WBH B£93r 1851 \a i -foil i; i ■ ■■;%. x Vttr / ¥ I \ l Wgeon^eneral's Office ^ ' '^ ■SS-1 g^OQ. if i sr I * * ^ \ V. /^t^jf~&*^yfer REPORT TO THE LOUISIANA STATE MEDICAL SOCIETY, ON THE METEOROLOGY, VITAL STATISTICS AND HYGIENE A iMJB^mnH. BY B. H. BAJITON. A.M., M.D., President of the Medical Society of the State of Louisiana; Permanent Member of the National Medical Association of the Umu-1 State. Former Profcasor of the Theory and Practice of Medicine and Clinical Practice hi the Medical College of the Cniver.-*itr of Louisiana; Doctor of Mcdicino and Surgery of the Royal University of Havana, etc. etc. etc. TO WHICH IS ADDED AN APPENDIX, Showing the Experience of Life Insurance Companies in Louisiana, With Tables of Mortality for the use of such < 'uni panics. And the Laws of Probability of Life (English Calculation); '.LSO, THE EXFERIENCE OF THE LONDON LIFE INSURANCE OFFICII, ETC BT H. C;. IIEARTT, Actuary of the Mutual Itoncflt life and Fire Insurance Couijwiny of Loi >-j.m Acttnvy ol' the British Commercial Liu- lusurauc (.Vmpan.T, of Loii.li.rt. % 'Ncto (flrt-lcims: PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY DAVU'.S, S0\ & CO. .17 CAMP STRKT-T 1851. ^\ \\:.. *. \\>>, V. B H ~B2 93t- 1851 Entered according to act of Congress, in the year J8M, bj 1I£\RY UrLB£KT Hi:Ali.IT, Iii t'.ie Clerk's Ofiico of tlio District Court of the Eastern District of Louisiana New Orleans, MarchTlth, 1851. M. H. Barton, A. M., M. D.: Dear Sir:—The immense importance of correct Statistics of the Mortality of the City of New Orleans and the State of Louisiana, that comparison may be made with that of other Cities and States, in order to remove the unfavorable impression existing in regard to the health of this section of the Union, has induced us to request a publication of your very able and elaborate lecture on that subject, delivered before the Medical Society of the State of Louisiana, and upon the data of which you have bestowed so many years of observation and labor, making it an important and invaluable work of reference. Had more attention and publicity been given heretofore to Statistics, the growth of our City and State would have been more rapid, its population larger, and the sense of security of health would have caused also the retention of capital within its borders. The want of correct statistics of mortality has been severely felt both here and in Europe, and its importance is further manifest, as it is only from such information that those institutions, created to alleviate the wants of families deprived of their natural supporters—Life Insu- rance Companies — can mako the requisite mathematical calculations whereby the just rates of premium of life insurance and annuities can be established with reference to the Southern States; and in order that facilities may be given for the furtherance of this object, we renew our hope that you will favor us with a copy of your Report for publication, and remain, with high respect, A. D. GROSSMAN, J. H. CALDWELL, J. BALDWIN, LEONARD MATTHEWS, C. C. SNETHEX, H. G. HEARTT, THOS. A. ADAMS, THOS. SLOO, E. L. GOOLD, T. U. THORPE, R. F. CANFIELD, BENJAMIN FLORANCE, S. J. PETERS, JAMES ROBB, PETER CONREY, JR. JOHN II AG AN, ISAAC T. PRESTON, ISAAC JOHNSON, WM. FRERET, PIERRE SOULE, JOHN A. DOUGHERTY, ALFRED HENNEN, H. C. CA.MMACK, WM. M. GOODRICH, R. M. DAVIS, B. STILLE, JR. SAMUEL WOLFF, J. THAYER, JOHN' CLAIBORNE, THEODORE CLAPP, E. JENNER COXE, M.D., E. II. CARMICHAEL, M.D. HOWARD SMITH, M.D., R. BEIN, M.D., G. W. SMITH, EDW. W. SEWELL. New Orleans, April, 1&51. Gentlemen: I have been honored with your note, requesting a copy of the report I made to the Louisiana State Medical Society, on the subjects of the Meteorology, Vital Statistics and Hygiene of the State, for publication. Though by no means insensible to its many imperfec- tions, yet I must hope it will not wholly fail of service in the cause of life and health, since it has met the approval of persons of your posi- tion and intelligence; and with your leave, therefore, I will dedicate it to the Municipal Authorities of the cities of New Orleans and Lafayette, for whose enlightened consideration and judgment* its facts, principles and suggestions, were mainly designed. Grateful for your approbation, and very obliging expressions, I remain, gentlemen, Most respectfully, Y'our obedient servant and fellow citizen, E. H. BARTON. CONTENTS. PAGE I.—Meteorology, the agent in secondary causes — enumerated............ 8 Influence of temperature on the flowering of plants—ditto on disease....... 9 Hydrographical division of the State; amount inundated and subject to inun- dation............................................................. 10 Instincts explained through meteorological conditions..................... 12 Epidemics always connected with remarkable meteorological conditions___ 12 Meteorological and epidemic cycles the same; ditto of notable vegetable pro- ductions and animal migrations...................................... 13 The hygrometric state of the atmosphere, influence on health, how it acts,. 14,15 Protective power of Lake Pontchartrain, difference in the climate of opposite banks of the Mississippi............................................ 15 Effect of a calm or stagnant atmosphere on health—probable cause of goitre and cretinism...................................................... 16 The remarkable fatality of gorges or deep hollows in this and neigboring States, accounted for................................................ 16 The effect of winds and evaporation in lowering the temperature of the body, and in what ratio................................................... 17 Influence of the weight or pressure of the atmosphere, as indicated by the Bar- ometer, on the body: 1st. The effect of a very light atmosphere, what diseases prevalent where this exists, as exemplified in Mexico, etc....................... 18 2d. Remarkable influence of a greatly increased weight, as exhibited in some mines in France....................................... 18 How far is it in our power to influence meteorological conditions........... 18 The true estimate of the temperature of a climate to be derived from the tem- perature of the dew-point..........................................16-20 II.—Vital Statistics, etc.—Why unfortunate for our sanitary showing, the taking the census at this period: 1st, The Eastern district, remarkable salubrity of—2d, Western district, why less so................................................ 21 On what depends the permanent prosperity of the city; importance of knowing our actual condition.............................................22-21 Reputation of New Orleans abroad; consequences of so long concealing or being ignorant of our situation....................................... lb. Difference of mortality of city and country, cause of...................... 25 Difficulty of detecting impure air, but by its effects — illustrations.......... 26 Why the actual mortality of the city from the population de facto, is to be considered the true sanitary state....................................27 Can there be any real permanent acclimation, where the condition on which it depends is not stationary.......................................... 28 IV. C O N T K N T S. TA'iT When commenced the obscurity or doubt of the acclimating power of yellow fever ........................................................... 2'.) Is it possible for an acclimating disease to occur in a native, as a prerequisite for immunity against itself! the absurdity of such a proposition......... 30 Proofs that the true malignant yellow fever is departing from among us— is blending itself with the ordinary diseases of the country ............... 30 Individual habits oi greater protective power than any acclimation.......... 31 The effect of sanitary regulations in preventing yellow fever, amply demon- strated ............................................................ 32 Their effect in keeping the plague out of Egypt for centuries, contrasted with its return of late years, and the palpable causes pointed out; great mortal- ity among the natives............................................. 33 The evident connection of city mortality with physical changes, as exhibited during the last sixty years........................................ 34 III.—To what causes are to be attributed the insalubrity of this city; the actual calculated amount of organic matter putrifying and contaminating the air we breathe; bad air, and what produces it..................... 35 Bad water; how injured; the great capacity of water to absorb deleterious gases, and whence derived................................:.......36 The importance ol the proofs derived from science in explaining sanitary regulations ........................................................ 36 The effect of habits in a warm climate; temperance; influence of bad milk.. 37 Are the ills under which Ave suffer remediable 7 the great remedy, sewers ; their absolute necessity; facility ol making them; what they accomplish.. 38 The inapplicability of our present system of privies in our low soil, and why; how remedied.................................................... 3!) The necessity of covering our draining canals, and exclusion of light, different effects of stagnant and running waters................................ 39 What kind of pavement required in this soil; duties of health wardens......40 The planting of trees in our squares and streets; how they act in purifying the air................................................................ 40 Explanation of the principles of health and disease on the known laws of vital action........................................................ 41 The direct effect of a high rate of mortality on the prosperity of the city.....42 Important deductions from the foregoing data .........................,.. 42 Whence have arisen the popular errors in relation to the salubrity of the city. 43 That excuse, ignorance, exists no longer ; all difficulties surmountable ; the indispensable importance of putting the sanitary condition on a par with other cities, so as to compete with them for the trade of the country....... 44 Value of a knowledge of the connection of meteorological science with every day facts — with health — with agriculture............................ 45 Importance of a registry law--of statistical records; how much we have been retarded by our past ignorance of them ; illustration of what occurred at Liverpool........................................,................. 46 To what extent it has been demonstrated that the salubrity of a place can be improved by sanitary measures, and how far they are required here; proof that New Orleans not always sickly; that it has not arisen necessarily from climate or position, but from our neglect of sanitary measures entirely under our control.................................................47 The true incubus that has been paralysing the slumbering energies of this community...................................................... 47 CONTENTS. v. v a '. r Thr actual average annual amount of moisture, number of grs. in a cubic foot, drying power, etc.. three times a-day, shown lor a long series of years; see table A........................................................ 13 The amount of moisture, drying power of each wind blowing over New Or- leans ; see table B.................................................. 49 The prevalent wind of each month and season at New Orleans, on a long average of years; see table C....................................... 49 The mortality of the city ot New Orleans since 1787, with the ratios, the rela- tive proportion dying at the Charity Hospital, and the dates of great physi- cal changes in and about the city—table D............................. 50 Statement of the number of tree and slave population, as well as the number of deaths from Cholera and other diseases, in the parishes of the Western Dis- trict of Louisiana, as taken by the assistant marshals, and returned to the United States Marsha], under the census act of 23 J May, 1850—table E... 53 Statement of the number of dwelling houses, free and slave population, as well as the number of deaths from Cholera and other diseases, in the respective parishes of the Eastern District of Louisiana, as taken by the different assistant marshals, and returned to the United States Marshal, under the census act of 23d May, 1850—table F...............................52, 53 Expl\nation.-—The true interpretation of acclimation (intended as a note to page 31); its philosophy illustrated; so far as proved, is a meteorological condition.......................................................... 54 Appendix.—Result of the experience of life insurance companies in New Or- leans ; difference in mortality between blacks or whites reversed by them; illustrating the facility of preserving life here by care; great profits from life insurance resulting ............................................. 56 Mutual Benefit Life and Fire Insurance Company of Louisiana.—A tabular view of the results of life insurance, as exemplified by the experience of this office, from its commencement to 1st April, 1851, a period of one year and nine months........................................................ 58 Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company, Newark, New Jersey.—A tabular view of the results of life insurance, as exemplified by the experience of the Agency at New Orleans, from November, 1848, to June 1,1851, a period of three years........................................................... 59 Table of the rate of mortality at Carlisle, England.......................... 60 Table showing the probabilities of the duration of human life, at all ages from 10 to 97, deduced from the experience of the Equitable Insurance Company, of London.......................................................... 61 New rate of mortality in England.—A table, exhibiting the law of mortality amongst assured lives, according to the combined town and country expe- rience of life offices, deduced from 62,537 assurances, under the superintend- ence of a committee of eminent actuaries, in London ■................... 62 Table, showfcig the disorders (as certified to the court of directors) of which persons assured by the Equitable Society have died during thirty-two years, from the 1st of January, 1801, to the 31st of December, 1832............. 63 Table of comparative expectations of life in England.—Showing the expecta- tion or average duration of life, deduced from eight original tables, prepared under the superintendence of a committee of eminent actuaries, and com- pared with the Carlisle, Equitable and Northampton tables.......... 64. r,:> VI. CONTENTS. 1'AGE Seventh Census.—Table showing the population of'the United States, with the apportionment of Representatives................•..................... "" Chart No. I, illustrating the climate of several parts of the State, of the rainy seasons in four sections of the State, of the different temperatures of New Orleans in 1808 and '50, accounted for; the average monthly dew-point line here for a series of years, and below the average mortuary line from 1817 to 1850, showing healthiest and sickliest months.................. C7 Charts Nos. II and III. exhibit the different influences of the climate on color and on sex of sams age...........................................68; 69 ERRATA. Page 7—Last line but one, for ' and' read as. " 9—For ' and,' first word on the page, read we shall. " 54—In fifth line from top, for ' fiscal' read final. i: 56—Second line from top, for ' Mutual Benefit Insurance Com- pany,' read Mutual Benefit Life and Fire Insurance Company. " 56—Seventeenth line from top, after 'and,' add /. UKPORT ON THE ' METEOROLOGY, VITAL STATISTICS AND HYGIENE OF THE STATE OF LOUISIANA. Read before the Medical Society of the State of Louisiana., 1th March, 1.S51. Gentlemen: On our first organization, I had the honor to be appointed chairman of the Committee to report on the important sub- jects of the Meteorology, Vital Statistics and Hygiene of this State. On accepting that conspicuous post, I was not una- ware of the sterileness of the field I had to work in — of the vast amount of toil to be bestowed to garner up fruits worthy of the Society, such as would fulfil the expectations, nay the require- ments of science at this enlightened period of the world. I knew from many years' experience, that neither meteorology nor vital statistics were sufficiently prized by most of our cotemporaries here; that, consequently, but few records were kept of them. I shall now lay before you the result of my labors, imperfect though they be, and as our predecessors have signally failed in the performance of their duty—the scantiness of the materials left behind them must disarm criticism I should think, and leave me fair claims to your indulgence. I. I commence the report at the fountain head — Meteorology; for these two subjects of Vital Statistics and the condition of the atmosphere have the direct influence of cause and effect impressed upon them. I wish to call your attention primarily to this connection, and we shall be the better enabled then to under- stand the nature of each, and appreciate our true* position. In L * J the great range of secondary causes, through which the influence of Deity is felt, meteorology is doubtless one of the mighty ageuts by means of which it is experienced. The subject is attractive. as its investigation unfolds the great Jaws of our Creator; it ia important, for we cannot understand the great principles of cli- mate and of health while ignorant of it; and it is interest in;/ to us, for not a tree unfolds its leaves, nor a blossom expands its petals, nor the great science of agriculture, upon which we depend for our daily sustenance, is cultivated, without unfolding the truths and the science of meteorology. Whether, then, we are freezing under polar snows — scorching under tropical heats, or fanned by the zephyrs of milder regions, it so directly influences all, as to establish the popular belief (in which every man of science concurs), that it has a large share in most of our enjoy- ments, and materially influences nearly all our ailments. In a southern country, then, where a high range of temperature imparts to man an exalted sensibility, I may be pardoned for inviting your special attention to it. The