THE INCREASE AND DECREASE OF DISEASES. In some of our late numbers we have glanced at the progress and present condition of society as influenced by circumstances,-in this we propose to treat of those ills which flesh is heir to those numerous diseases arising from various causes, which seem to have a tendency in repressing and checking the full stream of human existence. We often hear the question put, has not this or that disease greatly increased of late? And although such remarks are frequently the result of the most limited observations, yet the general fact of the increase and decrease of disease, or more properly of the prevalence of certain diseases in certain stages of society, and their disappearance and substitution by other diseases as the condition of society alters, cannot be denied. Man living in a rude and simple state of society, and guided more by his instincts than his reason, in short, approaching almost to such a condition of life, as that exercised by the lower animals, has like them few diseases, and those few arise chiefly from the effects of the elements upon his body. Dr Rush reports of the uncultivated nations of North America, that fevers, inflammations, and dysenteries make up the sum of their complaints, and states in particular, that after much inquiry, he had not been able to find a single instance of madness, melancholy, or fatuity, among them. He declares pulmonary consumption to be unknown among the Indians of North America. Mungo Park reports the same of the negroes of Africa. He says that the duration of life is in general not long amongst them, and that fevers and fluxes are the most common and fatal diseases. Epidemic and contagious diseases, such as smallpox and measles, seem also to have been unknown to the generality of savage nations, until introduced by foreigners from more civilized and denser peopled masses of mankind. The habits of life of such rude nations, and the uncultivated condition of the country they live in, both contribute to the facts just mentioned. The migratory life of the savage-his fatigues in hunting, and perils in war -his precarious mode of procuring food-now revelling in abundance, and now reduced to extreme privation-then his exposure to all kinds of weather to the miasma of swampy ground-the scorching heat of the summer sun, and the chills and damps of winter,-and the few comforts which his young and infant offspring can be provided with, all tend to press heavy on the constitution. It appears, from the slow increase of savage communities, that either the most robust of their offspring only survive to come to mature years, or that their natural fertility is below the average of more civilized communities. Perhaps both of these conjectures are true, at least the testimony of all travellers agrees in this, that very few feeble, THE TORCH, NO. VIII. diseased, or deformed persons, are seen among savage tribes. Suppose, then, that all the weak and sickly infants die early, and that the good constitutions alone survive, we have thus a reason for the absence of many diseases to which weak constitutions are alone liable. It has been found, too, that even as regards physical power, the savage is inferior to the civilized man. The most robust savages of America or the South Sea Islands were found far inferior in muscular powers to the British sailor, and as far as can be well ascertained, the duration of life is on the whole more limited than among the average of civilized nations. On looking back into history, it would appear as if the earlier and middle stages of civilization were most liable to ravaging disease. When society begins to increase rapidly in numbers, to congregate in towns and large cities, and to take up their permanent abodes in portions of the country not yet sufficiently cleared and purified by cultivation and draining-when as yet the domestic arts of life have not sufficiently advanced to promote cleanliness and comfort-when internal police and government is defective, and when steady industry has not secured a regular supply of food and other necessaries of life,—then we read of plagues and pestilences cutting off thousands of the population at one sweep, of agues and dysenteries, yellow and putrid fevers, returning year after year in fatal succession. During the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries, the plague raged in England every ten or twelve years, and the numbers destroyed, in proportion to the then existing population, were very great. According to Dr Heberden, the deaths from this malady during the years of its greatest prevalence were in proportion to the total deaths in England as follow: Plague years, According to the same authority, intermittent fevers or agues, bilious fevers, and bowel complaints, were formerly very prevalent and frequent causes of death. All these, no doubt, had their origin from the undrained, imperfectly cleared, and uncultivated state of the country. As a proof of this, the most unhealthy period of the year then was autumn, especially when preceded by hot weather; next to this, summer was the most unhealthy season, and the healthiest, winter and spring. Now, at present, the reverse of this