, 1875-07-17
VITAL STATISTICS,
The Death Rate OF City and Country
Alarming Mortality of the Great Cities.

The Death Rate OF City and Country
Alarming Mortality of the Great Cities
In the increased attention given TO hyg
enic subjects, both by professional men an
by the public, the question of human longe,
ity and vitality assumes the leading plsc,
In spite OF the popular assumption that th
average length of human life is steadil
though slowly increasing, this theory is nS
borne out by the stststements of thOughtfU
scientific writers. On the contrary, thos
who have dealt most closely with vital siatis
ties IN this country, generally hold tha
there has been decline in the health, feeun
dity and longevity of the people.
This observation is specially and in
marked degree true of our great cities Il
Philadelphia, the second city in population
IN the United States, there Weoe 6tty death
} TO every one hundred births In the yea
I 1890; while in 1871 there were ninety death,
10 every one hundred births in the same
| city, being very nearly double the proportion
OF mortality eighty years ago. From 1896
! TO 1870 there was one one death to every
! forty-eight inhabitants In Philsdelphia. " bile
from 1861 TO 1870 there was one death TO
every thirty-nine. The average duration of
human life in Philadelphia near the close of
the eighteenth century was sbout twenty
eight years; now 1t Is only about 24.5 years
The alarming mortality Of American cities
Is especially marked IN the destruction VI
young children. In New York, out Of 800. =
sos deaths reported during half a century, 80
per cent. were Of children under five wears of
age. In Chicago, from 1913 to 1863, 81 per
ceat. of the deaths were Of infants under five
years; and in Philadelphia, 10 per cent; of
the children born did not reach the age of
five years In the latter city, the statistics
of forty years ago showed only 80 per cent
of the total mortality from children under
five years of age, thus showing a great in
crease of early deaths.
In Massachusetts the State Board of Health
reports that the ratio Of deaths under one
year of age, TO the births, was 10 IL per cent.
in Boston but only 1888 per cent. in the
rural portions OF the Stale. The mortality
of great cities is found TO be, both In this
country and in Europe, more than twice as
great a. that of the rural districts; indeed, It
Is fully two and half times as great, for
the cities are counted with the country in
those comparisons, thus reducing the differ
ence in their favor and moreover, the mean
average age at death in cities Is falsely in
creased by the fact of the imported poPula-
ton of towns having passed the most critical
period of their lives in the country.
DR.. Richard Price, in his annuity tables,
saws the expectation of life Of child Just
born in Shrewsbury is 33 years; in London
only Is years. He adds that while in the
country parishes one in twenty persons live to
be so years and upward, in London only one in
nA n
neEt English stetistlclan, gives the average
age of country laborers at death as 80 years,
but of city mechanics as only % Years.
By the census of 1870, the mean average
duration Of life IN the United States was
80 4 years but in New York and PhIladel-
phia the average term of life is only % years
Taking the country at large, there Is annu-
ally one death to every 19-S inhabitants, but
in New York there is one death to every 80. l
inhabitants.
In 1000 deaths in the country in England,
202 persons reached the age of 10, while IN
the crowded city of Liverpool only 80 at
tained the same age. According TO the
Registrar General Of Great Britain, about
one half Of all that are born alive die before
the end Of the fifth year in Liverpool; while
III Alt hlSLLAIts A4sA-A - -
TO the age of 80.
Physicians have carefully computed that
diseases Of the nervous system are hVe times
as fatal in great cities as IN the country; pull
monary diseases t-ice rs fatal, While the
proportion of mortality from diseases of the
digestive system Is as to !, comparing
city with country.
What are the chief causes of this enhanced
mortality among urban pOpulationsf They
may be summed Up in the evils Of overcrowd-
ing, vitiated air, deficient exercise, late hours.
over-siimulus, and habits of luxury and de-
bauchery. DR.. Morgan tells US that the
deaths exceeds the births IN London by
10000, annually, and if the influx OF new
corners did not recruit the population, the
city would rapidly decline, and, In course OF
time, become extinct Yet the tendency IN
England, as in our own country, IL steadily
toward examining the cities with people, and
depicting the rural districts \ century ago
the country held a per cent OF the entire
population of England, while now 1t has but
a per cent, The cities absorbing the eDoI-
nous proportion Of Sc per cent. Of the entire
population
Some Of our Psychologists tell US that 1t
may yet become q serious question whether
the American nation would grow to be q
permanent one if immigration were cut Off
And they point us in proof to the undoubted
fact that the number of children born TO
native parents is small, and is annually de-
creasing. while our foreign born population
have a much greater fecundity. IL Is histor-
ically certain that the march Of wealth. lux
ury and population has not tended 10 the
longevity Of nations, any more than the spread
of habits Of high living and herding IN
thickly populated cities has tended to length
of life in individuals - Cincinnati C'0liReTcg.