The geographical distribution of heart disease and dropsy in England and Wales.

  • Haviland, Alfred, -1903.
Date:
1871
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The geographical distribution of heart disease and dropsy in England and Wales. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    SECTION VI. Yorkshire. Mortality, North. Biding. High Mortality Districts. IX. Yorkshire.—Yorkshire is the best type that we have in England of what our counties and districts would be if determined by our watershed. This division is rather more than a tenth part of the whole of England and Wales, and is divided into three Registration Counties, the North, East and West Ridings, or Trithings; about seven-ninths of its whole extent falls within the basin of the Humber (Hughes), and the waters of this vast area are conveyed to that river by its great tributary the Ouse. The mortality in this division is below the average, 11*8. The North Riding is protected from the sea-winds by the precipitous cliffs along the coast from Redcar to Flamborough of the oolitic and chalk formations; its mortality is 13*2. Moreover, the valley of the Derwent is sheltered by the high range of oolitic hills to the north (Eastern Moorlands), whence descend the Rye, the Pickering, and the Derwent. The only low mortality district is Easingwold, 12‘0, a great portion of which lies on the elevated tract of the oolitic Howardian Hills. To the north of the Eastern Moorlands, exposed to the full sway of the sea-winds from the German Ocean, are the districts of Stokesley, Guisborough, and Whitby. All the rivers and becks, including the Esk, flow directly into the sea, and their valleys are swept by every breeze that comes from it. The districts most exposed are the two first, and their mortality is the lowest. We must remember that this rounded coast so projects that the tidal wave, in its course from north to south, impinges immediately upon it. The town of Scarborough has every advantage which position can afford. The district, however, is in a great measure protected by the high hills Scarborough. • , behind, such as Olivers Hill and Seamen Beacon, that form the eastern boundary, with others of the valley of the Derwent which courses from north to south, and then from east to west in this district. The East Riding has a comparatively low coast, with the exception of the northern part fr’om Filey Point to Bridlington Bay, including the bold chalk promontory of Flamborough Head. The districts to the west of these cliffs have a mortality above the average, although not considerably; one of the districts is York, which is remarkably well situated in its vale, up through which sweep the winds without hindrance. The remaining high mortality districts are those through which the river Hull passes from north to south in its passage to the Humber. The town of Hull itself, although on the tidal Humber, has its river as well as its principal streets at right angles to the healthful gales which blow up this sea inlet, like some of the districts surrounding the Thames. The districts having the lowest mortality are Skirlaugh, 12'2, and Patrington 10‘2, the latter is a peninsula, and most exposed, it terminates at Spurn Point. In Skirlaugh the men die in greater proportion than the women, as 13*8 to 10'6. The West Riding.—The mean mortality of this large Riding is only 11’8, it will be seen that in the southern part of the Riding where the rivers are fully formed and have considerable valleys, which are,^-. as it were, so many ramifications of the great sea inlet of the Humber, all the] York. Hull. West Biding.