application of meteorological science — to the explanation of its influence on the vegetable and animal creation, and on man himself—the different races of man,— on the healthy and diseased condition,— is too extensive to be entered upon on the present occasion, or, indeed, upon any occasion within the pfopcr com- pass of a single lecture. I can give but a very meagre sketch of the vast subject allotted to me. Vegetable and animal geography is one of the most captivating studies of the vast field of animated nature; but how much more important is that of man — influ- enced as he is in every latitude by these conditions; but to our profession belongs the speciality of its influence on his health — or medical geography. The why and wherefore that plague should exist in one country and yellow fever in another;—that Goitre should exist in Alpine regions, and Plica in Poland;—that Barbadoes leg should prevail in the Antilles and Beriberi in Cey- lon ;—that Matlazahuatl in Mexico and leprosy in Cuba, and that cholera should not pass the Equator, nor the yellow fever until last year, etc., etc., are as curious as they are well-established facts, showing the different influences of climate upon man. In the more highly advanced condition of this interestm" science. [ 9 ] and probably be enabled to explain the modus operandi of this influence, and thus be empowered to turn such knowledge to our benefit. Is not every thing to be expected from its pro- gress, when we state to you that a French mathematician has demonstrated that a flower will bloom when the sum of the squares of the daily mean of temperatures reaches a certain point from the last freeze of winter ! and that it has been ascertained that the common lilac blooms when this sum reaches 7607° of Fahrenheit's thermometer, and it has been already proved in rela- tion to the recurrence of yellow fever of Philadelphia, in a series of years from 1793 to 1817, embracing many epidemics, that it occurred in no year when the average thermometer at 3 o'clock was under 79° during the summer, and that the extent and malig- nancy of the disease was proportioned to the extent in which it exceeded that height;;—and that the average temperatures of June and July at that period governs the season in relation to health, insomuch that if, by the 1st of August in any year, the average shall be below that degree, we should feel Ml confidence that during that season yellow fever will not occur! In relation to this country, although this precise degree does not apply, (in an examination I have made of some nineteen years), yet the principle that the salubrity of the city greatly depends upon the elevation of temperature is fully borne out; and this does not at all detract from the value of the experience derived from what occurred at Philadelphia, for during the period under notice there was a more or less stationary and fixed condition of things in Philadelphia, while here almost everything has been in the transition state, and that though it is one of the most important agents influencing our sanitary condition, it is not the only one. These important statements evince the interest and value to be attached to the study of this department of science, and that it is a duty we owe to society, to the profession, and to our wants and enjoyments, to cultivate it. I now present to the Society digested records of asmospheri- cal conditions in this State for the last 30 years, made by myself. viz., of 12 years in West Feliciana; of 18 years in this city ; of the journal kept by the scientific Lafon, for 1807, 1808 and '10 and 1819, here — of the parish of Rapides for the last 20 years, 10 [ 10 ] kept by a most worthy gentleman, Major P. G. Voorhies ; and also the quantity of rain that has fallen during the last five years in the parish of Plaquemine, by Thomas Morgan, Esq. All these records have been carefully digested, out of which I have con- structed Chart No. 1, illustrative, by comparison, of the climate of Louisiana in its different sections. There are causes influencing our meteorological condition, which, in a proper estimate of our climate, we cannot overlook. [ allude to the great modifying power of large inland bodies of water upon it. I am indebted to my friend, Professor Forshey, for the interesting computation. The whole area of the State of Louisiana is........48.972 square miles: Of this — Marsh alluvion, west of delta (or Vermillion river).....2.880 Mississippi delta, south of Red river (Lyell's limit of delta) . . . 12.514 Mississippi delta, north of Red river (within Forshcy's delta) . . . 3.420 Red river alluvion above Avoyelles, 1.656 '- Ouachita do. above Boeuf river, .900 '• Making an aggregate, including flat lakes, of......21.370 All this is not constantly underwater — but it is so more or less, and constantly subject to it. This does not include the allu- vions of the smaller streams, and some, he admits, may have been reclaimed by levees. He farther states, that of the whole allu- vion, there is uncultivable more than half, say 12,000 square iuik:3, including shallow lakes. "lou see, then, that about onc-eighili of the State is constantly underwater, and that more than two-ffths of it are subject to inun- dation. That this vastly influences its thermal as well as its hygro- metrical condition in an annual average temperature of between 60° and 70°, and latitude between 29° and 33°, is too palpable to dwell upon,— indeed we know that it is so, and that if the hygrometrical is enhanced by it, its tliermometrical is much low- ered. Such I believe to be the fact in relation to contiguous [ 11 ] territory, and that the climate of Louisiana is much milder and more equable from these causes, than large portions of Texas that are much to the south of us. With these preliminary data, I propose now to enter upon a somewhat discursive examination of some of the most interesting arcana of nature unfolded by this beautiful science. Not only man, but all animal and vegetable creation is controlled by it. But little examination and reflection will be needed to convince us that it is through the laws of meteorology that the Deity acts (by secondary causes) in controling the actions and destiny of all animated nature. That the qualities of the medium in which we live should produce disease, when there are great vicissitudes, when we are subjected to them under conditions we are not accustomed to, or when the system shall have acquired increased susceptibilities from other influences, is not at all extraordinary. In fact, it seems to be in precise accordance with the common sentiments of mankind. Medical men, (before the laws of meteorology were understood,) refining upon this universal assent, deeming it too vulgar, or not sufficiently recondite for the mysteries of scientific faith, thought proper to ascribe to another agency the production of the great mass of human maladies. Of the many^onderful powers of this supposititious agent, (miasm,) with attributes cer- tainly incompatible with any known agent, I have nothing to do now; I only call your attention to some of the sensible properties of the atmosphere — to show that these qualities, so common as to be passed by almost unnoticed, are of the greatest importance in the preservation of our health, and that, together with per- sonal indulgences and some hygienic conditions, to be hereafter adverted to, most of the conditions productive of a pathological state are fulfilled. Confining ourselves, then, to the tolerably well demonstrated certainties of science, the cultivation of the profession and the advancement of our art, will be cotempora- neous with the alleviation of human suffering, and we shall be rewarded at each forward step in our career by witnessing the "■ratifying progress we have made. Upon inferior animals which have not been endowed with this intelligence, or capacity, there has been vouchsafed a power that [ 12 ] is an ample substitute for it, in those unerring instincts that urge them to provide for ordinary, as well as extraordinary, seasons— that teaches the beaver to prepare, by an additional story to his retreat, months beforehand, for a great overflow,—and the bee to 1 vy up in the autumn for a lengthened winter. Surely this must be by and through some meteorological conditiommade known to them through their senses — as yet, so far beyond the reach of scientific certainty;—nay, man borrows information from the birds of the air and beasts of the field, foretelling approaching changes in the atmosphere, and his boasted science is nothing in these respects when compared with the power possessed by the inferior animals to guard their lives from danger. Without this conservative power, probably no race of animals could sur- vive a single generation;—one would die of excessive heat, for which they were not duly prepared; another, from undue expo- sure to excessive cold; one by the hurricane they now scent at a distance ; another prepares for the flood, that otherwise would destroy all exposed to it, and early jirovidence prepares for a scarcity that must result from a condition that is to cause it; nay, we have seen the forest deserted by the feathered tribe, and the heavier beasts retreat to, their most retired fastnesses on the approach of pestilence, and only return when it has subsided. That all this is communicated to them, as a strictly conservative power, through some meteorological influence, I do not doubt. That they influence man in the same way, is equally probable. Probably no general fact is more universally observed than the connection of great devastating epidemics, with remarkable dis- temperatures of the air, unusual droughts, or deluges, great extremes of heat or cold, continued calms, or winds blowing for a longtime from unusual quarters, hurricanes, etc.— nay, what- ever has been unusual in the elemental conditions, so has varied the health of man — indeed, of inferior creation, too, for they have their epidemics as well as man. Astrology ascribed them to the condition and attraction of the heavenly bodies, and various have been the conjectures and superstitions of man in relation to it. The 'constitution of the atmosphere' for good or for ill, with whatever term it has been clothed, has exacted the general credence of mankind. [ 13 ] It is a curious fact in corroboration of this statement, that these meteorological zones or conditions occur in cycles of tole- rable regularity, in periods of about seventeen years. So have been the occurrence of great epidemic visitations — the recent cholera and other disastrous diseases are well-known exemplifica- tions of it. Such lustra, and of about the same duration, have been palpably recognised in agricultural pursuits — in the return of good or bad crops — of the cane dying and being reproduced every seventeen years ; and in the animal creation, in the visita- tions of locusts, the flight of pigeons, etc. By-and-by the returns will be more exact, the coincidence more clearly shown. the law established, or it will be abandoned. The spirit of phi- losophic research is now abroad, and the lovers of truth will assuredly find it. Since the birth of meteorology, (and it has been a very slow and tardy parturition,) as it unfolded its treasures, as successive data have been recorded, comparisons been instituted, diseases have been ascribed to one or the other of the changes that have been noted. Certain maladies are known to predominate during certain seasons, and these are characterised by variations of heat and cold ; and so of the different climates, north and south. The most remarkable characteristic, and what has earliest struck the attention of mankind, has been the duration of certain temperatures. It was, however, soon seen that variations of temperature alone were not sufficient to account for all the differ- ent diseases prevailing in certain seasons and climates, for when these were the same, the influence on the health of man was very different. More or less rain was found to have its influence: so was the condition of the winds; and so of atmospheric pres- sure. These still not satisfying inquiry into the causes of the influences we experienced, the hygrometric condition was investi- gated, and it was soon seen that the greatest value was to be attached to it — that it was the only varying constituent of the atmosphere,* often independent of rain and temperature ;f that it * For it should be looked upon in that light, though not technically so. f Extraordinary as this may appear to the scientific reader, my journal clearU demonstrates it, and confirms a theory on the subject now in the press, by Pro- fessor Espy. 10* [ W ] readily accounted for most of the influences ascribed to miasm. In proportion, then, to the observation of atmospheric phenomena, so have been their connection with morbid condition. It is much to be regretted that scientific meteorology has advanced very slowly, and has not been made a part of medical education, as it should have been, cotemporaneous with pathology. If man was perfect in his condition, and all hygienic rules fulfilled, and we had the means of knowing all meteorological conditions, we should probably be enabled to explain through them his entire liability to disease, and then probably prevent or correct the greater part. Here, with a medium temperature throughout the year of about 67° &£, the winter mean being 54.48, the spring 73.56, the summer 79.38, and the autumn, 67.94, the range during the year rarely exceeding 50°, it is clear that neither the average temperature, nor the extremes, should alone be highly detrimental to health. Doubtless this condition is much influenced by the alternations of land and water ; it is thus less hot than if altogether dry, and less cold from the same cause. This condition thus favoring us with regard to tempera- ture, is productive of another result, not so favorable in relation to the hygrometric condition. In Table A you will find the actual amount of moisture in the atmosphere, both on the ther- mometric and hygrometric scales, its elasticity, the number of grains of moisture in each cubic foot, and also the drying power, or force of evaporation, three times a-day, for each month in the year, for an average of a long series of years, furnishing a very correct estimate of the climate in these highly important par- ticulars. The hygrometric condition is less known and appreciated than any other, and probably more nearly influences our sanitary state and enjoyments. Its frequent and great changes are often mis- taken for thermometric alterations; many persons, feeling the change they experience, are astonished, on looking, to find the stationary condition of this latter; and these changes are some- times very great. So far as philosophical experiments have gone, hardly a doubt exists of the fact that the winds that have obtained their appellations (such as the simoon, kamsin, etc.) from the pestilences they have borne upon their wings, have [ 15 ] derived their qualities mainly from their hygrometrical states;— one is loaded with vapor, saturates the atmosphere, prevents the decarbonizing power of oxygen on the blood, relaxes the system, increases the freedom of the secretions by which the blood is im- poverished and kept prepared for the important purposes of life ; while another, on the contrary, desiccates the blood, dries up the secretions by which it is depurated, and arrests vital action by rapidly depriving the system of the fluids requisite to sustain the organs in the due performance of their functions. In either excess, then, life is jeoparded, and much more than by mere extremes of temperature. This is clearly proved by the fact of the sickliest countries and seasons«having the highest dew-point: that in elevated, or other regions, or at sea, where the highest salubrity is enjoyed, a medium hygrometric state is usually present, except when influenced by a prevalence of particular winds, that convey certain amounts of moisture with them. I think the present state of meteorological investigations will authorise me to announce these as established facts. Table B furnishes you the hygrometry of the different winds blowing over New Orleans during an average of near eight years. They are doubtless much influenced by the remarkable manner in which the great delta is variegated with alternate expansions of land and water, viz., that all the northern winds, and even the western, have their dryness much decreased by blowing over large bodies of water; and my impression is, that Lake Pont- chartrain will actually one day materially aid in protecting New Orleans from the violence of pestilences, by furnishing a mode- rate moisture to the atmosphere, and lessen that desiccating power that usually prevails at those periods when the swamps to the east and north-east of us are dried up. The modifying influ- ence of a body of water of less than a mile in breadth, is conclu- sively shown by the difference between the two banks of the Mississippi river, where it runs east and west, the south side having a milder climate—vegetation earlier advances in the spring — the cane has a longer period to mature in autumn, and fruits that are occasionally cut off by the severity of weather on the north bank, are uninfluenced on the other. I present you Table C, showing you what is the prevalent wind [ 16 ] during each successive month and season, on an average of ten years. On an inspection of Table B, you will observe how much the moisture is increased during a calm—that here it always exhi- bits the maximum of moisture. This condition of atmosphere is. fortunately for us, very rare in this country, unless artificially produced. Stagnation in air or water, nay, in any form of vege- table or animal life, seems to be against the laws and will of Provi- dence. In air, where it exists for any length of time, there is hardly comfort, health, or even life. There are but two places on the globe mentioned by travellers—'valleys of the shadow of death' —.that cannot be visited by animated beings and returned from alive; places whitened by the bones of the victims of temerity, where, it is even said, that birds cannot fly over with impunity. In these positions, with a stagnant air, (and consequently high dew-point,) no change takes place, and it is in a position approx- imative to this that goitre and cretinism occur. There are deep ravines or gorges in the upper part of this and the adjoining States, near to which it is utterly unfit for man to reside, and especially at their outlets, (I speak from personal experience.) Occasionally, a body of air passes out of these hollows which is particularly injurious to the health of man. There, then, of course, with a stagnant air, is a high dew-point. Such, too, is the influence on health — and remarkably so in a warm climate, of living in houses that cannot be well ventilated, and having yards in which all the filth is located, where neither the light of heaven nor a breath of air can reach. Stagnation in air or water is always more or less accompanied with impurity. Such, too, is the necessity of circulation in the great body of water which surrounds the globe, that an all-wise Providence has everywhere distributed it in currents, making it useful to its inhabitants, as well as man. Change, then, is the great law of being — it is essential both for purity and health. The constant perflation which our position guarantees us, not only dries the country more rapidly, but cools the body down to ihe dew-point, or near it; certainly a most important, though unregarded, fact. From experiments instituted, it has been clearly proved that the quantity of fluid removed from the [ IT ] system is nearly three times as much in a moderate breeze, and upAvards of four times as much in a fresh wind, as in a calm or stagnant state of the atmosphere. Bnt there is another condition of the atmosphere almost as much overlooked as the hygrometric, and probably as much so, in a hygienic point of view; I allude to the weight, or pressure of it, as indicated by the barometer. From the weight of the air being measured by mercury, Avhich is so much heavier than air, (11,026 times,) the changes indicated by it are comparatively small. When the barometer is made of water, (Avhich is only 815 times heavier than air,) the almost constant undulations and vibratory movements of the atmosphere are very apparent, and Ave can readily understand Avhy more or less of this pressure or weight should influence us, not only in health, but disease. This Avill be better appreciated Avhen Ave reflect that every square inch of our surfaces is exposed to a pressure of 14.6 lbs. Allowing, „ then, the surface of a man's body, of the medium size, to be 15 square feet, or 2,160 square inches, he suffers the enormous pressure of 31536 lbs., or more than fifteen tons ! It is, never- theless, passed by unnoticed by us ordinarily, because the pres- sure within and without are equal. Not so, hoAvever, with the variations, and, if Ave analyse them, they will appear immense. For instance, a fall or rise of TV of an inch (of the mercury) indicates a difference or remoAral of 100lbs. to the square inch; of W, of 2001bs.