order indicates the comparative healthiness of Britain, fewest deaths or diseases occurring in autumn and summer, and most in winter and spring. Nothing can show the effects of clearing and draining of a country on the general health more decidedly, than such a FEB. 21, 1846. statement as the above; and the same remark is applicable to those portions of the new world which have been cleared and cultivated by Anglo-Americans during the last two centuries. Many parts of North America which were exceedingly unhealthy a century ago, are now quite the reverse. Intermittent fevers, with the whole train of accompanying symptoms, have now in a great measure disappeared from Great Britain; while dysentery and bowel complaints, of an endemical nature, if they have not been entirely eradicated, are much milder and much less fatal than formerly. The same may be said of jail fevers and putrid sore throats, which raged like a plague in the last year of Queen Mary's reign, and which our inproved prison accommodation and regulations now bid fair to eradicate. Another train of diseases which were well known to our ancestors, have now also disappeared, some entirely, and others nearly so. Of this kind are certain diseases of the skin, as the elephantiasis, commonly known as leprosy,-the scurvy,-a softening of the bones called rickets, and some others. The great prevalence of leprosy down to a period not very remote in the British Islands, and its now total disappearance, is a very singular circumstance in the history and prevalence of discases. According to a very able paper by Professor Simpson, on this subject, no less than 110 lazar houses, for the reception of leprous persons, existed in Great Britain. Among the last of these was St Nicholas' hospital, once situated in Greenside, Edinburgh. The number of hospitals for the special purpose of containing leprous patients, shows the great prevalence of this loathsome disease from the 12th to the 15th and 16th centuries. It appears that its ravages were in general confined to persons in the lower ranks of life, but not always, for nobles and even crowned heads were liable to its seizure. It is surmised that Henry IV. of England was affected with and died of leprosy, and it is certain that Robert the Bruce of Scotland suffered under this malady. The cause of the prevalence as well as the sudden and complete disappearance of this disease in Great Britain remains a mystery, not easily to be solved. Perhaps the improvements in diet had some effect; at all events the introduction of fresh meat at all seasons of the year, and of vegetable food of various kinds, has evidently had a marked effect in the eradication of scorbutic diseases. This has been sufficiently proved by the practice of the navy, where at one time scurvy constantly prevailed, and in long voyages frequently affected the whole of a numerous ship's crew. Now, by improvements in diet, and by improved ventilation, the malady is rarely or never seen. Coarse bread, salted flesh meat and fish, with a great deficiency of farinaceous food, and a total deficiency of green vegetables, was the common fare of the * Edinburgh Medical Journal, No. 150. great mass of the people, both on land and sea, for a considerable portion of the year, even down to a very recent period in the history of Britain. Hollingshed gives us the dietary of the times of Queen Elizabeth, and so late as 1688 the Queen of William III. was in the practice of sending to Holland for her salads, which could not be furnished from an English garden. So much for the deficiency or unwholesome character of food,-we now come to the excess and abuse of alimentary matters. An excess of food, especially excess in wine, ale, and all kinds of fermented liquors, especially when conjoined to a city life, or a life of comparative inactivity and ease, has undoubtedly given rise to a numerous train of diseases. Dr Heberden decidedly states that palsy and apoplexy had greatly increased since the beginning of the eighteenth century; and in his tables, out of every 2000 deaths, from two to three hundred were of this nature. Gout and rheumatism had also increased, the former evidently from the same cause, or what is called high living, this disease being almost entirely confined to the middle and higher ranks of society. According to the same authority, consumption, or pulmonary complaints, were in his time on the increase; out of every 21,000 deaths, from four to five thousand were cases of consumption. In our large cities the proportion of this disease is now greater, as, from recent statistics, nearly a third of all the deaths in London, Liverpool, &c., are from this one malady. The causes of this increase may be attributed chiefly to the unwholesome and confined atmosphere of large cities,—to certain occupations inimical to the healthy condition of the lungs, to the dwellings, clothing, and diet, of the poorer classes. As a proof of this, it is ascertained that the mortality from this disease is much greater in large cities than in country situations. Dyspeptic diseases, or those originating in impaired digestion, have also greatly increased with increasing refinement. These have their origin, to