Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-02-05
VIOLENT DEATHS.
Proportions in Great Britain and
this Country.

Proportions in Great Britain and
this Country.
From the New York Commercial Advertiser.
We read with alarm that IN India
between 10000 and 10000 persons an
nually fall victims to the bites of veno-
nous reptiles or the depredations Of
man-eatIng tigers, or other feroclous
beasts. The astOnishment which these
facts create appears to indicate an I'M
,.,.s.s;r4A .I,at - WOULD ba impossible 70
point to anything analogous or parallel
IN more civilized lands. Yet during
the census year Of 1871, IN England
and Wales 1928 persons met death by
violence, while during the census year
of 1870 the number of such deaths in
this country was l7,5l7.
The risk Of such deaths for each in
dividual in England and Wales may
also be examined. The population be-
inc 22.750,000, 1888 Of the number
having died Of violence in the year
1871. it follows that out of every ten
thousand persons living, from seven to
eight met their deaths from this class
of causes. And as the proportions
have not varied materially Of late years,
this may be taken as representing the
average chance persons IN that country
stand of coming by such deaths. In
India, with its pOpulotlon OF 23O,OOO,-
900. the chance Is that only one person
out of every 10000 living should die Of
serpent bite, or from injuries inflicted
bv wild animals; SO that an English
man runs from seven to eight times
greater risk Of a violent death than an
East Indian does from the particular
causes Just mentioned.
The chances Of a Ike fatality in this
country is something IN the ratio Of
1900 to 40.000,000 or thereabouts,
which would make a rate Of j to ) IN
each 10000, a circumstance which
would tend to show that, IN proportion
as population is concentrated, violent
deaths increase. The English returns
show terrible uniformity in the class
of deaths in question. thus in 1870
the total number was 1888; in 1869 it
was Is, f97: It was 1888 in 1868; 1886
in 1867; 26,9I5 in 1866; 1874 in
1865, and l7,015 IN 1864. Taking
the twenty years from 1850 to 1869, 1t
appears that out Of every million Eng
lish people living during that period,
764 have every year come toan untlmely
end from one or other form of violence.
The average was highest IN the year
1865, when the proportion was S35 out
of every million. 1t was estin 1857,
when the proportion per million living
fell 10 725. Old age, the ONLY cause OF
death that can be considered the nat
ural one. is less than twice as fatal as
violence.
Out Of a million deaths among En-
lishmen. decay of nature after a full
spent life accounts for no more than
56.527, as against 32,455 referable to
violent causes. Only 1,4o7 out OF
every million Englishmen die IN the
course of a year from old age, while
within the same period the terrible
certainty of a violent death awaits 16i
of the million. On the other hand
deaths from age are scarce in our cen
sus returns. In the census yeal
1871. they aggregated 3,449. From
these figures, 1t would appear between
seventeen and eighteen persons now II
health Will die by violence during the
present year in this land. In 1870
there were l,0jl suicides-a small frac
tional proportion only of these deaths
The fatal cases by violence average IL
this country about 4S per day, or TIVE
an hour. If the years slain, lying II
their coffins, were laid lengthwise alon,
the road. they would stretch, inone un
broken line, distance Of some sixteel
miles.