The Wilmingtonian., 1884-08-09
HEALTH HINTS.


The weekly table of births, deaths and
marriages issued by Registrar Frazer, would
be, as we have heretofore pointed out, of
greater value to the community if the deaths
were classified under the headings of local,
developmental, constitutional and zymotic
diseases. But even without such classified
ton, the record is of vital interest to our
people, Of course the mere tabulating of
the number of deaths will not prevent per-
sons dying of disease, nor is there any special
virtue in mortuary statistics which can
render local and constitutional diseases any
less fatal than they have hitherto been. 1t
is in the department of zymotic diseases
that the most beneficial results have become
apparent. Before the time when Dr. Will
liam Farr of England entered on the system
attic compilation and analysis of returns of
births, deaths and marriages throughout
Great Britain, epidemics attained destructive
proportions and swept off whole communi-
ties before the attention of the Government
was called to the evil. By the present sys-
TEN, which is almost universally adopted by
civilized governments, the mere casual
examination of the records from villages,
towns, cities and countless will show in a
moment the locality in which contagious
disease is prevailing epidemically. This is the
more important because of the tendency of
the local authorities Gearing injury to trade)
to conceal the fact of an epidemic prevailing,
as far as lies within their power. In this
way, then, vital statistics are of value-that
they show at glance whether contagious
disease is or is not prevalent within dis
trict.
But such records have other and even
more important recommendations. The
number of marriages. as DIR. Hunt of the
New Jersey Board of Health points out, is
very fair index of the general vigor and
prosperity of tue population. 1t is found,
says DR.. Hunt, that in hard times or in times
of national profigacy there is always
diminution in the number of marriages
Not less does the number of deaths indicate
the vigor and prosperity of country or the
opposite. For, besides the actual losses of
lives more or less valuable, these tell of a
tax upon the comfort of families and of the
community, and upon their ability to secure
livelihood. The marriage, birth and death
rates are found to bear such proportion to
each other, and to be such an index of real
prosperity or its opposite, that the historical
progress or decline of nation may be traced
thereby. The birth-rate does not become
excessive where it is only the result of such
marriage-rate as results from announced,
legitimate and open marriages The mar
ragerate tends to right proportion wher-
ever the family and its preservation, care and
prosperity, are regarded as the defense OF
the state. The English reports show how
the marriage-rate reflects with much
accuracy the condition of public welfare.
Statistical tables of mortality almost
invariably show higher death-rate in cities
than in rural distIicts. A city in which the
annual death-rate does not exceed 20 in the
1000 may be pronounced healthy, and 90 to
80 per 1000 is a good average for cities in
which sanitation is well attended to. When
the annual death-rate exceeds 80 in the
1000, and especially if such mortality
includes large percentage from typhoid,
diphtheria, and diseases of filth, then we
may be assured that the sanitary affairs of
such cities are not properly administered.
In exceptionally healthy rural districts the
death-rate may fall as low as 10 or IA in the
1000. The difference is largely accounted
for by the fact that infants thrive better in
the country than in the town, and it must
also be borne in mind that large numbers of
children, born in manufacturing centres, are
sadly neglected by their parents. To cite
two instances--the annual death-rate in
WolverhamptOn, England is as high as 4j
per 1000 a circumstance due to the tact
that Young mothers farm out their children
shortly after their birth, in order that they
may resume their work at the mills and
factories and so increase the family income.
The same thing happens in Glasgow, Scot
land, where the death-rate is 40 per 1000, |
side by side with a percentage of illcgiti- |
macy of 80 per cent-a matter which tells
its own story.
Speaking OF the beneficial results of the
registration system in England and Wales
during recent Years the reUort of the Regis
trar-General says:-
''Now we shall probably he well within
the mark if We assume that for every fatal
case of illness there are from four to five |