Report on registration, presented to the Quarantine and Sanitary Convention, at its fourth annual meeting, held in the city of Boston, June 14, 1860 / by Edwin M. Snow.

  • Snow, Edwin M. (Edwin Miller), 1820-1888.
Date:
[1860?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report on registration, presented to the Quarantine and Sanitary Convention, at its fourth annual meeting, held in the city of Boston, June 14, 1860 / by Edwin M. Snow. 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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    would be willing to obtain the returns in this manner, for the fee which is allowed by the Registration Law of Rhode-Island. With faithful marshals, the only chance for failure to obtain complete returns under this plan, is on account of removals from the city. Among certain classes of the population of all cities, removals are frequent, and some returns are undoubtedly lost in this way; but if the marshals are instructed to obtain returns of the births of all children born during the preceding six months, the number obtained who were born in other places, will, proba- bly, equal the number lost by removal. In some cities, the children who were born in other places, are omitted in the census of births. The object of the registra- tion of births are two : First, To preserve a record of the births of all the inhabitants of the place ; and Second, To obtain the exact number of births in a place for statistical purposes. It seems to me that both these objects will be most nearly accomplished, by including in the returns all the children found who were born during the preceding six months. On account of removals, it is important that the census of births in all cities, should be taken at least twice in each year. Such, in my opinion, is the only feasible plan for obtaining returns of births in the cities of this country, with any approach to completeness. A similar method has been adopted in Boston for some years, and a comparison of the returns of births in that city and in Providence, with those of other cities, furnishes good evidence of the superiority of the plan. 2. In Relation to Marriages. The returns of marriages in all our cities are obtained under the provisions of State laws, and, for obvious reasons, it is not advisable that cities should pass additional laws upon the subject. And yet, the record of marriages is of so great importance, that it may not be improper to give a few observations in relation to the modes of obtaining the returns. When we consider the effect of marriages upon the titles to property, and their importance in tracing the history of families, the indifference in this country to the preservation of the proof of these events, is most remarkable. The tendencv, for some years past, of all legislation upon the subject, at least in the Eastern States, has been to remove all impediments to the per- formance of the marriage ceremony. The public notice of the intention of marriage has been generally abolished, and in some States, parties of almost any character, or age, and even of different races, can be united for life, without restriction. The most sacred obligations,—obligations which are not for a dav, but which can be rightly absolved only by death, are assumed