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LIFE IN MONTREAL, [Chap. VII. 



friends whom they would have been sorry to leave. So he 

 wrote to England for school appliances, including "twenty- 

 five copies of Bentley's 6 Health made Easy/ " and cheap 

 mathematical instruments, and inch-magnifiers — common horn 

 ones, for botanical walks, etc. 



For the next few years, his chief public labours were in 

 connexion with Sanitary Reform. The Annual Reports of the 

 Association show how earnestly he and a few others of kindred 

 spirit were working, and what need there was for their exer- 

 tions. To these we shall now briefly allude, reserving, how- 

 ever, the proceedings relating to the Cemetery, till we record 

 their successful issue. 



Soon after the first Annual Meeting, Philip published in 

 "The Canadian Naturalist" (April 26, 1867) an essay "On the 

 Vital Statistics of Montreal," which was reprinted as a " Supple- 

 ment to 6 The Montreal Gazette.' " He referred to his previous 

 article in 1859 : there were now fresh details, furnished by the 

 census of 1861. From these it appeared that Canada was 

 a remarkably healthy country : the percentage of deaths per 

 thousand being only 9*3 (in 1857 it was 10*5). Upper Canada 

 (7*2) was more healthy than Lower Canada (11*9). Montreal 

 had a bad precedence — 22*5, yet this was scarcely above the 

 average of England. He found, however, that these returns 

 were inaccurate on the face of them : — the deaths were twice 

 tabulated — under ages, and under diseases ; but there was a 

 glaring discrepancy between the two estimates : and the census 

 return of deaths in Montreal was only 2038 ; while the actual 

 interments, at the two cemeteries there, were 3 181 ! The essay 

 contained a minute examination of the mortality in Montreal at 

 different ages, and in different months. It announced the ghastly 

 fact that " three out of every seven children born in Montreal 

 die before they are one year old' 7 (p. 18). Although the efforts 

 made in the spring of 1866, and the cool season, saved 470 

 lives (as compared with the previous year), in July when the 

 cleaning ceased, and the embedded poisons were drawn out by 

 the sun,* " the death-rate of the children rose at once from 



* The latitude of Montreal is 45 0 30' — about the same as Milan. 



