Vital statistics : a memorial volume of selections from the reports and writings of William Farr / edited for the Sanitary Institute of Great Britain by Noel A. Humphreys.

William Farr

Date:: 1885

Credit: Vital statistics : a memorial volume of selections from the reports and writings of William Farr / edited for the Sanitary Institute of Great Britain by Noel A. Humphreys. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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$Looking iit the Llistribtitiou of the Deiil'-and-Damb ovei- the face of Great Britain, we lind tlicni to be more eomnion in tiie iM^rieultural and pastoral districts, es])ecially wliere tlie conntry is hilly, than in those containing a lar<>-e amount of town population. The Northern Counties of Scotland, which include the wild and mountainous region of the High- lands, present the highest average,—1 in 1,156 of the population; then the South-Western Division of England, with 1 in 1,393: followed by the Southern Connties of Scotland, 1 in 1,480; and the Welsh Division, 1 in 1,542. We have already seen that the Sonth-Western and Welsh Divisions of England and the Northern Counties of Scotland contain the largest proportioufd number of blind jjersous. Cretins, most of whom are Deaf-mutes, are found in some of these localities ; the disease of cretinism is also accompanied by mental imbecility in a greater or less degree. The proportion of Deaf-mutes is lowest in the Northern Division of England—1 in 2,058 inhabitants ; and in the North-Western Division (Cheshire and Lancashire), where a nearly similar average prevails— 1 in 2,014. Although as a general principle a greater degree of prevalency of Deaf-dumbness seems to exist in rural and hilly localities than amidst urban and manufacturing populations, yet exceptions are remarked on api3lying this test to the counties, and the smaller sub-divisions com- posing them. The following English counties, for example, pi-esent widely different results, scarcely to be explained by a reference to their physical or geograpliical peculiarities :— Yorkshire, East 1 deaf-and-dumb in every 2,231 inhabitiints. Riding. Monmouthshire - 1 „ 2 300 Kent {Extra-Metro- 1 „ 2,MZ ■politaii). Durham - - 1 „ „ 2,480 Huntingdon - - 1 „ „ 3^016 Hereford - - 1 Deaf-and-Dumb in every 1,054 inhabitants. Worcester - - 1 - — ,> 1,160 S'^'^^ , - - 1 » 1,272 Cornwall - - 1 „ „ 1^278 The relative numbers of the sexes are in all countries much more dis- proportionate amongst the Deaf-aud-Dumb than amongst the Blind In Great Britain and in England and Wales there are 121 male Deaf-mutes lo3°^ i^r^'^^''' Scotland the inequality is somewhat greater, namely, 12o to 100 females; in the Islands in the British Seas there are 121 ma es to 100 females. The Irish Returns give the reversed proportion o\: ill temales to 100 males. In every 10,000 of the general population of each sex in Great Britain, b • 7 males and 5 • 3 females are Deaf-aud-Dumb. But while the returns lor the Avhole country exhibit a larger proportion of males, the reverse obtams m some localities; thus in Berks, Bedford, Salop, Derby, and Monmouth, more females are returned than males relatively to the numbers living of each sex. Of the 12,553 Deaf-mutes, only 783, or 6-2 per cent., had reached bO years oi age,--a fact showing the unfavourable position of this class as regards length of life; while those under 20 years of age, althoucrh the numbers are unquestionably deficient, amounted to 47 per cent The incompleteness of the returns for the years of early life, arising from the uncertainty which must exist with respect to infants, and the natural$