Part 40

Where the pressure of the causes of mortality is the greatest; where the average age of death is the lowest, and the duration of life is the shortest, there the increase of population is the greatest. The proportion of children is great because life is short and the generation transient; the middle aged and the aged are swept away in large proportions; and marriages are disproportionately early. But, says a political economist in an essay in support of Mr. Malthus’s original view, “The effect of wars, plagues, and epidemic disorders, those terrible correctives, as they have been justly termed by Dr. Short, of the redundance of mankind on the principle of population, sets its operation in the most striking point of view. These scourges tend to place an old country in the situation of a colony. They lessen the number of inhabitants, without, in most cases, lessening the capital that is to feed and maintain them.” What I apprehend the actual facts when examined, place in a striking point of view, is the danger of adopting conclusions deeply affecting the interests of communities, on hypothetical reasonings, and without a careful investigation whether the facts sustain them: the facts themselves, when examined, show that (be it as it may with war) epidemic disorders do _not_ lessen the number of inhabitants; and that they _do_ in all cases that have been examined lessen the capital that is to feed and maintain them. They lessen the proportion of productive hands and increase the proportion of the helpless and dependent hands. They place every community, new or old, in respect to its productive economy in the position which the farmer will understand by the like effects of epidemics upon his cattle, when in order to raise one horse two colts must be reared, and the natural period of work of the one reared is, by disease and premature death, reduced by one-third or one-half. The exposition already given, _vide_ General Report p. 176, _et seq._ p. 200, of the dreadful misery and disease-sustaining fallacy which erects pestilence into a good, is further illustrated by the effects of the proportions of the dependent populations of Ireland. Thus in England, the population above 15 and under 50 years of age in every ten thousand is 5025, and this five thousand have 3600 children below 15 years of age dependent upon them. In Ireland, the population above 15 years of age is 4900—in other words, there are 125 less of adults in every ten thousand; and this smaller proportion of living adults, with eight or ten years’ span less of life or working ability, have 4050, or four hundred and fifty more children dependent upon them. In England there are 1,365 persons in every ten thousand, or 13½ per cent. above 50 years old to exercise the influence of their age and experience upon the community. In Ireland there are only 10 per cent., or 1050 in every ten thousand of the population above 50 years of age.

It appears from a report which the Census Commissioners give on the sanitary condition of Dublin, that the mortality in the different localities of that city varies with their physical condition in the lower districts, and coincides with the description already cited in the general report, from the report of Dr. Speer, the physician to the Dublin Fever Hospital (_vide_ General Sanitary Report, p. 96). The like consequences follow to the lower Irish population settled in the English towns with the like habits, which permit them to accumulate refuse round their dwellings, and live in an atmosphere compounded of the miasma of a pigsty and a privy, and the smoke of a chimney in a crowded room. The Census Commissioners of Ireland have endeavoured to obtain returns of the chief causes of the mortality; and it appears from the report upon them, that hitherto, notwithstanding all that has been said and written, that fever has returned nearly decennially in periods, irrespective of any general distress in that country, and has extended its ravages to classes who were exposed to the miasma, but who suffered no distress. “Cases of starvation,” it is stated, “have been registered from returns at almost every age, 79 of them took place in the rural district, or 1 death in 11,539 of the general mortality of the open country, and minor towns and villages: 18 in the civic, or 1 in 13,009 of the deaths in towns of or above 2000 people; and 20 occurred in hospitals; the patients having been admitted when suffering from want of food, or in such a destitute condition as subsequently produced death from exhaustion. Including the deaths in hospitals with those in the civic districts, to which they properly belong, it appears that the deaths from want and destitution in the larger towns have been 1 in 7240 to the total mortality of these places. During the first 5-year period, these deaths were on an average but 6 per annum, and in the last 5-year period (that ending June, 1841) they had increased to the yearly average of 18.”

The dependency of the duration of life upon the physical condition of the population, and the connexion of several classes of moral and economical facts, with the proportionate mortality, may be further exemplified. Taking the four counties in Ireland in which the proportions of mud hovels are the greatest; and the four counties in which the proportions of such tenements are the least;[44] I have added the average ages of death as additional proofs and exemplifications of the conclusions stated in pp. 128 and 129, and other parts of the General Report.

