200 



The Rev. Wm. Thorp then read the following paper : — 



ON THE CAUSES OF THE DIFFERENT RATES OF MORTALITY 

 IN SOME OF THE MOST POPULOUS TOWNS IN THE 

 WEST-RIDING OF YORKSHIRE. 



It is highly probable that if any general diminution of 

 human suffering is to be afforded to large portions of man- 

 kind, it will be in the prevention of those diseases which 

 destroy great numbers of the human race. 



As all classes of men have the same organization of their 

 bodies, it might be expected that they would live, on an 

 average, the same number of years; but as this is not the 

 case, it becomes a most important subject of inquiry, to 

 determine to what extent life is shortened under the more 

 unfavourable conditions of climate, locality, employment, 

 diet, &c.; and as the influence of these various circumstances 

 can only be efficiently investigated upon the spot where they 

 are found, it becomes worthy of the attention of a local 

 society like ours, to examine the causes of the different 

 rates of mortality in some of the most populous towns in 

 the West- Riding. 



Halifax and Huddersfield, both large manufacturing towns 

 of the same staple article, and with a dense population of 

 above 100,000 persons in each, (i. e, in the Registrar- 

 General's districts), have exactly the same rates of mortality. 

 That is, taking the population and the number of deaths in 

 each district, and dividing the one by the other, the rate of 

 mortality in each is 2.1 per cent, per annum, or 1 in 48 

 dying for the three years past, or as far as we have any 

 authentic information from registration. These towns, 

 moreover, are extremely healthy, being more so than any 

 of the large towns in England, with the exception of 

 Kidderminster. They are even more healthy than the rural 



