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14
health; and it would be still more marked, if the
tests were applied to the returns of a dozen years
ago; for then the deaths from fever were rarely less
than 160 in the year, and those from alvine-flux
were not often below a hundred. I refrain from
making any large comparison of the mortality
from these diseases in the City, with that of
England; but I may remark that fever and alvineflux,
are less prevalent here than in the whole
country; for while with us the former is fatal
to only 1 in 1,214 of the population, and contributes
but 36 per 1,000 of all the deaths, in
England it is fatal to 1 in 1,136, and contributes
about 41 per 1,000. Alvine-flux with us is fatal
to only 1 in 1,150, and makes but 38 per 1,000 of
the deaths, but in all England it annually kills 1 in
1,026 of the people, and furnishes about 45 per
1,000 of the deaths. Phthisis also is less prevalent,
as a cause of death, in the City districts, but tabes
and scrofula—the consumption of infancy—are far
more so. All of which go to show that the great
influences which are at work in shortening a city
life are those which check the healthy nourishment
of the body, and yet hurry forward the movement
of the vital powers. These influences are remote as
well as immediate in their action ; for not only do
they at once produce a rich harvest of death, but
they scatter the seeds for a future growth. In fact,