Supplement to the monthly and quarterly returns of the births, deaths, and marriages registered in Scotland during the year 1867; also the vaccination returns relative to the children born during 1866.

  • Great Britain. General Register Office.
Date:
1868
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Supplement to the monthly and quarterly returns of the births, deaths, and marriages registered in Scotland during the year 1867; also the vaccination returns relative to the children born during 1866. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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

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    ia March, the mean temperature slowly and regularly descending till it reached the mean of 33°* 1 and 330,9, the greatest cold being on the 21st, and the consequence was that the deaths gradually increased under the cold weather till they reached 612 on the week ending 30th March. After this, milder weather set in; the mean temperature rose, and varied during April from 43° to 47°, and the deaths decreased, so that, on the last week of April, they numbered 481 only A careful study of this Table will show that the closest possible connection exists between mean temperature and mortality, and that in this country, it is cold which has the most baneful effects on health. In countries where the summer heats are very great, the hot months are the most fatal to the human race, because the heat encourages attacks of various bowel complaints, viz. Diarrhoea, Dysentery, and Cholera. Even in Scotland this tendency of the mortality to increase under the influence of a warm temperature is noticed, but in general the increased deaths from that cause are so few, that they do not materially increase the general mortality, nor invalidate the general statement, that in this country our most deadly enemy is cold: Thus, during one week alone, viz. that ending 17th August, the mean temperature was 61°T, being 57°*5 the week previous, and 570,9 the week following. During that hot week the deaths rose to 441, having been 409 the previous, and 405 the following week. The above examples may suffice to prove the general truth of the facts brought under consideration, and the Table will speak for itself. Table XIII. is drawn up with the view of showing the influence of weather, but especially of mean monthly temperature, on the mortality of different diseases and classes of disease in the Eight Towns, and is worthy of special study, because it tends to confirm all that has already been stated with regard to the influence of temperature on the general mortality, and to prove that temperature has as powerful an effect in this country on each disease and class of diseases as it has on the general mortality, and that even those diseases which we call epidemics are subject to the very same law of temperature as those diseases which have universally been recognised as local, such as Bronchitis, Pneumonia, Enteritis, etc. Thus, the Zymotic diseases, which caused in the Eight Towns 398 deaths in June, caused 480 Table XIII—Showing1 the connection between Atmospheric Phenomena, especially Mean Monthly Temperature, and the Deaths from certain Diseases and classes of Diseases, in the Eight Principal Towns of Scotland, during each Month of the year 1867. j 1S67. Jan. Feb. Mar. April. May. J une. July. Aug. Sept. Get. Nov. Dee. ] Mean Temperature, . 320,9 42°T 36°'S 4GOi0 47°-4 550l8 550l6 5S0-G 53°-9 47°'0 420l2 390i7 s Highest Temperature, 490l6 54°-3 53°T 590l7 67°1 74°-2 74°'5 750l2 65°-G Gl0l8 54°-0 54°'3 | Lowest Temperature. lG0l6 270l5 20°-4 33° 4 33° 3 41°-7 4 2° 4 4G0l4 39° 2 310l2 29°-8 2G0l2 1 Rainfall in inches, 4-74 3-05 2-1G 4'48 3 31 1-96 4 95 3-42 2-99 385 1-00 2-78 c Total Deaths, 2822 219S 2437 2347 2411 19S9 2154 1855 1901 1909 2049 2379 £ Daily Deaths, 91 78 78 78 78 66 G9 GO 63 63 GS 77 1 Zymotic Diseases, 518 425 453 452 499 398 479 410 470 492 457 4S0 | Small-pox, .... 13 10 i 8 7 4 3 2 6 0 r» O 2 4 { Measles, .... 78 G3 80 88 109 83 99 51 33 23 IS 26 ■ Scarlatina and Diphtheria, 90 73 76 58 72 56 50 51 90 13G 129 159 1 Hooping-Cough, 75 G8 88 7G 72 82 97 70 56 To 69 72 Croup, .... 31 18 10 29 29 23 24 23 40 36 37 41 Typhus, .... 140 109 119 11G 13G 90 104 G4 95 115 131 119 Diarrhoea, .... 31 34 39 33 37 32 G7 93 128 62 30 18 Cholera, .... 9 3 0 0 2 2 2 11 8 4 2 4 Consumption, 321 281 355 327 332 301 292 2G0 229 224 208 249 Diseases Respiratory Organs, 712 4G3 479 434 • 42! 317 259 192 203 329 460 53S Heart, etc., Diseases, Brain, etc., Diseases, . 153 96 12G 82 100 10G 108 70 84 S3 72 101 203 183 208 194 17G 1C9 171 157 159 151 164 235 | Age, 177 122 125 -■ i.-£ru«r« 105 11G 8G 108 89 80 S2 o j CO I 118