A historical account of bills of mortality, and the probability of human life, in Glasgow and other large towns / by James Cleland.

  • Cleland, James, 1770-1840.
Date:
1836
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A historical account of bills of mortality, and the probability of human life, in Glasgow and other large towns / by James Cleland. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    THK SOCIETY FOR THE DIFFUSION OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE, LONDON* State, ill the Penny Magazine for October, 1835, “ that they are largely indebted to Dr. Cleland’s admirable work” making use of the second edition, 1831. “It is quite safe to say that the internal condition of no city in the world, has ever been so completely Illustrated as that of Glasgow has been through the long continued and arduous exertions of this gentleman, whose example we earnestly hope that influential persons in our other jirincipal towns will be stirred up to imitate.” Besides these testimonials, there arc others from the Right Hon. Sir John Sinclair; the Rev. Dr. Chalmers, Professor of Divinity in the University of Edinburgh ; Mons. Orrondy, Prefect of the Department of the Seine; the Very Rev. Dr. Macfarlan, Prin- cipal of the University of Glasgow; Sir James M'Gregor, Bart., M.D., Director General of the Medical Department of the Army; the Very Rev. Dr. MacGill, Professor of Divinity in the University of Glasgow, one of the Deans of the Chapel Royal; His Grace the. Duke of Hamilton and Brandon, I.ord Lieutenant of the County of Lanark ; the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland; the Right Hon. David Boyle, Lord Justice Clerk; the Hon. Lord Cockburn, one of the Senators of the College of Justice; Baron von Schielden, Lord Treasurer to the King of Prussia; the Right Rev. Dr. Brinkley Bishop of Cloyne, late Astronomer Royal, Ireland ; Dr. Spiker, Librarian to the King of Prussia ; and Mons. Bailley, the Inspector-General of Finance of France. It does not appear that Mr. Finlaison, the distinguished Actuary of the National Debt Office, knew of the Glasgow Bills of Mortality and Statistical Tables published in 1831, when he gave his evidence before a Committee of Parliament in 1833, otherwise it is probable he would not have felt it necessary to have drawn results for England from a small town, in a foreign country, containing only about 11,000 souls, which he might have ascertained from an average population of upwards of 200,000, at home, whose avocations were all narrated in the Government census. The more so, as it appears from the abstract of his evidence, p. 6, that all the essential details recommended by him for the formation of tables “ sufficient enough for an observation on the duration of life,” have been embraced in the Glasgow Bills. The publication of the foregoing testimonials in favour of the Glasgow Bills of Mortality, which to some may appear superfluous, have become necessary, from the circumstance of my retiring from public office, and being no longer responsible for the Glasgow Bills of Mortality. In making this avowal I may be permitted to express the high gratification I feel in receiving the testimony of so many eminent men, and which I consider a high reward for twenty years gratuitous services, in investigating and detail- ing the principles on which Mortality Bills should be prepared, so as to enable the politi- cal economist to draw results relative to the duration of life. JAMES CLELAND. 130, Upper Nile Street, ) Glasgow, 15/A January, 1836 J CHOLERA MORBUS IN GLASGOW. An abstract of “ Conspectus of Cholera in Glasgow,” drawn up by James Cleland, LL.D., member of the Board of Health, and James Corkinoale, M.D. L.L.B., medical secretary to the Board of Health, now president of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons in Glasgow, is here given as an appropriate Appendix to the Glasgow Bills of Mortality. The first eruption commenced on 19th February, and Jhe lint terminated on lltti November, 1832.