a certain extent, in errors of diet, but are due as much to the sedentary lives and in-door occupations of the inhabitants of cities,-to the cares and excitements of business, the abuse of pleasures,-especially all kinds of stimulating food,-late hours, and various other circumstances. These again are followed by the whole train of what are called nervous affections, and last of all, that strange anomaly in animated nature, that affection peculiar to rational and morally accountable, man-insanity. We have already remarked, on good authority, that this disease is unknown, or all but unknown, among savages,-we are not aware that even idiotism is a peculiarity among this department of the human race. How strange, that as man advances in refinement, as he extends the range and intensity of his thinking principle, he should but arrive at the very brink where his over-informed intellect founders! The statistics of insanity are not very pro The origin of another class of diseases which duce great havoc among human society is hid completely in obscurity. We allude to those pestilences which lurk in the air, and hover about the cradles and couches of the infant race, prepared to descend as occasion may happen, and sweep away whole families of opening blossoms, leaving the once gay and merry hearth now silent and desolate. Whether small-pox, measles, and scarlatina were known to the nations of antiquity, is a problem which is not easily solved, from the obscure hints and generalised descriptions to be found in ancient medical works. At all events, there is no intelligible description given of small-pox till the time of the Arabian physicians, about the sixth century of the Christian era. The Chinese, however, are said to have been familiarly acquainted with the disease more than a thousand years previous to this. Like many other eruptive diseases, it is highly probable that small-pox was introduced into Western Europe from Asia. Such has been its fatality, that during the last century, in England, of the whole children born, one in every fourteen is computed to have died of small-pox. Even in the present times, notwithstanding the preventive process of vaccination, strange to say, from ignorance and neglect, a vast proportion of human lives yearly fall a sacrifice to its ravages. The following table from Dr Farr's reports will exhibit the comparative mortalities of small pox aud scarlet fever, with the proportion of deaths in every million of the population, from these two scourges of infancy: In every Million. Small Pox. sels, as well as other organs and textures of the body. That these are on the increase is probable, although we must take into account that the increased knowledge of the human body renders the detection of such complaints now much more certain than formerly. With all this array then of human maladies, many of which seem to be on the increase, how happens it that population goes on increasing ata steady rate, or that the average duration of life is found on the whole to have increased? The answer to this appears to be, that the diseases of increased civilization which have superseded former maladies, are, on the whole, less fatal than their predecessors. That the increased comforts of living, the improvements in diet, and it may be the improvements in medical and surgical treatment, now save and prolong numerous lives that formerly would have been lost,-that the greater care and attention paid to the management of children, as well as the superior comforts of old age, have also due effect; and in short, and as respects the whole beings born in civilized countries, the great balance is in favour of health and longevity. The rate of mortality, or indication of the average duration of life, if we can depend at all upon the imperfect means of obtaining data, has varied considerably in England since about the middle of last century, as will be seen by the following table of Dr Hawkins: In 1780, the annual mortality in England and 1790, 1 in 40 1 in 45 1101 Scarlatina. 393 Paris, Like the plague, slow rising from the muddy banks of the Nile,-or the cholera, collecting its hidden and unseen venom from the banks of the Ganges, and sweeping, in erratic course, over the habitable globe, slaying its thousands and its millions, these dire foes of infancy too keep on their relentless career, like the lightning's sudden flash, or the whirlwind's devastating impulse, to purify and weed out, and, as need may be, repress the ever increasing mass of human population. The list of diseases of civilized life might be greatly enlarged, among which probably are many affections of organized structure, called by medical writers structural diseases, in contra-distinction to functional, such as diseases of the heart and blood-ves Various statistics have also been collected regarding the mortality in the different ranks and conditions of life. Generally speaking, it has been found that life is shortest among the highest and the lowest ranks of life, and that it is longest in the middle class and gentry. According to Villermé, taking the whole population of Paris, life is 12 years longer among the upper than the lower classes. According to Dr