206 



quite as many die in these latter places, in proportion, before 

 attaining the age of one year. 



Tlie diseases hy which this prodigious number of children 

 are annually destroyed are chiefly convulsions, scarlatina, 

 small-pox, hydrocephalus, teething, hooping-cough, measles, 

 croup, tabes mesenterica, and worms. In the whole of 

 these Yorkshire towns during the four years of 1841, 1840, 

 1839, and 1838, there died 15,005 children under five years 

 of age, of these diseases. In Leeds and Sheffield, 8,640 ; 

 and in Halifax, Huddersfield, and Wakefield, 6,365, leaving 

 in favour of the three latter places 2,275, or about 570 per 

 annum. There are also a small number destroyed by re- 

 mittent fever, pneumonia, diarrhoea, and thrush, not included 

 in the enumeration. During these four years, scarlatina was 

 at least twice as fatal every year in Leeds and Sheffield as in 

 the other three places ; and in 1838, small-pox carried off in 

 Leeds and Sheffield four times as many ; while convulsions 

 and hydrocephalus (water in the head) destroyed 6,880 (say 

 7,000) out of 15,000 during the same period, and these two 

 latter diseases (convulsions and hydrocephalus) were quite as 

 fatal in Huddersfield, Halifax, and Wakefield, as in Leeds 

 and Sheffield. They are, no doubt, increased by the enor- 

 mous quantity of soothing syrups and cordials, containing 

 poisonous doses of opiates. In Ashton-under-Lyne, seven 

 gallons per week are sold, under the names of Godfrey," 

 " Dalby," " Soothing Syrup," " Peace," &c. 



Consumption, or Phthisis, hurries off, in the manufacturing 

 towns of Yorkshire, more adults than any other complaint ; 

 and the regularity with which she marks out her victims in 

 each year is very remarkable. In Halifax, Huddersfield, 

 and Wakefield, beginning with the year 1841, and going 

 backwards, the numbers in each year are 990, 944, 940, 

 and 910; for Sheffield and Leeds, during the same years, 

 1,083, 1,198, 1,130, and 1,223. The total difference in 



