Cw. I.] POPULATION.

25

is to be remembered, however, first, that a government

cannot, with reason, be held to be the source of all
the.circumstances, favourable and unfavourable, which
affect the happiness of a country; and secondly, that
the proposed comparison would at best only furnish an
indication as to the conduct of the actual government of
any country, not as to the permanent excellence of the
constitution.
It cannot be necessary to multiply evidence in order
to prove the fact that the number of births has de¬
creased, and is still decreasing in proportion to the
amount of population in this kingdom. The abstracts
of parish register returns made with so much care and
ability by Mr. Rickman may be taken as conclusive
jiroofs of the fact.
It was for a long time the practice with political cal¬
culators to consider a great proportion of births among
the people as being one of the surest signs of the country
being in a flourishing,condition. Under certain cir¬
cumstances there can be no doubt that an increase of
numbers thus brought about is a favourable symptom.
In thinly-peopled but fertile countries, and in newly-
settled states, this will generally be the case; but it
appears to be an error to consider a large proportion of
births to be necessarily a symptom of improvement in
well-peopled territories; and it might with more truth be
asserted that the contrary condition of a small proportion
of births is more frequently indicative of prosperity in the
mass of the people. In Ireland population increases
almost as fast as in England, and'mortality diminishes
in its rate, yet the people improve but little in their con¬
dition. Circumstances which have increased the rate of
mortality have always tended to increase likewise the
number of births, an effect which is produced by the rise
26 POPULATION. [sec. I.

in the wages of labour following necessarily from a dimi¬

nution in the number of labourers, the class whichrfor the
most part furnishes the increased proportion of deaths.
On the other hand, the increase of population which
results from a diminishing proportion of deaths is an
unerring sign of adyhneing prosperity in the people.
The following table was given in evidence before the
Committee of the Houscof Commons which sat in May,
18.30, to inquire concerning the returns under the Popu¬
lation Act.

Population de* Rates of

Burials in the
Year, ditced from Regiiiteied
year
Daptisnis. Burials.

1780 7,953,000 108,300 1 in40;i0

AveraKC
Burials
1780-lh00.

1780 7,953,000 192,000 1 in 41.42

1785 8,016,001V 192,000 1 in 41.75
1790 8,675,000 192t000 1 in 45.18
1795 9,055,000 192.000 1 in 47.16

Knumorated
r population.
1800 0,168,000 192,000 1 in 47.75

Average of
ten preceding
years.
1810 10,488,000 195,000 1 in 53.78
1820 12,190,000 201,000 I in 60.65
Registered
Burials in
1880.
1820 12,190,000 208,300 1 in 58.50

The small rate of improvement observable in the latter

end of the last century is no doubt the effect in a great
degree of the deficient harvests in 1195 and 1800.
Ca. 1.] POPULATION. 27

It has been supposed that the general healthiness and

durati-jn of life among the people must be diminished by
their being brought together in masses, and in particulai
it has been objected to the factory system of this coun¬
try, that by this means it has added to tlic sum of human
misery. To combat this opinion, it will be sufficient at
present to bring forward the case of Manchester, where tlie
increase of population has beert great beyond all ])rece-
dent, owing to tiie growth of its manufacturing industry.
The ])opulation of the townships of Manchester and
Salford, at each of the four decennary enumerations, was
found to be as follows ;—

1801 _ 91,876
1811 .... 11 .'),874 Increase 22 per cent.
1821 .. . 161,6.15 „ 39^ „
1831 .... 237,832 „ 47 „

The increase during the whole period of 30 years being

142,950, or 150 per cent, upon the population of 1801.
Much of this increase Kas no doubt arisen from the con¬
tinual immigration to a towi of such growing manufac¬
turing jrrosperity. But much, on the other hand, is to
be ascribed to the increase of births.
The mortality of these townships in the middle of the
last century was 1 in 25; in 1770, 1 in 28. In 1811,
when the population had already very greatly increased,
the rate of mortality had sunk considerably, and in the
ten years ending with 1830 was not more than 1 in 49,
a low rate, if we take into the account the fact that, in
manufacturing towns, children are brought together in a
much greater proportion than the average of the kingdom.
The decrease in the proportion of-deaths among
children in London has already been mentioned. It is
not easy to determine satisfactorily the number of deaths
of aged persons, in consequence of the prevailing custom
D 2
28 population. [sec. I.

