STATISTICS.
; MORTALITY On TI1E RICH AND THE POOR.—M. Benoiston de Chateauneuf, to !whom science is much indebted for his curious statistical researches, has lately submitted two memoirs to the Aeademnie des Sciences, on the rate of mortality among the rich and the poor, and on the degree of longevity at the beginning of the nineteenth century ,• and the following arc the results of his investigations. 13etween January 1st 1820 and January 1st 1828, he has noticed the lives of • 600 persons, such as peers, ministers, cardinals, and sovereigns, who possess in • an eminent degree the advantages of birth, power, and opulence. Of the 600, only one lived to be upwards of ninety, and 141 died within the eight years, or ' rather more than a fourth of the whole, the rate being 17 deaths per year. Of 1000 individuals residing in the worst parts of Paris, and distiuguished for their poverty, three-fourths die in the hospitals, and the annual deaths are in proportion ',...twice as many as among the opulent classes.
LONGEVITY.—The object of the second memoir went to ascertain how many persons out of 100 now reach the age of sixty. Rejecting extreme cases, he con- cludes that the number is about 26 ; and that it requires very nearly a quarter of a century before the half ()fatty one generation becomes extinct.
Stotecity.—It has hitherto been the practice, when amputating a limb, to tie up the enda. of the arteries by means of a needle and thread. This is rather a dif- ficult operation, and requires the assistance of one or two skilful persons besides the actual operator. Aloreovei, it introduces into the part a foreign substance, which must be ultimately discharged by the process of sloughing. With a view to avoid these inconveniencies, AL Amussat, a French surgeon, proposes to twist the artery; and he says his method of doing this is as effectual for stopping the blood as the application of ligatures. Ile performs it without any assistants. The French paper which reports the fact, says that the plan has been several times acted on, and has been examined cud approved of by a committee of suracous,
Previous page
