much from that on the sea-coast; a fact that has been supposed not to exist. In Suffolk and Middlesex Counties, diseases affecting the digestive organs prevail in greater proportious than in other parts of the State; and this fact will produce an apparently less number in the proportion by consumption.

It thus appears that this dreadful disease is a constant visiter in all parts of our Commonwealth,-on the mountains of Berkshire, and in the valley of the Connecticut, as well as along the sea-coast. The occasional visit of the cholera, or some other epidemic disease, creates alarm, and precautionary measures are adopted for prevention. But where is the alarm and precaution against a more inexorable disease, which, in this State, in every day in every year, deprives more than seven human beings of their lives? Over this disease curative skill has little or no power. It generally goes on, from its commencement to its termination, uncontrolled and uncontrollable by any remedies as yet discovered. Cholera, typhus, scarlatina, though terrible in themselves, when compared with this disease, are far less so in fatality. But it may be avoided, before it attacks. Its onset and its development may be prevented. And if it is ever to be ameliorated or eradicated, it can only be done by prevention, and not by cure. May the people be wise in time to learn the causes and apply the proper remedies to avert this greatest of calamities,-the invasion of consumption!

The average population of Boston, in the periods covered by the table, was, in 1810-1820, 38,642; in 1820 to 1830, 52,345; in 1830 to 1840, 73,196; and in 1840 to 1849, 111,429. The deaths by consumption in those periods were 1,891; 2,054; 2,306, and 3,795; or, an annual average proportion of 1 death in 204 living persons in the first, 1 in 254 in the second, 1 in 317 in the third, and 1 in 264 in the fourth; showing a comparative decline from 1810-1820 to 1830-1840, but an increase since that period. In New York, for the six years, 1838-43, there was, on the average, annually, one death by consumption to 194 inhabitants; in Philadelphia, in the ten years, 1836-'45, 1 in 284; and in London, in the four years, 1838-42, 1 in 205.

We subjoin some additional facts respecting this disease in places without this Commonwealth :

We might extend this statement, and show the prevalence of this disease in the milder climates of the West Indies, and on the sunny shores of Italy; and demonstrate how fruitless, generally, are the attempts to arrest its ravages. It is stated that, "of thirty-five consumptive patients who went to Madeira in 1821, two-thirds died at sea; three died in the first month after their arrival; five or six survived the winter, and about the same number survived the following spring; three or four lived to the second winter; but, of the whole number, there

were but thirteen living in 1824. The grave-yards of Rome, Naples, Marseilles, Pisa, Nice, and Malta, bear ample testimony to the fatality of this disease among those who have been induced to seek a foreign clime in the vain hope of recovery."1

5. The Diseases of the Circulative Organs are principally confined to those affecting the heart. These seem to have increased, both in the State and in Boston. In the latter, from .37 to 1.73,-more than 500 per cent.

6. The Diseases of the Digestive Organs embrace a very large class. Some may be zymotic or sporadic, as circumstances occur by which they are developed. The zymotic diseases, affecting these organs, are cholera, cholera infantum, diarrhea, and dysentery; and the principal diseases of the sporadic class, as they appear in the tables, are enteritis, or inflammation of the bowels, teething, and the undefined diseases of these organs. The whole of both classes, in the table, may be stated as follows:

This statement shows that these diseases cause 12.61 per cent., or about one-eighth, of the deaths in this State, and 21.89, or about one-fifth, in Boston.

The influence of seasons and ages is greater in these diseases than in any other class, as will appear from the statement on the next page.

This table illustrates, in a remarkable manner, the modifying influences of the seasons and ages upon the diseases specified. When it is known how dangerous the months of July, August, September, and October, are to children, we should be especially taught to guard against all the causes which, at that time, excite these diseases.

1 British and Foreign Medical Review, Vol. XXIV, p. 107.

7. The Diseases of the Urinary Organs do not constitute a large class, and in neither period amount to one per cent. Gravel and diabetes are the most numerous of the class.

8. The Diseases of the Generative Organs are an important though not a large class. Cases of puerperal fever are classed under the diseases of child-birth; and they have been in nearly the same proportion in all periods of our history, in Boston and in the country.

9. The Diseases of the Locomotive Organs. Rheumatism, or rheumatic fever, has occasioned the greatest number of deaths. Spinal diseases are also increasing.

10. The Diseases of the Integumentive Organs have caused about the same uniform proportion. Ulcers are stated to have produced more deaths than all other diseases of this class.

11. Old Age has fewer deaths, in proportion to the whole, to record among its victims now, than at the former periods of our history. In Boston, in 1810 to 1820, it destroyed 5.04 per cent.; in the last period, only 2.46; a decrease of more than one-half.

12. The Deaths by Violence are nearly as great in the country as in Boston, though the proportional numbers vary in both places. Accidents and drowning are the most numerous causes. Burns and scalds, intemperance and suicide, cause nearly the same proportions.

Dysentery.

Total.

The following are some of the many important conclusions to which the facts thus far disclosed lead us:

1. It is proved that there is a great difference, in this State, in the longevity of people living in different places and under different circumstances. This fact is presented in a forcible manner in the subjoined illustration, taken from the Census of Boston, (p. 158.) The cut is drawn in ten divisions, each way; those from left to right representing the ages of life; those from top to bottom, the per centage of survivors :

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Take one hundred persons from each of four different classes of people: 100 of those who enjoy an amount of life equal to the healthy classes in England; 100 of those who died at Newton, in 1810 to 1830; 100 of those who died in Boston, in 1840 to 1845; and 100 of the Catholics of Boston. If each of the hundred persons in all these classes had lived 100 years, each class would have enjoyed 10,000 years of life. But persons die at all ages, and in some classes very much earlier than in others. Accordingly four lines are drawn diagonally