The Sun.
London, England, 1861-05-11 00:00:00

VITAL STA2ISTICS OF SCOTLAND.

The Registrar-General for Scotland, who has
hitherto issued no detailed annual reports, has just
commenced the series, beginning with his first year
of office, 1855, Taking
al s firstautehnet
attention
, thethe
isrucpu emr: intendcnt of statistics
stance that the proportion . of boys born to girls is
greater in the rural districts than in the towns, in
which, indeed, in that yearthe
illegitimate boys
born indeed,
in
fewer •
in number than the
girls. This is attributed to a residence in towns
weakening the physical strength of parents, and it
is considered a rule so established as to " afford
a valuable hint to those who desire male
progeny." With reference to incontinence
the report states that it is found most preva
i -
lent in those districts in which farm work s done
by unmarried young men and women, who sleep in
the farmhouse, or sometimes in bothies set apart 1
for that purpose. It is contended that in many of
the irregular connexions which too often in Scot-
land are substituted for marriage, the parties are
true to each other, and that, indeed, the vice of un-
chastity seems greatly owing to the excess of a
Scottish virtue, for the proportion of illegitimate
births is highest where the test of signature of the
marriage register indicates the greatest prevalence
of education, and where, therefore, it may be sup-
! posed that the prudential check operates most to
prevent improvident marriages. It would appear
from the year's returns, that though marriages are
much fewer in Scotland than in England, yet when
Scotchwomen do marry they are more prolific than
the English. Some rather curious matrimonial
statistics are supplied. It is remarked that widows
marrying bachelors, selected, as a general rule,
husbands younger than themselves ; "the status
which the widow had acquired by her former mar-
riage presented inducements to the unsettled
bachelor, which gave the widow a great advantage
over her unmarried sisters; and as power is dear to
every heart, a younger member of the opposite sex
was selected, 'as more likely to leave that power
in her hand than if the chosen second husband had
been her senior in years." The Scotch stand the
educational test well ; 88 6 per cent. of the men
who married, and 77.2 of the women, signed
their names. In England, in the same year,
the proportions were 70.5 and 58.8, The deaths in
the year (a year of more than average mortality)
were only 206 in 10,000 persons, showing Scot-
land to be one of the very healthiest countries on
the face of the globe. The annual percentage of
deaths to population is stated thus :—Scotland,
2.06; England, 2.21 ; France, 2.36 ; Belgium,
2.52 ; Holland, 2.76 ; Prussia, 283 ; Spain, 2.85 ;
Sardinia, 2.91. Some points of interest in relation
to disease and mortality are noticed. Including
the secondary diseases, twice as many women died
from childbirth as in England. This is thought
not much attributable to distance from medical aid,
and the question is raised whether it is not owing
to certain anatomical conformations. It may seem
strange to speak of Scotland as a place for the con-
sumptive, but Argyll and the Western Isles enjoy
a remarkable immunity from consumption ; those
islands have a mild winter climate, with a more
humid atmosphere than the mainland when the
arid easterly winds prevail in spring. Of the in-
fluence of weather we learn that in Scotland, with
the single exception of diarrhoeal complaints, all the
ordinary epidemics of the country increase with the
increase of cold, and it is the cold that kills. The
diseases induced by heat seldom prevail anywhere
until the mean monthly temperature rises above
60 deg., and that is a rare occurrence, in Scot-
land.