No. 216.] 461 



nually ; we are informed of the diseases which cause the deaths, (if 

 the arrangment is worthy of dependence, which it is not always,) 

 but of the causes of the diseases we are told nothing. To derive the 

 proper and full advantage from the returns of mortality^ we must 

 look beyond the mere name of the diseases, and ascertain the sources 

 of those diseases. JVow ! the reports are useful for little more than 

 to satisfy ordinary curiosity, or to enable the preacher " to point a 

 moral 5" but if properly analyzed, and their whole bearing and in- 

 fluence exposed and elucidated, they would become valuable aids to 

 the private physician, and to the public officer of health, in studying 

 the liabilities of New-York, and the influences of its climate, posi- 

 tion, temperature, and other circumstances in producing diseases. 



If I may be allowed to illustrate this point, by referring to a re- 

 sult of my own study of some of the annual reports, I will recall at- 

 tention to the discovery, that in this city there is less consumption 

 among the native residents, than in Boston or Philadelphia. This 

 is proved by a calculation, the correctness of which may be tried at 

 any time, which has not yet been questioned, and which turns the 

 tables completely, as they were before set down, by those who would 

 make New-York a comparative Golgotha. 



This officer should study the influences of seasons, localities, and 

 many other circumstances, on the aspects of disease, and he should 

 keep a record of the barometric, thermometric, hygrometric and 

 pluvial changes. An improvement in the certificate of death, is also 

 much needed ; a more clear designation of medical terms, inquiries 

 into the condition and {)hysical circumstances of the decedent, the 

 length of his residence in this country, if a foreigner, and the influ- 

 ence of the change of climate upon the cause of death, and many 

 other points, are necessary to obtain correct and specific conclusions 

 respecting the diseases of New-York ; while a thorough knowledge 

 of the wants of science, and of what has been done abroad, in coun- 

 tries where the subject has constituted the labor of the lives of the 

 most gifted individuals, is highly desirable. All this knowledge 

 can only be obtained, and the improvements properly urged and ap- 

 plied, by an individual of good medical education, and one who has 

 a taste and w^illingness for the work. A capable health officer would 

 be well employed, and it should be made his interest, to devote his 

 time and talents to the dissemination of sound precepts concerning 

 the preservation of health and life among the people to whora knowl- 

 edge on these subjects is now almost inaccessible. To a vast num- 

 ber, for whom instruction as to the best method of regulating their 