──────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────────────── │ The four Counties where the average │ proportion of mud hovels, as │ habitations, is the lowest. ──────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────── │ Down. Wexford. Kilkenny. Monaghan. Proportion per cent. of │ families occupying │ habitations which are mud │ 24·7 29·4 30·9 31·5 cabins having only one │ room[45] │ │ \--------------\/--------------/ │ 29 ──────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────── Proportion of deaths from │ epidemic disease to every │ 36 28·5 36·8 40·4 10,000 of the population │ │ \--------------\/--------------/ │ 35·5 ──────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────── Average age of all who have │ died during the 10 years │ 33·6 34·10 33·2 31·4 ended 6th June, 1841 │ │ \--------------\/--------------/ │ 33·4 ──────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────── Average age of all the living │ 24·10 25·10 24·8 24·2 in 1841 │ │ \--------------\/--------------/ │ 24·11 ──────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────── Proportions of births to the │1 in 33·4 1 in 34·3 1 in 33·6 1 in 32·5 population │ │ \--------------\/--------------/ │ 1 in 33·4 ──────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────── Increase per cent. of the │ 2·7 10·6 7·9 2·5 population since 1831 │ │ \--------------\/--------------/ │ 5·0 ──────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────── Per cent. of the population, │ 39·7 35·6 37·8 40·9 15 years and under │ │ \--------------\/--------------/ │ 38·8 ──────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────── Above 50 years │ 12·0 12·5 10·9 10·9 │ \--------------\/--------------/ │ 11·6 ──────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────── Proportion per cent. of male │ and female population, 17 │ years and upwards. │ ──────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────── Unmarried │ 42 44½ 45½ 41 │ \--------------\/--------------/ │ 43¼ ──────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────── Married │ 49 47 45½ 49½ │ \--------------\/--------------/ │ 47¾ ──────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────── Per cent. of the population 5 │ years old and upwards, who │ 27·5 41·3 51·2 51·3 can neither read nor write │ │ \--------------\/--------------/ │ 42·8 ──────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────── Proportions of crimes[46] of │ violence or passion to each │ 10,000 of the population on │ an average of 8 years to │ 1812:— │ ──────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────── Murders and Proportions│ ·11 ·20 ·44 ·55 Manslaughters │ Positive │ 31 35 83 88 Numbers. │ Proportions │ \--------------\/--------------/ │ ·32 ──────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────── Rapes and │ Assaults, with Proportions│ ·06 ·15 ·22 ·35 intent to commit │ Positive │ 15 22 31 58 Numbers. │ Proportions │ \--------------\/--------------/ │ ·17 ──────────────────────────────┴───────────────────────────────────────

──────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────────────── │ The four Counties where the average │ proportion of mud hovels, as │ habitations, is the highest. ──────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────── │ Kerry. Mayo. Clare. Cork. Proportion per cent. of │ families occupying │ habitations which are mud │ 66·7 62·8 56·8 56·7 cabins having only one │ room[45] │ │ \--------------\/--------------/ │ 61 ──────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────── Proportion of deaths from │ epidemic disease to every │ 50·2 51·0 53·1 43·3 10,000 of the population │ │ \--------------\/--------------/ │ 47·8 ──────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────── Average age of all who have │ died during the 10 years │ 24·10 23·2 24·5 28·8 ended 6th June, 1841 │ │ \--------------\/--------------/ │ 26·8 ──────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────── Average age of all the living │ 23·1 23·0 22·9 24·0 in 1841 │ │ \--------------\/--------------/ │ 23·5 ──────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────── Proportions of births to the │1 in 28·8 1 in 28· 1 in 28·7 1 in 31·8 population │ │ \--------------\/--------------/ │ 1 in 29·9 ──────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────── Increase per cent. of the │ 11·7 6·2 10·9 9·9 population since 1831 │ │ \--------------\/--------------/ │ 8·7 ──────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────── Per cent. of the population, │ 42·4 43·1 42·4 39·7 15 years and under │ │ \--------------\/--------------/ │ 41·9 ──────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────── Above 50 years │ 9·4 9·4 8·7 10·4 │ \--------------\/--------------/ │ 9·5 ──────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────── Proportion per cent. of male │ and female population, 17 │ years and upwards. │ ──────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────── Unmarried │ 37 36 40½ 42 │ \--------------\/--------------/ │ 39 ──────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────── Married │ 55 56 51½ 50 │ \--------------\/--------------/ │ 53 ──────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────── Per cent. of the population 5 │ years old and upwards, who │ 70·4 79·0 63·1 65·6 can neither read nor write │ │ \--------------\/--------------/ │ 69·7 ──────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────── Proportions of crimes[46] of │ violence or passion to each │ 10,000 of the population on │ an average of 8 years to │ 1812:— │ ──────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────── Murders and Proportions│ ·71 ·87 1·08 ·52 Manslaughters │ Positive │ 166 271 249 316 Numbers. │ Proportions │ \--------------\/--------------/ │ ·72 ──────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────── Rapes and │ Assaults, with Proportions│ ·71 ·51 ·46 ·28 intent to commit │ Positive │ 166 159 108 178 Numbers. │ Proportions │ \--------------\/--------------/ │ ·44 ──────────────────────────────┴───────────────────────────────────────

The general sanitary condition of the population of Scotland and the pressure of the preventible causes of death appears to be lower than in England, and higher than in Ireland, and so it appears from the recent census is the average age of the living.

