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from such a table, was a good guide to the sanitary condition
of a district; that is to say, that the higher the mean age at
death, the healthier the locality was considered to be. A little
consideration, however, showed this to be wrong, as in a place
where there was a large number of children under 5 years, and
especially under 1 year, a lower mean age at death would
obtain than in districts where there were only a few children of
this age. On the other hand, a district having a large
proportion of servants, who are, as a rule, at the age period of
life when a very low death-rate occurs, and who also usually go
away to die, would necessarily show a high mean age at death,
almost irrespective of its salubrity. One great use of a table
such as this, is to show, by comparing one year with another in
the same district, whether or not the ratio of deaths at § and
J years increase, although, even for that purpose, it is of less
use than one column in Table 2, which shows the proportion of
children, under 1 year, who die out of 1,000 births. We see
that in 1876, in 1880, and in 1885, the proportion of deaths
under 1 year to deaths at all ages was unusually high, and an
examination of other tables show that in 1876 and 1880 there
was a large mortality from diarrhoea at this age period, whilst
in 1885 there was a large excess from inflammatory diseases of
the lungs, as well as a slight excess from diarrhoea, which,
considering the weather, satisfactorily accounts for the increase.
The ratio of deaths at 1/5 depends materially on that at 0/1, as a
saving of life at o/1 is usually coincident with an increase at 1/5.
Thus, in 1876 the ratio at g was 41.5 per cent, of all the deaths,
that of 0/1 being 27.4, and A, 14.1 per cent.; whilst in 1882,
when the deaths at 0/1 were fewer than in any other of these
11 years, the ratio was 21.2 per cent, for 0/1 and 19.6 for 1/5,
making 40.7 per cent, for under 5 years. The table also shows
that at the most active period of life, viz., from 15 to 55, the ratio
of deaths has declined, having been 27.1 in 1866-75; 26.2 in
1876-85, and only 24.2 in 1886. The ratio of deaths above 85
was also larger in 1886 than in 1876-85, having been 2.2