 

 science and the most cultivated taste could possibly suggest for their occupants. 



Food is al)undant and of the best quality, but, like house-rent, is enormously high, and out of 

 all proportion to the common run of salaries ; while fuel and clothing continue to be rated at war- 

 prices. Chicago, however, is the paradise of laborers, who are better paid here, and, indeed, 

 throughout the West, than .Anywhere else iu the world. Common laboring men earn from two and 

 a half to three dollars, and at the rolling-mill four dollars, per day. 



There are no poor, nor have we any pauper jwpulation in Chicago. We have not to contend, 

 therefore, with the terrible difliculties of po\ erty and beggary, which embarrass the local legisla- 

 tures of New York and other large cities of the Union. There are some i)oor men, of course, in 

 Chicago, and paupers too, but these are mostly cripples, superannuated persons; we have no dis- 

 tinct class as such under either of the.se denominations. 



In reply to the third question contained in the letter, and wiiich is thus expressed . " Eeasons 

 why any particular diseases or disabilities have disqualiUed a greater ratio per thousand from 

 military service," I have to say that it is impossible to answer it in a satisfactory manner at 

 present, for reasons already specified in this memoir, and for others which will now be adduced. 

 Among them are the mixed character of our population, the recent origin of the city, and the fact 



