Remarks upon the mortality of Exeter : together with suggestions towards the improvement of the public health : being a letter addressed to Henry Hooper, Esq., the Right Worshipful the Mayor of Exeter / by Thomas Shapter.

Shapter, Thomas, 1809 or 1810-1902.

Date:: 1844

Credit: Remarks upon the mortality of Exeter : together with suggestions towards the improvement of the public health : being a letter addressed to Henry Hooper, Esq., the Right Worshipful the Mayor of Exeter / by Thomas Shapter. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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$crease or diminish considerably ; thus frequently creating erro- neous impressions, whilst the average ages of deaths are found to maintain a comparatively steady course, always nearest to the actual condition of the population; so that the mortality of any district, and which will be found to be coincident with its physical condition, is most accurately measured by the years of vitality which have been enjoyed, i. e. by the average age of death. Mr. Chadwick therefore proposes that the chief test of the pressure of the causes of mortality is the duration of life in years. Though this view has not been altogether ad- j mitted,# yet it is evident that the average amount of years at- tained by the inhabitants of any district must, to a certain extent, indicate the vital strength and healthiness of its population. There are, as yet, no available means published of accu- \ rately comparing the ages of those who have recently died, ] in the different districts of this country, for any extended length of time ; nevertheless, there is at our service another source of information, viz. the tables in which is enumerated the census of 1841. In these tables there is set forth, in quinquennial periods,-}* the ages of the living in the different towns, hun- dreds, and counties of the kingdom ; so that by ascertaining the numbers living at each of these periods, we are enabled, i with certain modifications, to arrive at a very fair appreciation * Mr. Neison has objected to Mr. Chadwick's views, that the average age of those who die in one community cannot be taken as a test of the value of J life, when compared with that in another, from the fact that no two districts j or places are under the same distribution of population as to ages. Vide Journal of Statistical Society, vol. vii. part i. Ap. 1844. f The enumeration of the ages of the living was omitted in the census of | 1831; so that the progress of the population can not be properly ascer-Jj tained beyond the general statement, that it has numerically increased. It might be suggested, that this increase consisted in an undue proportion | of infant life. It is, however, gratifying to learn, from a comparison of the I last census with that of 1821, that this is not the case, as is seen from the j following statement:— Population per cent, under 15 years of age. 1821. 1841. England 39-09 36.07 Devon ... ••• •• 38.28 35.53 Exeter 33.19 33.17$