The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1878-05-19
Mortality Statistics OF Brooklyn.


The Brooklyn Board Of Health has lately
published voluminous and carefully d.
gested report tor the two years ending May
j. 1877. Some OF the facts cited merit
notice, especially the data showing the ex-
tent and causes Of mortality during the
years 1878 and 1875. We may premise that
the population Of the city in 1875 was $4,000,
as determined by the census then taken, and
that assuming the annual rate OF increase
to be constant, the number OF inhabitants
should have been $500 in the year which
has Just closed.
1t appears that in 1875 there were in Brook
lyn l2,47o deaths from all causes, or 2577 for
every 1000 Of population. There was a
slight improvement in the exhibit for 1896,
which showed 1854 deaths, or 2436 in
thousand. These are the aggregates, but it
Is interesting to mark the very unequal rates
OF mortality prevailing in the different parts
OF the city. Here we are compelled to use
ward lines, which have been draw OF course
without regard TO typographical features
and often piece out healthiul localities with
segments Of insalubrious neghborhoods,
thus obscuring the lesson to be learned from
the longevity insured by good drainage and
sanitary precautions. In the tables compiled
for this report the First, Twentieth, Seventh,
and Twenty-third Wards rank highest in
respect to health Of any in the city, their
death rate ranging from 10 to about 10 in a
thousand. These districts, it will be re-
membered, are situated for the most part
upon high ground, are well drained, possess
the best class Of dwellings, ana are free
from a tenement house population. Next
"a fbaCa stood fha EAprt W. rd in
but we find it lowest in the scale for
the following year. This, however, was
not owing to any change in its sanitary
status, but TO the terrible loss of life in the
Brooklyn Theatre fire, which added no fewer
than 2S2 names to the death roll. and raised
the death rate to more than four per cent.
The largest population and the great
est absolute mortality are found in
the Sixteenth Ward, whose population is
almost exclusively German, dwelling in
crowded tenements and subject to the
miasmatic influences arising from un-
drained, low grounds and the marshes Of
Newtown creek. Here the rate of mortality
In 1878 reached 37.s, and In the next twelve
month, 3l.7 per thousand. The last named
figures were exceeded in 1876 by the Twelfth
and 1wenty-fourth Wards which respect
lively gave a death rate Of 352 and $50, the
last figure being surprising, because the
outlying division OF the city embraced with
in the Twenty-fourth Ward lies on ground
relatively high. We may add that the per-
nicious effect of the vapOrs rolling up from
the GOwanus canal is perceptible enough in
the high rate Of death in the adjoining
wards, and especially in the excessive NOR
tally from zymOtic diseases.
We need not point out the usefulness Of
such statistics to those who are about
70 fix upon a place OF residence in
Brooklyn. Where the rate Of mortal
ity ranges in different sections from
l6 to nearly 80 per thousand, the need
Of peculiar wariness in the choice OF loeali-
ties is sufficiently obvious. Not that the
pressure OF social and intellectual conditions
upon the death rate can be eliminated, or
that the shanty at Rcd Hook and tenement
house Of the Sixth Ward are to be expected
to attain the sanitary status of the mansion
on the Heights; but the data here collected
prove that properly directed efforts on the
part of the Health Board may 50 far correct
the insalubrity Of certain forbidding dis
trcts as to make their rate Of mortality APP
proXlmate very creditably to that OF more
attractive neghborhoods.
1t is worth while 10 decompose these sta
tistlcs, and note the proportion Of deaths
occurring in Brooklyn from the three most
prominent contagious diseases. During the
past five years, smallpox has twice been
epidemic, and has caused the death Of !, s37
persons, all Of whom, no doubt, might
have been saved by proper vaccination.
Dphtheria has proved still moro fatal, hav-
ing occasioncd not less than LII deaths in
Brooklyn during the two years covered
by this report. This would give the alarm
Ing death rate from this malady alone OF
nearly IS in every 10000, and 1t becomes
matter Of imperative concern TO the
dcnizens OF Brooklyn to examine the local
distribution Of the disease We find the
donths from this cause occurring in each
ward tabulated in the report, but it Is not
easy to draw deductions as to the relation
OF dlphtheria to an insalubrous environ
meht' Tic Twcnty-fourth Ward for in
stance, which offers the second highest death
rate from this disease, Is rural in character,
elevated In site, sparsely settled, mainly by
wealthy people, and apparently healthful in
all respects. The Sixteenth Ward. ON this