It may be conceived that the low average age of the living in these cases is ascribable mainly to an increasing proportion of children incidental to an increasing population. Not so, however: the average age of the living is more powerfully influenced by disturbing causes affecting the population of adults, each with accumulated years, than by causes affecting the infantile population. One adult of 50 years added to the living is equal to the addition of 50 infants, and so with the average ages of deaths. The average ages of the living appear to have increased and not diminished with the increasing population. Be the sanitary condition of the poorest classes and the amount of disease and death what it may, as compared with former periods (and there is direct evidence that it is in populous districts increasing), there has been some improvement in the residences of the middle and higher classes; household drainage and cleanliness has in some districts been improved; the quantity of town and land drainage and cultivation has of late increased in various proportions in each country; and the decrease in the causes of mortality appears to have been followed by an increase of the average age of the living, of particular classes at the least, sufficient to present an increase, though a dreadfully slow one, in the average age of the adults living. The increase of the proportion of adults may be represented as follows:—

───────────────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬─────────────── │ England. │ Ireland. │ Scotland. ───────────────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼─────────────── │ 1821 1841 │ 1821 1841 │ 1821 1841 Percentage of │ │ │ Population of 15 │ 39·09 36·07 │ 41·06 40·44 │ 41·0 36·4 Years and under │ │ │ Over 15 Years │ 60·91 63·93 │ 58·94 59·56 │ 59·0 63·6 ───────────────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼─────────────── │Yrs. M. Yrs. M.│Yrs. M. Yrs. M.│Yrs. M. Yrs. M. Average age of each │=25·3= =26·7= │=2·37= =24·0= │=25·1= =25·9= living individual │ │ │ ───────────────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────

In abundance of employment, in high wages, and the chief circumstances commonly reputed as elements of prosperity of the labouring classes, the city of New York is deemed pre-eminent. I have been favoured with a copy of “_The Annual Report of the Interments in the City and County of New York for the Year 1842_,” presented to the Common Council by Dr. John Griscom, the city inspector, in which it may be seen how little those circumstances have hitherto preserved large masses of people from physical depression. He has stepped out of the routine to examine on the spot the circumstances attendant on the mortality which the figures represent. He finds that upwards of 33,000 of the population of that city live in cellars, courts, and alleys, of which 6618 are dwellers in cellars. “Many,” he states, “of these back places are so constructed as to cut off all circulation of air, the line of houses being across the entrance, forming a _cul de sac_, while those in which the line is parallel with, and at one side of the entrance, are rather more favourably situated, but still excluded from any general visitation of air in currents. As to the influence of these localities upon the health and lives of the inmates, there is, and can be, no dispute; but few are aware of the dreadful extent of the disease and suffering to be found in them. In the damp, dark, and chilly cellars, fevers, rheumatism, contagious and inflammatory disorders, affections of the lungs, skin, and eyes, and numerous others, are rife, and too often successfully combat the skill of the physician and the benevolence of strangers.

“I speak now of the influence of the locality merely. The degraded habits of life, the filth, the degenerate morals, the confined and crowded apartments, and insufficient food, of those who live in more elevated rooms, comparatively beyond the reach of the exhalations of the soil, engender a different train of diseases, sufficiently distressing to contemplate, but the addition to all these causes of the foul influences of the incessant moisture and more confined air of under-ground rooms, is productive of evils which humanity cannot regard without shuddering.”

He gives instances where the cellar population had been ravaged by fever whilst the population occupying the upper apartments of the same houses were untouched. In respect to the condition of these places, he cites the testimony of a physician, who states that, “frequently in searching for a patient living in the same cellar, my attention has been attracted to the place by a peculiar and nauseous effluvium issuing from the door indicative of the nature and condition of the inmates.” A main cause of this is the filthy external state of the dwellings and defective street cleansing, and defective supplies of water, which, except that no provision is made for laying it on the houses of the poorer classes, is now about to be remedied by a superior public provision.

Years. Months. The average age of the white population living in New 23 3 York, according to the census, is But the average age of all who die there is only 20 0

Or an excess of deaths over the ages of the living of more than three years and three months; denoting, if the like excess prevailed from year to year, an increasing pressure of the causes of mortality. If the mortality be the same from year to year the chances of life would appear to be lower in New York than in Dublin, where, according to the data given by the Census Commissioners, it would appear to be 25 years 6 months.

In America little attention and labour appear to have been bestowed in any of the rural districts on general land drainage. Yet nature inflicts terrible punishment for the neglect of the appointed and visible warnings and actual premonitory scourges, amongst which are the mosquitoes and the tribes of insects that only breed in stagnant water and live in its noxious exhalations. The cleansing and the general sanitary condition of the American towns appear to be lower than in England or Scotland, whilst the heat there at times is greater and decomposition more active; pestilence in the shape of yellow fever, ague, and influenza is there more rife, the deaths in proportion to the population more numerous, and the average age of death (so far as there is information) amongst the resident population much lower.

Years. Months. The average age of the whole of the living population in America, so far as it can be deduced from the 22 2 returns at the periods given in the census, is only

Notwithstanding the earlier marriages, and the extent of emigration, and the general increase of the population, the whole circumstances appear to me to prove this to be the case of a population depressed to this low age chiefly by the greater proportionate pressure of the causes of disease and premature mortality. The proportionate numbers at each interval of age in every 10,000 of the two populations are as follows:—