Guy, longevity in the peerage and baronetage of Britain, is inferior to that among the gentry and middle class. According to Dr Madden, the lives of a number of men of genius. devoted to scientific pursuits, extended to from 60 to 70 years. Among the same number of men of imaginative genius, as poets and painters, life extended to only 60 years. Longevity is in many instances hereditary in families. There are certain periods too at which the chance of life is greater than at others, thus: The greatest mortality takes place in children. during the first year of life; from the age of 13 to 14, the fewest deaths occur; about the age of 23 mortality increases somewhat; from 34 to 48 the deaths greatly diminish; from this age till 60, mortality slowly is on the increase; from 60 to 80 it still increases, and after 81, rapidly so. In old age, the rate of mortality becomes much the same in all ranks of life. The inhabitants of the country enjoy longer life than those of cities. And simple modes of living, with daily exposure to the open air, where at the same time labour is not excessive, are found most conducive to a placid and long life. The country is particularly favourable to the health of the young. In old age, a town-life may have its preferable advantages, both as respects phys 'cal comforts and cheerful enlivening society. But on the whole the balance is in favour of the country. HISTORY OF THE BRITISH MILITARY FORCE. THE present condition of society is so totally different from what it was in the earlier history of our country, that it becomes interesting in these piping times of peace, and from our position of comparative security and repose, to look back on the state of matters some centuries ago, and to trace the progress of our military force from its commencement, in a condition of society when every ablebodied man was a soldier. From the able work of Mr Marshall, we find that when William the Conqueror took possession of England in 1066, every freeholder, if not every freeman, was bound by the Anglo-Saxon laws to defend his country against invasion, and to preserve internal peace. Henry II., whose reign commenced in 1154, enacted, by consent of Parliament, that every freeman should, according to his means and substance, hold himself in readiness, constantly furnished with suitable arms and a prescribed warlike equipment. In course of time, every man between the ages of fifteen and sixty was ordered to be assessed, and sworn to keep the required armour, according to the value of his lands or other property, which armour was mustered and examined by constables every six months. The Sheriff, as chief conservator of the public peace and minister of the law, was authorised to summon the posse comitatus (power of the county) when the public peace was interrupted, or when any legal process was forcibly obstructed. In seasons of public danger, it became customary for the King to issue Commissions of Array, empowering those to whom they were addressed to muster, organise, and train the men, between certain ages, capable of bearing arms, and to hold them in readiness to defend the kingdom. This militia, or domestic military force, seems originally to have been liable to be marched to any part of the kingdom; but in the reign of Edward III. it was decreed that no man thus raised should be sent out of the county, except in cases of great public emergency. Although every able-bodied man, between the prescribed ages, was liable to be called on to serve in a military capacity when the State was in danger, the common practice was to levy one man for every five hydes of land. A hyde or carucate (a plough-gang Scotch,) of land, is about 120 acres. There were 243,600 hydes in England, thus affording a force equal to 48,720 neu. In the year 1498, during the reign of Henry the VII., a number of gardens were converted into a field, for the use of the London archers, or Trained Bands (companies,) and part of it was walled in, and denominated the Artillery Ground.. During the early part of the seventeenth century these companies in London and Westminster amounted to 25,000 men. Our ancestors appear to have been generally trained to military exercises, the citizen of former times being both soldier and craftsman. James I., who ascended the throne of Scotland in 1424, passed an Act whereby it was ordered that "every boy, when he came to the age of thirteen, should be obliged o practise archery at certain bow-marks." Queen Elizabeth appears to have mustered the defenMilitary Miscellany. London, 1846. sive military force occasionally. At one muster there were found in all England, fit for war, 642,000 horse and foot. In these times the whole population formed a standing army, for the security of the kingdom. In illustration of the rapidity with which a force might be collected among a population thus trained and disciplined, when they considered themselves called upon to defend their lives and property, or their rights and privil eges, it may be stated that, in 1559, when it was supposed the Queen Regent was taking measures to reestablish Popery in Scotland, the Earl of Argyle and other persons in authority, marched out of Perth with 300 citizens, resolved