Public Parks. 83 



We need parks for our school children, as we have no places 

 to which they can resort for out-of-door play, and where they can 

 obtain healthful recreation, with the exception of the limited grounds 

 surrounding the school houses. They can also be made use of as 

 the means of instruction, by the arboretum, botanical collections and 

 the collections of animals that are found in them. 



The moral influence of parks is decided. Man is brought in 

 contact with nature, — is taken away from the artificial conditions in 

 which he lives in cities ; and such associations exercise a vast influence 

 for good. In the Central Park, only 56S arrests have been made, 

 and these of a trivial character, out of 30,731,847 visitors. '''•The 

 people of Salthnore have been their ovjn conservators of the 

 -parks. They appreciate and etijoy the?n., and they preserve thefn. 

 The appeal made to them by the co??i?nissiotz in the first year of 

 the parks, has been most fully and honorably responded to." * We 

 have no places of resort on holidays. By creating them, we take 

 many away from other and worse places, and thus do much toward 

 encouraging the young in habits of sobriety and temperance. They 

 also afford a field for the exercise of those robust games which tend 

 so much to the development of the physical system. 



From the preceding observations, particularly on the local 

 topography and chai-acter of the diseases, there ought to be little 

 doubt as to the proper positions in which parks should be located, in 

 order to make them alike convenient to the city, and promotive of 

 the public health. 



There is upon this question a community of interest betw^een 

 the different sections of the city, which ought to override all consid- 

 erations of a local natui-e, and lead to harmonious action. All 

 should cooperate to give each section the full benefits of such public 

 resorts, bearing in mind, that while one portion of the city may be 

 locally favored, the entire population share in the advantages. While 

 one portion of the city may be peculiarly exposed to malaria, the 



A verage Excess of Males over Fe7nales, compared luith Population. 



First nine years i in 2489 of Population. 



Last " " I in 4291 " " 



A verage Proportion of Deaths by Consumption. 



First nine years i in 367 of deaths from all causes. 



Last " " I in 4S4 " " " " " 



Philadelphia, 1862, i in 7 7-9, or 13 per cent ; 1S63, i in 7 2-3 or 13 per cent. ; 1864, 1 in 7 5-8, 

 or 13 per cent. : 1S67, i in 6 1-2, or 15 1-2 per cent. New Orleans, 1867, i in 15, or 6 6-10 per cent. 

 St. Louis, Mo., 1868, I in 10 1-3, or 9 7-10 per cent. Providence, R. L, 1866, i in s 1-7, or 19 4-10 

 per cent. Chicago, i868, i in 14 1-3, or 7 per cent. New York, 1867, 12 percent. 

 * Ninth Annual Report Park Commission. 



