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If such conjecture, which cannot however be tested until
the next census, be correct, the excess of deaths, as above
determined, would be correspondingly lower.*
Birth-rate. Rate of natural increase.— The births
registered during the year numbered 627—327 of males,
and 300 of females. The average number during the ten
years 1857—66 was 401: the annual average increase for
the same period was 12.5, with a total increase of 125 for
the whole period; during the last two years it has been
75.5, or a total of 151; so that the increase in the number
of births during the past two years has been one fifth
greater than that of the ten preceding years collectively.
This circumstance is not consistent with the laws of
natural development, and furnishes strong presumptive
evidence of the probably great accession to the number of
inhabitants, by immigration above referred to. The birthrate,
calculated upon the foregoing estimate of the population,
was 39.23, and the rate of natural increase 17.77
per 1000 persons living of all ages.
Causes of Death.—The following table contains a summary
of all the causes of death arranged in accordance
with the classification of the Registrar-General, showing
the sex, social position, and age at death at different
periods, and particularizing the several diseases of the
Zymotic class.
* Looking at the great value which belongs to an accurate determination of vital
statistics as the first trustworthy step in the projection of sanitary science to the
prevention of disease, it seems proper to mention that in the metropolitan suburbs
and in large towns known to be greatly increasing by immigration, a more frequent
census of the population is imperatively needed. In such localities, under such conditions,
an interval of ten years, it need scarcely be observed, renders calculation
unsound, and more or less conjectural. A quinquennial or, better still, a biennial
census, with an extended scope of enquiry, might be made the means of conveying
most important information, alike valuable to the sanitarian and the political economist.