— not at all unusual in this country, though much more common to the north; a fall of r%, of 500 lbs.; of 1 inch, of 1000 lbs.; of 3 inches, of 3000 lbs., etc. When the barometer falls, instead of feeling 'light,' as we should by the removal of any other Aveight from us, our breathing becomes difficult, feeble, frequent, and often terminates in an asthmatic paroxysm; the pulse is quick and most compressible; hemor- rhages often occur, Avith a tendency to fainting; the secretions scanty and easily suppressed, and, at length, Avith a farther and greater exposure, apathy supervenes; Ave feel sluggish, heaA'y and spiritless, owing to the excessive expansion of the fluids in the vessels; Ave experience the want of that tonicity which braces us up, and Ave denominate it, by a singular perversion of sense and language, 'a heavy atmosphere '! That such a condition of [ 18 ] atmosphere should affect our healths is, on the least reflection, not at all extraordinary—and such is the fact. Illustrations in abundance could be furnished you — my time Avarns me to be content Avith one, and that relates to the City of Mexico. This large and magnificent capitol of that once Avonderful people, is situated at an eleA'ation of about 7.700 feet above the leA'el of the sea, or our level, and, accordingly, disease is* here modified by a pressure and elasticity due to a removal of near 15,0001b. weight", arising from a barometric pressure of little over 25 inches, or near half the atmospheric pressure. And Avhat Ave should theoretically anticipate from this condition of things, is actually found to take place, and that the diseases of the thoracic cavity, Avith a few of the liver, (and these mostly of abscess,) and a large proportion of dropsies, contribute nearly 34 per cent. of the entire mortality, calculated from an aggregate of a series of years, most carefully, by myself. Farther to illustrate my position of the more or less influence , of the pressure of the atmosphere on our systems, I Avill mention another, but opposite, example, the results of some experiments made by M. Junot, and described by him in the Archives Gene- rales de 31edieine, to shoAV the bracing and cheering influence of condensed air on the system. It Avas found that a person so exposed, breathes Avith increased facility; he feels as if the capacity of the lungs Avas enlarged — his respirations become deeper and less frequent— he experiences in the course of a short time an agreeable glow in his chest, as if the pulmonary cells Avere becoming dilated with an elastic spirit, while the Avhole frame receives at each inspiration fresh vital impulsion; the functions of the brain are excited, the imagination becomes viA'id, the ideas Aoav Avith delightful facility, digestion is rendered more active, as after gentle exercise in the air, because the secretory organs participate immediately in the increased energy of the arterial system. These experiments were made on persons in a mine in France, where men worked Avith a pressure of three atmospheres. Fpon many of them the first sensations were painful, especially upon the eyes and ears, but ere long they became quite reconciled to the bracing element. Old asthmatics here become effective operatives, deaf persons recover their hear- [ io ] ing, Avhile others are sensible to the slightest whisper. The latter phenomena doubtless proceeds from the strong pulses of the dense air upon the membrane of the drum of the ear. Men Avho descend to considerable depth in diving bells, experience a considerable augmentation of muscular energy; it infuses into the muscles such power, that they can easily execute double the Avork, without fatigue, which they are enabled to execute in the open air; they th^eby acquire the poAver of bending over their knees strong bars of iron, Avhich they Avould find quite inflexible by their utmost efforts, when drawn up to the surface. From these statements of the effects of meteorological condi- tions — and they might be greatly enlarged — it is apparent to every one that their influence is very great. I iioav again invite your attention to Chart No. 1, giving a bird's-eye view of these variations, on averages of every month in the year (of course the extremes Avould exhibit them more palpably). There are tAvo lines Avherein are traced the temperatures for this city for every month in the year; and the Charts Nos. 2 and 3 Avill exhibit the mortality during the same period. No. 2 will show the different effects of the climate on RACES of the same age, (Avhite and black) and No. 3, the direct effect on the mass monthly. Here, then, several facts are most clearly and palpably exhibited: first, the different mortalities for the different months; second, the modi- fying influence on the black and Avhite race of the same age; third, the diverse effect on the different sexes of our oAvn race, the cause of Avhich I shall advert to hereafter. The slightest contemplation of these Charts will satisfy every one of the intimate bearing of meteorology (or climate) upon mortality. Noav, the important practical question arises, Iioav far is it in the power of man so far to modify these conditions, Avhen in excess, as to ameliorate their injurious influences. It is gratify- ing to state that much may be done in obeying the great com- mand ' of subduing the soil and adapting it to the purposes of man;' by removing the forest growth, draining the swamps, and cultivating the soil, we lessen the amount of moisture, (Avhich Avith us is of the greatest injury,) not only from the extent of area exchanging its moist, to a dry, condition, but Ave increase the perflation thereby, and hence, by increasing evaporation, (the [ 20 ] drying porcr,) and lowering the dew-point, avc actually loAver the temperature. This has been really accomplished here in relation to temperature, for, by comparing Lafon's tables of average tem- perature for New Orleans in 1807, '10, with the temperature obseiwed by me here, 1833-'50, the a Average .is less by nearly 3°> Avhile the extremes arc less. Chart 1 contains these tAvo lines of temperatures, for comparison. The same Chart embraces, also, the average monthly temperatures of W^t Feliciana and Rapides, and are so designated; Avhile beloAv is demonstrated the dry and rainy seasons of four different sections of our state. Three of these correspond, viz., those of New Oideans, Placquemine and Rapides; Avhile that of West Feliciana, although an average of about 13 years, seems to have had three rainy seasons; it Avas then at a someAvhat earlier period than of the three first, and may be considered in its transition state, being cleared of its forest growth mainly since that period; it has probably obeyed Avhat is more likely to be a law of the climate in relation to other portions. II. Let us proceed to the second branch of our subject — "■The Altai Statistics and Hygiene of the State." The period adopted for taking the mortality of the State, with its census, has been an unfortunate one for Louisiana, for during the Avhole period embraced under the order to the marshals and their depu- ties for this enumeration, viz., the year ending in June, 1850, has been precisely one of those periodical cycles alluded to in the former part of this report as about the septemdecennial period for the return of epidemic cholera. Such has been the fact, and large mortality has resulted in the Avhole zymotic class (to Avhich cholera belongs); for although I have been enabled to separate the cholera from the other mortality in most of the parishes, yet the mortality has been much larger in the congen- erous diseases of that class, than usual; and many parishes of the Avestern district of the State, (sec table E),* where Ave knoAV that the mortality is not in ordinary years more * I am indebted to the poltteness of Colonel Labuzan, deputy marshal, for most of this important and interesting table, and to C. Gayarrc, Esq., Secretary of State, for the separate column of cholera in table E. • [ 21 ] than one to one-and-a-half per cent, has been made, by this return, to show four, five, six, eight per cent., and upwards! This is to be deeply regretted, and the only remedy to be found is in the enactment of a registration law by the State legislature. through Avhich the actual sanitary condition can be made knowi, annually. From this somewhat sombre picture, let us turn to the Eastern District (see table F), which exhibits a degree of salu- brity probably not surpassed on the globe. It will be observed, (for the aid of memory and observation) I have classed the parishes in both districts, into river, swamp and upland, according to their geographical location, at the foot of the table, and it will be seen that the average of the swamp parishes of Louisiana. which have heretofore been characterised, by those unacquainted Avith our State, as the dread and perennial abodes of disease and death, the mortality, (deducting cholera), has been less than one-half of one per cent, per annum (0.44), with the whites, and with it but TW of 1 per cent! In the river parishes it Ava* a fraction over 1 per cent. (1.03); and with the upland, 1} per cent. (1.57)! We should be amply satisfied with this shoAving, and it is the only ansAver that is required to the blasting and enduring criticisms upon the salubrity of the rural districts of this coun- try, Avhich haAre so long abused both popular and scientific credulity abroad. I am duly sensible that the country is much more healthy now than when first subdued to the purposes of culture ; it then partook, Avith all neAV countries, of the maladies incident to a change from a state of nature. Its sanitary condi- tion since has been constantly advancing, under the ameliorating hand of cultivation, and probably no part of our common coun- try is more favored Avith this choicest of blessings. In compa- ring the Avestern with the eastern districts under the classification I have adopted, it Avill strike you how different they are as to salubrity — how much more healthy the eastern are; it is easily explained: all agricultural countries are most sickly Avhen first opened to cultivation;—the eastern have passed through that lustrum — the Avestern are now suffering under it. With this cheering view of the salubrity of our rural districts, let us come nearer home, to one where the improving hand of man, although it has done something (but for the most part incident- 3 [ 22 ] ally), yet much remains to be done, that experience, reason and science most unequivocally point out as indispensable to our pro- gressive adA-ancement. Neither our geographical nor topo- graphical position, nor climatural influences, discourage the hope nor the prospect, that with proper care Ave can approximate that degree of salubrity enjoyed^ by the country around us. The permanent prosperity of this city mainly depends upon the degree of salubrity that is to be attained and enjoyed by the mass of the inhabitants,— not the Avealthy portion, merely, who can take the ' wings of the morning and fly to the uttermost parts of the earth,' but of those that are to live and toil here all the year long, and also of that large class who visit us not only for the purposes of business but of pleasure. The subject, then, is of the last importance to us, and upon its proper solution depends our future welfare and advancement. Railroads, canals, and steam lines, are certainly of great importance; I Avould not underrate them if I could, but their primary tendency is to make your mart but a great Factorage — a depot for the sale and interchange of commodities, which can be effected in a few months. If the mass cannot be reasonably sure of living here as long as elsewhere, these facilities will only increase that sys- tem of absenteeism ay Inch is now retarding, like a curse from Grod, the population and progress^ a city blessed Avith natural advantages which no other city on either continent, possesses. Two great difficulties encompass this subject, the removal of which is absolutely essential to its thorough investigation: the first is the great error under which we have long labored in rela- tion to our salubrity; and the second is, the procurement of the actual facts to ascertain what that condition has been. The first is palpably a preliminary, for it is obviously useless, if not hurtful, to attempt an improvement, when it is believed none is needed; and to apply a remedy where there is no disease, and especially if this shall be an expensiAre one. 'If ignorance is bliss, it were a folly to be wise.' Here, hoAvever, the reverse is the actual truth; and it requires some moral courage to disabuse a community of a long and deeply-cherished error. We hug our chains with delight, and stone the man Avho will attempt to con- vince us that they are but the chains of sciolism and ignorance, [ 23 ] forgetful at the time that we but deceive ourselves, and that the world is not to be gulled at this enlightened epoch by our asser- tions, when unsupported by facts, and our self-complacency, when not based upon truth. Of the second, any one can convince him- self who Avill undergo the arduous labor of seeking for such a record of births, deaths and marriages, as is kept by everj' other enlightened city of similar dimensions and importance. I trust, however, before the conclusion of this report, not only to prove to your satisfaction that you have long labored Under a very serious error — one, in truth, very fatal to your prosperity, but that sufficient facts have been gathered, by years of research, to point out wherein it has existed,— enough to warrant the con- clusion, that the ' conviction of an error' is, in this instance, at least equivalent 'to the establishment of a truth.' The Vital Statistics of this city have been, until comparatively a recent period, almost untrodden ground: ' the horrid devast- ating epidemics' have been Avritten of and described; the for- bidden months, 'the dead season,' have hurried thousands from our midst upon the wings of wealth ; catacombs of those who dared to tempt the lurid shores, or Avere destitute of the means of flight, have been long buried with their hopes, and been rapidly forgotten. The survivors alone have been counted; the dead have not been missed in the mighty throng that the love of thrift has brought to succeed them in the large spoils here offered to the industrious and enterprising, and the city has been characterised abroad as a great Golgotha, and signalised for its perennial pes- tilence. And what record has been made of the past, for the benefit of the future? — that future which to us is the present! For more than fifty years this important entrepot has been in possession of a race believed to be the most intelligent and enter- prising of all that dwell upon earth ; yet they, in the great con- test for mammon, have left but few records to tell «s of that past, as a beacon and warning for the guidance of the future. The value of that knowledge will be appreciated, when we reflect that we grow wiser by degrees ; that our present suffering depends upon our ignorance of the past; and to successive generations, the future can only be instructive, when the errors of the past are pointed out, and shunned as objects for our avoidance. To be [ 24 ] sure, suffering is the chastisement, in the hands of Wisdom, out of Avhich is often Avrought the most eminent good. The effort. then, that will carry success with it, Avill sIioav that the chasten- ing and the loA-e have gone together. The statistical data forming the basis of this report have heen the sIoav accumulation of years, nor can I answer for their entire reliability; but then they are the best established facts I could procure on the subject, and it becomes us, as professional men and philosophical observers, to scrutinise them