250 NOTES ON THE POPULATION OF NEW ENGLAND. 



of 1 to 295, giving a difference of 72 in favor of the immigrant popu- 

 lation. This is the mode of reckoning adopted by the North American 

 Reviewer, who says that the Report proves one or both of the follow- 

 ing results — " either that insanity (using the word generically) is 

 more prevalent in Massachusetts than anywhere else, or that its 

 dimensions have been more accurately guaged." 



The insanity then, among the native population in Massachusetts, 

 is as 1 to 293 ; and that the reader may perceive the value of this 

 ratio, I would state that, about the year 1838, the insane of England 

 were reckoned as 1 to 1,000 ; in Wales as 1 to 800 ; in France as 1 

 to 1,000 ; in Prussia as 1 to 1,000 ; in Scotland as 1 to 574 ; in Nor- 

 way as 1 to 551. The last Census of our Province gives for Lower 

 Canada 1 in 513, and in "Upper Canada 1 in 890. The British 

 Census for 1851, gives the insane of Great Britain as 1 to 1,115, 

 which, however, is probably under the mark. 



Another proof and source of degeneracy in New England, is the 

 prevalence of strumous diseases among its native inhabitants. I can- 

 not indeed quote figures in reference to this matter. Every one, 

 however, is aware of the fact that such diseases are alarmingly com- 

 mon. In Britain, people look with dread on such a taint. Among the 

 Scottish peasantry it is almost unknown, and, generally throughout 

 all Scotland, there prevails a fear of intermarrying with parties 

 affected by it. As for the state of feeling in England I cannot confi- 

 dently speak. I believe, however, that it resembles more or less that 

 of the population north of the Tweed. In New England the case is 

 far otherwise. In town or country, no one makes any secret of being 

 afflicted with such diseases. Contrariwise, people tell you all about 

 it, and discourse on the matter as if it were the measles which ailed 

 them. Such affections seem to be so universal, that no delicacy is felt, 

 or possible in the circumstances. 



I need not go on to multiply proofs. People who visit ^Sew 

 England wdl find them if they use their eyes. The men are for 

 the most part lathe-like, angular, and sallow ; their shoulders have 

 a most jagged squareness, and their chests a hollo wness equal to 

 any which ever troubled Theodore Hook. Then one looks in vain 

 for calf or hip. Such accessories seem by universal consent to 

 have been discarded by the entire population, raising the tailor from 

 the rank of a mechanic to that of a sculptor. When, again, we 

 turn from the men to the women, we find equally striking proofs of 

 degeneracy. Not only are their shoulders narrow to a most 

 unnatural degree, but their chests likewise are hollow and contract- 





