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very considerably, but not in so great a ratio as the births, as the
mean for 1841-51 was 946, for 1851-61,1,391, for 1861-71, 2,182,
and for the seven years 1871-77, 2794. The proportion of births
to each 100 deaths has increased from 146 in 1841-51 to 172 in
1871-77, showing a considerable change in the social condition
of the people, viz. : that a larger population of the inhabitants
are married now than were during the former period. The rate
has of course altered, more from the varying number of deaths
than of births, as for instance in 1871 when small pox, scarlatina,
whooping cough and diarrhoea were very prevalent, and the deathrate
was 22.4 per 1,000. There were only 149 births in 1871 to
each 100 deaths, against 193 in 1876, when the death-rate was
only 18.5 per 1,000 inhabitants. The proportion of births to
inhabitants was only 28.3 per 1,000 in 1841-51, against 34.3 in
1871-77, but the rate has not altered much since 1863 when it
was 33.9 per 1,000. The deaths under 1 year to each 100
registered births, which is a good criterion of the social position
of the inhabitants, as well as of their sanitary condition, are as
might have been expected more numerous now than in 1841-51/
when a larger proportion of the children were born to persons in
a good position of life. I need not insert any tables on this
subject, but from statistics that have been compiled by the
Registrar-General we find that 10.3 deaths under 1 year
occurred amongst those living in the so called healthy districts,
i. e., sparsely populated country districts. From returns collected
by Mr. Ansell, Jun., of the National Life Assurance Society,
from the clerical, medical, and legal professions, we find that only
8.05 of these deaths occurred, against 16.56 which is the
average for all England. It is, therefore, evident that inherited
weakness and disease, improper feeding, neglect, bad sanitary
conditions, and other causes induce a mortality amongst infants
of double what it ought to be, and that our death-rate of 14.5
which is 2.0 below that for all England is still too high. In
1877 the rate was only 13.6 which is lower than in any year