548 PRICE OF CORN IN RELATION TO THE FUNCTION OF VITALITY, 
duced onl)’’ a diminution of 13-1000 in 
the births. On inarriao'es the effect was 
rather more marked : there were 918 
less marriages for every million during 
the year of greatest scarcity than there 
were during the year of abundance : but 
the years of greatest abundance were 
not the years of most marriages, nor of 
the greatest social happiness. Society 
was most prosperous when- provisions 
were at an intermediate price. 'fhe 
small annual variation in births, deaths, 
and marriages, even for years of great 
difference of price, induced the Baron 
to search for a function of these three 
social elements, which would both ren- 
der the variations more perceptible, and, 
correcting one by the other, would re- 
move the perturbations arising from ac- 
cidental causes. This function is the 
mean between the number of births di- 
vided by the number of deaths, and the 
number of marriages divided by the 
number of deaths. It is sufficiently ob- 
vious, that this function is independent 
of the amount of population, and the 
Baron considered that its magnitude is 
a very fair test of social prosperity. He 
proposed to name it the Function of Vi- 
tality. In the years of extreme scarcity, 
the function of vitality averaged 0.5937. 
In the years of high prices it averaged 
0.609'2. In the years of intermediate 
prices it averaged 0.6168. — He then ob- 
served, that, according to Dr. Cleland’s 
paper, read on the preceding day, the 
function of vitality in Glasgowwas about 
O.70OO — a clear proof that social happi- 
ness was greater in England than in 
France. He trusted that this function 
would be calculated for the principal 
continental nations and for different 
epochs, in order to compare their social 
prosperity by a precise and identical 
standard. As one valuable result, he 
showed that this function was far less in 
England during seasons of commercial 
depression than of agricultural distress. 
In illustration of the Baron’s views 
respecting the price of corn, and its re- 
lation to the function of vitality, Mr, 
Porter read the following table:— 
Pi ice. 
Baptisms. 
But iais. 
Marti 
J 80 J.. 
115 . 1 
237 
v 04 
67 
1802 .. 
67.9 
273 
199 
90 
180 . 1 .. 
67.1 
294 
203 
94 
IglO. . 
10 . 1.2 
S 98 
•i08 
81 
1812 .. 
, 122.8 
soa 
ISO 
82 
181 . 7 .. 
, 63.8 
3 14 
197 
69 
1822 
43.3 
370 
220 
98 
Lord Nugent remarked, that, while 
the population of France was notorious- 
ly increasing, the number of births ap- 
peared to be stationary. Baron Dupin 
said, that this was owing to the pro- 
gress of civilization ; fewer children, 
comparatively,, were born, and fewer 
died. 
Mr. Porter read the following table, - 
in confirmation of the Baron’s views : — 
LONDON* BILLS OF MORTALITY. 
Deaths under 20 years of Age. 
I7.'5l— 60 ..<5 J per ceni 
J76I 70 ...50| — 
17 . .S'T — 
1781 - iO . ..49| ■ — 
1791 - l.«00.. 493 ■— 
l.'-Ol - 10.. ..47| 
18 I-V0 . ..451-10 — 
IS21-80 ...46i — 
IS3t -33 421-3 — 
, Diff'*rence beiiveen 
V first and last of 
I these rlecennial pe- 
j riotls, 1 | per cent. 
DifTerei'ce between 
17)1-60 and the 
last of these riece 
Jiary periods, 7^ 
per cetit. 
Deaths in Christ’s Hospital. 
1814- l«t I ill i()0 
1819-23 I - 12^ 
1824 24 I — 1.35 
1829—33 1 — 1574 
Births M-.irtia'jes- neath.s. 
lrtP7 ISnO ...I in 36 ...I ill 18....1 in i23 
I 80 i 3 - 1820 .. .. I — 32 ...1 — 49 I — l 2 l 
Ir26 - 183i) ..1 - 3l ...1 - — l28 
Some inquiry was made respecting 
the effects of Vaccination, to which Mr. 
Porter replied by producing the follow- 
ing table : — 
Persons dying of Small Pox within the 
London Bills of Mortality. 
1 T.-tO - 1760 . . 
91 ill luOo 
1770-17 0 .. 
102 — 
1810-1820... 
43 - 
1820-1830.. . 
. .. .15 — 
1831 — 1833.. 
23 — 
Mr. Fripp thought it a great anomaly 
that a low price of corn should not, of 
necessity, produce a high function of 
vitality, and he attributed this to a want 
of forethought in the labouring popula- 
tion, owing to their deficiency of educa- 
tion. — Dr. W. C. Taylor said, that the 
anomaly was explicable on elementary 
principles. A very slight excess of 
supply above demand produced a very 
disproportionate fall in price. He in- 
stanced two or three cases in which the 
disporportion had been very great. 
Baron Dupin had noticed the great dis- 
disproportion between the fall in price 
and increase of supply, both in the 
essay before the Section, and in his 
memoir on National Industry, addres- 
sed to the Institute in 1831. Dr. Tay- 
lor was of opinion that this was pre- 
cisely the case in which Statistics failed 
us, for, whether the excess of supply 
over demand was small or great, of 
course within certain limits, the fall in 
A 
