In presence of defects so grave as to the number of the dead, and of diagnosis so grotesque as to the causes of death, it would be unwise to argue with any confidence from the data of these Bills; yet, such as they are, we have nothing else to appeal to. The variations of mortality from year to year were of wide irregularity; and whatever influence smallpox might have had, it does not appear to have had much in magnifying the annual totals. Let us take a dozen years when smallpox was heaviest from the last seventy years of the century, and observe its relation to the entire mortality, and to that from fevers--
Burials from From From Year. all Diseases. Smallpox. Fevers. 1736 27,581 3014 3361 1740 30,811 2725 4003 1746 28,157 3236 4187 1749 25,516 2625 4458 1752 20,485 3538 2070 1757 21,313 3296 2564 1762 26,326 2743 3742 1763 26,143 3582 3414 1768 23,639 3028 3596 1772 26,053 3992 3207 1781 20,709 3500 2249 1796 19,288 3548 1547 ------- ------ ------ 296,021 38,827 38,398
Again, let us take twelve years when the death-rate from smallpox was at its lowest. Here they are--
Burials from From From Year. all Diseases. Smallpox. Fevers. 1745 21,296 1206 2690 1750 23,727 1229 4294 1751 21,028 998 3219 1753 19,276 774 2292 1773 21,656 1039 3608 1780 20,517 871 2316 1782 17,918 636 2552 1786 20,454 1210 2981 1788 19,697 1101 2769 1795 21,179 1040 1947 1797 17,014 522 1526 1799 18,134 1111 1784 ------- ------ ------ 241,896 11,737 31,978
We thus see that in twelve years when the death-rate from smallpox was highest, as many died of fevers as of smallpox; and in twelve years when the death-rate from smallpox was lowest, there died thrice as many of fevers as of smallpox. Again, we have to remark, that, on an average of all the years, smallpox was accountable for something less than a tenth of the total mortality. Also we have to note, that the mortality from smallpox was in great part infant mortality, and that there is reason to believe measles was extensively confounded with smallpox. The infant mortality was prodigious. Rarely a year passed in which a fourth of the deaths was not set down to Convulsions--that is, to babes killed by improper feeding. In 1772 (the worst smallpox year of the century when 3,992 died) there were, 6,605 ascribed to Convulsions, the total mortality being 26,053.