TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 



205 



On (Jtc 21oH(diti/ of Adolescence. By Joun Bedj)OE, M.D., F.E.S. 



This p<apcr was founded on Mr. Cbarles Ansell's, jun., Statistics of Upper-Oki-s 

 Families. According- to Mr. Ausell's tigiu-es, the mortality of upper-class girls, from 

 1 1 to 17 years of age, decidedly exceeds that of boys, and about 15 and 10 it actually 

 surpasses, to a notable degree, that of both boys and girls of the lower classes,_as 

 inferred from the English Life Table. Beyond 17 the upper-class female mortality 

 recovers itself, and remains very favourable throughout the remainder of life ; while 

 at the same age (17) the mortality of upper-class boys .suddenly starts up, leaving 

 below it first the upper-class female and then the lower-class male and female 

 cui-ves, and from 19 to 2-5 ranking worst of the four. A comparison of the statistics 

 of childhood and youth, collected by Mr. W. Bov.'ser, Et^v. J. Hodgson, and others, 

 confirms Mi-, Ansell's facts. The excess of male upper-class mortality from 17_to 

 23 may be accounted for by that being the period of university and student life, 

 of competitive examinations, sometimes of overstrain of mind and body, not unfre- 

 quently of fatal accidents, more often of dissipation and excess of various kinds. 

 In the case of the excessive upper-class female mortality from 11 or 12 to 17 or 18, 

 the connexion with the period of puberty is more obvious; and in relation to this 

 must be mentioned the aggregate of influences which may be summed up in the 

 term " school-life," and which afiect nppcr-class but not lower-class girls. The.se 

 considerations reinforce Sidney Smi'th's arguments against boarding-schools and in 

 favour of the Scotch daj'-school system of education, at all events for girls during 

 the age-period in question. 



On iJic Deatli-rates of some Hecdth-Eesorts, and specicdly of Clifton. 

 By John Beddoe, M.D., F.R.S. 



The conditions governing the relative mortality of tovv'ns fall under three heads, 

 of which the second and third cannot be completely divided. These heads are 

 Natural Climate, Artificial Climate, and Social Conditions, which last includes the 

 amount and distribution of wealth, the prevailing occupations of the people, the 

 degree of prevalence of drunkenness and vice, or of the improved habits whicli 

 generally come with education, the proportions of se.xes and ages in the popula- 

 tion, the aggregation of individuals into masses, as in foundling hospitals, large 

 schools, and ban-acks. 



Advantages of the three kinds commonlj' go together : wealth seeks the best 

 localities and provides itself with the best artificial climate. Towns containing a 

 large proportion of well-to-do people can fairly be compared, as to their death-rate^, 

 only among themselves. For selecting such towns for comparison the excess of 

 young women from 15 to 35 yields on the whole tho best test; and on that prin- 

 ciple the following Table has been constructed : — 



Average Rates of Mortality for 1871 and 1872 in Herjistrar-GercraVs Suhdivisimi. 



Ditto, exclusive of 

 Eate deaths in liospitiils and 



per 1000. Workhouses. 



West bury-on -Trym (including part of Clifton)... 14-5 ]4'5 



Newton (Torquav) 16-2 16-1 



Cheltenham .....'. 17-8 16-2 



Clifton 16-3 163 



Hastings (St. Mary) 16-9 16-6 



Brighton (Kemp Town and Palace) 16-9 16'7 



Teignmouth 17'2 170 



Banwell (Weston-super-Mare) 17'7 17'3 



Hastings i9<-\ 17-5 



Leamington 18'7 17"9 



Brighton 21-9 18-6 



Bath (Bathwick, Lansdown, Walcot) 188 18-8 



Bath (whole district) 21-4 18-8 



Scarborough 23(.' 2L4 



Exmouth ., 21-V 21-6 



