Ch. iii. in Russia. 305 



upon ; and these tend to prove the general salu- 

 brity of the climate. But there is one fact re- 

 corded in them, which is directly contrary to what 

 has been observed in all other countries. This is 

 a much greater mortality of female children than 

 of male. In the period from 1781 to 1785, of 

 1000 boys born 147 only died within the first 

 year, but of the same number of girls 310.* The 

 proportion is as 10 to 21, which is inconceivable, 

 and must indeed have been in some measure ac- 

 cidental, as in the preceding periods the propor- 

 tion was only as 10 to 14 ; but even this is very 

 extraordinary, as it has been generally remarked, 

 that in every stage of life, except during the period 

 of childbearing, the mortality among females is 

 less than among males. The climate of Sweden 

 does not appear to be very different from that of 

 Russia; and M. Wargentin observes, with respect 

 to the Swedish tables, that it appears from them 

 that the smaller mortality of females is not merely 

 owing to a more regular and less laborious life, 

 but is a natural law, which operates constantly 

 from infancy to old age.f 



According to M. KrafFt,^: the half of all that are 

 born at Petersburg live to 25 ; which shews a 

 degree of healthiness in early life very unusual for 

 so large a town ; but after twenty, a mortality 

 much greater than in any other town in Europe 



* Memoire par W. L. Krafft, Nova Acta Academiae, torn, i v. 

 f Memoires Abrtges de L'Academie de Stockholm, p. 28. 

 I Nova Acta Academiae, torn. iv. 

 VOL. I. X 