closely,— if they are false, to prove them so; for it is not by denying them, that we can correct the insalubrious condition of this city. Let us obtain the truth, by all means. If insalubrious, let us, by patient investigation, and putting all the facts Avithin our reach together, ascend to the causes, and correct them, if possible. This is the true mode of being a real friend to our country, and not by flattery and concealment of the truth; for in this Avay we only deceive ourselves. No one abroad gives credit to the oft-repeated assurances of the salubrity of the city; and its influence, so far as believed by us, is most fatal to our safety, for it only superinduces that self-satisfaction at our situation, and apathy and opposition to improvement, and particularly if expensive, that presents an effectual barrier to our advancement. Figures (that is, statistics) is a great leveller; they are inexor- able ; they have little respect for partialities or prejudices; they often deal harshly with theories and speculations; they serve to correct the extravagancies of the imagination, and are often the surest tests of truth. The theory that cannot abide numerical ratios from well-ascertained and properly recorded facts, advances us but little, nay, retards us, in our progress towards true and exact knowledge. By their means Ave are enabled to remove the proverbial taunts of Avhich our profession is the 'scape-goat.' They must put an end, if anything can, to the false facts Avhich have so long cast derision on the profes- sion. This, if anything, must place our noble calling on the list of the exact sciences, and aid largely in the safety and duration -of human life. In a State like Louisiana, whose main population has been made up by immigration, and that mostly within the last thirty [ 25 ] years, Avhose floating population has always been so large, and particularly in the cities and towns, (and there are no records to separate the native from the immigrant,) we are deficient in the main means, the basis, to acquire a knowledge of the effect of the climate upon health. This, however, is the less to be regretted, because the country is new — is constantly undergo- ing vast changes, which must, and always does, affect its sanitary condition. You will have observed, in Table F, the ratios of mortality in the city and country are very different, and I could readily have furnished you extensive proofs of this general, and, indeed, universal fact. The causes are very obvious:—the population of the one lives in a crowded workshop, as it were, and breathes a confined and impure air; the population of the other spend the greater part of their time in, and breathe the pure air of heaven, ay here its impurities are diluted, scattered by the Avinds and oxydised in the sun, and where vegetation is con- stantly incorporating such elements as are noxious to man : while in cities, in proportion to density of population, there is constantly and insensibly thrown off an atmosphere of organic matter, which 'hangs over cities like a cloud,' slowly spreading, dispersed by the winds, and washed down by shoAvers. ' It is a matter which has lived, is dead, has left the body, and is under- going oxydation and decomposition into simpler than organic elements. The exhalations from sewers, church-yards, vaults, slaughter-houses, cess-pools, commingle in this atmosphere as polluted Avaters enter the Thames, (I am quoting from the report of the Registrar-General of England, but the same is equally. and, I will prove presently, more applicable to us,) and, not- withstanding the wonderful provision of nature for the speedy oxydation of organic matter in water and air, accumulate, and the density of the poison (for, in the transition of decay, it is a poison) is sufficient to impress its destructive action on the living, to receive and impart the processes of zymotic principles, to con- taminate by a subtle, sickly, deadly medium, the people agglom- erated in narrow streets and courts, down which no Avind blows, and upon which the sun seldom shines.'* It is to this that the high mortality of towns is owing,— living in and constantly 3* [ 26 ] breathing an atmosphere charged with decomposing matter, of vegetable and animal origin; and, hoAvever small the quantity, even beyond the reach of chemical tests, we haAte abundant proofs of their existence, besides their effects, from comparative conditions. '•Sulphuretted hydrogen and ammonia, and other gases, may be diffused in quantities so great as to be detected by the senses, or by chemical analysis, or so minute and inodorous as to escape detection, and, in either case, may be the cause of disease. Some idea may be formed of the almost infinite divisi- bility of matter diffused in the atmosphere, from the fact that the hound, in the chase, discerns the tract of man and animals by the odoriferous particles throAvn off from their foot-prints, and that we detect the odor of musk, notwithstanding the single grain from which it proceeds Avas deposited twenty years previous, and haa -ince been constantly diffusing its particles in the surrounding atmosphere. The experiments of Thenard and Dupuytren proved that birds perished Avhen the vapors of sulphuretted hydrogen and ammonia exist in the atmosphere to the extent of a fifteen- thousandth part, and that dogs are deprived of life when the air they breathe contains a thousandth part, and that a man cannot live when the air he inspires is impregnated Avith a three-hun- dredth part, and suffers in a corresponding degree when a less proportion of these poisonous gases exist. Persons frequently fall dead when entering a well, vault, tomb, sewer, or other place rilled with these gases, or Avith stagnated air, in which are diffused emanations from decomposing animal, vegetable or mineral substances.' Leibig, with all the appliances of the (riessen laboratory, cannot yet detect any difference between the pure air of the Alps and the air through which the hound ran tell a horse, a fox or a man has passed, or the air which observation shows Avill produce small-pox, measles, scarlatina, whooping-cough, dysentery, cholera, influenza, typhus, plague.* Man himself cannot breathe the same air Avith impunity: every minute of every day he appropriates to the vitalization of his blood twenty-four cubic inches of oxygen, and supplies ita place with twenty-four inches of carbonic acid gas. When pre- sent in large quantities, from whatever cause produced, carbonic * General Report of the Board of Health of England. [ 27 ] acid gas is destructive of life. Charcoal burning in a close room is a familiar illustration. Such, then, is the immediate cause of the difference between city and country; and Ave shall perceive presently Avhence they proceed, and how far they are removable. The great mass of mankind is ignorant that, with the tempting and fascinating allurements of a city life, they are constantly inhaling the poison and imbibing the draught which will shorten their days, because their attention is not draAvn to them, and they leave it to others, whose duty it thus becomes to apply the proper remedies. The great difference that exists between the mortality of city and country is well known ; it sometimes amounts to near forty per cent. The cause is quite as well established. The inhabitants of a city are constantly deteriorating in vitality, and in the course of years whole families frequently waste away and become exinct, from this and other causes, unless recruited by a union with others from the country; and it is well known, most largo cities are so sustained and increase. I have no room for details. Let us apply these principles to New Orleans; but we will first present you the facts as far as they could be procured, of our mortality here, as far back as 1787, with gaps Avhich no industry of mine could fill up. Upon this we base our deductions, (see Table D). To make up this table, I have not been able to deduct from it the accidents, and the numerous causes of death other than disease, nor have I deducted the epidemics, or been able to ascertain what portion of the population, native or immigrant, have fallen victims; but I have taken the whole mortality as I procured it, and have computed the per centage as usual. If the showing is a bad one, the greater will be the need to remedy it, and it will be shoAvn in the sequel that this is much in our power. In a country whose population is mainly made up by immi- gration, and in which the great influence is mostly felt, the actual mortality that occurs in the population de facto is the one of real importance, and not its influence on the native ; and it is of little practical importance now, to inquire what may be the effect of the climate on the native. There is little that is per- manent in the condition of the country ; it is, has been, and will !.«•, for a long time, in what may be termed its transition state. [ 2S ] When most of the physical changes, as draining, clearing, canal- ing the country, with such paving, sewerage and policing, as is indispensable for a fair trial of the position, is made, it will be time enough to discuss the effect of a stationary condition, and by that time Ave shall, probably, be supplied with some records, better than opinions, as a foundation to speculate on. This is the more especially true, because, with the changes induced in the country by its reduction from a Avild forest growth to a high cultivation, the health of man particularly suffers ; for in either of the tAvo extremes, of a state of nature and a general cultiva- tion, there is general health, with exceptions easily explained. Hence, then, the actual mortality in the statu quo is sufficient for our purpose; in fact, we are limited to that, as there are nq details of their separation, nor even if Ave had them would they be of much practical value, unless we had a distinct acclimating disease, putting the acclimated and the native on the same foot- ing. But how is that possible in a physical condition, on which it depends, which is constantly changing? A mere reference to the dates of these great improvements, Avhose influence on health at the moment is generally considered injurious, however benefi- cial afterAvards, will convince you that there has been no station- ary condition, for any great length of time, in and about this city, for more than sixty years, but more particularly since the digging of the bank canals; from the excavation of the Canal Carondelet, in 1794,-7, to the digging of the canals in our rear. to drain, and the draining and remoAral of the forest growth in our swamp, which ayus, in fact, only completed during the last year. The Table D has the dates of these improvements. Hence, then, the discussion of the existence or necessity of any specified acclimation is pretty much superseded ; for it is very doubtful if there can be any acclimation in a city Avhose status, or condition, is not somewhat stationary,—Avhose essential climatural features (or at least those Avhich so greatly influence health) are so con- stantly varying. It is my impression that there cannot, and such is the result of my experience and observation. Indeed, the Avhole subject of acclimation, or the effect of habituation to a country protecting the party from the endemic diseases of that country, has been much overrated. Such acclimation is not even [ 29 ] pretended to be extended to northern climates, but why it should be limited to southern ones is not alleged. An examination into this subject, by the British army surgeons, both in the East and West Indies, shows that there exists no such protective influence. On the coast of Africa, no such immunity (nor in Egypt) is acquired,* and I am yet to be entirely satisfied that, of late years at least, such safety has been acquired here to any great extent, during the progress of the great physical alterations of which our city and neighborhood have been the theatre. Yellow Fever, the great acclimating fever so called, (and it is doubtful whether there is any other, and none such has been alleged) Avas formerly easily characterized; its symptoms were less equivocal than they have been since, and no doubts were expressed in giA'ing its appellation at an early period. For the truth of these statements, I must refer to the definite recollections of my cotem- poraries of former times. The vast physical alterations to which I have reference, commenced to have more palpable progress but a few years previous to the division of the city, in 1835, and in 1836 there occurred a type of fever that the most experienced among us, at that time, were slow in christening as decided cases of yellow fever; and really there Avere numerous cases that we adjourned over the decision of until the subjects of them should be exposed to a fever of a more decided and unequivocal type. Ever since that period equivocal cases have been con- stantly occurring, and the more so of late years, so as to give rise to the question, often asked and discussed, of ' what is yel- low fever V and to the opinion expressed by several of our most experienced practitioners, that yellow feArer often occurs in the same individual more than once, or, in other Avords, is no longer a preventive of itself; and hence, is no longer an acclimating * I give the following table to show the difference in the mortality of different races during the plague at Alexandria in 1835 : — Negroes and Nubians...................lost 84 percent, of their population. Malays................................ <: (51 do. do. Arabs (not soldiers)..................... " 55 do. do. Greeks................................ " 11 do. do. Jews. Armenians and Copts.............. " \-l do. do. Turks................................. c: H do. do. Italians and others from the south of Europe " 7 • do. do. French, English, Prussians and Germans " 5 do. do. [ 30 ] disease; and that it occurs in the natiA-es of the city, even at the earliest ages, (never alleged formerly); which, if tjrue, settles that question. For the very idea that there is something specific required, arising from physical condition, to acclimate one to a place where an individual is born, and has never left, appears to me unnecessarily refined and entirely untenable. It has been expressed to me by some of our oldest inhabitants, those who haA-e been observers of the disease tAventy or thirty years ago, that it Avas no longer the same disease; that, in fact, the unequi- vocal malignancy and peculiar type which characterised it exists no longer; and this is most amply verified by the symp- toms, aspect and history of the disease in its various stages, as seen and described by those Avho had Avitnessed it from 1804 to 1823, now in my library; and that for some years back it has been blending itself with the ordinary diseases of the country. I have elseAvhere expressed this opinion, and have formed it after due deliberation.! Every now and then, we nevertheless meet with cases Avhere there is no room for doubt, but they bear a very small proportion to the mass of cases which occur here every year. This position is fully sustained by the record I now give, the re- sult of an investigation into all the yellow fever years of Avhich I could procure the details, and fortunately, after much research, I have been able to obtain those of the worst years. The disas- trous year of 1847 may be consid- ered an exception, and the re- markable mortality then may, in part, be attributed to the large temporary influx to our popula- tion, arising from a state of Avar, and 20,000 troops, with their pro- verbial recklessness, eneamped for some time among us; and, also, that of later years, t Board of Health Report for 1849. PER CENT. TO TOTAL MORTALITY OF THE YEAR. 1817 1819 1820 1822 1829 1833 1839 1841 1812 1843 1840 1847 1848 1849 1850 r \ 33.86 19.87 22.66 29.55 35.71 22.08 22.45 29.84 10.78 15.89 I 3.16 30 10.84 7.79 1.33 1 > i 16 ^| 26 j aESULTS OT PERIODS. 26.48 28.13 26.12 19.74 10.57 manv [ 31 ] cases have been ' docketted' as yellow fever which would not have been so denominated in 1817/22, etc. These valuable facts, taken in connection with what has been accomplished in other countries, (mentioned in a preceding part of this report,) and particularly in Egypt formerly, will fully bear me out in the opinion I have expressed, that, with the completion of our physical improvements, yellow fever will have disappeared from among us. The facts — the painful, stubborn facts, which we can neither evade or deny, are, that for the last ten years our mortality has been upAvards of 5£ per cent, per annum; and it is of a people ayIio must be presumed to have had fair average constitutions, brought here, or raised here. They have died from some cause — they have died from disease; and it is immaterial Avhether it is called ' acclimating fever' under which they sunk, or intestinal, or pulmonary disease: it is the fact of death and loss to the public Avhich is to be considered. Nor do I think it very mate- rial whether the mass of the mortality is of the recent arrivals, or not; it does- not favor the argument, for, if they have been here but a very short period, the climate, or something, must be extremely lethiferous to have killed them so soon. The term acclimation is very indefinite, so as to apply to ] records in civil life that can be of any use to the statistician. If it is confined to yellow fever, there is no record of it unless v the subject falls a victim to it. There is no period of residence ( that will certain hj exempt one from it, and the cemetery records • show the fact that people sometimes die of yellow fever after having been here five, ten, or more years. Residence, then, does not prove it, for people die of other fevers, and all the class of zymotic diseases, after two, three, five, ten, and more years. / Hence there is no immunity from death from fevers, and the 1 nearest approach to it here, as elseAvhere, is to be derived from j the correctness of individual habits, and particularly in relation J to tempers^ce. It is unquestionably the result of experience,' that these habits have a more injurious influence in this climate than farther north. This important truth is only in accordance Avith the characteristics of all warm climates, where it is univer- sally acknoAvledged that such habits almost uniformly abbreviate [ 32 ] life, by acting in a line with all the injurious influences of such climate; accordingly, perhaps the most temperate people are to be found in warm climates. All large cities are mainly aided by accessions of population from extraneous sources ; to attempt, then, to separate this popu- lation, Avhich in many American toAvns is so very large, Avould be, firstly, an impossible thing, and secondly, Avould be of little comparative avail, if accomplished. Although a large propor- tion of the mortality may be derived from the recent arrivals, yet he avIio has frequently examined and studied the Cemetery reports, (as every man who pretends to a desire to reach the truth should,) aa ill be satisfied, that a large proportion of the mortality is also derived, not only from the natives, but from those Avhose residence here has been five, ten, twenty, thirty and forty years; but whether they have been here a longer or a shorter period is really of very little importance — the character for salubrity must be derived from the fact of their living or dying: now Avhether this takes place during Avhat some are pleased to term the 'acclimating process, or period,' is of very little conse- quence ; the stamp of vitativeness is Avhat is desired, and the real question is — Avhether the chance of living in this city is as good as it is elsewhere in the ordinary fluctuating condition of the population, which characterises all American cities at least, and . if not, what can be done to make it so, and what are the reme- dies to be applied ? The only application I propose to make of this remark is, that, Avith the extension of our improvements, the climate is becoming ameliorated, and that when, by the application of science and skill in completing the alterations in our physical condition, which can easily be accomplished, and the climate shall become fixed and stationary, my impression is, that the bugbear of yelloAV fever 'will have disappeared from among us. This is not only not unreasonable, but in accordance with all experience in various parts of our oAvn country, Avhere this formidable disease has been finally shut out by sanitary regulations. Passing from this, with which you are all familiar, I will mention some that are still more striking from abroad. England Avas in the seventeenth century desolated by plagues ; it has disappeared under the influence of [ 33 ] these very regulations.