Contributions to the vital statistics of the state of New-York / by Lemuel Shattuck ; communicated to T. Romeyn Beck.

  • Lemuel Shattuck
Date:
[1850?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Contributions to the vital statistics of the state of New-York / by Lemuel Shattuck ; communicated to T. Romeyn Beck. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    IV. Contributions to the Vital Statistics of the State of New- York. By Lemuel Shattuck Esq., of Boston. [Communicated by T. Romeyn Beck, M. D.] Boston, February 1, 1850. T. Romeyn Beck, M. D. My Dear Sir—The official returns of the State censuses of 1825, 1835 and 1845, contain facts which throw some light upon the vital statistics of the State—a subject which is just now, from its important sanitary connections, attracting considerable attention. The facts to which I allude are those relating to the population, and tp the births, marriages and deaths. To be available, however, for any practical pur- pose, it is necessary that they should be taken from the immense mass of figures which are piled up in the census volumes, and subjected to analysis, combination and deduction. Having occasion to examine them for a collateral purpose, it has occurred to me that the results of the examination might not be entirely without interest, as matters of reference at least, to the Medical Society; and if you deem them worthy of being presented, they are placed at your disposal. The returns of the population are supposed to be generally correct, as far as they go; but those relating to the births, marriages and deaths, must be received with more caution. One fact only is at hand to test the accuracy of these returns. I am not aware that pub- lic registers have been kept in any place, except in the city of New- York, and there only of the deaths. These are presumed to be very nearly correct. A comparison of the City Inspector's reports, and the returns of the State enumerations will shew the following results: In 1825. In 1835. In 1845. The City Inspector reports 5,021 7,082 10,983 The State census returns 3,239 5,925 6,293 Showing differences of 1,782 1,157 4, 4,690