the same spot, and at no very distant period of time. In this town, in the sixteenth century, the probability of life, or the age to which half the born lived, was only 4.883-rather less than four years and nine tenths; and the mean life 18.511about eighteen years and a half. In the seventeenth century the probability of life was 11.607-above eleven years and a half; the mean life 23.358. In the eighteenth century the probability of life had increased to 27.183-twenty-seven years and nearly a fifth; and the mean life to thirty-two years and a fifth. The conclusions which forced themselves upon the mind of the enlightened and respectable writer who has principally furMshed me with these materials, I cannot refrain from giving in his own language: "Death," says Mr. Price, "is an evil to which the order of Providence has subjected every inhabitant of this earth; but to men it has been rendered unspeakably more an evil than it was designed to be. The greatest part of that black catalogue of diseases which ravage human life, is the offspring of the tenderness, the luxury, and the corruptions introduced by the vices and false refinements of civil society. That delicacy which is injured by every breath of air, and that rottenness of constitution which is the effect of indolence, intemperance, and debauchery, was never intended by the Author of nature; and it is impossible that they should not lay the foundation of numberless sufferings, and terminate in premature and miserable deaths." To the same purpose, says another writer who is very competent to form a correct opinion, when his judgment is not warped by a favorite hypothesis: "Diva have been generally considered as the inevitable inflictioa, A Providence; but perhaps the greater part of them may more justly be considered as indications that we have offended again some of the laws of nature." When persons of emarget to, and who are unfettered by professional prejudices, are av same conclusions, it affords no weak presumption that sums are justly formed. These intellig cases are, for th ourselves to w the s Conse en es mar who a with have concluded vas vr do Reial. But we se vi co coneralties, k "One half of all born in the mountains live to the age of 47. In the marshy parish, one half live only to the age of 25. In the hills, 1 in 20 of all that are born live to 80. In the marshy parish, only 1 in 52 reaches this age. In the hills, a person aged 40 has a chance of 80 to 1 for living a year. In the marshy parish, his chance of living a year is not 30 to 1. In the hills, persons aged 20, 30, and 40, have an even chance for living 41, 33, and 25 years, respectively. In the fenny parish, persons at those ages have an even chance of living only 30, 23, and 15 years. The average mortality of England and Wales is calculated, in the year 1810, to be 1 in 49. In the parts subject to the ague, Kent, Essex, Cambridgeshire, and the East Riding of Yorkshire, the mortality is above this average. At Boston, in the fens of Lincolnshire, the mortality is 1 in 27. At Stamford, which is in the dry and upland division of the same county, it is only 1 in 50. The duration of human life, then, is regulated by fixed and invariable laws. Nor does it at all affect the general deductions drawn from these facts, though the observations on which they are founded should not be correctly applicable to the present state of things. It is thought, and probably with reason, that the healthiness both of this empire and of the metropolis is improved since the time when Dr. Price published his observations. Dr. Heberden, the younger, estimates the present rate of mortality in London to be 1 in 30 nearly; a prodigious improvement if it be just! But it has been always found that the external circumstances of society remaining unchanged, the rate of mortality is uniform; and when this rate has been found to undergo any considerable and permanent alteration, it may be traced to some corresponding change in these circumstances. The extension of agriculture; draining and enclosure of wastes; cleansing of towns; ventilation of private houses; improvements in diet and clothing; such, in general, are the sources of improved health and prolonged life. I suspect myself that the increased cultivation of the potato, and its very general us among the laboring classes of London, has, more than other single cause, contributed to the improved health metropolis.* A fact related by Mr. Malthus, with regard to t Geneva, proves how great a change has really tal * I have heard it suggested, not perhaps without reaso stitution of cotton for woolen clothing has been the cau pearance in so great a degree, of late years, of the lov tvphus fever. the same spot, and at no very distant period of time. In this town, in the sixteenth century, the probability of life, or the age to which half the born lived, was only 4.883-rather less than four years and nine tenths; and the mean life 18.511about eighteen years and a half. In the seventeenth century the probability of life was 11.607-above eleven years and a half; the mean life 23.358. In the eighteenth century the probability of life had increased to 27.183-twenty-seven years and nearly a fifth; and the mean life to thirty-two years and a fifth. The conclusions which forced themselves upon the mind of the enlightened and respectable writer who has principally furnished me with these materials, I cannot refrain