Further observations on the state of population in Manchester, etc / [Anon].

  • Percival, Thomas, 1740-1804
Date:
[1774]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Further observations on the state of population in Manchester, etc / [Anon]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    1/8
    Further Obfervations Manchester, on the State of Population and other adjacent Places, i,p“A HE number of inhabitants and progrefs of population in the kingdom ; the increafe or decreafe of certain difeafes ; the comparative healthinefs of different fituations, cli- JL mates, and feafons ; and the influence of particular trades and manufactures on the duration of life, are fubje&s of the highefl: importance to the community; and equally intereft- ing to the ftatefman, the philofopher, and the phyffcian. “ I have fomewhere read,” fays Dr. Franklin (in the remarks on my former paper with which he has lately favoured me) “ that in China an account is yearly taken of the number of “ people, and the quantities of provifion produced. This account is tranfmitted to the Em- “ per or, whofe minifters can thence forefee a fcarcity likely to happen in any province, and from what Province it can belt be fupplied in good time (a). To facilitate the colleCling *' of this account, and prevent the necelfity of entering houfes and fpending time in afking and “ anfwering queflions, each houfe is furnifhed with a little board to be hung without the door during a certain time each year, on which board are marked certain words, againfi: which the £l inhabitant is to mark number or quantity, fomewhat in this manner. Men Women Children Rice or Wheat Flefh, See. __ « All under 16 are accounted children, and all above, men and women. Any other particulars ci which the government defires information of, are occaflonally marked on the fame boards. “ Thus the officers appointed to collett the accounts in each diltridl, have only to pafs before « the doors, and enter into their book what they find marked on the board, without giving the “ leafl trouble to the family. There is a penalty on marking falfely; and as neighbours muff “ know nearly the truth of each other’s account, they.dare not expoie themfelves by a falfe “ one, to each other’s accufation. Perhaps fuch a regulation is karcely praaicable with us.” But an enumeration of the people of England, fimilar to that lately executed at Manchefter, would not be fo difficult an undertaking, as may at the firft view be imagined. And if accurate and comprehenfive Bills of Mortality were univerfally eftablifhed, they would admirably coin- y cide ra) China, like all other countries that fubfift chiefly upon rice, is fubjeft to frequent famines. Monefquieu.