Forms of tables of vital statistics : with special reference to the needs of the health department of a city / by John S. Billings.

  • John Shaw Billings
Date:
1888
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Forms of tables of vital statistics : with special reference to the needs of the health department of a city / by John S. Billings. 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.

    19/26 page 17
    EXPLANATION OF DIAGRAMS. Washington, D. C, November 1, 1887. Dr. John S. Billings, Washington, D. C.: My Dear Sir : Herewith I hand you plan and description of a card, arranged for use in compiling statistics of mortality for the city of New York. This description is intended to illustrate the methods which I employ for making transcripts of the certifi- cates of death, which transcripts are to be used for compiling statistics with the machine which I have devised for this purpose. It may be noted that if such transcripts on punched cards are made, the original cer- tificates may be filed away or suitably bound, thus forming the records of the office, a perfect alphabetical index to which can readily be prepared from these cards, upon which the names of the decedents and the numbers of the corresponding certificates have been written. Yours very truly, H. Hollerith. The accompanying diagram represents a card intended for use in compiling the mortality statistics of the city of New York. The certifi- cates filed with the board of health give for each decedent the following data : Age, sex, color, civil condition, occupation, how long resident in the city, birthplace, birthplace of father, birthplace of mother, place of death, ward ; if in a dwelling, by how many families, living separately, occupied, floor, time of death, chief and determining cause of death, consecutive and contributing cause, and duration of the disease. A separate card is used for each decedent, and upon this the number of the certificate and the name of the decedent is written, the former for the purpose of identifying the card, and the latter for use in arranging an alphabetical index, for which purpose the cards are very convenient. The various items relating to the given decedent are recorded upon the card by punching, with an ordinary conductors' punch, one or more holes for each item. The detail with which such items are recorded can be varied greatly, but it is believed that the following plan is about as elaborate as under present circumstances would be desirable. Age. On the card at A and B are two rows of spaces numbered from o to 10, and from o to 9 respectively. These are used for recording the years of age, two spaces being punched for each age. Thus fifty years would be recorded by punching 5 at A and o at B, while five years would be recorded by punching o at A and 5 at B, forty-two years by 4 at A and 2 at B, twenty-four by 2 at A and 4 at B. It will be seen that each single year of age from 1 to no can thus be recorded. If the dece- dent was under one year of age, it is recorded by punching at C accord- ing to months of age ; thus o would represent under one month, 1 from one to three months, 3 from three to six months, and 6 over six months and under one year. Sex, race, and civil condition. The sex would be recorded by punch- ing at D, either M or F, according as the decedent was a male or a female. Color would be recorded at E by punching W for white, C for colored, and Ch for Chinese. At F would be punched S, M, W, or U, according as the civil condition was reported as single, married, wid- owed, or unknown.
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