ABSTRACT OF A METEOROLOGICAL JOURNAL KEPT AT CHAPEL HILL, N.C.,

By JAMES PHILLIPS, Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, in the University of North Carolina.

Latitude 35 deg. 34 min. 21 sec. North: Longitude 79 deg. 17 min. 30 sec. West,

1849.

June

July

69.53 77°.36 85°.06 74°.60 76°.6116 5.3 5.6 4.2 5.3 7 29 68.69 74.39 81.03 72.31 74.1129 3.0 2.8 3.6 4.8 16 31 August 68.47 76.00 $3.35 73.44 75.3145 5.9 4.3 4.0 7.2.11 31 0 September - 61.70 69.60 75.63 67.17 68.5250 5.5 5.3 4.5 6.0 October 50.7159.42 65.15 55.95 57.8064 4.4 4.6 4.0 5.1 November 46.67 56.73 65.03 53.97 55.6000 6.4 6.5 5.9 7.3 December 36.77 42.77 50.35 40.94.42.7137 3.6 3.7 3.8 4.0 11 29 2

5 27 3 8 28 3

323 7

1850.

January

39.48 44.97 52.02 44.35 45.2056 2.5 2.8 2.1 3.8 10 31 0 February $35.00 48.21 51.48 42.54 43.0580 5.0 5.2 4.5 5.2 10 25 3 41.44 43.37 56.63 47.43 48.4677 2.5 2.7 3.7 5.1 48.73 55.78 61.70 54.60 55.2042 3.1 3.3 3.1 3.7 56.84 64.02 72.35 62.11 63.8306 4.7 5.2 4.3 6.6

March

April
May

8 30 1

9 28 2 8.29 2

MEAN 52.00 59.38 66°.65 57.45 58.8733 4.3 4.3 4.0 5.3 106 341 24

It will be perceived that the barometrical table is not attached. to the above thermometrical table, but is included in conjunction with it in reference to the hottest and coldest days, with their

mean average.

On further examination, it will be seen that the yearly mean is 58.8733, and that there were 106 rainy days, 341 cloudy, and only 24 clear ones; which goes to show that the year was a very wet one, and from the past experience, the state of the weather

was more favorable to pulmonary and dropsical diseases, which a reference to the table below will show.

The population of Wake is as follows:-first, showing the number of whites; second, that of the free negroes; third, that of the slaves. The number of white deaths with their ratio, and that of the free negroes and slaves with their deaths per cent., and the total population of the county with the aggregate per Whites, 14,236; free negroes, 1,260; slaves, 9,419; deaths of whites, 113; per cent., 0.793; free negroes and slaves, 171; per cent., 1.601. Total population of the county, including all classes, 24,915; deaths per cent., 1.139. The mulattoes

cent.

are included with the blacks.

The following table exhibits the number who died for the last year under ten years of age, and over ten to that of 100, as per census returns.

10 to 20 20 to 30 30 to 10 10 to 50 50 to 60 60 to 70 70 to 80 80 to 90 90 to 100,

Under
10.

This report shows over fifty per cent. of the deaths to be under ten years of age, while the list of diseases exhibits a very large per cent. of the deaths from disease of the respiratory organs.

and dropsies appearing as the next highest in order, with the exception of those reported as unknown, and chronic. It is to be regretted that so large a number of unknown cases should have occurred, but from the large per cent. in favor of the infantile diseases it may be fairly presumed that the greater part of them were children. The only way in which accuracy in these cases is to be come at, is through a strict registration of the marriages, births and deaths.

I will now present the five other counties, with their population and per cent. of deaths, which are comprised as Middle North Carolina.

The white population of

Franklin is 6,206-Slaves, 5,507: Total, 11,713. Deaths, 122: Per cent., 1.041.

Orange 11,871-Slaves, 5,255: Total, 17,126. Deaths, 133: Per cent., 0.776.

Chatham 12,479-Slaves, 5,902: Total, 18,381. Deaths, 184: Per cent., 1.0001.