of persons whose worldh' circumstances allow of their

doing so, to retire in the evening of their days from the
crowded city to the country. We may mention, how¬
ever, that for several years past the hills of mortality have
exhibited a continiially and steadily increasing number
of persons whose deaths can he ascribed to no particular
disease,and who are stated to have vanished from the scene
of life in consequence of “ old age and debility.”
Tlie annual mortality of the county of Middlesex, the
largest proportion of whose population belongs to the
metropolis, was, in 1801,1 in S.'S, having been computed
at the beginning of the preceding century at 1 in 25 j
whereas in 1830 the rate of mortality had diminished to
1 in 45, a rate much more favourable than t[iat for the
whole of France, and indeed of almost any other country
in Europe, and materially less than the known rate of
mortality of every populous city out of the United King¬
dom. The greater mortality of cities, as compared with
rural districts, has been attributed to “ the constant im¬
portations from the country^ of individuals who have
attained to maturity, but having been previously habitu¬
ated to ffeipient exercise in a pure atmosphere, and to a
simple regular diet, arc gradually sacrificed to confined
air, sedentary habits, or a capricious and over-stimu¬
lating food.”
The following abstract of the detailed statement of the
ages of 3,038,496 ])er8ons buried in England and Wales
during the 18 years from 1813 to 1830, is taken from
Mr. Rickman’s Tables of 1831.

• Eleraeula of Medical Statutics by Dr. F. Bisset Jlawkins,

p. 54.
cn. I.] POPULATION 29
 30 POPULATION. [sec. I.

The following table, c&lculated upon the actual num¬

ber of registered burials, shows the per centage proportion
of mortality that has occurred in the population of each
decennary period of life, in the year 1813, in the average
of seven years from 1818 to 1824, and in the year 1830.

lets. IB!9-18*4—(nTerage) ISSO.

Agot nl wIiWj Iho Deaths
hnve ociurrccK NumWr .Per Cent. Niiinhrr Per Tent. Number Percent.
r>| DttriiiU. I’rojior. nf Burials. PiojHir. ofBuriuls. Projior.

From Birlh to 10 Yours old. 73i05({ 39.7S 84,696 39.60 91,533 38.56
.. 11 ,, SO ,, 5.87 13.635 6. a8 15,730 6.63
.. SI 30 ,, 7 47 16.459 7.69 19,125 8.06
., <11 ., 40 ,, 6.77 14..819 6.69 16.0H4 6.77
41 00 ,, il.9f55 f..5l 14.120 6.61 15,225 6.42
.. .11 ,, «0 ,, 13,720 7.46 15.268 7. U 17,469 7.36
,, 61 ,, 70 ,, I7,9;'..i 9.75 21). 190 9.44 22,018 9.27
.. 71 ,. «« ,, 19,011 10.. 84 21.917 10.25 26.034 10.55
.< 81 ,. !» .. 6.. 87 11,921 5.57 13,614 5.74
.. 91 .. 100 ., 1,2.')1 0.67 1,389 0.05 1,520 0.64
Above 100 , . . . 66 0.04 62 0.03- 58 0.02

It has been noticed by several writers, that in the

tables from wliich the furogoing ijhstract has been com¬
piled, a much larger proportion of deaths is assigned to
each even decennary year thah appears in the year pre¬
ceding Of succeeding, and attempts have been made to
account for this circumstance, by supposing that some
particular bodily change may occur in htiman beings at
those periods of life. It docs not a])pear very likely that
this should be the fact, and the circumstance is in all pro¬
bability owing to the assigning of those even periods by
survwors in the absence of a more precise acquaintance
with the ages of persons deceased.
The two tables now to be given exhibit the move¬
ment of the population during the progress of the pre¬
sent century. *1116 first of these tables records the num¬
ber of registered bajitisms, burials, and marriages, in
England and Wales in the course of each year from 1801
C)^. I.] POPULATION 31

to 1830^ and the second gives their annual proportion

in each of the counties of England, calculated upon the
amount of population therein during each of the quin¬
quennial periods preceding the enumerations of 1801,
1811,1821, and 1831.

Baptisms, Burials, and Marriages, in England and

Wales.
 ;rj POPULATION, |_SEC. \

rhe following is a Table of the Annual Proportion of Bap¬

tisms, Burials, and Marriages, to the Population of Eng¬
land ; calculated upon an average of thfe Totals oif such
Baptisms, Burials, and Marriages, in the five years pre¬
ceding the several enumerations of 1801, 1811,1821,
and 1831; and distinguishing the several Counties.
179C1800. I 1806-1810. 1816-1820. 1826-1830.
COUNTIES. _ __
Bnp j Bur. Mar Bup.t Bur j Mnr. Bap I Bwr Mar. Bap. Bur.| Mar

39 - ! 34 62 UO
Cambridge.. 31 45 123
('heater ... 37 .52 139
Cornwall .. 83 64 147
Cnmberlaud 32 51 163
35 61 135
35 .58 132
35 56 140
82 52 138
36 61 117
37 57 152
56 175

Lancaater.
I^eicester.
Lincoln .......
MlddlpHcx.
Monmouth ....
Norfolk .......
Northampton..
Northumberland
Nottingham
Oxford.
Rutland.
mrr
Someractt...
Southamptou
Stafford.
Suffolk.

