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other Gentlemen connected with Somerset House, for
the manifest desire they have shown to afford me the
information I have frequently had occasion to ask.
In common with every one whose attention has
been directed to the vital statistics of the country, I
have to express my indebtedness to the writings of
Dr. Farr for many of the figures embodied in this
report.
Having adverted to matters to which reference is
commonly made in a report of this nature, I might
here stop ; but for the sake of those who take an
intelligent interest in vital statistics—in respect to their
teachings, and the many questions they suggest as to
what is remediable and what is inevitable,—I hope to be
excused if I call more particular attention to Table III.,
which, in my opinion, will be found not only to be the most
interesting and the most instructive, but also to merit
a somewhat closer examination. It is an epitome of
eighteen hundred and fifty-five lives. It is the register
of lives ranging from an ephemeral duration of ten
minutes to the "monumental " age of ninety-six years.
It has the brevity and simplicity of patriarchal records.
Under its proper heading as to age, and opposite the
name of the disease as the cause of death, stands the
numeral, indicating the "fuimus " of so many of our
fellow-parishioners.
From it one may learn the diseases to which, in
the absence of accidental disturbing influences, a town
population of upwards of 100,000 is subject, and more
particularly those to which it is most prone, and also the