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More detailed illustration of the point here dwelt upon, viz. :—influence
of temperature upon the rate of mortality, will be found in the
Appendix, Table C, from which it will appear that the low death rate
from pulmonary diseases in summer is mainly due to the comparative
absence or mildness, at that period, of Bronchial complaints, which are
so prevalent and so fatal, especially to the aged, during the winter
season.
The deaths from all causes in the Winter quarters were 1,313, and
in the Summer quarters 1,160, a difference in favor of the latter of
153. No greater mistake, indeed, can be made than to suppose " cold"
in winter to be "seasonable," using the word in the sense generally intended
; viz., "healthy." Cold is very fatal at both extremes of life,—to
the young and to the aged, whose deaths form so large a proportion of
all deaths. A mild winter and a temperate summer husband life, and
conduce to longevity. So surely as the thermometer falls to a low point
in winter, the death-rate rises. The mortality in great cities is always
highest in cold weather. At the period of greatest cold last year, the