8u«eex/.......
Warwick.
Westmoreland

W orceater.
York. £. Riding )
—“ City&Ainsty j
— N.Bidlug ..
« W. Riding .

121
CH. I.] POPULATION. 33

It has been usual with writers on political economy to

pmntj^ the diminished proportion of marriages and
births as evidence of increasing prudence on the part of
the people, who,’as they become nioic intelligent, are
supposed to be less willing to undertake the charge of a
family until they shall, in some inetksgre, have secured
the means of supporting one. It may, however, be
doubted whether, under ordinary circumstances, this
kind and degree of prudence has ever been extensively
practised iij any civilized community. It is true that,
in years of scarcity, some temporary check may be put
to the contracting of marriages ; but if we consider how
small the proportion of" individuals in a community can
be, who, even in the most prosperous times, have any
certain assurance that their means of BHpj)orting a
family will be continued to them in future years, we
must perceive that this “ preventive check ” can never
have any very extensive operation.
The real cause of the proportionate decrease in the
numbers of marriages and^ births must probably be
sought, in thg increased duration of life, which occa¬
sions the continuance in the world of a larger number of
persons of those ages during which people are no longer
liable to incur the responsibilities of parents. If, instead
of calculating the proportionate numbers of marriages
and births from the entire population of this country,
the estimate were made with reference to that part of it
which is still irndhe vigour of life, it appears probable
that not any diminution whatever would be found in
those proportionate numbers.
 34 [sec. I.

ClIAl-TER II.

Neglect of the suliject of Medical Statistics—Means of supjdying

the requisite iufopnStion—Introduction of Vaccination—Mor¬
tality from .Small-jiox at difl'eront periods in the Mctropolia—
Mortality in St. Kartholoijiew's Hospital—London Hospital—
St. George’s Hospital—.Manchester Infirmary—Liverpool In¬
firmary—Lock Hospital—Christ’s Hospital — Proportion of
Cures and Deaths in St. Luke’s Hospital—Bethlem Hospital.

It is greatly to be regretted that, up to the present

period, the subject of the medical statistics of this
couptry has been so little attended to—it might almost
be said, so wholly neglected. In the volume published in
1820 by Dr. Bisset Hawkins, under the title of •“ Ele¬
ments of Medical Statistics,” many scattered facts bear¬
ing ujmti the subject have been collected together with
industry mid ability, but the extent of the materials
available for the writer's puyiose was so limited that the
work cannot he considered as at all affordkig any satis¬
factory* exposition of the subject. The principal value
of Dr. Hawkins’s bihours will perhaps be found to con¬
sist in his having awakened attention to the subject, so
that persons who possess the opportunity may under¬
take the registration of facts in a manner which will
enable tliem at some future time to make a valuable ad¬
dition to the sum of our economical knowledge.
The hospitals of this country, so numerous and so
li1>erally supported, are among the most honourable of
our national jnOnuments. The feelings of benevolence
which have prompted their erection and endowment
have been shared in an eminent degree by the members
of the medical profession, who have always been ready
to devote their time and skill to the relief of the miseries
CA. II.] MEDICAL STATISTICS. 35

of such of their fellow-creatures as are found within

their walls. These institutions are also highly esteemed
as ^hools for surgical and medical practice; so that
whenever any medical office attached to an ho8j)ital is
vacant, it is usually made an object of honourable contest
who shall fulfil its gratuitous duties^ and by this means
it most commonly happens that hospital jihysicians and
surgeons in this country are among the most skilful
practitioners of the age.
For this reason, the records of our public hospitals
and infirmaries, if kept with regularity and upon any
uniform plan, could not fail to afford a fair and perfect
view of the progress of the curative science in this coun¬
try ; and it is to be hoped, that being made aware by
means of Dr. Hawkins’s volume, as well of the value of
such information as of its present scanty amount, those
who have the direction of these establishments will be
careful to supply the deficiency by every means in their
power. With very few cxcdJitionB, hospitals in this
country derive their origin and draw their support from
private sources, for which reason they are under no sort
of control on the part of the Government; and although
there is no reason to doubt the readiness of those by
whom their affairs are conducted to communicate freely
whatever information may conie within their reach, it
is evident that there is no authority to direct any record
of facts according to a prescribed form, by which means
alone the full value can be given tp information of that
nature.
The disadvantage of our present state of ignorance
upon this subject has been well stated hy Dr. Hawkins
in the following words:—“ No one can be*more deeply
aware than myself of the difficulties and even dan¬
gers of the subject; of the dubious authenticity and