PROCEEDINGS OF THE POLYTECHNIC ASSOCIATION. 593 



wliich "arising from llie breath of two millions of people, from open cess- 

 pools and sewers, graves and slaughter-houses, is continually kept up and 

 undergoing changes; in one season it is pervaded by cholera, in another 

 by influenza; at one time it bears small-pox, measles, scarlet fever and 

 hooping cough among young children; at another it carries fever on its 

 wings. Like an angel of death it has thus hovered for centuries over Lon- 

 don. Thirtj--eight persons out of one hundred and thirty-four, die daily 

 from local causes, and the great majority are untimely deaths." 



' Paris, Rome and other prominent cities, might be cited, in confirmation 

 of similar conclusions. 



In our own countrj' and during the discussions of 1859, it was shown at 

 that time, that New York and Brooklyn might claim the unenviable dis- 

 tinction of the most unhealthy cities among those of their rank, while the 

 United States stood high in comparison with other countries. The mor- 

 tality of New \'ork, shows a gradual downward progress from the com- 

 mencement, being in 



1810 1 in 46.49 



1825 1 in .^4.78 



18;{5 1 in 40.87 



18*5 1 in 37.55 



1855 1 in 27.33 



1857 I in 27.15 



the latter being about the rate of London two centuries ago, while in 1859, 

 lier rate was 1 in 40; as compared together, the ratio of New York being 

 1, that of Brooklyn was 1.242, Boston 1.739, and Baltimore 1.746. While 

 it is to be considered, on one hand, that statistics published to sustain a 

 special theor^'^, may require closer investigation than gerreral statistics, it 

 must still be admitted (^n the other, that in any city a heavy proportionate 

 loss of young or mature persons, whether by pestilence or the less emphatic 

 action, often no less fatal, of continued mortality all the j'car through, and 

 especially the preponderance of death in certain localities, does furnish 

 ample reason for the most energetic inquiry into sanitary remedies and 

 tiieir prompt application. 



The ratio of mortality in New York in 1856 and '57, was as follows: 



1856. 1857. 



Istwardlin 21.04 21.96 



6 til ward 1 in 23.47 29.89 



9th ward 1 in 42.94 41.56 



11th ward 1 in 34.42 36.61 



13th ward 1 in 25.20 22.36 



15th ward I in 55.12 69.68 



There can be but one inference drawn from a continued testimony of this 

 kind, for the 15th and 9th wards show what is possible in public protec- 

 tion, while all the rest show what is fatal in neglect of precautions entirely 

 within the scope of medical and engineering skill. In the universal tragedy 

 of human misery, hereditarj' disease, intemperate habits and improper food 

 have an important effect, in combinaticm with other sources of siiflering; 

 but no incidental or individual predisposition to disease, can justify neglect 

 of those prominent physical evils, which, in the ground we walk over, in 

 the water we drink, and in the air we breathe, arc nurtured and accumu- 

 lated, as constant reservoirs of malady to those who do not " live out half 

 their diiys." 



[Am IxsT.l L< 