* Such, too, has been the fact in the greater part of Europe, where (in many parts of it) the average dura- tion of life, up to the times Ave live in, has nearly doubled from the same cause. But I pass over these and nearly all the cities to the north and east of us in our OAvn country, where it has been put to defiance by the strictness of their police regulations, to invite your attention to a country and climate in so many respects identical with our OAvn, that I am sure it will be both striking and interesting,— I mean Egypt. The plague (which to that country is Avjiat the yelloAV fever is to this) exists in a sporadic form every year, and the epidemic form about every ten years, and where during a recent outbreak (in 1835) it was fatal to upAvards of Q6 per cent, of its inhabitants! nay, I may say, natives, consisting of Negroes, Malays and Arabs. I gave in a note to a preceding page the relative mortality, the difference falling upon the populations in close proportion to their general sanitary condition. The mortality Avas least among those Euro- peans avIio live in airy Avcll-conditioned houses, and severest on those who live in the most crowded and filthiest manner. If we consult history, we shall find, that during the reign of the last of the Pharaohs,— during the 194 years of the occupation of Egypt by the Persians,— the 301 years during the dominion of Alexander,— the dynasty of the Ptolemies and a great portion of that of Rome, Egypt avas free from Plague! This absence of any epidemic for the long space of time during which good administration and the sanitary police of the country conquered the producing causes of this most formidable malady, justifies the expectation that the same appliances will be followed by the same results here.* This should be very solacing to us, and should arouse and direct those energies, of Avhich we have more than any other people on the face of the earth, and for the best reason, we are the actual beneficiaries of them, to adopt such remedies as Avill speedily correct the mortality iioav existing, and fur- nish the blessings of health to the finest country in America. In elucidation of this great subject, let me now invite the attention of the Society'particularly to the coincidence, if not * See report of General Board of Health of England. 1 [ 34 ] the connection of the great physical changes, noted in table D, with the salubrity. Thus, Ave had the first advent of ycIIoav fever during the digging of the canal Carondelet, in 1794-97. There Avas a great creA'asse in 1810, and extensive paving in 1817 — previous to the great fevers of 1817, '19;—extensive pavements in 1824, and up to 1832. The average mortality then was, you see, very great — more than five per cent. In 1830, a violent storm drove the Avaters of the lake up to Dauphin-street. In 1832-'5, Ave dug the great canal of the Bank, costing the lives of some 6 or 7000 of its laborers: Avhat effect it had on the two great epidemics of cholera and yellow fever of 1832-'3, 1 leave it for you to judge. In 1836, the draining machine drained the large section below the canal Carondelet, and in 1835-'9, the forest growth Avas removed. We had epidemics in 1N37, '9,'41: during 1845-'50 the important section betwen the tAvo canals just in the rear of the heart of the city Avas cleared, and the immense canals dug and the whole drained; and the crevasse of l!S45> extended the inundation of the river as far in the centre of the city as Carondelet-street. What influence they had on the dis- astrous mortality of 1847, '8, 9, and '50, of cholera and yelloAv fever, Avill not be left in much doubt, after the preceding state- ments. These coincidences are, at least, very remarkable; but that they have connection, seems to be in accordance with all experience of the effect of first disturbing the virgin soil of a country, and laying it bare to the influences of an almost tropical sun; of which examples enough might be adduced. These valua- ble statistical facts will also convince you of the propriety of making, at once, all those alterations and improvements in our physical condition upon Avhich our future salubrity so much depends, and that they should be made during the Avinter season,* to which little attention, I believe, has been paid heretofore. But that all these improvements will finally restore salubrity to the city, is demonstrable a priori, from all that has occurred, not only in our own country, but abroad. I have heretofore limited myself pretty much to the suburb* and neighborhood of the city, and to general causes showing con- » See, in Chart No. I., the line of relative mortality of each month in the veur [ 35 ] ditions that have been most disastrous to the health of the place: let us approach a little nearer, and enter the city itself, and see if Ave cannot discover conditions deeply affecting its salubrity, and Avhich would be highly injurious even in the latitude of fifty, much less at thirty. The population of New Orleans and Lafayette, by the recent census, amounts to about 130,000, being near 18,000 to the square mile, shoAving by the census returns 6.16 to each house, with an average annual temperature of about 67°. Let us see, then, to what the insalubrity of our city is mainly indebted. It is impaired by— 1st, Bad air; 2d, Privies, Cemeteries, Ararious manufactories, stables, slaughter houses, etc.; 3d, Bad Avater — stagnant water ; 4th, Bad habits; 5th, Bad milk. It is quite out of the question that I should, in the compass of a single report, (already too much prolonged), go into detail in the examination of each of these and many other causes, by which the salubrity of NeAY Orleans is impaired. I leave these, then, to Avhere they most properly belong—to the special reports of your vigilant Board of Health, (where they have already attracted much notice), and proceed to consider into what they are resolvable, etc. I. and II. Bad air, etc. The greatest sources of impurity of air arise from privies, the offal from kitchens, stables, stores, markets, streets, manufactories, etc. It is estimated that a population of 130,000 produces annu- ally 5633 tons of night soil, and 43,000 tons of urine: these may be doubled from domestic animals, and from other sources are at least as much more; making the frightful aggregate of about 150,000 tons, (including more than 3000 dead bodies buried in the Cemeteries in the city limits), of organic matter submitted to the putrefactive fermentation every year, under our very noses, on an area of 7£ square miles! It is in vain to say that the night soil is removed to the river, urine sunk into the [ 36 ] soil, and the offals carried a mile or tAVO in the rear, and bodies buried in vaults: all are long enough exposed to contaminate the atmosphere, and those buried are constantly impairing the purity of the air we breathe, and poisoning the AYatcr Ave daily drink. III. Bad Avater is probably more injurious to health than bad air, as it acts far more rapidly Avhen taken into the stomach than when taken into the lungs, for A'enous absorption admits of no selection; it is taken immediately into the lungs and circu- lated through the system, and as water is capable of holding in solution a greater quantity of foreign matter than air, it is more concentrated. Professor Hoffman has stated that 1000 gallons of water will dissolve 25 gallons of nitrogen, 6 gallons of oxy- gen, 1000 gallons of carbonic acid, 50,000 gallons of ammonia — the very gas which escapes so largely from privies and the police filth of every dirty toAvn, carrying Avith it A'egetable and animal matters in a high state of putrescency. Hence it is, that our cisterns, and particularly when near the privies, (as they usually are!) are sure to be contaminated thereby, and, indeed, every source of filth in its neighborhood.* It must be highly gratifying to every intelligent mind to be enabled here to apply the facts derived from the deductions of science in the true explanation of this vitally-important subject. You will agree with me, I am sure, in the belief that the utility of science is to be estimated from its capacity to be applied to the practical purposes of life — adArancing our comforts and heightening our enjoyments. We have this beautifully exempli- fied in the important fact stated in the former part of this report (and other and abundant evidences could be furnished) of the connection of a still atmosphere with disease, and both with a high dew-point. This presses on us, Avith all its force, the necessity of ventilation, and it becomes doubly important Avhen Avith the damp, still air of our backyards, the accumulation of * Since the delivery of this report, several who heard it have had their attention called to the subject, and consulted me in relation to sources of impuritv of the water in their cisterns, from some cause to them unknown. On examination, it was satisfactorily ascertained that in several instances it was most palpably attri- butable to the vicinage of their privies — ii others, to coal containing much sul- phur, etc. [ 37 ] the concentrated filth of a family, including the privy and kitchen offal, in the direct neighborhood of that which is of the last importance to keep pure, viz., the water we drink and use for all domestic wants. Then comes the additionally important fact, derived from science, (mentioned bfore,) that all the nox- ious gases given off above by these excrementitious remains are absorbed, with destructive rapidity, by this very water! Thus the force and value of the highly satisfactory explanation becomes too apparent to be questioned, and too important to be OA^erlooked. IV. It is impossible to overlook the effects of intemperance, especially in a warm climate; probably no cause is so effectiA'e in undermining the constitution, impairing the vis-vitce, and increasing the liability to disease, as it. There is no disease it does not aggravate; there is no constitution it benefits. The most cursory examination of our cemetery reports of the causes of death will satisfy any professional man, at least, how vast have been the additions to it from an undue indulgence in this vicious habit, and especially of all that large class which gives so baleful a reputation to this climate, I mean the zymotic* To show the effect of habits upon health in this climate, I have constructed Chart III. to illustrate the different mortalities of males and females. Chart II. (exhibiting the different mortalities between blacks and whites) "will sIioav the same to a certain extent, for we find it to be to our interest to keep our slaves, at h ast, temperate; but it was particularly intended to exhibit the different influences of the climate upon the two races. V. Bad Milk.— The mortality in the city of New Orleans X all under five years of age is upwards of 30 per cent., not- Avithstanding the proverbial kindliness of the climate to our young population, and the mildness of most of the diseases to which they are everywhere subject, such as cholera-infantum, whooping-cough, croup, etc., which, in the northern cities, takes * To my unprofessional readers I may say, that this class particularly embraces endemic and epidemic diseases, as fevers, cholera, dysentery, diarrhoea, etc. 4* [ ™ ] off more than 50 per cent., and in XeAvYork, ~>^> per cent, of all under that age! This immense mortality has been ascribed. nay, almost demonstrated, to arise, Avith every reasonable proba- bility, to bad milk. That the same cause exists here, to some extent, there is no doubt. Now, the great and important practical question, to which all ■ Ise is subsidiary, occurs, can all this be ri:uk!>[i;d? Are a\c suffering from 'medicable ills'? or must a mortality of more than ovr per cent, be suffered to continue — the city to remain slowly to increase, be stationary, or decline under the great rivalry of other more favored spots? as the rapid improvements >f science can almost every AA'here supply the almost unequalled adA'antagcs here offered to us by nature. Every intelligent physician will at once join in the impulsive response of every Louisianian, that there must be remedies, and that ave must ■\PPLY Til EM. Let us sec Avhat they are: The great object is to remove filth of all kinds as soon a3 :>o?sible, before it contaminates the air Ave breathe and the Avater wC drink and cook Avith, and use for all domestic purposes. This is done by peavers, and there is no city in the world better . d-jptcd to them,—AA'here the power to answer their purposes is to be had, as it Avere, Avithout expense, and Avhere they Avould do ■\ ty the as much good as they would here. I have no time to go into details now : the demonstration has, I must hope, been • ile in the Board of Health Report of 1849, together.with the plan, draAving, etc. It is not to be doubted that all the filth that contaminates the atmosphere, from which avc have .anything to fe-ir, can thus be made away with, and that speedily :—night- soil, urine, kitchen and street filth, etc., all, indeed, excepting the dead, and the few cemeteries Avithin the limits of the corpora- tion should be immediately closed, and all slaughter-houses, manufactories and extensive stables, removed to the outskirts. All present privies, below or in the soil, should be immediate- ly emptied .and filled up, and, in their places, jars or barrels, impermeable to fluids or gases, substituted for them, with proper [ 39 ] valvular coverings to prevent the escape of gases.* At present, the water is so near the surface, except in and near Levee-street, that no great depth can be excavated but -the water rises in it near the surface, and, in rainy seasons, it is subject to overfloAv: and as we know that night-soil floats on water, it is aheap* near the surface, and gives oft* its noxious gases to contaminate the atmosphere. The members of the Board of Health full well knoAv the trouble our health wardens have every year, during the rainy season, (which occurs at mid-summer,) to remove the con- stant complaints made to us upon this subject. My impression •s that here is our only remedy,—no under-ground privies; and it will recommend itself by its great economy, as well as for its cleanliness and salubrity. All the present draining-canals about the city should be ■overcd, as the Melpomene, Gormley, Claiborne, and those going t ^ the basins of the draining companies; low lots filled up, and all stagnant Avater prevented, for in this condition evaporation concentrates its poisons—vegetable infusoria?, of the class called algse, as well as fungoid vegetation, are rapidly generated. Many tribes of these vegetable productions appear to die Avith great rapidity—sometimes in one or two days — and then decom- pose. Immediately after these, animalcular life appears. Stag- nant Avater is the most favorable to this order of vegetable pro- ductions, which, in giving rise to animalcular life, appears to keep pace with the animalised excreta discharged in the house- drainage of towns. Certain degrees of motion in Avater are unfavorable to the production of algae and other infusorial plants, the tissues of Avhich are destroyed by brisk motion.f The ^•ime round of life and death also takes place in open and shal- '<>w reservoirs, and in open cisterns where the Avater is frequently changed. The eminent German naturalist, Ehrenberg, as one result of very extended observations, established the fact that the existence of visible animalcule generally indicates the pre- * Since the delivery of this report, I understand there is a depot for, and a mar, ,;i icturer of, an apparatus of this kind, in Exchange-alley, near the St. Louis IIo:ci. + It has been demonstrated here that the filthy water rf our gutters, by br;s'; in-rA'm. in the thor space of a half-a-dozen squares, becomes much purified. [ 40 ] sence of a lower series of invisible animalculae, descending in magnitude to the smallest monad of the most simple structure — so small, that there is probably no smaller organized creature on which it can feed,.Avhilc, as is commonly conceived, by arresting organised matter on the very limits of the organic world, and converting it into its OAAm nutriment, it furnishes, in its turn, sustenance to higher orders of animalcular life. Be this as it may, it is very certain that the presence of animalculae in large numbers indicates the existence of animal and vegetable matter, usually in a state of decomposition, Avhich invariably acts injuri- ously if the Avater containing them is used largely for purposes of food, and the effects may be more immediate and marked when the animalculge are large and numerous.