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11
Lastly, if we look at the mean age at death in
the City, the results are equally significant. In
all England the expectancy of a man's life at 20 is
to 60 years:—in the City it is only to 51.5. At
the age of 45 the expectancy of life in England
is to 68-3, but in the City it is only to 62; and
at 65 years of age a man in the rest of England
might expect to live to 76, whereas in the City he
will reach to only 73. The mean life time of
adult females in England is only about one year more
than that of males, but in the City it is, at different
periods of life, from 4 to 6 years greater, showing
that the unwholesome influences operate most
severely on the males: indeed, the conclusion from
all this is, that the circumstances of a City life are
peculiarly trying, for they increase the death-rate
from a normal standard of about 17 in the 1,000 to
nearly 23; they double the mortality of the infant
population, and shorten the period of adult life from
an average age of 60 to 51.
Dark, however, as this picture may seem to be,
it is far lighter than it once was, and is brighter
than that which is still drawn of the chief towns of
England and the large cities of Europe. Ten years
ago the annual mortality of the City was rarely less
than 25 in the 1,000; and we are told by the
Registrar-General that the death-rate of our large