to prosecute the Reformation or perish in the attempt. To show their zeal and resolu tion, instead of ribbons, the symbol of gaiety, they put ropes about their necks, to denote that whoever deserted their colours should certainly be hanged; and from this circumstance arose the proverb of St Johnstone's ribbons." With this inconsiderable force they advanced, and wherever they came, the people, who were all more or less disciplined, joined them in a body, and before they reached Stirling the army amounted to 5000 men. Charles 1. came to the throne in 1625; and during the year 1641 the Parliament assumed the control of the militia, and issued orders for its being mustered and organised; and about the same period, the King issued Commissions of Lieutenancy to some of the nobility for a similar purpose, and thus began a long and memorable civil war. The citizens of London were, by this time, carefully trained in the use of the pike and musket. These trainings were originally very irksome to weary artisans and thrifty shopkeepers, there being a general muster once a-year, while the drilling of individual companies took place four times a-year, and lasted two days each time. The Puritans at first abhorred these warlike musters in the Artillery Gardens; but when they were taught from the pulpit, that their projected reformation could be accomplished only by carnal weapons, they crowded to the exercise with alacrity. The proud cavaliers laughed scornfully at these new displays of cockney chivalry, and were wont to declare that it took a Puritan two years to discharge a musket without winking. But the laugh was turned against themselves after the civil wars commenced, when the pikes and guns of the civic militia scattered the fiery cavalry of Prince Rupert, and bore down all before them. When these Puritans were converted into actual soldiers, they marched to the field in high-crowned hats, collared bands, great loose coats, long tucks under them, and calves' leather boots; they used to sing a psalm, fall on, and beat all opposition. The moral force of an army of this kind, could not be effectually resisted by mercenary troops. In some instances, the raising a body of troops appears to have been very expeditiously effected in Scotland. By order of Charles II., in 1651, the whole citizens of Perth marched out to the South Inch, where they cheerfully made choice of 100 men, who were to march to Bruntisland to watch the motion of Cromwell's fleet and army. This company joined an army at Dun- ! fermline, consisting of 3000 men, which was attacked and defeated by a superior number of Cromwell's cavalry, 1600 being killed, and 1200 taken prisoners. At the Restoration, in 1660, the national militia was re-established, and the chief command vested in the King. After a few years, however, the regulations for mustering the men ceased to be observed, and the trainings of the militia were for a long time discontinued in every part of England, except the city of London. In certain cases, such as a tumultuous obstruction of legal authority, the Sheriff is competent to call ou tthe posse comitatus, (power of the county,) in order to enforce obedience. 66 to The mode of levying the defensive military force during the reign of Charles II., is thus described by Chamberlayne. "The King," says he, "himself makes choice of divers of the principal peers of this kingdom, and creates them Lord Lieutenants of the several counties of England, with power to arm, array, and, when necessary, to employ the men so armed within the counties and places for which the said Lords are commissionated, or into any other county as the King shall order.' Commissioned officers to be recommended to the King by the Lord Lieutenants, who are empowered charge any person in the county with horse, horsemen, and arms, or foot soldiers and arms, within the said county, proportionably to their estates; with limitation that no person be charged with a horse unless he hath 1.500 yearly revenue, or L.6000 personal estate. person can be charged with a foot soldier, unless he hath L.50 yearly revenue, or L.600 personal estate. that have meaner estates are to join two or three together, to find a horse or horseman, or a foot soldier." The men so levied were to be called out once or twice a-year; and each horseman, during the time he was employed, to be allowed 2s. a-day, and each foot soldier Is. a-day. "These forces," says Chamberlayne," are always in readiness, with all things necessary, at the beat of a drum or sound of trumpet, to appear, muster, and be compleat, with men, horses, and arms; and are at certain times trained and disciplined, that they become able, skilful, and useful soldiers." 