* Light is also necessary for the production of infusoria and fungoid vegetation, and their formation is preArented by such coArering as excludes the linht and heat of the sun. In an alluvion soil like ours, the most perfect paving is that Avhich entirely excludes the possibility of evaporation from the subsoil, and that is by stone blocks united by cement with an angle of inclination to the side gutters, and these to the sewers. Running water from the river or Avater-works should be in con- stant use in dry Aveather in summer, and at such other times as may be ordered by the Board of Health: every street and yard should be cleared every day, and the filth at once removed. Health wardens should be appointed for every few squares, Avhose duty should be to inspect every yard and court every day, and every privy Aveekly or monthly. Trees should be planted in the streets to absorb the noxious gases and give out those which refresh and purify the atmosphere — to moderate the influence of reflected heat from brick walls and houses. It is a law of nature, that the vegetable and animal kingdoms should be, as it were, supplemental the one to the other: animals by breathing and exhaling air, load it with carbonic acid, and render it noxious to themselves; while vegetables absorb the acid gas, and give out oxygen in its stead, and thus supply the animal kingdom with vital air. Then again, whatever elements an animal takes from -------------------------------•--------------------------- * V; !e Report of the General Board of Health of England. [ 41 ] the soil as food, it returns again to the earth in a different form, noxious to itself, but nevertheless furnishing to the vegetable kingdom abundant and Avholesome nourishment. It is thus that the organic elements complete their circuit in living beings. Nothing is lost; it is only reproduced in another form. These principles lie at the root of the whole science of agriculture; while they constitute the basis of all economical and sanitary arrangements.* It has been said by very high authority, Dr. Jarvis, that Ayhere- ever differences of vitality are found to exist in connection with differences of circumstances, condition, locality, or manner of life, it may be assumed as probable, at least, if not certain, that the former are the consequences of the latter. It is an unques- tionable principle, that in the operations of life, as well as in those of dead matter, there is no eArent without a cause adequate to produce it. It is equally certain, that in life as Avell as in death, in similar circumstances and conditions, like causes produce like results. In this laAV of vital action, there is no uncertainty or in variable- ness. There is no more caprice or mystery in the ebb or flow of life,— in the maintenance of health, in the cause of sickness, or in the eArent of death, than in the flow and ebb of the tides, in the movement of the stars, or in the action of gravitation. It must be admitted as an universal fact, that from any definite amount of vitalizing or destructive influence acting upon living beings, there Avill folloAV a definite and corresponding amount of health, strength and life, or of sickness, Aveakness and death. Between the amount of the cause and the amount of the effect there is an exact relation. No matter Iioav weak or how poAver- ful may be the deteriorating cause, precisely corresponding to that will be the deterioration.' It is thus demonstrable and demonstrated, if Ave ever expect or wish a healthy city, we must remove the known and Avell-ascertained causes of its insalubrity, and fortunately for us there is no difficulty about it which cannot be removed or surmounted, by determination, enterprise, science and capital. The health of a place is an indispensable element * Vide 'Liverpool Health of Towns' Advocate.' [ 42 ] in its prosperity ; nothing can be permanent, Avithout this great- est of blessings; and whatever the cost, in the end it will be cheap, if this shall be the result. The true Avealth of a country consists in its people, and particularly at the productive age ; of this age, Louisiana, and particularly New Orleans, has a large proportion: it is not only larger than any portion of the United States, but of any part of the world. The Chart No. III. I now again advert to, as well as all our Cemetery reports, to shoAv that this, too, is the age of death here, and that the period is the autumn, and particu- larly September.* In a sickly country, not only tAvo or more arc constantly sick and Avithdrawn from the active duties of life, with all its attendant expenses, for every one that dies, (and, indeed, it is estimated, that there are actually tAventy cases of sickness to one of death), but more, there is a half sickly ATaletudinarian existence, Avhich materially trenches upon and consumes valua- ble time. Besides all this, a sickly country is the main cause of that absenteeism which not only deprives the State of the ser- vices of a large portion of her citizens, but abstracts from pro- fitable use and inArestment at home, millions of her natural resources ; retards the advancement of the permanent population of the city; keeps down the value of city property, and prevents all those social and literary enjoyments, and those extensive beneficences which a concentrated healthy population always gi\res rise to, and enhances and secures. From the foregoing obsenrations, several important facts arc made perfectly clear to the mind of the reporter: First, that a large mortality has existed in this city for a long series of years, and particularly during the periods when the great phy- sical changes have been made; second, that these causes are well knoAvn and perfectly remoA'eable; third, with prudent hab- its, acclimation — if such a thing exists at all noAv, specifically, of which there is great doubt — is no longer to be dreaded; and it is satisfactorily shown that the yellow fever is departing from among us ; and, finally, that Avith this difficulty removed, we have as fine a climate as any in America;—and that this is * See also Chart No, I. — the mortuary line. [ 43 ] proved, not only from the strictest and most extcnsiA-e meteorolo- gical obserA'ations, but from the remarkable salubrity enjoyed in the rural districts of the vicinity. To this I need add but one remark,— that, as our duties result from our relations — to the city—to ourselves — to society, (and it is utterly impossible to Avaive or alienate them,) every consideration of self-interest, of health, enjoyment and prosperity, as well as the warning voice of past pestilences, with the hope and the prospect of securing a comparative stationary condition, on the finest thea- tre in the Avorld for advancement, Avhile every city is outstripping us in the career of prosperous fortune, urge us to make the im- provements required. The single fact — the basis of so many others—is, that capitalists, proverbially timid, will not invest permanently AAdiere the mortality is double Avhat it is elseAvhere; and you cannot expect an increase of a stationary population of that middle class, mechanics, manufacturers, laborers, and others — the bone and sineAV of the land—Avhere there is not as fair an average of health as can elseAvhere be procured in our country. But I must close. I have trespassed too long on your indul- gence, but I cannot permit this opportunity to pass without again referring to the peculiar position in Avhich our city is placed, even at the expense of some repetition: in sight, as it Avere, of the promised land, with the golden fruit ready to be plucked, Ave wilfully neglect the important subject of our sanitary relations, and thus prevent the fulfilment of our manifest des- tiny. I have bestOAved much trouble on the important facts I have given you, presuming that the elucidation of the truth with regard to our actual condition avill be the means of its correction. The time is truly passed in this enlightened age, Avhen assertion will be taken for fact, and that an intelligent people can be long mystified by statements, hoAvever high their source. That many — nay, most of us — have been led to entertain erroneous im- pressions Avith regard to our sanitary condition, for a long series of vears, is unquestionable. We have been so misled by false uiticial statements, from the highest sources*, which have • L*!iitc! States census ol 1840. [ 44 ] lulled us into a fatal security, superseded, in some measure, in- vestigation into our actual condition, and thus prevented those corrective measures indispensable to our safety. This excuse exists no longer; Ave now know sufficient of our condition to be conA'inced that vast improvements are required; and it Avould be a poor compliment to pay to an enlightened and Avealthy community, as this is, to say that it will hesitate one moment to apply the proper remedy. I see a full guarantee of this promise in the neAvly-aAvakencd interest this subject is assuming among us. When the curiosity of this public is fully aroused, it will only be satisfied Avith the truth. This truth is a truly painful one, but it is with as much pride as pleasure I ven- ture the statement, corroborated by the laborious investigation of many years, that the condition is a removeable one ; and that, by the application of science and skill to enterprise and industry, perseveringly pursued, all can be accomplished that the most sanguine could anticipate, or the most enthusiastic desire. No medical man of reputation would venture the assertion that our condition cannot be vastly ameliorated : the physical aspects of nature are as much, if not more susceptible of improvement for the sanitary condition, than for the enterprises of commerce. In the great competition for supremacy for the Avestern trade, Ave do not start eA'en in the race unless we are upon a par with them in a sanitary point of vieAV. With all right in this, the game is in our own hands, and it is all comprehended in a few words,— seAverage, and a proper system of policeing. The meteorological tables will show you Ave have the ideal temperature for the most perfect health and enjoyment, with an almost entire freedom from those extremes Avhich are so injurious to health farther north. It is true Ave have too much moisture, but then the im- provements suggested Avould, if carried into effect, in a great measure remove this excess. With the adoption of these im- provements as a basis, all else will soon folloAV, for, with health, a permanent population, Avealth, taste, refinement will soon develop our delightful climate, and Ave shall be in the uninter- rupted enjoyment of the most pleasant residence in America. I trust, under your auspices, the public will be invited to take an interest in the important connection of experimental science [ 45 ] with practical, every-day facts, as shown, for instance, in the elucidation made by the hygrometer of the necessity of ventilation in this climate, in the condition which exists in the still air of most of our back yards, and too many of our houses, with what has been showa of its actual condition in a calm atmospJtere in other situations;—of the connection of this atmosphere with moisture, and of moisture with disease. This has been most satisfactorily shown in Table B, of the hygrometry of the winds, of which various illustrations are given ;— of the facility with which the water we drink and use for all culinary purposes becomes contaminated by being placed, by a singular perversion of good taste, in juxtaposition with all the filth of the family ! I again call your at- tention, too, to the interesting statement in the text, first pointed out by a French meteorologist, of the discovery of the actual means of daily temperatures when certain plants (enumerated) would flower (and by implication, as it is a law of all plants); and in our country, where it has been shown of the return of great epidemic visitations, on the occurrence of certain meteorological conditions, known antecedent to their outbreak. The same principles applied to the cultivation of our great staples — sugar-cane and cotton—will announce to us, at the periods of their first maturation, (the flowering of the one and the ripening of the other,) the probable produce from each during that season, barring accidents; and, being the results of actual numerical calculation, will prevent that uncertainty, and of course put an end to that speculation, so ruinous to the producer. These views alone, demonstrate the importance of keeping accurate meteorological records of our condition, not only for health, but for • agriculture and commerce. Had the facts which these principles ex- plain been known to our intelligent and enterprising planters, the pro- ducts of our great staples would long since have been extended all over the State, and been much more certain crops than they now are. They mostly confine themselves, at present, to the very slow and ex- pensiA'e one of empirical experiments, instead of applying principles at. once, apd boldly dashing forward whenever they are applicable, with all the assurance of success which comes of scientific deduction. An illustration is furnished of this in the very recent cultivation of the cane in the Red river district, and the highlands of our State, Avhere it is cultivated with as much success, if not more, than in the lower river districts to which it had been so long restricted, while it may as well have been cultivated in the others twenty years earlier ! But, gentlemen, there is another fact which claims your very special attention: No country of any importance is so shamefully destitute of records of the past, and particularly of mortuary records, a-s this [ 46 ] You would deem me very extravagant if I should inform you how much I think your interest has been sacrificed by this disgraceful ne- glect. With the finest climate, soil and position in our country, you are kept half a century back of Avhat you would have been had the facts been known, by a proper registry-law of your births, deaths, and marriages, and a meteorological record of this and Aarious parts of your State ;—the one thoroughly to record Avhat the climate is, and the other to exhibit the effect- of that climate — each bearing upon the other. When the climate or condition of a place is found to be inimi- cal to the health of its inhabitants, it must be attributable to certain causes, which should always lead to an examination. Experimental in- vestigations, under the direction of science, arc then employed to find them out, and when so discoArercd, there is little difficulty in removing them. I will giAT0 you a very striking instance : Some years ago, the people of Liverpool were in the habit of boasting of their health,—as we are in the habit of doing. The facts developed through the admi- rable registr}T-law of England, soon showed that they were suffering under the disastrous mortality of about 1 in 1!', or 5.20 per cent.! They soon took the alarm; and, on examination, the cause was found palpably to arise mainly from their extensive, filthy cellar population This was immediately abated, and their salubrity was soon increased to 1 in 27. or 3.70 per cent.! The following pages will show a much larger mortality here : but the heart of every patriot and philanthropist among us may y^t throb with delight, when, through a similar appli- ance, we shall be blessed with similar ameliorations. From what has been before said, but necessarily alluded to very briefly, it is in the power of sanitary measures to accomplish almost everything we could desire. Those who have most fully investigated . this subject, admit that by these means Ave can procure a state of health where the mortality does not exceed 2 per cent. Then cast your eyes OArer Table D, and you will see, through our neglect and igno- rance— and, of course, the former resulting from the latter—we have actually had a mortality, during more than sixty years, on an average, of nearly twice and a half as much as that! and during some series of years near three and a half times as much ! while, in some single years, it has exceeded/cwr times as much, or 8.33 per cent! though there are years in the group, as in 1812, when the mortality was only 2.22 per cent., and in 1827, when it was only 2.25. These are highly important facts to be remembered. They shoAV that the former mortality does not so much belong to our position, as its abuse ; and it belongs to this in- telligent public to determine uhether it shall be continued, for it is hoped that it has been satisfactorily demonstrated in this report that »t is entirely in our pmver to remove them. The longer continuance •■f such a state of t hi up:- is not only ruinous to the best, int'_T^sts of th« I 47 ] city, but.a reproach to the age we live in, if, by any means, they can be remedied. In taking leave of this most important and interesting topic, I must express the hope I have that you will take a manly share in consider- ing its bearing upon our sanitary state, and our future prosperity, and come with a free and strong help to its accomplishment. There is a mighty incubus that is paralysing the slumbering energies of this great community; and, with the long delusion we have labored under, it requires no ordinary moral courage to express the thorough convic- tion I entertain, sustained by the facts in this paper, that it arises mairrfy from the sanitary condition, in defiance of the boastings and taunts of those who draAV their facts from their fancies, and construct their opinions upon their wishes. An average mortality of 5.83 per cent., or 1 in 17-70, for the last ten years, is rather a too serious matter for the city fathers to contemplate or set quiet under, while the remedies are in reach, and while they hold the poAver to apply them. Figures are stubborn things, for they are facts; the imagination quails under their influence; and all reasoning upon such topics without them, or against them, having nothing to rest upon, must fall to the ground. The glaring fact of our almost stationary condition, in this age of progress, stares us in the face. Enterprise is abroad. Vigorous com- petition is putting every place, whose position is far inferior to ours, naturally, ahead of us. The main responsibility rests, first, upon those who represent the city in the councils, to take the initiative, to Avhich they have been repeatedly urged by the Board of Health, to adopt such a system of sanitary reform as will remove the greatest obstacles to our adAancement. The future Avelfare of New Orleans depends upon their enlightened and zealous efforts for the public good. They cannot eArade it, if they would. They have an offcial consultative Board* with whom to divide responsibility, who will cheerfully aid them in their important duties. A longer pos:poner,ient is a sacrifice of an important public duty. Alone, I might shrink from the freedom I have take* with your actions and opinions; but, gentlemen, with the aid and sanction of the intelligent and scientific body I see before me, proper representatives of the enlightened sentiment of the profession in all parts of the State, I feel I am but the organ of your views. Though I will not presume to assert that you endorse all the opinions I have expressed in this report, yet, as the main facts are undeniable, and the deductions from them obvious and fair, I shall at least take it for granted that you so far concur with me that you join in the call for a thorough scrutiny into the facts, and, if they are sustained by the proofs, you will aid in the adoption of suitable measures to remove the causes of disease, and improve and promote the public health. * Board of Health. TABLE a. AVERAGE MONTHLY HYGROMETRICAL CONDITION OF NEW ORLEANS, At different periods of the day, for Eight Years. | ihjsrometric Scale. j Elast'c'tv of \ Wei&nt of Vapor in a;Degree of Dryness on the|j Thermometric Scale, Average, tc [ 49 ] Table B. HYGROMETRYOF EACH OF THE PRINCIPAL WINDS AT NEW ORLEANS, AND WHEN CALM. ——-~ — — -----------~ "■- DEGEEE OF DRYING POWER. 