Statistics of grave-yards in Scotland / by John Webster.

  • Webster, John.
Date:
[1855?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Statistics of grave-yards in Scotland / by John Webster. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    to older physical frames. Besides this, aged persons, placed under the above circumstances, are more likely to receive kind¬ ness and attention from friends, and will be less likely to ex¬ perience neglect, than in out of the way rural places; while the benevolent hand of charity is more freely extended. But, whatever may be the influences, very old people generally live and die in towns. To be born and brought up in the country is conducive to physical strength, and ensures ultimately a longer life, than to be born and reared in confined, densely populated, or insalubrious cities. This conclusion is based upon universal experience. In Dundee, for example, two-thirds of the individuals who became nonegenarians, are natives of rural districts, and are contradistin¬ guished from one-third originally belonging to urban populations. One point should however be constantly kept in remembrance; viz., that if persons of very advanced years change the residences to which they have been long habituated, their career will often be materially shortened. At the same time, removal from bleak, open, and especially cold, badly sheltered country dwellings, to towns, frequently proves useful to aged constitutions. Another observation may be based upon the data supplied, but viewed from a different aspect. If Aberdeen and Glasgow be com¬ pared, the great discrepancy which prevails respecting the ages of parties dying in each city, respectively, seems remarkable. At Glasgow, old people are comparatively rare: in Aberdeen, the contrary obtains; yet both are large manufacturing towns, situated on navigable rivers, and having each much shipping. Both are near the sea; and in many particulars they bear a marked resem¬ blance. Aberdeen, however, lies on the east coast of Scotland; Glasgow near the western. Aberdeen possesses a dry granitic foundation, sloping towards the adjacent river; is abundantly sup¬ plied with excellent water; has a hardy, not mongrel, race of in¬ habitants ; streets wide, well ventilated, and straight; an atmo¬ sphere little deteriorated by thick smoke, or chemical impurities; weather which, though cold and often stormy in winter, is often good at particular seasons; and lastly, but not leastly, a degree of longevity which even appears to be hereditary. Here, therefore, varied circumstances exert considerable influence on public health and human existence, tending to support the physical powers, the vis vitce, and to ensure longevity. In Glasgow, on the other hand, we have exemplified the simple reverse of the above descrip¬ tion, thus affording, pro tanto, an explanation of the contrast I have noticed. My previous conclusions are all based upon mortality annals ; but it would be instructive to ascertain, whether they are also sup¬ ported by vital statistics. I would therefore quote the population returns of 1851, which supply important data regarding the point under discussion. In Glasgow, when the total population was stated at 329,097, there were living at that time, 81 persons above 90, making one nonagenarian in every 4,062. In Aberdeen, on