174 KEPORT — 1869. 



and from the still more melancholy spectacle which sometimes presents itself of 

 men fighting against facts in support of a theory, and trjing to bend them to it, 

 and to suppress what makes against it : — we learn that it is important to spare no 

 pains in the first collection of our materials, to neglect no source ot information, 

 and to despise no element of calculation. We learn to be slow to dogmatise, and 

 to be patient of correction and contradiction. And we learn, or ought to learn, 

 that we cannot successfidly conduct a statistical inquiry into any particular sub- 

 ject, without keeping our attention alive to the inquiries which other persons are 

 conducting in connexion with other, and, perhaps, apparently remote subjects, and 

 to the bearing which their discoveries may possibly have upon our own. 



Let me illustrate what I have been saying by a brief reference to our vital sta- 

 tistics. 



Here, in the first place, we have an interesting illustration of the law of Stability 

 and of the law of Variation. We are able to deduce from the statistics of births 

 and of deaths averages of human life on which we can calculate with considerable 

 certainty ; and by so doing we are of coiu-se enabled to secure some important ad- 

 vantages. But we go further, we distinguish the various causes of death ; we 

 separate those which appear preventible from those over which we seem to have 

 little or no control ; and we conclude that if we can hit upon the proper remedies, 

 we may so far qualify the rigid law of Stability by invoking the aid of her elastic 

 sister the law of Variation, as to diminish in a sensible degree the rate of mortality, 

 and to lengthen the term of human life. We act on the conclusion, and we apply 

 our remedies. At first we flatter ourselves that we are in a fair way to attain our 

 object ; but, just as we are congratulating ourselves on having done so, some dis- 

 agreeable fact crops up in an unlooked for quarter, which seems to upset our entire 

 theory. We have just now had our attention drawn to a striking illustration of 

 this contingency. Among the most prominent causes of death some years ago, 

 smallpox held a foremost place. To children it was especially fatal. But small- 

 pox, we learnt, was a disease preventible by vaccination. Vaccination was called 

 to our aid, and with great success. The deaths by smallpox were reduced within 

 an exceedingly narrow compass. But it appears while this, the most formidable, 

 foe of childhood has been repelled, infant mortality has not been reduced in any- 

 thing like a con-esponding proportion. Diptheria and scarlatina have taken the 

 place of the vanquished malady ; and the law of stability seems to be reasserting 

 its authority, and to be demanding that, whether it be by the one disease or bv the 

 other, a like proportion of children shall eveiy year fall victims among us. " Our 

 statists, however, are not discom-aged by this imtoward discovery. They draw 

 from it the true inference, — that the causes of infant mortality, and indeed of 

 human mortality at large, lie deeper than in the prevalence of a particular form of 

 disease ; and, while perceiving that vaccination alone will not put a stop to the 

 premature deaths of children, they still believe those premature deaths to be in a 

 measure preventible, and they seek for further methods of prevention. Having 

 found that the repression of a pai'ticular disease is not sufficient, they inquire into 

 the predisposing causes which render our children obnoxious to disease generally, 

 eliminating as it were from their inquiry the element of which they have already 

 ascertained the value, and not troubling themselves to look for specifics against scar- 

 latina or diptheria, but for general prophylactics against diseases of whatever kind. 

 In short they broaden the investigation, and seek to ascertain the general conditions 

 of health. 



This is in itself a great step in advance ; but we nuist discard the proverb which 

 tells us that it is but the first step which costs trouble. The further the inquiry is 

 carried, the more its difficulties wiU show themselves. Remedies which, before 

 they have been tried, appear certain to be efficacious, may, when tried, only serve 

 to show that we have not yet reached the root of the matter; while the collateral 

 questions which the investigation wiU open up will prove, we may be well assured, 

 pretty intricate ones to settle. When we are told that the primary object to aim 

 at is, the " placing a healthy stock of men in conditions of air, water, warmth, 

 food, dwelling, and work, most favourable for their development," we feel that we 

 have a task of pretty fair dimensions before us, and when we learn, among other 

 things, that " a bad land tenure is a cause of death " (a proposition which does not 



