THE . RE.GISTRAR-GENERAL'S REPORT FOR 1854.* THE present volume has not

the practical purpose on the affairs of life which has given a. useful. interest to many of the Re- gistrar-General's Reports ; but it contains some new and curious facts in reference to birthe, deaths, and marriages," as well as some conclusions as to the effects of the air we breathe and the water we drink on epidemic disease. There are also scat- tered notices of natural occurrences, in 1,4. Glashier's reports on the Weather, which, trifling as they may seem, carry the mind to the freshness of nature ; even though the facts are merely, when the lilac blooms, or the cuckoo's note is first heard, or the swallow

first seen. •

" Lilac in./lower on the 8th April at Bioester ; on the 10th at Holston ; on the 11th at Jersey.; on the 17th at, Waurington ; on the 19th at Oxford ;. on the 20th at Gainshorough; on. the 22d at Rose 11111; on.the 23d at Linslade ; on the 29th at North Shields ; and on the 30th at York., On the 5th May at Nottingham; and on the 6th at Waltefield. On the 1st June at Domino. "Cuckoo first heard on the 16th April at Jersey ; on the 20th at Stone, Hartwell House, and Hartwell Rectory • ' on the 21at at Clifton on the 22d at Grantham and Gainsborough ; on the 26th at Bicester ; and on the 27th

at Wakefield. •

" Swallows first seen on the 2d April at Hartwell Rectory ; on the 3d at Stone ; on the 7th at Bicester ; on the 13th at Hartwell House and Grant- ham ; on the 14th at Gainsborough; on the 15th at York ; on the 16th at Jersey ; on the 17th at Dimino ' • and on the 20th at Clifton. On the 2d May at Wakefield ; and on the 12th North Shields."

The number of marriages in proportion to the number of persons living fell in 1854 below that of the two preceding years, owing, it is thought, to the high price of provisions. It is curious to see in looking over the tables, how the marriages fluctuate with the easy or uneasy years. For example, the prices, _panic, and pressure of 1847, told upon the marriage as well as the money= market. The proportion fell from 1.720 in 1845 and 1.722 in 1846 to 1.586 in 1847, and in the year of Revolution 1848 to 1.594. In 1849, when wars and rumours were still vexing the world, marriages only advanced a little, 1.616. Since that time they have rather looked up as far as .1854. To 100 PRIG:IONS LIVING,

nAIIIIIWes. MOONS MAHEINV.

1851 858 1.718 1852 872 1.744 8 153 894 1.788 1854 858

A curious inference is drawn as to the respective proportions of marriages by bans or licence according to the price of pro- visions : when prices rise, weddings by bans fall, but there is a tendency to increase by licence; in dear years the landlords be gin to think of settling. ,i

' The proportion of marriages after bans to those by licence is [in 1854] less than it has ever been in any year, except 1847, since 1841; and it is

• Seventeenth Annual Report of the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths, and Marriages in England. Printed for Her Majesty's Stationery Office.

evident that the pressure of the high prices of provisions, and of other cir- cumstances, depressed the poorer classes of society more than the classes who usually marry by licence. Upon comparing the proportional numbers of marriages by licence and after bans, it appears that when the price of wheat is low or moderate the proportion of marriages by bans preponderates to the greatest extent. •

"If the facts for the fourteen years are arranged in the order of the prices of wheat, it is seen that the marriages among the higher classes were rela- tively rather more frequent in the five years when the prices were highest i than in the five years when the prices were lowest ; while the marriages were most frequent among the classes who marry by bans when the prices of wheat were low ; and as these classes are the most numerous, they regu- late the general result.

" There is less fluctuation in the marriages of the rich than in the mar- riages of the poor, and the rise has hitherto not been simultaneous in the two classes ; so that the difference in the proportion of marriages by bans and marriages by licence is a very sensitive test of the condition of the lower classes."

The year 1854 was a time of cholera, not so fatal as in 1849, but still falling heavily, especially on a few ilaees. Many facts have been selected, and some curious applications of them made, though probably to be received with some caution. One eircum- oew-hic h admits of no question is the gradual increase of fa- tal diarrhcea within the last twenty .years. In 1838, the deaths from that disease were only 2,842; in 1847, they were 11,595; in 1848, nearly the same number; in 1849, (the great cholera year,) they were 17,831. " Diarrhoea did not discontinue its ravages after 1849. The deaths in the three following years were 11,468, 14,728, and 17,617; in 1853, when cho- lera appeared in the epidemic form, the deaths from diarrhcea fell to 14,192 ; but in 1854 their number was 20,052. Thus the deaths by cholera and diarrhcea in this year were 40,149, exclusive of a certain number of

i deaths which epidemic diarrhcea caused in conjunction with other diseases."

The proportion of deaths to 10,000 persons living, from cho- lera and diarrhcea, was in 1849 thirty from cholera alone ; from diarrhcea in both years, and from cholera in 1854, eleven,—a cu- rious coincidence. The inference would seem to be, that the elements of diarrhcea and cholera are more prevalent than they were, or that our modes of living are more favourable to those diseases. It is a coincidence, not to be advanced into a conse- quence, that the increase of diarrhcea is about simultaneous with the general extension of railway travelling and the abandonment of the hardier modes of locomotion.

Dr. Farr continues the subject of elevated site in reference to cholera, and the prevalence of deaths according to the Company which supplied the houses with water, or rather to the spots whence the Company drew its supply. The subject of elevation is pursued through a variety of calculations, mathematical or other- wise ; but this summary exhibits the proportion of deaths to den- sity and lofty site in a practical way.

" The rate of mortality is graduated by the elevation, and diminishes as we ascend from the lowest to the highest ground. So that, to give a fami- liar illustration, in the two epidemics in London, a premium of 9/. 68. would have insured 10001. in the event of the death by cholera of a person of ave- rage condition dwelling on the lowest terrace, under 20 feet of elevation; and on the second terrace (20 to 40 feet) the same sum (10001.) would have been insured by 4/. 98. ; on the third terrace (40 to 60 feet) by 3/. Is. ; on the fourth by 21. 68.on the fifth by 1/. 5s.; on the seventh by if. 3s. ; and so on as far as the observations extend."

As most of the Water Companies ought by this time to have had recourse to purer sources of supply, according to the terms of an act of Parliament, and the longest day of grace is the 30th June 1857, the facts relating to the topic of death by water have not so direct an application as in 1854. In a medical point of view they are of importance, as showing the relation of death, and it may be assumed of general health, to bad water supply. " In the 26,107 houses that derived the water from Ditton, 313 deaths from cholera occurred in ten weeks ; in the 40,046 houses that received the impure water from Battersea, 2443 persons it was ascertained died from cho- lera in the same time. The deaths m the latter districts exceeded by nearly 2000 the deaths that would have occurred if cholera had only been as fatal as it was in the houses that derived their water from Dater'. The Regis- trars were probably in some cases misinformed, but there is reason to believe that no undue proportion of the deaths is referred to houses that the South- wark Company supplies."

These facts are important, and worthy of attention ; but we must not carry the conclusion to the full length of the figures. Bad water and damp air are doubtless causes of disease, but they do not stand alone. Low-lying neighbourhoods are generally inhabited by poor people, many of whom have inherited bad con- stitutions, whose employment is irregular, perhaps unwhole- wane, whose food and. raiment are both seanty, and whose habits are most probably dirty and dissipated. Such people will be ob- noxious to disease place them where you will.