The Glasgow bills of mortality for 1841 & 1842 : drawn up by appointment and under the authority of the Lord Provost, magistrates and town council / by Alexander Watt.

Date:
1844
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The Glasgow bills of mortality for 1841 & 1842 : drawn up by appointment and under the authority of the Lord Provost, magistrates and town council / by Alexander Watt. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    oear a very uniform proportion to the temperature of the seasons. It is sarther to be noticed, that the Deaths by Fever, which fall heaviest on our copulation between twenty and sixty years of age, appear to have been more fatal, in proportion to the other Deaths, during the months of April, May, itnd June, than at any of the winter months, with the exception of Decem- ber, during which month it is much the same as in June. The amount of Deaths by Fever, however, as well as the proportion they bear to the whole Deaths, during the month of March, has been greater than during any of ;he other months—which goes a great way to account for the amount of Deaths at these ages being greater during this month than during February. By deducting the amount of Deaths by this disease, therefore, the amount of aortality by the others would be still more closely proportionate to the degree of heat during these months. Sixty Years and upwards.— The months of June and October seem to be iq most favourable months for the aged portion of our population. The Deaths from sixty years of age and upwards, on the average of the last tsven years, amount in October to 0*027 per cent, of the mean population ! f these years, and to 11*97 per cent, of the whole Deaths during the ionth. In June they amount to 0*027 per cent, of the mean population, nd to 11*99 per cent, of the whole Deaths during that month. The great- est mortality at these ages is in January, during which month they amount ) 0*064 per cent, of the population, and to 17*37 per cent, of the whole Deaths during the month. It will be perceived (Table Seventy), that the t inter and spring months are the most unfavourable to that part of the opulation above sixty years. But as the diseases which prove fatal to the inhabitants above that age are very imperfectly recorded, we are unable to cccount for the variations which take place in the amount of these Deaths. Eighty Years of Age and upwards.—By referring to Table Seventy, it r ill be found that the winter months are the most unfavourable to extreme ltd age, and that the summer months are the most favourable. DISEASES. have already shown that the amount of Deaths, by various diseases, nils, with very little variation, at the same ages of the population; and, hatever the total amount of Deaths by each disease may be, the propor- i' on which the Deaths falling at certain periods of life bears to the whole )'eaths by respective diseases remains the same. This is more especially .own to be the case with regard to Fevers, Scarlatina, Measles, Small-Pox, 'ooping-Cough, and Bowel Complaints; and as the characteristic symp- ms of these diseases are so well known, little doubt remains of the general ncuracy with which they are recorded in our Registers. There appear, >wever, to be some other diseases included under the head of Croup—a sease which also falls most heavily at the early ages. The inaccuracy in ie recording of this disease prevents me from ascertaining its law of mor- •lity at different ages; yet, as its effects are most fatal at the very early j'es, I shall include it in the observations I have to offer on the fatal effects •oduced by particular diseases on children under five yeai*s of age during * e different months, and endeavour to show which month the fatal effects these diseases is most to be guarded against. It requires to be kept in view, that, of the whole Deaths by Measles, ' 1*08 per cent, take place under five years of age; of the whole Deaths by :arlet Fever, 70*95 per cent, take place under that age; of Small-Pox, 85*72