Report on the vital statistics of the United States : made to the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York / by James Wynne.

  • Wynne, James, 1814-1871.
Date:
1857
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report on the vital statistics of the United States : made to the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York / by James Wynne. 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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    it is not easy to speak with any precision. This valley cannot be estimated at less than three-fourths of the continental surface. Its northern half is, however, rendered nearly uninhabitable, by the state of its surface and climate; and, therefore, the portion which presents objects of immediate interest to the medical etiologist, does not exceed three millions of square miles, of which as yet not more than one-third has acquired even a sparse population. The Rocky Mountains, which constitute the western boundary of the great valley* are a continuation of the Cordilleras of Mexico; and acquire an elevation in some places of fourteen thousand feet. The physician who would understand the true character of the climate of the interior valley from south to north, cannot too strongly fix his attention on this lengthened and elevated chain which effectually cuts it off from the genial influences of the Pacific Ocean, and bestows upon it the characteristics of an inland and peculiar climate, differing altogether from any to be found on the western portion of the European continent. The entire population, according to the census of 1850, was 23,191,876. The estimated population for each succeeding year to 1860, is as follows:— Years. Aggregate. 1851, 23,873,717 1852, 24,575,604 1853, 25,298,126 1854, 26,041,890 1855, 26,807,521 1856, 27,595,662 1857, 28,406,974 1858, 29,242,139 1859, 30,101,857 1860, 30,986,851