52 
Sanitary Science in the United States : [January, 
pleteness of the returns in this respedt could be improved. 
An enquiry into the number of births registered, as compared 
with that which the Board had reason to believe occurred, 
revealed a deficiency in the registry of 65 per cent. It has 
been stated by an American writer on these topics that “ it 
would be impossible for a large portion of the adult men and 
women born in the United States to prove by any public 
records or other legal documents that they were legitimate 
offspring, with a natural right to the name they bear, or 
even that their parents were ever married.” 
The system of mortality registration was gradually im- 
proved until the returns made in the year 1871 were probably 
nearly perfedt. When compared with the mortality in other 
cities, this accuracy, however, told against New York, for 
while its death-rate was 28’6 per thousand, that of St. 
Louis in the same year was reported at 17 in a thousand ; 
of Rochester, 16; Buffalo, 14; and Jersey City, only 7. In 
matter of marriages and deaths, the increased knowledge 
among clergymen, physicians, and others on whose voluntary 
co-operation the registration largely depended, had resulted 
in an apparent increase in the annual marriage and birth-rate, 
but still the number of births returned was probably less by 
10,000 than the true. In the following year the Board 
instituted suits against these parties, which had a beneficial 
effedt, but it became evident that nothing short of important 
changes in the law would secure completeness. 
I have been thus particular in narrating the history of 
vital registration in New York because this city was the 
first to undertake a reform, and because its reports were the 
first which attempted to keep abreast with the development 
of sanitary science and to diffuse this knowledge broadcast. 
The course of legislation on these points is one which every 
city and State has, or is going through. In reference to 
New Jersey, the fadts are so fresh that I scarcely need 
recall them. At each meeting of the New Jersey State 
Sanitary Association since its origin, three years ago, the 
inaccuracy and worthlessness of the State vital statistics 
were conclusively shown in the reports of the committees 
on this subjedt. The Association formulated a protest, and 
appointed a special committee to memorialise the Legisla- 
ture. By these means, and by the efforts of the State Board 
of Health, public opinion on the subjedt was awakened and 
so far educated that during the winter just passed a law 
was enadted which gives to New Jersey one of the best 
systems of registration as yet devised in this country. It 
has incorporated in it two features to which its peculiar 