1st N.W. 11 =.29 2d N. 1J .(G 3d S.W. 10 .03 4th w. 10 .01 5th N.E. 9 .28 6th E. 8 .84 7th S. 8 .21 8th S.E. 7 .56 9th CALM 5 .17 1 AMOUNT OF MOISTURE. [Saturation being 1000.] 1st N.W. .677 2d N. .698 3d S.W. .727 4th w. .740 5th s. .761 6th N.E. .763 7th E. .768 8th S.E. .720 9th CALM. .929 ELASTICITY OF THE VAPOR. 1st 2d 3d 4 th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th N.W, .468 WEIGHT OP VAPOR IN A CUBIC FOOT, In grains. N. .534 1 N.E. .630 | wV .646 | E. .646 1 S.W. .664 s. .743 S.E. .7.59 1 CALM. .761 | N. S.— To my scientific readers I observe that some few small errors in the above could only have been ascertained when the results were arrived at — but at too late a period to re-calculate sixty pages of figures. Table C. STATEMENT OF THE WINDS IN NEW ORLEANS BY MONTHS AM) SEASONS. N. N.E. E. S.E. s. S.W January . . . 4.1 4.1 5. 3.1 3.1 W February . . 4.1 3.1 4.* 2.i 3. 2.1 March .... 4.1 2 J 5.1 3.1 7. 2 1 April .... 1.1 2. J 6.* 4.* 6.* 2.1 May .... 2,} 2.} 5.1 4. 6.* 3.* June .... l.i l.i 6.1 4.1 4. J 6. July .... 1. 2. 5. 5. 6. ,4. August . . . 3.1 3.1 4. 3.1 4.1 I 4. September . . 6. 6.1 6.1 1.* 2.1 , 1.1 October . . . 6.i 5.1 7. l.i 1.* i 1. November . . 5.i 1. 4.* 3.1 3.* 1. December . . 7.1 4.1 5.1 3. 3. 1.* W. N.W Calm. Explanation. 2. 2.1 o.J 1.1 4. 0.1 1.1 2.1 0.1 2.* 2. 0.1 1.1 2.1 1. 1.* 1.1 1. 3. 1.1 3. 3.1 1.* 2. 1.* 1.1 o-i 2. 3. 1. 1. 3.1 0.1 1.* 1.* 1.1 Being on an average of 11 i years — 1835-:42 and '48-50. j BY SEASONS. Winter Spring . Summer Autumn Winter Spring . Summer Autumn . 16. n.r 15.1 9. 9.1 8.1 8.1 J17.I 12. 20.1' 6.1 7.1 15.1 13. 15.1 18.1 124 | 18. 6.1 7.1 1st 5th 3d 6th 7th ; 6th ; 1st 1st : 3d 2d 5th 3d 4th 4th j 7th 1st | 4th 2d ;3d 5.1 8. 4.i 8.1 2. 1 6.J l.i 4.* 6. 8.1 2.1 j Total number of days' wind each season'. 5th 8th 6th 5th 18th 7th 4th BY THE YEAR. 8th 8th 6th 7th 9th 9th Relative frequency of each 9th > wind during each season. 9th 3d 49. 5th 40. 1st 4th 66.1140.* 2d 52.1 6th 8th 7th I 9th Relative frequency of each 32.1 23.li 27.*j 12.4 wind during the year. TABLE D. Exhibiting the Mortality of the city of New Orleans since 1787, (with exceptions as stated,) with the ratios, the relative proportion dying at the Charity Hospital, and the dates of great physical changes in and about the city. YEAtiS EMBRACED. 10 years, 1787-97. l> years, 18U-'15. 18!G-'20. ♦ 1 years, omitt tin- 1821. 18:21-"25. 182G-'30. * 4 years, omit- ting 1832. 1831-'35. *4 years, omit- ting 1837. 1 «36-'40. loll-'45. i8i;;-.'i(). N.O. an J Lafa- yette, for the last year. Totals . AVERAGE POPULATION. \ 7.020 28.711 37.985 44.539 47.831 58.570 74.2G2 90.000 AVERAGE MORTALITY.! 1 tO .488 .989 1.517 ) ,-109.693 i 2.085 1.707 3.503 2.942 3.993 7.022 11.38 30.82 29.15 21.17 27.68 18.22 25.39 23.29 15.33 23.19 RATIO PER CENT DATES OF PHYSICAL ALTERATION'S AND IMPROVEMENTS IN CITY AND NEIGHBORHOOD. 1785, '91, '99 — Crevasses above, atTecting the city. 1790 — Fortifications made around the city, and surrounded by trenches 17U4-"J? — Ctnal Carondelet dug. 1911 — Canal Carondelet cleaned out. 13]C>—Crevasse, tt 1HJ7 — First Pavements commenced. j 1*20 — Wooden side-walks, and curbing removed and replaced with stone. IdlT-'^O — Large enclosures of the batture.-f 1824 — Gormley's Canal and Itasin dug, about 1S-21-'-?. lri^4-*32 — Extensive paving done. 1.S0j-'28 —Melpomene Canal adopted from a natural drain, cleaned out and deepened. 1831 —Violent storm inundated back part of the city, to Dauphin street. J832-'35 — The Bank Canal of the 2d municipality dug to the hike — 7 miles. ld32-'34 — Extensive paving. IP3.1-'3!) — Forest growth cut down in rear of city, first municipality. 1KW — Draining machine on Bayou St. John, drained the section in rear of first municipality. 1637, October—Violent Ptorm inundated the rear of the city. Draining com- pany continued their operation-. 1844— Violent storm inundated the city up to Hurgundy street. 1845-'50 — That section of the rear of the city between the canals Carondelet and Bank, in the rear of the central parts of the city, ditched, drained, and forest growth removed. 1849, May and June —Extensive inundation from Smive Crevasse, extending as high up as Carondelet street. * The Mtal mortality of the~e years could not be procured. . t Extract from the" report of the Physico-Medical Society en the epidemic yellow fever of 1820, by Drs.Randolph, Davidson and Marshall: 'U e would remind the Societv of the evident co-existence easting between the enclosure of the batture and the recent unusual consecution of epidemic fevers in this city. V S i intended to have added a column embracing the average annual immigration from abroad; but the record has not been retained at our customhouse anterior to 1845, since when it lias averaged about 30,000 per annum; but very few arriving in the summer and fall months. o [ 51 ] TABLE E. STATEMENT of the number of Free and Slave Population, as well as the number of Deaths from Ciioleha and other Diseases, in the Parishes of the Western District of Louisiana, as taken by the Assistant Marshals, and returned to the United States Mar- shal's office, under the Census Act of 53d May, 1850. PARISHES. Carroll......... Mnclison ....... Tensas ......... Concordia ...... Ouachita ...... Morehouse...... Union.......... Jackson ........ Catahoula...... Franklin........ Caldwell........ Claiborne ...... Bossier......... DeSoto......... Caddo .......... Natchitoches___ Sabine ......... Rapides*........ Avoyelles ...... St. Landry...... Calcasieu ...... Lafayette....... Vermillion...... St. Martin...... St. Mary........ Bienville....... INHABITANTS. C'^™" ____________._ ___; W, District 2,346 1.418 902 824 2,300 1,907 4,778 3,407 3,616 1,681 1,590 4,949 2,507 3,566 3,667 6,345 3,317 4,000 4,166 11,384 2,957 3,560 2,312 5,198 3,911 3,644 6,443 7,350 8,138 6,934 2,70S 2,000 3,425 2,243 3,548 1,573 1,232 2,522 4,788 4,450 .6,468 7,627 1,167 9,000 5,161 10,871 951 3,183 1,067 6,468 9,940 1,895 | 8,789 \ 8,768 } 9,040 | 7,758 5,008 | 3,913 \ 8,203 \ 5,650 j 7,164 \ 3,254 ■ 2,b22 | 7,471 : 7,2'J5 | 8,016 110,135 113,972 5 4,514 j 13,000 : 9,327 i 22.255 3,908 6,713 3,409 11,666 13,851 5,539 Mort PREE. HOLERA ality SLAVES CHOLERA 110 TOTAL ) Cholera; 122 : TOTAL Mortality 405 TOTAL MORTALITY WITHOUT CHOLERA. 3.22 TOTAL MORTALITY PER CENT. INCLUDING CHOLERA. 12 4.61 9 138 117 ; 417 3.08 4.75 11 131 142 ; 319 1.96 3.52 3 52 55 ■; 171 117 1.50 2.20 2.33 8 4 12 260 6.31 6.G4 7 4 11 '• 716 8.59 8.72 8 4 12 , 313 5.50 5.53 17 30 ' 47 443 5.52 6.18 1 3 | 4 ' 283 8.58 8.67 2 3 1 5 is;) 6.38 6.55 o 4 G I 612 8.11 8.19 1 19 20 I 368 4.77 5.05 9 9 18 | 496 330 5.96 6.18 3.25 4 15 19 I 818 5.93 6.06 6 6 ; 538 11.80 11.91 ■■ i 250 > 1.49 1 92 4 26 30 i 392 I 3.88 4.20 ^—- < 11,1 3.29 3.48 ] i l 4 2 6 Totals.....90,312 121,158 ;2ll,470 \ 103 | 561 664 239 283 218 422 208 275 9,883 6.33 3.39 1.44 5.04 5.09 6.10 4.19 6.39 3.61 1.50 5.15 5.22 Classification of Ihe Parishes of the Western District of Louisiana: 1. Ratio of mortality in river parishes, percent. 2. Do. do. in swamp parishes do - 3. Do. do. in upland parishes do. 3.81 3.52 6.21 '<} White ! r anl 2.46" 3.42 6.08 J Colored. * These numbers are furnished by a correspondent— not publinhed by the Deputy Marshal. TABLE F.........> STATEMENT of the number of Dwelling Houses, Frkk and Slave Population, as well j Eastern District of Louisiana, as taken by the ditierent Assistant Marshals, and 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 PARISHES. [First Jiii :iicip(i'i!ii — - 1st, 2d, and 3d Wards 4th, 5ih, 6th and 7th Wards Second Mhat' ipel;Iu—■ 2<{ 1st and 2d Wards........., 3d Ward................'., 1th Ward................. 5th, 6th and 7th Wards. ..., _ Third Mta;iapt Feliciana.................. East Baton Rouge................ West Baton Rouge............... Iberville......................... Lafourche Interior ............... Livingston ...................... j Plaquemine ..................... ! Point Coupee.................... \ St. Bernard...................... St. Charles....................... | St. John the Baptist............... St. James........................ St. Taminanv.................... St. Helen . .'...................... Terre Bonne..................... Washington..................... Totals .......... 1,769 755 926 712 599 1044 392 640 938 ih() 615 7;;u 283 191 530 591 786 390 550 406 9,668 23,893 7.676 9.072 5,680 23,519 19,890 2,029 2,056 10,929 \ 7,801 3.486 5,197 4,08-1 2,579 5,627 1,920 3,680 5.166 2,513 2,611 3.528 I, J 79 :»8H 2,778 3 317 4.003 2.366 3,396 2.371 < Population \ ^Euat. District ■ 01 ; j Louisiana. > TOTAL. j 1,974 6,136 1.107 9"8 8i0 3.102 2 H12 1,057 1,371 4,825 7,266 5,341 9,512 10,666 6.351 4,351 8,607 1.368 811 4.779 7.812 2.284 4,132 1540 7.751 2,303 2.196 1.331 1,037 31,266 \ 181,306 i 122,790 11.6!2 30.029 8,7*3 ! (1,050 6 520 20.681 22,702 3.080 12.300 12,626 10,752 10,538 13.596 13,215 11.978 6,271 12.287 9.53 I 3.381 7,390 11,3 It 1 3,763 5,120 7.318 11.098 6,366 4,562 7.727 3.408 304.096 Mortality of the Country Parishes of Louisiana — Eastern District of La. Including Cholera. Excluding Cholera. Classification of the Parishes. t> tin ca Ratio of .Mortality of the River Par-"] ; ishes. excluding New Orleans, La-! 1 nm fayette and We.->t Feliciana, and [ including other river towns.......J Ratio of Mortality of the Swamp Par- i 0 „„ ishes............................$ Ratio of Mortality of the Upland Par- ) , ~, ishes............................\ '' COLORED DO 11! CE.VT. I PER > f> 15 2.57 1.03 i 1.05 0.44 1.75 | 1.57 1.48 1.42 I 1.29 0.75 1.61 0.60 1.57 [ 53 ] .......TABLE F. as Ihe number of Deaths from Cholera and other Diseases, in the respective Parishes of the returned to the United States Marshal's office, under the Census Act of 23d May, 1850. Mortality Free Inhabitants. Mortality Ratios of Mortality per cent. { Slave Inhabitants OTHER DISEASES. 22 63 26 51 2 460 60 3 52 34 3 36 4 13 45 21 14 5* 27 5 86 281 146 89 11 1702 302 33 283 115 34 41 86 67 101 28 23 32 56 8 4 3 12 9 17 > 5 19 58 ... 26 f 2 18 i ••• 23 | 965 3701 108 344 172 140 13 2162 362 36 335 149 37 77 90 80 146 49 37 37 83 13 4 15 26 24 58 26 20 23 4666 19 30 7 10 3 49 81 144 3 18 67 88 143 ".5 81 35 9 49 78 89 4 OTHER DISEASES. 20 58 24 5 1 22 71 22 46 84 22 59 176 279 98 84 170 9 15 83 100 14 61 51 105 41 25 42 6 j WHITES. I COLORED. TOTAL TOTAL — MORTALITt MORTAUTT "J^™" MJ2™* total. Without without i ™ ° "7 I™LUDINO CHOLERA. { CHOLERA, j CHOLERA. CHOLERA. 1040 1793 39 88 31 11 I 29 81 25 54 133 103 203 179 297 165 172 313 9 20 164 135 23 110 129 194 45 25 49 6 2833 0.89 1.18 1.90 0 98 0.20 7.24 1.52 1.63 2.60 2.01 1.01 0.94 2.16 0.51 0.12 0.70 2.52 2.08 3.36 1.48 0.91 1.13 1.94 0.93 0.18 6.46 1.64 1.78 2.67 1.96 1.28 1.43 2.31 1.50 0.21 8.21 f 1.95 1.97 3.16 2.44* 1.48 1.74 ! 0.98 > 1.11 ', 0.79 j 1.10 '. 2.10 ! 1.85 2.60 \ 2.62 1.79 ( 1.54 \ 1.45 5 1.93 I 0.62 1.97 > __ 0.20 [ 1.25 1.78 2.14 1.76 ] 0.22 1.28 1 0.27 0.61 ( 1.21 1.47 0.61 1.12 i 0.60 1.15 \ 1.45 1.74 i 1.10 1.14 \ 0.53 097 \ 0.97 0.58 j 1.05 ; 1.38 ' 1.27 1.90* U. S. Marshal's Office, Eastern District of Louisiana. New Orleans, April 15, 1850. WM. P. SCOTT, U. S. M. By Chas. A. Labuzan, D'y Marshal. To E. H. Barton, M.D. *I have added the per centage of Mortality separately from the cities of New Orleans and Lafayette, as that is done above. E. H. B t The Charity Hospital is in this ward, where all the sick emigrants go on their arrival at New Orleans. 6 | 54 ] EXPLANATION. In explanation of Tables -E' and 'F.' it is necessary to state that the deputy marshals, in making their general returns, only specify 'free' and 'slave.' honce tlio free negroes of the State are classed with the 'white,' and allowance should be made in the mortuary estimates of those tables, until the fiscal digestion of ail the sjiecific returns, from Washington. This explanation does not apply to any other portion of the text or the charts, where a contrast is instituted between 'white' and 'colored.' j JYoir to 2>"iksre 31. ] The true philosophy of what is very loosely called ' acclimation,' is very little understood — the materials do not exist. We know that one latitude, or zone of the earth, is different in what is technically called its 'climate,' from another; that these even differ in their longitudes; that elevation or depression, and the vicinage of mountains, .plains or great bodies of water, materially influence it; but farther we cannot go. How difference of soil affects it we know not; that it does affect plants is undeniable ; and that even contiguous fields produce different varieties of fruit and other productions; but the cause here is palpable enough — they derive what supports their existence from it, we never do. All we can say. then, positively, and from which to reason, is, that from these positions result a difference of meteorological condition. The exponent, then, of climate, so far as our present positive know- ledge extends, is Meteorology. Now, from our ignorance of meteoro- logical conditions, with almost one exception, of different countries, we are limited to the explanation which that one furnishes,—I mean difference of temperature. Let us see, then, what this supplies. The inhabitants of the northern, or cool regions, ore generally of the san- guine temperament, with a large development of their sanguiferous and pulmonary systems, with a corresponding power of generating heat, to adapt them to the wants of such a climate. On the contrary, the natives of hot regions have usually the bilious temperament, with the reverse organization, because the requirements of this climate are different, and they get rid of their excess of carbonic acid through other emunctories, and they take in less through their lungs, it not being required, and if it was taken in, they would be over-heated by the combustion it would excite m their systems; hence, then, the pre- dominance of the bilious temperament in hot climates; and it is a matter of observation that temperaments are convertible by long residence — certaiuly the sanguine becomes bilious through genera- tions,— and in accordance with these principles we find the visitor from the North, of the bilious temperament, is more easily accommodated to [ ao ] the South than he of the .sanguine. Dr. Cartwright has dearly shown that the negro requires less ptt;x, or oxygenated, air than the white man, in their much igrcater adaptation to hot climates. Jlere, then, is one jjositire fact by which acclimation is explained; and as man is almost the only auimal that can adapt himself to different climates, he clearly accomplishes it by the exercise of his intellectual powers in accommodating himself to different temperatures, mainly, by changes in his dress and mode of living; while other animals who survive this change, in a great degree lose the coverings which protected them from northern rigors, on coming to the South. Is there any other positive, undeniable fact upon the subject.! Habituation to a climate to consti- tute it—that is, habituation to a certain fixed atmospherical condition, — (and it is owing to our ignorance of the other departments of Mete- orology that we are at present compelled to limit it to this) — is, then, but habituation to a, certain raniic of temperature. All other explana- tions are hypothetical — but petiliones principii,— and based upon assumptions that are unphilosophical to admit, and I pass them by. The troops transferred by the Pacha of hX'nt to the comparatively cold mountains of Greece, from the torrid regions of southern Egypt and Nubia, perished like rotten sheep, without apparent disease. 