Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1867-11-16
Interesting Vital Statistics.

The address Of Prof Silas l.. LOOMS, NJ ID +,
delivered at the open ing of ne Nine teentn An
nual course Of lectures of the Medical de-
partment OF Georgetown College on the I5tn
ult, just pu bIished, ontains some interesting
statstles III reference to the proportion of males
TO females IN this country and Europe, and
the laws OF life, there and here. as show wn by
carefully prepared reports on both,s sides of the
Atlantic. Prof. L.omis SAID:
"ln England, Scotland. Ireland. Belgium,
Norway, and Sweden, with entire uniformity,
the number Of males under ten years of age
slightly exceeds that OF the females. At twen-
ty, from the ennis ration of young men, the
number OF females becomes little in excess,
and thus continue through life, T. e., la all
these communities, woman has at 30. 40, ana
60. as firm hold on life as man. II can hard
~ be-, that anything but q general
law of human nature should prevail
through all these widely separated and di fer.
ing Dationali'ies; and hence any departure
which may exist in our own country, pe-
clally IN me oIoer ano more civilized portions,
must be due 10 causes existing In that I'm ne.
diate vicinity. BY the census OF iS6O there
We're in New England and the State OF New
York $4,000 boys and s30,OOO girls under ten
years OF age. Here, as in the European coun-
tries named. the boys are in excess. AT twenty
in consequence OF the migration OF young
men, the females are 1900 in excess. At
thirty, this preponderance has reached 75,OOa
Thus far the law OF life appears identical in
the countries named. emigration in this
country being little in excess. But
NJ lnls point tue parallel stops. In
Europe, whatever excess exists a. 30 coutin
mes and is the same at 40, at 50, az GO, and 10
the end Of life. In New Y York and New Eng.
gland at Az, every or of these rs 900 women
have disappeared, and 1900 besides: at So 2O.OOO
IN EXCESS have followed them. We find that
$4,000 females, in every decade, pass away in
the very PRIME OF womaphood, that would
have lived had they been born in either Nor
way, Sweden, Belgium, England, Scotland,
or Ireland.
'Gentiemen, these are facts of to-day, the
facts of our communities and OF our women.
the facts that stare our medical men oroadIy in
the face, however unwilling we NAV be To ac-
knowledge their truthfnluess.
Again we find by the census Of the State OF
New York, published the past year, that In
that State, 10 mig hit 1877 OCO families sit around
desolate hearthstone, W here the music of child.
ish prattle never breaks in upon the silent SOL
iiude. Twenty five per cent. OF the families of
that State are childiess. They have wives
who never kne the name OF mother There
are also in that State las, ,0OO families or 10 per
cent. with only one child, and 1900 families
or 19 per cent. with only two children each
In preseB ce Of such facts no Physician can re-
main longer blameless silent.
"Again, IL has been apparent for seyeraI
years, that In Massacb usetts, families were
gradually becoming extinct by decay This ~
not confined TO one family or one locality but
to the entire State and those adloipinl Now
In that community there is something RADICAL
ly wrong. Some OF the great laws of human
existence are being persistently violated, and
il is especially within the SCOPE OF the medical
profession TO plainly and fully expose these
fatal errors"