from giving in his own language: "Death," says Mr. Price, "is an evil to which the order of Providence has subjected every inhabitant of this earth; but to men it has been rendered unspeakably more an evil than it was designed to be. The greatest part of that black catalogue of diseases which ravage human life, is the offspring of the tenderness, the luxury, and the corruptions introduced by the vices and false refinements of civil society. That delicacy which is injured by every breath of air, and that rottenness of constitution which is the effect of indolence, intemperance, and debauchery, was never intended by the Author of nature; and it is impossible that they should not lay the foundation of numberless sufferings, and terminate in premature and miserable deaths." To the same purpose, says another writer who is very competent to form a correct opinion, when his judgment is not warped by a favorite hypothesis: "Diseases enerally considered as the inevitable inflictions of ut perhaps the greater part of them may more ered as indications that we b "One half of all born in the mountains live to the age of 47. In the marshy parish, one half live only to the age of 25. In the hills, 1 in 20 of all that are born live to 80. In the marshy parish, only 1 in 52 reaches this age. In the hills, a person aged 40 has a chance of 80 to 1 for living a year. In the marshy parish, his chance of living a year is not 30 to 1. In the hills, persons aged 20, 30, and 40, have an even chance for living 41, 33, and 25 years, respectively. In the fenny parish, persons at those ages have an even chance of living only 30, 23, and 15 years.' The average mortality of England and Wales is calculated, in the year 1810, to be 1 in 49. In the parts subject to the ague, Kent, Essex, Cambridgeshire, and the East Riding of Yorkshire, the mortality is above this average. At Boston, in the fens of Lincolnshire, the mortality is 1 in 27. At Stamford, which is in the dry and upland division of the same county, it is only 1 in 50. The duration of human life, then, is regulated by fixed and invariable laws. Nor does it at all affect the general deductions drawn from these facts, though the observations on which they are founded should not be correctly applicable to the present state of things. It is thought, and probably with reason, that the healthiness both of this empire and of the metropolis is improved since the time when Dr. Price published his observations. Dr. Heberden, the younger, estimates the present rate of mortality in London to be 1 in 30 nearly; a prodigious improvement if it be just! But it has been always found that the external circumstances of society remaining unchanged, the rate of mortality is uniform; and when this rate has been found to undergo any considerable and permanent alteration, it may be traced to some corresponding change in these circumstances. The extension of agriculture; draining and enclosure of wastes; cleansing of towns; ventilation of private houses; improvements in diet and clothing; such, in general, are the sources of improved health and prolonged life. I suspect myself that th increased cultivation of the potato, and its very general r among the laboring classes of London, has, more than other single cause, contributed to the improved health metropolis.* A fact related by Mr. Malthus, with regard to Geneva, proves how great a change has really ta * I have heard it suggested, not perhaps without reaso stitution of cotton for woolen clothing has been the cau pearance in so great a degree, of late years, of the lo tvphus fever. the same spot, and at no very distant period of time. In this town, in the sixteenth century, the probability of life, or the age to which half the born lived, was only 4.883—rather less than four years and nine tenths; and the mean life 18.511about eighteen years and a half. In the seventeenth century the probability of life was 11.607-above eleven years and a half; the mean life 23.358. In the eighteenth century the probability of life had increased to 27.183-twenty-seven years and nearly a fifth; and the mean life to thirty-two years and a fifth. The conclusions which forced themselves upon the mind of the enlightened and respectable writer who has principally furmished me with these materials, I cannot refrain from giving in his own language: "Death," says Mr. Price, "is an evil to which the order of Providence has subjected every inhabitant of this earth; but to men it has been rendered unspeakably more an evil than it was designed to be. The greatest part of that black catalogue of diseases which ravage human life, is the offspring of the tenderness, the luxury, and the corruptions introduced by the vices and false refinements of civil society. That delicacy which is injured by every breath of air, and that rottenness of constitution which is the effect of indolence, intemperance, and debauchery, was never intended by the Author of nature; and it is impossible that they should not lay the foundation of numberless sufferings, and terminate in premature and miserable deaths." To the same purpose, says another writer who is very competent to form a correct opinion, when his judgment is not warped by a favorite hypothesis: "Diseases nerally considered as the inevitable inflictions of ut perhaps the greater part of them may more ered as indications that we b of nature." When pers ttered by professional |