Statistics of Health

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STATISTICS OF HEALTH.

By courtesy of the Health Officer, Dr. Warren Cleveland, we are enabled to present an abstract from the annual report of deaths in the city of Brooklyn, as returned to the Health Department for the year 1857: —

MONTH	MALES	FEMALES	ADULTS	CHILD'N	TOTAL
January.......	189	179	148	220	368
February......	244	224	180	288	468
March..........	214	211	146	279	425
April..........	209	202	140	271	411
May............	204	180	135	249	384
June...........	180	195	130	245	375
July...........	234	201	124	311	435
August........	341	355	167	529	696
September.....	371	336	161	546	707
October........	266	239	177	328	505
November.....	198	168	135	231	366
December......	216	205	152	269	421
	——	——	——	——	——
	2866	2695	1795	3766	5561

The above table shows that the number of deaths, returned to the department during the year, was 5561. Add to this, 272, those bodies removed from the city in violation of the ordinance and interred in Flatbush poor grounds, concerning which no statistical information can be obtained, and we have 5833 which may be relied upon as the entire mortality of the city for the year.

The whole number reported for the year 1856, was 3762. This shows an apparent excess of mortality over that of last year of 2071, notwithstanding our city has been exempt from epidemic diseases, and has enjoyed an unsual degree of healthfulness, while last year it suffered from the ravages of yellow fever.

This apparent but not actual increase of mortality over that of last year, is attributable to the fact, that more complete returns of deaths have been made during the past year, than have heretofore been procured. The Common Council have adopted a new health ordinance, the operating of which adds greatly to the efficiency, while it in the same proportion augments the labors of the Health Department; and to this fact, coupled with the unwonted vigilance in the discharge of the duties of Health Officer, displayed by the present incumbent, the possession of more satisfactory and reliable statistics is to be attributed. It is here proper to mention, that the augmentation of the duties of the Health Department was not accompanied by a corresponding addition either to the salaries or the number of the staff; hence the bureau, consisting only of the Health officer, salary $700, and one clerk, at $600, has been altogether disproportionate to the amount of work excuted​ . We call the attention of the Common Council to this disparity, in the conviction that the need of an additional appropriation for the Health Department is too obvious to be questioned by those who have the efficiency of this important branch of the municipal affairs at heart.

There were 198 diseases or causes of death reported for the past year, amongst which consumption takes the lead. Its proportion to the total mortality is about 1 in 8. The greatest relative mortality by this disease appears to have been with persons of foreign birth. Of the victims of this disease 321 were native born and 393 were born, in foreign countries. It also appears, taking decimal periods, that the greatest number of deaths by consumption occurred between the ages of 20 and 30, and that the excess of deaths of females over males was 33.

The mortality from some of the principal diseases, was as follows: Consumption, 714; congestion and inflammation of lungs, 480; convulsions, 437; debility, 83; diarrhea, 78; dysentry, 98; erysipelas, 25; palsy, 50; teething, 32; cholera infantum, 295; scarlet fever, 345; other fevers, 179; infantile marasmus, 291. It appears that the total mortality by disease of the lungs was 1194. It also appears from the returns that the infant mortality from cholera, diarrhea, dysentery, debility, marasmus and convulsions was 1100.

This alarming mortality of children under the age of three years, is in a great measure dependent upon causes that should be removed. It is a melancholy fact, that hundreds of children die annually through the culpable neglect and ignorance of parents, by an injudicious diet, by the use of the vitiated milk of diseased cows—an evil which cannot be too often or too loudly denounced—by living in damp and ill-ventilated apartments, and the want of proper sanitary provisions on the part of the community.

Of the whole number of deaths reported, excepting 272 interred at Flatbush, 4012 were native born, and 1459 were of foreign birth. Deduct from the total the number of still born and premature births, amounting to 389, and we have 5172 as the entire number of deaths which actually occurred from disease, &c.

Assuming the population of Brooklyn to be 225,000, the ratio of deaths would be 1 in 43½, which compares favorably with the mortality of other cities.

Under proper sanitary regulations, and a bountiful supply of wholesome water, together with the system of general sewerage, now about to be introduced, the City of Brooklyn, with its unequalled natural advantages, cannot fail to increase its reputation for salubrity, and it is to be hoped will diminish its annual records of mortality to an extent unprecedented in the history of large cities.