Scientific Intelligencce. 189' 



In 1780 the annual mortality of England and Wales, was 1 in 

 40. By tlie last census, (1821,) it had fallen to 1 in 58, nearly 

 one third. The rate of mortality is of course not equal throughout 

 the country. Sussex enjoys the lowest rate of any English country ; 

 it is 1 in 72. Middlesex affords the other extreme, 1 in 47. Yet 

 here, in 1811 the mortality was as great as 1 in 36. It is a circum- 

 stance well worthy of note, that the aguish counties of England do 

 not, as might have been expected, stand high in the list. In Lincoln- 

 shire, the rate of mortality is only 1 in 62. This is attributed to 

 the exemption of fenny countries generally from consumption. — ■ 

 Dr. Wells went so far as to advise the removal of consumptive patients 

 to the heart of the Cambridgeshire fens, rather than to Hastings or 

 Sidmouth. 



The decline in mortality is even more striking in the cities than in 

 rural districts. While the metropolis has extended itself in all direc- 

 tions, and multiplied its inhabitants to an enormous amount, — in other 

 words, while the seeming sources of its unhealthiness have been large- 

 ly augmented, it has actually become more friendly to health. In 

 the middle of the last century, the annual mortality was about 1 in 20, 

 By the census of 1821 it appeared as 1 in 40 ; so that in the space 

 of 70 years, the chances of existence are exactly doubled in Londono 

 The rate of mortality in Manchester, at the present time, does not 

 appear to exceed 1 in 74. As far back as the fourteenth century, 

 M. Villerme has calculated that the mortality in Paris, was about 1 

 in 17. About the middle of the last century, it was about 1 in 25y. 

 in Paris, and 1 in 29 for the whole of France. At the present time 

 it is 1 in 32 in Paris, and 1 in 40 for the whole country. The an- 

 nual mortality of Nice, a small town enjoying a factitious reputation 

 of salubrity, is as high as 1 in 31 ; Naples, 1 in 28 : Leghorn, 1 in 

 35 ; Berlin, 1 in 34 5 Madrid, 1 in 29 ; Rome, 1 in 25 ; Amster- 

 dam, 1 in 24; Vienna, 1 in 22. The average annual deaths through- 

 out England and Wales, is only 1 in 60 : Sweden and Holland lose- 

 annually 1 in 48 ; France, 1 in 40 ; Prussia and Naples, 1 in 34 ;; 

 Wirtemberg, 1 in 33. In Sweden, among the deaths in 1823, only 

 five persons exceeded one hundred years, of whom, one was a man 

 and four women. The marriages were nearly 24,000, among which, 

 ten men married for the fourth time, one for the fifth time, and one 

 for the sixth time ! Upwards of 1400 women bore children from 

 the age of forty-five to fifty. Ffty-three women had borne children 

 beyond the age of fifty. Among nearly 100,000 women in labors 



