Annual address before the Medical Society of the County of Albany, November 8, 1859 / by Sylvester D. Willard.

  • Willard, Sylvester David, 1825-1865.
Date:
1859
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual address before the Medical Society of the County of Albany, November 8, 1859 / by Sylvester D. Willard. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    significance, whether computed in the important light of natural increase of population within two or three genera- tions, the vast labor expended by such a population, both mental and physical, in their inventions, their discoveries, their works as artizans or manufacturers, or in their influ- ence as scholars and philanthropists. The sacrifice just referred to, which proper sanitary regulations might avert, in the accomplishment of civilization, is a mine of infinite wealth wasted. There is also a system for calculating in decimal value the loss accruing to a state or city in the death of a single indi- vidual. The calculations, however, admit of some variation. If sold under the hammer in a southern market the average value is about four hundred dollars per head ! The estimate of the late Horace Mann, whose conclusions are admitted as authority, is five hundred dollars; but the venerable and accomplished Dr. Stevens, of New York, several years since, estimated the value of each individual at seven hundred and fifty dollars. 1 believe the principles of life assurance fix a higher value. At the medium rate of computation the yearly loss to the city of New York in the sacrifice of five thousand lives, would reach nearly four mil- lions of dollars. The expense for sickness and burial, by an applicable rule, would make an equal amount.* From the incorporation of Albany, a century and three- quarters ago, there exist no records by which may be ascertained the character of the diseases that have continu- ally been depopulating it. Full as it is of historic interest, abounding in testimony as it does to the influences that * From the Proceedings of the Third National and Quarantine Conven- tion, which I have received since this address was delivered, I find the estimated cost of avoidable sickness and death, to the city of New York, is thirteen millions of dollars, with an effect upon the happiness and morals of the people, which can neither be reckoned in figures nor expressed in words. The estimated loss to the single State of Massachusetts is $93,000,000 an- nually, for premature deaths of persons over the age of fifteen years,