Cumberland, 13,393-Slaves, 7,217: Total, 20,610. Deaths, 234: Per cent., 1.135.

Johnston

9,053-Slaves, 4720: Total, 13,723. Deaths, 124: Per cent., 0.900.

The total number of deaths in the above five counties is 797; the population is 81,603; per cent. of the whole, 0.976. Add that of Wake, 24,915, and we have within the six central counties a population of 106,518, and whole number of deaths, 1.081; per cent. of deaths, 1.013.

I see from an article published in the New Orleans Medical Journal, by Dr. Pendleton, of Sparta, Ga., that from the recent returns of six counties in Middle Georgia, he reports the total population of these counties to be 72,941; whole number of deaths, 1,107; per cent. of deaths, 1.51; and he further states that it is doubtless a fair indication for the whole of Middle Georgia, and will compare favorably with any other portion of the civilized world.

By consulting the above returns, it will be seen at once that the six counties in Middle North Carolina have a population of 27,577 more than that of the six counties of Middle Georgia,

while the whole number of deaths in Georgia exceeds that of North Carolina by 26 per cent.*

This last exhibit of statistical data clearly shows a large per cent. in favor of Middle North Carolina over all other places; and while I have been prompted to submit the above statistical information, it is with no desire to detract from any other section of the country, but to aid in contributing to the limited stock of our Southern Reports upon this subject, with the hope that it may add some interest to the vital data of the South. In taking the per cent. of Middle Georgia as the most favorable, and comparing it with that of Middle North Carolina, I have not done so with the wish or intention to detract from the healthy character of Georgia, but to show that in Middle North Carolina we have health, if not more, at least equal to any section of country in the 'civilized world.' The reports made by Dr. Pendleton and myself go to prove conclusively that the long-conceived opinion that the South, during the summer months in particular, is more unhealthy than other sections of the country, is erroneous. Indeed, so far from being true, this opinion is entirely the reverse of it; and if the census returns are at all to be relied upon, they hold out the districts comprised in Middle Georgia and Middle North Carolina as among the healthiest regions of the world.

Raleigh, N C., Feb. 20th, 1850.

* Dr. McKee here inserts a tabular statement from the statistics of Drs. Pendleton and Simonds, which may be found in Dr. Pendleton's report for Georgia, We omit it to avoid repetition.-ED.

REPORTS FROM MISSISSIPPI

ARTICLE I.

THE DISEASES AND PHYSICAL PECULIARITIES OF THE NEGRO RACE.

BY SAMUEL A. CARTWRIGHT, MD.

[By referring to our article on the proceedings of the Louisiana State Medical Society, it will be seen that we gave a somewhat lengthy notice of a paper read by Dr. Cartwright, on the Diseases Peculiar to Negroes, and expressed our regrets that the learned author had not brought forward more authorities to support his positions. We regretted our inability to publish the paper, and particularly because we had urged him to write it. Since that time, the Doctor has kindly furnished us the following short paper, giving his peculiar views in a more condensed form, and we cheerfully insert it, although out of its proper place, which would be among the reports from Louisiana. His name, however, is so completely identified with Medicine in Mississippi, that his paper will come in very well among the reports from that State. We are happy in being able to place it in connection with an interesting communication on the management of negroes, from an unprofessional friend.-ED.]

In the Report on the Diseases and Physical Peculiarities of the Negro Race, read before the Medical Association of Louisiana, and published in the New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal,' of May last, I briefly enumerated some of the more striking anatomical and physiological differences separating the negro from the white man. Attention was also called to the fact, that the same medical treatment which would benefit or cure a white man, would often injure or kill a negro, because of the differences in the organic or physical characters imprinted by the hand of nature on the two races. It was not deemed necessary, in that brief paper, to refer to authorities to prove the facts enumerated, which are just as well known and established in that branch of Medicine embracing comparative anatomy and physiology, as the size and motion of the planets in astronomy. The report was not drawn up to meet objections coming from