Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1874-03-08

as TO natures remedial power which they ad.
Nit, but have not been taught to use ana con-
{ oil. To the young II is q book OF valuable In
,rmation and rare delights, for, unlike most
works OF science, 1t abounds with amusing
anecdotes and historic references. The book
i3weIl printed, on fine heavy white paper,
with small plea type, has steel engraving OF
the author, and thirty'-thre0 elegant fnli-page
illustrations tinted paper. The Guide 10
be made wi b Mr.. Walton, who is the Mem
phis agent, and who viii call upon our citi-
zens during the week. Every housekeeper
should have a copy Of this Invaluable book.
VITAL STATIsTICs.-We copy below
a chapter from advance sheets Of the Memo
rial Book Of Eln1lDOoa Cemetery now going
through the press OF Boyle q chapman. hav;
ing reference 10 the health OF Memphis, and
to the exaggerated stories that have gone
abroad affecting its prosperity. The impress
sion prevails, to the great detriment of prop
erty values in Memphis, that this city Is per
haps the deadliest spot on the continent.
Read the article entitled "Mortuary Statistics
of Memphis" since the facts given cannot
be questioned, the misrepresentation to which
we refer is silenced forever. This is the first,
nnal and authoritative denial of the correct
ness OF statistical health-tables which have
been published everywhere during the past
few months. Citizens of Memphis, especially
Taxpayers and property-holders, certainly
owe the authors Of the ElmWoOd book debt
of lasting gratitude. Here is the extract:
"From the first of March, 1872, to the first of
March, 1873, the beginning and end Of the
burials In Elmxood. This being the only
Protestant cemetery now in use in Mersphls,
fully one-half OF the interments are made
within its limits. Add ESQ, the supposed, but
in excess Of the real number of burfals
in all other local cemeteries; and Ii Is shown
that there were 1860 burials during the year in
the ctty's cemeteries. Besides Mem phis, with
fifty-ive thousand Inhabitants, one-third OF
the county of Shelby outside the city, the ad-
jacent counties OF Mississippi, the lowlands
of Arkansas across the river, and migratory
multitudes drifting upon the river itself, send
their dead, as do Ievee-builders and railway
I.Tr
which Memphis stands. In 1872 there We're
442 intermeBts made from the city hospital.
Half of these were Europeans, and more than
70 Memphis In this bill of NOR
tality which appears in the Popular
Science Monthly. Since al these dead people,
by gIoss error, are deemed citizens of Mem
phis, we are not amazed that this is asserted
TO be the deadliest spot on the continent.
Pspaody enough PSp9d1a@l9n1ss @ 1s d0 b not
dead to Memphis, and these unquestionabie
facts reduce the rate of mortality, as given in
the tables Of the I9pHlGr Science Monthly one
gregarious, and addicted to town and city
life They have quite a metropolis of
population varies from 1900 70 15,C0O, and
often, weekly mortality reports, as now regu-
larry published, show that half the deaths in
ttmated that not less than one-third of the
Whsle number OF deaths in the city are of ne
groes, constituting less than one-fourth OF the
how negroes live and die, and how it happens
that the healthfulness OF Memphis is wrong
fully denied. The Mississippi and its
branches, navigable for 1900 miles, is a
great highway of States and cities. Memphis
Is in the very midst of these, and here migra-
tory populations rest in fall months, when go
ing south, and in spring when returning
north. The city's death rate is augmented
very greatly by invalids on their way to or
from Florida or southern Texas, or the Hot
Springs of Arkansas. Memphis is the chosen
resting.place OF strangers traversfng these
States. In 1873 smallpox came, and soon, In
grim, procession, cholera and yellow-fever
with slow, measured tread, followed closely
in Its foul footsteps. They came as infections
or contaeions, and were not indigenous to the
spot. The day and hour of the advent of each
plague is known, and the steamer that In
duced each. Cholera came from New Orleans
and yellow fever from, Shreveport, and 1t Is
only unfortunate for Memphis that these I'M
precedented calRmities, which may never oc-
! cur, give a share of credultty 10 the extraor-
dinary table published by the Popular
tic or local facts why the death
rate of Memphis should exceed 20.l per thou
/ sand, that OF st. louis; and II tables were
cities would be found to share very nearly
/ the same hygienic fortunes. II any still
| question the healthfulness Of Memphis, save
! when some dismal plague has wrapped about
\ the woe-stricken city a funeral pail, let them
/ attend a eonvocation OF the Old Folks's as
sociation. A long catalogue OF members
/ some for half century, tells OF longevi-
! ty as commonplace. The patriarch of the
/ Old Folks, Colonel Charles d. Mclean
nearly ninety years of age, still moves active
| ly about the city's streets, and with
! smiling face greets each Questioner as to his
| own and the city's health with the habitual
| response, athe best in the world" Why Mem
pills. on lofty plateau, from eight to twenty
miles wide, and extending eastwardly half 8
/ hundred miles, between two parallel streams
running from east TO west, and draining per
lectly the rich and elevated plain-why Mem
/ phis should De pronounced unhealthful, J!
4 IN fogtrr
! of the country, or in climatic laws, or In pro
! perly complied mortuary statistics.