The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-04-10 00:00:00

MARRIED OR SINGLE?

If we may believe our Paris contemporary and
namesake, Le Globe, the married state is one which
every man and woman should devoutly pray for (says
the Globe). Not only is life prolonged, but society is
benefitted to a degree that few have any conception of.
According to the statistics given, which are said to be
gathered from other countries besides France, mar-
riage would appear to be the best assurance against
death, sickness, crime, and suicide. It seems that
the life of a single man of twenty-five is no better
than that of a married man of forty-five, and a
widower of from twenty-five to thirty is not likely
to live longer than a married man of from fifty-five to
sixty. In fact, celibacy ages a man by at least twenty
years, and the state of a widower is still more deplor-
able. Single women and widows are, it appears simi-
larly at a disadvantage, except in the case of early
marriage, which La Globe states is a fruitful cause of
death in women when it is contracted before the age of
twenty-five. Widowers, according to these statistics,
are much more likely to be short-lived than widows;
in fact, below the age of twenty-five the chances of
death are three or four times that of married men. This
danger, however, diminishes after the age of from forty
to fifty. Widows also are, as a rule, much shorter-lived
than married women up to forty. With regard to crime,
taking 150 criminals, the proportion of single to
married is about two to one. In a population which
furnishes 100 male married criminals, there are 170
single men, and in one with 100 females the un-
married of the same sex reach the high figure of
240. The number of suicides among single per-
sons, including widows and widowers, is also out
of all proportion to that of married men and
women, the relative rate being five to one. The
same set of figures point to single life as most
prejudicial to health. Consumption is a disease
which affects single persons much more than those
who are married. M. Janssens, of Brussels, has given
his opinion that it is twice as fatal in the case of
widows and widowers than with married people, and
it is far more deadly with single persons from the age
of twenty-five to forty. Le Globe suits up in view o
all these facts that a married life is the most to be de-
sired, and appeals to its countilmen to follow the
example of other nations and not put off the happy
state too long. The null-kw de convenance is too
deep-seated an institution in France for the considera-
tions set forth in our contemporary to have much
weight, and we fear that, however correct the statis-
tics given may be, that few of the readers of the
Paris paper will be induced to change their bachelor
life and become good citizens and happy peres de
famille.

MEDICINE CHESTS IN FRANCE.

In cases of sudden illness the difficulty of procuring
promptly the requisite remedies is frequently very
great in a vast number of country parts in ranee,
which are often unprovided with a chemist's shop, so
that under circumstances calling for speedy remedy
the doctor has either to wait while a messenger is de-
spatched to a town or village several miles off, or to
content himself with the medical herbs sold at the
grocers' or kept by the inhabitants in their houses in
readiness for any slight indisposition. Country doctors in
France generally have on their premises, it is true, certain
drugs, but by no means a sufficient assortment
to meet all emergencies, and very often even
the doctors' house is not reached without much
loss of time, which, under some circumstances,
proves a fatal delay for the patient. To remedy
this state of things, M. Lepere, . Minister of the
Interior, has issued a circular to the prefets of
departments inviting them to provide every
rural commune with a medical chest containing
all those articles, medicines, and instruments in-
dispensable in urgent cases of sickness or acci-
dent. These chests are to be in the keeping of
the mayors, who are held responsible for the use
made of them, and who are chargeol with the duty of
distinguishing between such drugs or medicaments as
can be safely placed [at the disposal of the country
folk in case of need, and those which are only to be
given into medical practitioner's hands. Each chest
will cost, it is reckoned, two hundred francs, a
sum which will not greatly tax municipal budgets,
whilst the innovation will be of incontestable
service to rural populatiMs. There is but one
objection to be made to M. Lepbre's project.
He has decided that the contents of the medical
chests are to be placed gratuitously at the dis-
posal of the public. This is an excellent arrange-
ment as far as the poorer part of the community is
concerned, but may, perhaps, hinder those who are in
a position to pay for what they require from profiting
by the advantage afforded them' since by so doing they
would seem to be. the recipients of charity. It would
have been better, perhaps, that the poor should have
had what they required for nothing, whilst those
whose means permitted them to pay were left at
liberty to do so. This, however, is but a trifling
defect in an otherwise excellent measure.—.Evening
Standard. -