PROCEEDINGS 
OF THE 
ROYAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH. 
vol. vi. 1866-67. No. 72. 
Monday , Yltb December 1866. 
The Hon. Lord HEAVES, Vice-President, in the Chair. 
The following Communications were read : — ■ 
I. Influence of Marriage on the Death-Rates of Men and 
Women in Scotland. By James Stark, M.D., &c. 
The object of this paper was to show the different death-rates 
which prevailed among the married and unmarried men and women 
in Scotland. 
It was pointed out that the mortality among the unmarried men 
was, at all ages, very much higher than among the married ; that, 
in fact, the mortality of the unmarried was thrice as high at the 
age 20 to 25 years ; and only slowly approximated to that of the 
married man at 85 years of age. 
The difference in the death-rates of the married and unmarried 
men was rendered more striking by calculating their mean age at 
death, when it was found that from 20 years to the close of life 
the mean age at death of the married man was 59£ years, that of 
the unmarried man only 40 years-— giving a difference in favour of 
the married man of 19£ years of life. When the mean age at 
death was calculated from the 25th year, it was found to give a 
mean age of 60 T 3 ^ths years to the married, but only 47 T \ths years to 
the unmarried, or a difference of 12£ years in favour of married 
life. 
VOL. VI. 
Q 
