The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1880-06-29

1
At the thirty-frst annual meeting OF Ii
American Medical Association, lately bel,
in New York, among the papers read wa
one by DR.. Drysdale, OF London, on tn
comparative death rate OF rich and poor
In the statistics presented the term "rich'
included not only wealthy persons, bu
also those Of intermediate conditions ii
the social scale who are enabled to enjoy {
sutllciency OF good food in the midst o.
good sanitary surroundings. From these
statistics we gather, first OF all, that the
average annual death rate in London hat
increased in consequence of the great
density OF population, and the additional
mass of indulgence injected into it, from
22.2 per 1000 in 1856 to 90 per ! 900 in
1877.
The average death rate, however, fol
all England has remained identically the
same for the past thirty years, namely 3d.
So, which shows that while the death rate
has been increasing in London, it has
been diminishing in a corresponding ratio
in the provinces. But while the statistics
OF the Registrar General are accurate in
putting the average death rate for the
whole OF London at % per 900, the dif.
ference between the death rate in some
localities and those OF others were very
great. For instance: In part OF asub.dis.
trict OF London, comprising houses in
good condition, the death rate did not ex-
coed II Bin every 1000; while there were
other parts OF the same sub-distriCt in
which the death rate has risen to S8 per
1000, and again in some other parts OF
London, where the population Is most
thickly crowded together, and squalor and
poverty abound, the death rate has recent
ly been reported at 90 per 1000.
With respect to the deaths OF young
the same difference as regards
morality is observable. Austill, who Is
quoted by DR.. Drysdale, COLLECTED statistics
Of 4S,044 children Of the opulent classes,
including professional men, the nobility
gentry. His tables showed that among
these classe the average death rate was
only s0.45 per 1000; while for all other
classes, taken together, 450 per 1000. In
France, according to Villerme, the distin-
guished Partisan physician, persons be.
tween the ages OF forty and iorty.fve, II in
easy circumstances, die in the proportion
OF s 3 per 900, while, II poor, they die at
the rate OF lS7 per 1000 The same dis
parity is observable in Paris as in London
between the deaths of persons inhabiting
districts under different conditions and
In the twelfth arrondisse-
ment OF Paris, peopled, III part, by the
very poor, one inhabiiant in every fifteen
died; while In the second reimbursement,
inhabited by the Weather classes, the
deaths for the same period were only one
in sixty-five.
All the other statistics cited by DR..
Drysdale go 10 show how greatly the
struggle for existence Is intensified among
the poorer classes, as compared with the
immunities enjoyed by those that are bet
ter of. How much the absence OF the or
binary comforts OF life-and by Ordinary
comforts" we mean only simple food and
a salubrious air-conduced to health is
exempliied by what DR.. Drys-
dale SAYS OF the labOring classes in New
Zealand. OF late years the wages OF la
borers that remote British colony have
been very high. and meat being only six
cents per pound, the'laborer is able to Sc
cure abundance OF food without undue
anxiety. The result has been death rate
OF only IL per 900, a fact which is as
cribed mainly to the absence Of an indi-
gent and badly paid class. The fact thus
cited is made the more impressive by the
remark OF DR.. Drysdale that Sin England
and Wales, with the same death rate,
some 100000 lives would be saved every
year" These comparative statements OF
mortality arc Of quite us much interest to
us as they are to sanitarians abroad.
1t is true that poverty In Europe Is
hedged about with restrictions lrom which
it is almost impossible for tito be relieved;
whereas with lis no able.bodied man who
is willing to work need despair in ordin-
airy times OF getting 1t. II he fails to OBJ
tain 1t in the midst OF our great cities,
there is wide expanse OF country open
to him where, il he Is sober and industri-
GUS, he can soon find employment at fair
wages, and II he is economical, may save
enough in a few years, in the midst OF
cheap land, to establish himself in mod
est but comfortable home, with the
chances, as in New Zealand, Of a long life
before him. In our larger cities, the prob
lem OF what 10 do with the vicious, the in
dolent and the INDECENT IS almost as Diff
cult to solve as it Is in Europe. It Is here
that those who are learned in sanitary
matters find their appropriate field in
pointing out what may be done towards
improving the homes Of the poor, and in
rendering the districts they inhabit more
salubriods by drainage and ventilation