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not so striking, except in the case of the wives of
cabmen and publicans, where instead of living to
the mean age of fifty-five, they die at forty-nine;
and the poor needlewoman sinks into the grave at
the average age of forty.
The mean age at death of adult males in the
City is fifty-one and of females fifty-five. In all
England it is sixty and sixty-one; so that in one
case about nine years is taken from the life-time,
and in the other about six. And again, if we
examine the longevity of adults at other ages, it
will be seen that the contrast is equally great. At
forty-five and upwards the mean age at death of the
male citizen is sixty-two, and of the female sixtyfive.
In all England it is sixty-eight and sixty-nine.
At the age of sixty-five a man with us may expect to
live to the seventy-second year, and a woman to the
seventy-fifth, but in the whole of England the
expectancy is to the seventy-sixth and seventyseventh.
These are the numerical exponents of
the strain upon a City life, and they testify of the
penalties that are paid to excessive civilization.
The records of the last nine years tell us of the
diseases which have contributed to these results.
There it is written that of every 1,000 deaths,
consumption has been fatal in 212, fever in fortysix,
others of the zymotic class in 125, diarrhoea in
forty, convulsions and teething in fifty-six, and