REPORT OF THE BUREAU OF VITAL STATISTICS OF THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY FOR THE Statistical Year from July 1st, 1889, to July 1st, 1890. WITH CLIMATOLOGY, LOCALITY, POPULATION, By EZRA M. HUNT, M.D., D.Sc., Secretary and Medical Superintendent of Vital Statistics. REPORT ON VITAL STATISTICS. BY THE MEDICAL SUPERINTENDENT OF VITAL STATISTICS. INTRODUCTION. The past few years have witnessed a steady increase in the consideration given to vital statistics. Apart from their sanitary relation, they have great bearing on social problems, as well as on legal questions, while their application to matters relating to sanitary administration is more and more manifest. Human statistics very properly take the lead of all other statistics, for they concern the welfare of each individual and of all individuals as related to each other. In addition to the valuable aid of former authorities, the recent work of Dr. Newsholme, of Brighton, the studies of Dr. Ogle, the Registrar-General for England and Wales, and the Cartwright lectures recently given by Surgeon J. S. Billings, of the United States Army, are especially valuable. In fact, the recognition by the United States Government, in the eleventh census, of the great importance of the collection and study of facts relating to the population, as to births, marriages and deaths, certifies the settled conviction as to their necessity. A sanitary engineer recently said that their collection, or non-collection and study, helps to mark the difference between progressive civilization and national decadence. What used to be called general experience or opinion must give way to classified facts and deductions therefrom. If there are many sources of fallacy, there are more sources of correctness. "I was," says Faraday, "in my youth, of a speculative or imaginative turn of mind, but facts they saved me." In order to answer some inquiries, that are natural even to professional men, or to any who have only vague ideas of the importance of these statistics, we here insert a recent circular on the subject issued by this Board. CIRCULAR LXXII. OF THE NEW JERSEY STATE BOARD OF HEALTH. VITAL STATISTICS. The design of this circular is to present a few of the reasons for the collection and arrangement of vital statistics, and to draw attention to methods and results. It is desirable that Local Boards and those in charge of these statistics, or who enact or execute laws as to them, should appreciate their value and their uses. I.-What are Vital Statistics? They are the collection and record of facts relating to the population of a country, and especially as to marriages, births, deaths, diseases, age, nationality and occupation. The population is the most valuable of the material resources of a State. The vital events which concern it are more important than any other statistics. "Population is the statistical element par excellence; it necessarily rules all the others, since it relates above all to the people and the appreciation of their welfare and their wants." Vital statistics furnish one of the chief accounts which the State keeps of its population. Eliot, the American statistician, in his definition of statistics, puts first and foremost, "facts relating to population, deaths, births and marriages; health, disease, and duration of life." II.—What are the Habits of other Countries and States as to them? There is a full agreement as to their importance, and in most civilized nations their collection is among the most prominent duties of statistical bureaus. In Great Britian, Germany and France large sums of money are devoted to their collection and study. In preparation of the coming census of the United States (June, 1890), extended arrangements have been made for their compilation and study. At the present time two clerks, detailed from Washington, are busy in our own office, obtaining facts from the records of this State, and will be employed some months in so doing. Several of our States have Departments of Vital Statistics, either connected with the office of Secretary of State or with State Boards of Health, and the records are greatly valued by the governing powers. Especial reference may be had to the State Vital Statistics of Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, &c. Besides this, many of the larger cities have their Bureau of Vital Statistics, the value of which depends largely upon the larger collections and more extended studies made by their respective States. III. What is the Testimony of Authorities as to them? We shall quote only a few of the more prominent authorities. Dr. Farr, the Registrar-General for England and Wales, speaking of one class of such records, says: "The deaths and causes of death are scientific facts which admit of numerical analysis. Science has nothing to offer more inviting than a study of the influence of civilization, occupation, locality, seasons and other physical agencies, either in generating disease or producing death, or in improving the public health." After twenty-one years of registry he says: "We have now before us the results of observations in a certain class of phenomena. They are as valuable as the experimental philosopher could have deduced from his experiments if he had had the power to expose the population to great vicissitudes of heat and cold, of dampness and dryness, to changes incidental to differences in the price of food; to air and water in different degrees of impurity, and to destructive epidemics." Beneké, the statistician of the German government, has said: "Mortality statistics are the basis of public as well as private care of health. Every step forward in this direction is a gain to human working-power and welfare." Our American statist, De Bow, generalized the accepted fact when he said: "The experience of all countries preserving such records shows a marked amelioration of society, diminution of disease and extension of the average period of human life." So vital is this interest that at not infrequent intervals since 1853 the great powers have combined in Statistical Congresses, and their deliberations have commanded the attention of all governments. The Austrian Minister of Commerce has well said: "Statistics are |