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25
Here it is seen that the death rates in Islington are in excess of
the Healthy Districts in the age periods 0-5, 35—45, 45—55, 55—65,
65—75, and 75 upwards, and below them in the age periods 5—15,
15—25, and 25—35. In the age periods 0—5, 35—45, 45—55,
55—65, and 65—75, they are above those of England and Wales, and
below them in the others.
This is just what might be expected at the earlier period (0—5)
of life when the peculiar conditions, under which the population is
housed in tenements, with so many of them overcrowded, are considered,
for it is under such conditions that juvenile life suffers most.
But one would hardly expect that at the next period (5—15) the
vitality of the population would have been so good. Indeed, the low
death-rate of 4•45 is not easily explained, and more particularly the
difference of 1•15 between it and that of the healthy districts. No
surprise need, however, occur that the death-rate of the age period
15—25 is so very good, being as it is, nearly 50 per cent. below that of
the healthy districts, and 40 per cent. below that of England and
Wales, for just at this period, and the next, there is an immigration into
the Metropolis of some of the best lives of the country, of which
Islington gets its due share, for the purpose of entering on commercial
life. Towards the latter part of the age period (25—35) the good
character of the rate is not maintained, for then the wear and tear,
bodily and mental, begin to tell, with the result that at the next period
(35—45) their effects are very apparent, and the death-rate is found
to exceed the healthy district rate by 3•56, and the English rate by
0'57. This difference is even more accentuated at the next period of
life (45—55), for it is found that the death-rate is 8•23 per 1,000
persons living at that age in excess of the healthy districts' rate, and
2•83 above that of England and Wales. The fact is that the worries,
cares, anxieties and hard work, mental and physical, and dissipation have
told their tale, and demanded their victims, as an analysis of the death
returns conclusively prove.
It need cause no wonder then to find that when men have reached
the age of 55 the death toll is still very heavy, and that as they have