66 No Those In addition to the "standing militia," the Lord Lieutenant of each county was authorised to levy, when diso that," rected, the "train bands" of every county; says Chamberlayne, " in all times of peace, the king hath six or seven score thousand men enrolled, and wholly and solely at his disposing, for the defence of his kingdom of England." Under the apprehension of an invasion, the militia was embodied in 1756; and in the 26th George III. (1786), all the previously existing statutes relating to Additional reguthe militia were formed into one law. lations were, however, made by acts passed in the 42d, 51st, and 52d years of the same reign. In 1798, the Militia Act was extended to Scotland, and 6000 men were raised this year. In 1805, an Act of Parliament was passed to permit militia men, in the proportion of three-fifths, to engage In 1808, the militia in the regular military service. was divided into a general and local force; the former available for service in all parts of the kingdom, while the latter was reserved for service in the counties. As the law now exists, all persons between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, not labouring under bodily infirmity, and not specially exempted, are liable to be chosen by ballot for private militia men, and to serve for five years, either personally or by an approved substitute. When there are vacancies to be filled up, which have been caused by death, invaliding, or any other cause, the deputy lieutenants are required to make a new ballot in the respective parishes. In France a more simple plan is adopted: the individuals are summoned who, by their number, immediately follow those drawn in the first ballot. In the event of this country being again at war, and it being deemed expedient, in consequence, to call out the militia for permanent service, it is not unlikely that considerable opposition would be made to the measure. A community, of which about two-thirds are employed in trade or commerce, is peculiarly unfavourable for recruiting an army by compulsion, or by a forced conscription. The ballot operates as a tax, and no tax can be more iniquitous and oppressive than where the objects are selected, not because they are able to pay, or because they have property to preserve or defend, but because they happen to be of a certain age, and possess But the measure is still more the requisite strength. indefensible when substitution is permitted, it being no hardship for a rich man to provide a substitute; but personal service may irretrievably ruin a poor man, and to pay for a substitute may be far beyond his means. Whatever army may be deemed requisite for the defence of the country and its colonies, should be raised by Government, and the expense defrayed by the community at large. It is both unjust and cruel, to force individuals to serve in a military capacity, when a little better encouragement would induce a sufficient number to enter the service voluntarily. STANDING ARMY.-Besides the defence of the kingdom against invading foes, there was also another mode of military service, by which an army of aggression might be raised at the command of the sovereign. In 1066, by the tenure of knight's service, or, in other words, by the tenure of feudality, every tenant of the Crown was bound, whenever the King went to war, to furnish an armed soldier and maintain him in the field for forty days, for each knight's fee that he possessed. There were in England 60,215 knights' fees, each fee comprehending four hydes, or 480 acres of land. According to the principles of feudal monarchy, the owners of land were bound to attend the king in war, either within or without the realm, mounted and armed at their own expense, during the regular term of service. Minors, females, and ecclesiastics, were required to find substitutes; and vassals, who were unwilling or unable to perform military service in person, were obliged to compound with the king. Beyond the period specified, they could be retained only by their own consent, and at the king's expense. The feudal chiefs who attended the king when he took the field were chiefly mounted, forming a heavy armed cavalry. The mutual inconvenience resulting from the nature of feudal military service, disposed both parties to consent, during the reign of Henry II., to commute this burden into a money payment of 20s. for each knight's. fee, which obtained the name of scutage or shield-money, being, in practice, a tax for furnishing a soldier armed with a bow. As in England, forty days was the usual period of military service rendered by vassals in France, until the Before his time, the armies. reign of Philip the Fair. which served longer than forty days, or in a foreign country, received pay. Hostilities at that time were not long protracted; for, if a war was not speedily brought to a conclusion, the soldiers dismissed themselves, and left the field. To remedy this defection, Philip adopted. a new plan, and ordered the period of service to be exThis mode of oppression was tended to four months. often repeated; and henceforth the duration of service was measured by the probable length of the campaign, and not as formerly, when the military expedition was A similar measured by the usual duration of service. abuse of power was eventually practised by the sovereigns of the other states of Europe. In 1327, Edward III. succeeded to the throne. With the view of completing the feudal armies with infantry, it would appear that persons were illegally pressed to attend the kings when they took the field. These levies became, in the course of time, vexatious, and Edward III., on the petition of his first parliament (1327), en |