'The Laplander, transplanted to Louisiana, would die from excessive heat, if his ordinary power of generating caloric for his indispensable wants, in his cold regions, was not immediately restrained here. Negroes, transferred to colder climates from Africa or the South, suffer great mortality from the change, and particularly from pulmonary disease, from the increased activity required through this system of supplying heat. Monkeys carried to England all die speedily, and mainly of the same disease, if not confined to an atmosphere artificially heated for them; and these illustrations* could be vastly extended in corroboration of the position assumed. In this view of the subject, acclimation has a wider range and a more specific application, and is not confined to those coming South from the the North. But they are, I believe, unnecessary, for actual experience, wloen properly tested, is against the admission of the absolute necessity of acclimation, to any great extent, from one temperate region to ano- ther; at all events, it must be abandoned so far as it defends upon a fixed physical condition, as it regards us, for that wc have not had for many years * See Lecture on Acclimation, by the author, delivered to and published by his class, when he occupied the chair of Theory and Practice of Medicine and Cli- nical Practice in the Medical College of Louisiana, in 1837. | m A P P E N D 1 X . I have been kindly supplied (and mainly through Mr. H. Gr-Heartt, Actuary of the Mutual Benefit Insurance Company of this city) with the subjoined tables and data for the calculations from the other life insurance offices in this city, and as they furnish a strong argument corroborating the statement I have made in the ' Report,' it affords me great pleasure to add them here. That position is briefly this: that this climate is not lethale per se, but has been made so by superadded or abused conditions — by circumstances extraneous to the physical condition; and this is demonstrated by the health of the neighbor- hood, the supervention of years of remarkable salubrity, and the great difference in the mortality of males and females in this city; that difference being sometimes 7, and sometimes as many as 13 to 1, in favor of females ! arising mainly from difference in mode of life; being an eloquent testimony in favor of correct habits, in this respect, never to be overlooked. I now invite the attention of the reader to the singular fact — to show the influence of hygienic rules — that, whereas the mortality of the whites in this climate for the last two years (and select these because the mortality has been very large from cholera, etc., and they are of the same date as that embraced by the Insurance Companies) has been 9.83 percent., or 1 in 10.36 ; and that of negroes, 3.44 percent., or 1 in 29.66 ; while, by the materials furnished, this is entirely reversed, and the white mortality is actually only 0.77 of 1 percent., while the negro is 1.72 percent, (and most of the mortality has been produced by cholera). In these last cases, both may be con- sidered as picked lives, although all the insured are of those ages most liable to death here, viz, middle life. The one really takes care of himself, for himself and family, while the other is reckless and indiffer- ent to influences which the first so carefully avoids. So powerful do I consider the influence of proper habits in correcting the influence of climate or condition, that I place personal, paramount to general, hygiene ;— the one is for the individual, (and is controlled by his sense of interest) what the other is for the community, who are ignorant of its importance, and here extremely negligent of it. A warm climate I V \ and a filthy city deteriorates health where their opposites would not, and although much personal care will, in a great measure, remove most of their influences, yet the mass fall victims to them. This opinion is not given at random — I have the figures to sustain me ; besides which, a professional acquaintance with the climate of thirty years, during all which time I have been collecting memoranda in relation to it, gives me full authority to speak boldly. From the great difference, then, in the tables of general mortality and those of the special mortality, as furnished by the insurance com- panies, arise the profits of such companies. From this showing it is evident they must be greater here than in any part of the world ! and I feel very sure that nowhere is there a greater difference in the pro- longed enjoyments, as well as the hazards of life, between provident care and extreme recklessness. E.H.BARTON. Of 260 Whiles insured, H fur 1 vp;ir term, I deceased. lis for 1' - •' 1 « 150 lor l.il'c . . 0 " MsiUinir tin' proportion of deaths to the number in- ■M.red, 0.75 + per cent. A«o» of insured from 18 to ■I '> years * FT « o re re ^3 CO on re ca-re P P* CD e o O re o p o c -" ^— w —' Of / 16 Negroes insured in this Ofliee. for a term of one year each, or less, 18 have died, making the proportion of deaths to the number insured, 2.013-1- per cent. The ages of the insured ranging from l>vu45 years. Of the deceased, 1 was born in North Carolina; Kentucky; p O Q K P O 6 b a U b b o c Virginia ; Tennessee; Alabama ; Louisiana: South Carolina : Unknown. b gr b b b b b o P" o ►p 3 o o P- JO C C,i O Ci — >^ ? X (5s (t) ."? © i— CO CO K> iC i— ►&- tO ►£». O .^ CO «i o — — to CO IMliitrs, lllarks. TOTAL.' HI t> ►~" w p c| n M CD !> 0 W l-"i r+ <1 S3" M H- M o d CO p Ol t» >- » p- n P q- H « ^ L oo j MUTUAL BENEFIT LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, NEWARK, NEW JERSEY. A TABULAR VIEW of the Results of Life Insurance, as exemplified by the Experience of the Agency at New Orleans, from November, 1848, to June 1, 1851, a period of three years, under the supervision of II. G. HRARTT, Agent. PLACE OF BIRTH. New York - Pensylvania - Connecticut Massachusetts Kentucky - New Jersey - Rhode Island Tennessee - Mississippi Alabama England - - Ireland - - • Germany - - West Indies Unknown - - Total ■ AGES Wlir.N INSURED. YEARS. 1 NUMBER. 1 29 1 24 '■) 26 1 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 40 41 45 47 REMARKS. cu P kp -»- r^j .5 o 't £>Tj p 13 jh « _ ^ P to 2 3J 00 m «*H s ■p i-1 i—■ o u 'C j r .-£ ic o a) rt o"3 O ° or. ?-i ^ CO ^2 .. .3 3 . - 5 ~ [ 60 j TABLE OF THE RATE OF MORTALITY AT CARLISLE, Commonly k town as tlie Carlisle '. Fables. Asp. 1____ 70 Number ali\ e in cacl year. Deaths in that year. 124 Age. 0 Number alive in each year Deaths in that year. Age. 35 | Number alive in each year 1 5362 Deaths in that year 10000 1539 55 2401 1 8461 682 36 5307 56 i 71 2277 134 2 7779 505 37 5251 57 72 2143 146 3 7274 276 38 5194 58 73 1997 156 4 6998 201 39 5136 61 74 1841 166 5 6797 121 40 5075 66 75 1675 160 6 6676 82 41 5009 69 76 1515 156 7 6594 58 42 4940 71 77 1359 146 8 6536 43 43 4869 71 78 1213 132 9 6493 33 ■ 44 4798 71 79 1081 128 10 6460 29 45 4727 70 80 953 116 11 6431 31 46 4657 69 81 837 112 ! 12 6400 32 47 4588 67 82 725 102 13 6368 33 48 4521 63 83 623 94 14 6335 35 49 4458 61 84 529 84 15 6300 39 50 4397 59 85 445 78 16 6261 42 51 4338 62 86 367 71 17 6219 43 52 4276 65 87 296 64 I8, 6176 43 53 4211 68 88 232 51 19 6133 43 54 4143 70 89 181 39 20 6090 43 55 4073 73 •90 142 37 21 6017 42 56 4000 76 91 105 30 22 6005 42 57 3924 82 92 75 21 23 5963 42 58 3842 93 93 54 14 24 &)21 42 59 3749 106 94 40 10 25 5879 43 60 3643 122 95 30 7 26 5836 43 61 3521 126- 96 23 5 27 5793 45 62 3395 127 97 18 4 28 5748 50 63 3268 125 98 14 3 29 5698 56 64 3143 125 99 11 2 30 5642 57 65 3018 124 100 9 2 31 5585 57 66 2894 123 101 7 2 32 5528 56 67 2771 123 102 5 2 33 5472 55 68 2648 123 103 3 2 34 5417 55 69 2525 124 104 1 1 [ 61 ] TABLE, showing the probabilities of the Duration of Human Life at all Ages from 10 to 97, deduced from the experience of the Equitable Insurance Company, of London. AGES. 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 5000 4961 492* 4892 IS-3G 4820 ■1761 4718 171:2 4076 4611 4607 4574 15 U 4508 4475 4441 4107 4373 4339 4305 4270 4235 oo 41'JU 34 4162 35 4124 36 4086 37 4047 38 4007 39 3965 DECRE- MENTS : 36 ; 3G 36 36 \ 36 36 i 36 36 i 36 35 oo 33 33 :AGES 34 34 34 34 34 35 35 36 37 38 38 39 40 12 43 40 41 42 43 44 15 46 17 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 39:22 3879 '3835 3791 3747 3702 3655 3608 3560 2618 2527 2434 2134 2026 1915 |AGES. LIVING. 43 44 44 44 45 47 47 48 49 50 3511 3461 3409 j 335 i 3296 3231 3170 | 66 3101 | 70 3034 | 75 2959 ! 79 2880 i 84 2796 i 88 2708 I 90 91 93 95 2339 j100 2239 i 105 108 111 115 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 52 80 55 81 58 8:2 62 83 64 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 1800 1685 1570 1455 1340 1225 1111 1002 897 796 700 607 517 115 115 115 115 115 i 114 ', 109 j 105 ! 101 | 96 j 93 ; 90 85 432 83 349 73 276 ! 61 215 50 165 ; 42 123 34 89 | 22 67 18 49 i 14 35 11 24 8 16 7 9 5 4 3 1 i A 244092 J5000 / TABLE OF THE NEW RATE OF MORTALITY IX EM1LAM): Exhibiting the Law of .Mortalitv amongst Assured Livks, affording to the eon Ass lomeu l ov u ranees un rn ana o der the ouniry cxpenei superintendence ice oi ljlie winces, ueuueeu iroiii v-,-"" of a Committee of eminent Actuaries in London. Com-pleted Age. Number Sur\ iviiig at each Age. Deaths in each Year. Logarithm I of Number sur-| viviu-t at each Al;c. Com-pleted Number Surviving at each Age. Deaths in each Venr. Logarithm of .Number sur-viving at oach A'.jo. 10 J00C00 676 5 0000000 i 51 63169 1375 1.8025617 11 99324 674 4.9970512 1 56 1)2094 1436 1.7930196 j 12 98650 072 4.9!.M0'.<7-1 ! . 57 Ct;658 1497 4.7828831 , 13 97978 671. 4-9911286 || 53 59161 1561 4.77^0355 14 97307 671 1.9881441 59 ."TC00 1027 4.7601225 15 96636 671 4.9851389 00 55973 1698 4.7479736 16 95965 072 4.9321129 61 51275 1770 4 ."13-15998 j7 95293 673 4.9790610 | 02 52505 1844 4.7202007 18 91620 675 4.9759829 'i 63 50>".01 1917 4.7046738 19 93915 677 4.972S737 64 ' 48744 1990 4.6379212 . 20 93268 680 4.9697327 65 4(5751 2061 4.6698188 21 92588 683 4-9665517 66 44693 2128 4 6502395 ; 22 91905 086 4.9633391 67 42565 2191 1.6290526 | 23 91219 690 4.9600853 68 10374 2246 4.6061018 i 24 90529 694 4.9567877 69 38128 22i 64785 1316 4-8114745 I 99 1 1 0.0000000 (| [ (38 j TA151,T:', showing the DlsoTlPERS (as certified to the Court of Directors) of which persons assured by the Equitable Society have died duriug thirty-two years, from the 1st of January, lM)l, to the 31st December. lc>32. DISEASES. 50 j 20 TO ; TO Accidents............. 7 Angina pectoris............. Aneurism............... Apoplexy...........1 A Asthma................ Atrophy................ Cancer ................ Child-birth...........;..... Clio'era morbus.........' . . . . Consumption..........4 | 2C Convulsion tits.........'..'.. Decay (natural, and old age) ....!.. Diabetes............' Disorders not properly defined ....].. 30 110 TO TO •io|.»o . . I 11 8 ! 10 1 I 2 2-1 ; 56 Stt TO i>0 CO 7O;80 TO I TO ETC 9 4 5 -15 • • 26 1 29 169 S6 20 26 22 11 15 6 14 15 4 63 I 83 • • I 4 Dropsy ........... Dropsy on the chest....... Dysentery.......• . . Disease of the stomach and digestive ) organs .......... j Diseased liver Disease of the bladder and urinary ) passages . ... ^ .... j i ' • Epilepsy............ . J Erysipelas.......'■••.. 1 Fcveis, general.......... . C) " bilious........... . 1 nervous.........i . . 3 " inflammatory.......I . . i 3 " putrid.........! . . ' 2 Gout............!..;.. Inflammation of the bowels.....2 I 2 of the lungs.....! ■ • ! ~ of the brain.....'1 4 Inflammation of the chest and perip- neumony......... Mortification........... . Murdered...........'•..'.. Palsy.............! . . | 1 Pleurisy............. . '.iuincy............'..'.. Rupture of a blood vessel...... 1 . . Slain in War .*.........j 1 ; 1 Small-pox...........I . . Stone.............I . . ! . . Suicide............. . I 1 Water on ih•- brain...... S 37 i 81 I 1 10 I 2 20 , 07 ' 52 5 i 54 18 128 J241 1 I 1 27 83 59 I 42 11 11 31 49 1 1 187 1 7 3 3 2 6 j 01 10, 9 I 10 I 26 41 13 41 41 2 i 4 7 j 3 70 | 34 8 , 2 9 : 5 5 i 6 7 1-1 44 56 12 1 8 ; 11 . . I 1 5 | 15 . . ! 1 12 | 19 12 1 47 1 1 19 21 14 1 1 74 1173 856 294 H 40 11-5 4 4S6 74 43 43 4 27 339 S 566 8 79 257 183 34 106 175 12S 19 20 262 37 -12 32 28 38 126 185 64 59 46 3 235 4 3 82 4 1 12 2D _9_] 4095 [ <>4 ] TABLE Or COMPARATIVE LXPICTATIOXS OF LIFE IN EXGUND- Showing the Expectation or Average deration of Life, deduced from Eight Original Tables prepared under the Superintendence of a committee of eminent Actuo.. ries, and compared with the Carlisle, Equitable and rrcrthampton Tables. I 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 12 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 is .i I " ? ■- 0 Jz,' t~ r° .i; 39.84 35.86 39.29 j 3G.01 38.70 3G.20 37.98 ; 35.41 37.41 ! 34.81 41.23 40.68 10.37 39.87 39.23 36.G3 35.88 35.23 34.63 33.9G 33.17 32.11 31.73 30-92 30.21 29 52 28.87 2s 15 27.49 26.81 23.06 25 42 21.70 24.00 23.31 22.63 21.98 21.24 20.62 20.08 31,1! 3S.5G 33.79 37.82 33.14 37.10 33.07 32.G1 36.45 35.67 21.97 21.16 20.69 22.70 22.01 21.34 o 3 w 3 '£ 31.73 | 34.84 31.04 | 34.1-7 30.51 33 34 29.86 ' 32.53 29.G0 31.87 29.07 31.12 2H.88 ! 30.1-1 28.30 | 2.1.69 27.62 29.00 27.00 . 28.31 26.3G | 27.53 25.8-1 ; 2J.85 25.31 j 23.19 24 57 | 25.-17 26.94 | 21.77 23.21 j 24 08 22.60 i 23.42 40.33 40.29 39.89 38.98 38.37 37.55 36.89 36.12 35.54 34.91 3-J.-J-; 33.51 32.Wj 32.05 31.41 30.78 30.20 29.45 28.81 28.1G 27.38 25.73 23.01 25.22 24.59 23.83 23.13 2i34| 21.G7 21.13 i 31.95 31,18 33.18 32.78 32.61 41.55 10-96 40.38 39.G5 38.98 ■l'.'.'JT j 41,19 ■10,15 ! 40.79 39 92 40.09 39.18 1 39.39 33.54 ' 38.68 H = 31.91 3S.2G ' 37.84 31.05 ! 37.54 I 37.13 30.99 3G.8I 3G.42 30.7G 30.5G 29.71 211.08 28.36 27.63 36.12 35.76 35.38 35.06 34.51 33.78 33.01 34- 33- 2 22 ; 31.98 2Jo5 31.51 i 31. 26.30 25.77 25.26 21.61 23.93 23.36 22.86 22.14 21.5G 21.00 20.30 19.76 19.12 18.59 18.27 30.77 30.08 29.37 28.65 27.92 27.20 26.51 S\T0 25.07 24 32 37.98 37.27 36.5 J 3.5,:--5 35.15 34.43 33.72 33.01 32.30 31.58 30.87 30.15 29.44 2«.72 28.00 27.28 26.56 25.84 30.55 29.90 29.20 28.51 27.79 27.07 26.41 25.6K 21.98 \ 25.12 21.26 ', 24,10 ii.i,; 40.75 10.04 39.31 38.59 37.86 37.14 36,11 35.69 35.00 34.34 33.68 33.03 32.36 31.68 I 31.00 30.32 29.6-1 28.96 ; 28.28 27.61 26.97 23.31 | 25.71 25.09 41.06 33 43 40.33 | 32.90 39 60 | 32.39 j 2 3b(>s 31.88 I . 38.16 31.36 | 2 37.44 36.73 36.02 35.33 34.65 30.85 | 25 30.33 | 2J 29,S2 | 27 29.39 '■ 28 28.79 i 29 33.38 28.27 33,10 ! 27.76 32.64 | 27.24 31.98! 26.72 31.32 I 26.20 30 31 33 34 30.66 30.01 29.35 2H.70 28.05 27.40 26.74 26.07 25.40 21-75 25.68 35 25.16 j 36 2164 j 37 21.12 38 23.60 23-51 22.90 | 22.95 22.15 ! 22.12 21.44 | 21.il 20.77 1 20.79 23.69 .1 ; • ' - * 24.10 22.97 23.82 23.4 1 22.27 23.17 22.78 21.56 22.50 22.12 i 20.87 21.81 21.47 I 23.03 22.56 22.04 21.54 2 i .03 20 52 20.02 19.51 ! 19.00 16.49 39 40 41 12 43 ■14 45 40 47 48 49 [ <;.-, ]' TABLE OF COMPARATIVE EXPECTATIONS OF LIFE IN ENGLAND—(Continued.) ... ua Xw 50 ! 19. 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 GO 61 62 63 61 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 o 20.05 20.58 20.18 17.' 18.73 18.05 17.10 16.77 16.21 15.66 15.09 14.15 13.99 13.47 12.99 12.16 11.90 11.27 10.87 10.38 9.93 9.33 8.81 8.34 7.88 7.43 6.97 6.57 0.(13 5.63 5,!-i 5.16 4.99 19.46 OS. 80 18.31 17.58 16.78 16.07 15.39 14.79 14.28 13.78 13.10 12.41 11.87 11.09 10.60 10.00 9.56 8.85 8.38 7.93 7.31 G.63 6.19 3.72 5.37 5,15 4.78 4.56 4.80 19.89 13.17 19.73 I 17.20 19.03 ! 16.62 18.52 j 18.30 i 1G.11 17.95 17.55 ! 15.51 * a 20.07 ; 20.11 19.41 ! 19.4G 18.75 18.79 18.11 ! 18.16 17.46 17.50 17.50 20.18 21.11 20.83 , 17.99 '.50 19.50 18.02 18.10 17.25 16.74 16.08 15.35 14.86 14.23 13.58 13.01 12.26 11.62 11.18 10.G9 10.11 9.57 9.29 8-.01 8.33 7.65 7.08 6.53 0.23 6.34 5.52 5,19 5.32 16.96 15.04 | 16.76 ; 16.83 16.40 j 15.87 j 15.211 14,60 14.03 13.50 !2o7 12.26 11.75 11.44 10.82 10.26 9.72 8.94 14.41 13.85 13.31 13.01 80 i 4.75 ■ 4.75' 4. 8,18 7.92 7.37 G.76 G.31 5.45 4.90 4.69 4.91 4.75 16.17 15.5G 14.90 14.25 16.23 15.62 1198 14.38 12 12. 11 jll. 10 ! 10 I 2 3,444 o 12.596 o *N\4!S — *90,612 — *71,(i-3H / *77,534 10 *51,71 ■! 9 20,980 'J ■1,718 9 *7-3,470 4 ;!:i,632 6 21,020 10 *57,2-71 -) *78,076 1 4,17-3 0 20,89-5 (i *80,20-l ;; 3U,7-.'-3 :;2 *01 ,-3.38 8 i,!-y 9,:.'t>! 24 *62,533 ! 1 V *-33.853 5 45,989 1 9 *S9,!;!i2 1 *72,:i62 3 32,^60 13 13,744 3 23,120 419,173 , 20,087,909 | 3,17-7,180 actional numbers, as marked...... ives under the next apportionment ! 19,608.736 Representatives allowed for f Whole number of representat * These States have a representative added to the number of upportionmcnt. t Including 7JU civilized lndian-i. RECAPITULATION. ,832,621 218 _1-J 233 Free : Slave J>;stri< H;.les............. States............ ts and Territories. 13,533,326 6,393,7-37 ___1oii,821 20,087,909~ 119 3,175,783 :;,i;87 3,179,589 R;,-i:i3,:i09 8,299,226 Total free population Slaves.............. 21,832,625 20,087,909" 3,179,589 Ratio of representation. 2.J.267.498 ! i3,702 CliAilT No. ! [ .ST 1 CUXATK OF JXUXAAA ■\s exhibited in X,Y\v Orleans, Uitimdo :)i)' Norili: Mran Annual TViiipemliiio in IS07-J0, = 7(1° 21)', and in Im:j:j_-;",(), = H7'.-,-)'.. Do. in West Feliciana, ' HO-IS' 1) Do. in Ri.pi.lrs, . • :J1C(W D Do. in Plaqueinine, 2!lc --ill' . . . Tin- Annu.il Averages oi Ruin in l-M-Vil) = -W.4J0 inches — 13 ycWs n is->u--:i;i, = ii;-j°s:i'. ....... |)„. ,|„. i„ W.'ll-:!.! ^fil.:jll •' — I:) " ,i ls:::i_';)S))=(j,-;o -)()',an.l in l->|s_'-,o, = lis" 10'. «,-ol'hoili = fili'•-d'. Do. ,lo. in I-h-ViO = 07.-100 •• — o ■■ M.-,_-.-,[i = ij7.oso ii JANUARY. FKBRU ARY. MARCH AI'RIU. MAY. JUNK. jri.Y. ' AUOUST. SII'TKMIIKR. UCTOISF.R. XCYF.MllER. DECEMBER. '-.^ Ul.UVATlON l 1! H VK TH E SKA. Now Orleans . lflfoct; I'll! i|lll< l-J Wnst l-Yliciium. "ill It A I X ll.lv OF INC'HE.- Srnlc ol llorlality, O.Sti 0 8-2 D.7s 0 7 1 0.70 O.or, 1) .7 I 0.10 0.34 0.30 O-'i.-, KXI'I.ANATIOX LimsoJMran Mnnlltlii Tnqii-rnln [TlipjcoU-si.il ..... .suits n-ill imlican JANUARY. FEBRUARY. MARCH. APRIL. MAY. JUNK. JULY. AUGUST. SHI'TK.MBEE. OCTOBER. .NOVEMBER. DECEMBER. CHART. -No. It cLiii.vTE of .m:wo:kli;a.\s and lafaaixn;. EFFECT 0.\ K.ICES A XI) SEX, as exhibited .TAXUAKY. KKI'.KUAKY. MARCH. Scale of Mortality o i ; OwOrieansandLafaydte is 1850. S70 Wlitlc or Free, 110,827 8:'r> Slims - - lyM> su Tntitl - - 12\7U7 11 I1I1TA1, IT V. l'Kll i i:\r. 7S0 White Males. il.i> White Females, 29.59 735 Tufitl - - -1.17 lolort'il - - 1\M 7 2i: 7 05 000 075 GOO I OS ] Ti; OF M^'OilLEAA'S AM) MFAiKTTK. (he Mortality of Whites—Male and Female— and the Colored Population, with the Total Mortality for 1850, 'l(lf'' -MAV, -H'Mv JURY. AUCUST, SEPTEMBER. OCTOBKK. NOVKMBER. DECEMBER. Scale ot Mortality. 870 85.5 660 0-15 0311 015 600 5111 525 405 480 ■105 300 375 300 210 105 ^X- ( .Mules Colore.! . JANUARY. EEBRUARY. .MARCH. Total .Moxthi.i / 5I0RT.11.1TY S APRIL. 130 —— 4IS 117 535 ■150 100 AUCUST. SKl'TT-OIBKR. OCTOBER. NOVEMBER. DECEMBER 502 311 :;■>■• 100 461 204 501 121 515 107 02-; 725 160 397 1 1 in 16,05 233 --- 630 f or 126 J 6.30 per cent. 7 5-; 8.019. IMariX'li OF CLIMATE OH ri.AXS. Is ovliihlleil I,, Oit Mwlnlilj «l (In- Whiles ami (olorcil in Yen Orleans In I81» —ofllir same urc vuiK'r \i.it\ 10 "" 30 i v ■41 110 ,30 " 10(1 W1I1T VI.ITX so 110 10 10 JANUARY. FEBRUARY. MARCH. APRIL. IV ilifltri n, JUNK. JULY. A I M 3T. SEPTEMBER. OCTOBER. NOVEMBER. DECEMBER. sio0,wili< \ / 7 *f s* ^f »■ • • *1 i* ^