Ch. x. Of the Checks to Population, fyc. 451 



which are supposed to be accurate, that in the 

 country parishes the mortality is small ; and that 

 the proportions of 1 in 45, I in 50, and 1 in 55, 

 are not uncommon. According to a table of the 

 probabilities of life, calculated from the bills of 

 mortality in the parish of Kettle by Mr. Wilkie, 

 the expectation of an infant's life is4G"6,* which is 

 very high, and the proportion which dies in the 

 first year is only one 10th. Mr. Wilkie further 

 adds, that from 36 parish accounts, published in 

 the first volume, the expectation of an infant's life 

 appears to be 40*3. But in a table which he has 

 produced in the last volume, calculated for the 

 whole of Scotland from Dr. Webster's survey, 

 the expectation at birth appears to be only 31 

 years. j" This, however, he thinks, must be too 

 low, as it exceeds but little the calculations for 

 the town of Edinburgh. 



The Scotch registers appeared to be in general 

 so incomplete, that the returns of 99 parishes only 

 are published in the Population Abstracts of 1801 ; 

 and, if any judgment can be formed from these, 

 they shew a very extaordinary degree of healthi- 

 ness, and a very small proportion of births. The 

 sum of the population of these parishes in 1801 

 was 217,873 ;% the average of burials, for five 

 years ending in 1800, was about 3,815; and of 

 births 4,928 :§ from which it would appear that 



* Statistical Account of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 407. 

 f Id. vol. xxi. p. 383. 



J Population Abstracts, Parish Registers, p. 459. 

 § Id. p. 458. 



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