Sanitary survey of the State.

  • Massachusetts. General Court. House of Representatives
Date:
[1849]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Sanitary survey of the State. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    PETITION OF THE AMERICAN STATISTICAL ASSOCIATION. [Reprinted from House Document, No. 16, 1848.] To the Honorable the Senate and House of Rejjreseniaiives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts :— The Memorial of the American Statistical Association re¬ spectfully represents :—That they have viewed with great in¬ terest the movements now making by the British, French, Bel¬ gian, and some other European governments, in behalf of public health. These governments, by especial commissioners or otherwise, have caused sanitary snrveys to be made of their respective nations, and thus have learned and published the state of the health of, and the value of life among, the people. These sanitary surveys and reports have revealed great dif¬ ferences in the amount of health, strength, and productive power, and in the duration of life, enjoyed by people in different places, and in different classes and conditions of people in the same place; and they have traced and referred many of the diseases to causes, which appear to be removable or prevent¬ able. Your memorialists think there is reason to believe, that simi¬ lar differences of health and longevity may be found in this state, and that many diseases here may likewise be traced to causes, that may be removed or prevented. So far as any inference may be drawn from very limited and partial investigations, they fear, that the health, and the life, among the poor, are much less than among the prosperous, and that both are enjoyed in a higher degree, by whole communities, in some towns and districts than in others. According to the best information obtained from town records, and other sources,