Democratic Sentinel, Volume 5, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 September 1881 — Mortality in Different Pursuits. [ARTICLE]

Mortality in Different Pursuits.

The report of the British Registrar General shows that the annual death rate in the United Kingdom is about one in forty-five of the entire population. The larger, but not the largest, cities lead in the rate of mortality, and the rural mainland districts occupy an intermediate place between them - and the insular districts, the extremes varying by about 60 per cent. As between thethree great classes into which the population may be divided—the laboring, the trading and professional classes and the gentry and titled—the chances of life are very nearly equal, although a slight advantage appears to be shown in favor of the first class. The trades most unfavorable to long life are, as a rule, those which tend to expose the operative to an atmosphere loaded with dust, or. compel him to deal in one way or another with poisons. Dry grinding, as practiced on needles and forks at Sheffield, is the worst; working in coal mines is next in deadliness. Gilders and silverers of glass are exposed to vapors of mercury; workers in brass are liable to diseases produced by exposure to volatilized oxide of lead; all who work in paints are subject to great risks; Boldiers and sailors have their lives shortened by the exposure they have to undergo, or by disease brought on by their habits of living. Bakers, tailors and milliners are liable to consumption; compositors peculiarly so. Pressmen fare better than compositors, probably because their work is more active. In the country, farming appears to be the most healthy of occupations, while:, that of the innkeeper is the most fatal. Butchers die comparatively early, as also do brewers, draymen, and generally thosq who have much to do with establishments for eating and drinking. of those who follow athletic pursuits appears to conduce quite as much to short life as does the sedentary strain of the student. It seems to make but little difference in the “expectation of life” of in-door workers whether their labor is hard or not; but those who are employed out ot doors have a chance of living six years longer, if their work keeps them busy and active, than if it is a mere matter of routine and standing around; and a “comparison of the table leads us to the conclusion that the life of the out-door worker with little exercise is worse than that of the sedentary in-door worker, whether with little or great exercise.” The most curious fact brought out is that the scavengers, dustmen and cleaners of sewers in London are reckoned among the healthiest of the populatien*

The population of Great Britain, France, Germany, and Austria are nearly equal—Great Britain, 35,000,000; France, 36,000,000; Germany, 38,000,000; and Austria-Hungary, 37,000,000. The aggregate is about 140,000,000. These empires comprise an aggregate area of 800,000 square miles of territory. The States aud Territories of the American Union, exclusive of Alaska, embrace an area of 8,100,000 square miles, with a copulation of only 50,000,000. The- “rose” diamond is so called not from any peculiarity of color, as manv suppose, but from the form into which it is ent, which is twenty-four facets, with the base a plane. In the “brilliant” pattern, invented during the reign of George I„ the stone is cut in form of a double oane, the lower end pointed, upper end trunp&t§4. Dissolute people let tkrir soap grow eoM tfce plate $$ mouth.