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TABLE 45. Percentages of Deaths, by Quarters. -1877-1896.

Sex.-Table 46 presents the mortality of males and females from 1860 to 1896, the ratio of the mortality of males to that of females, and also the mortality rate of each sex, the latter being given by census years only. It will be seen that the ratio of deaths of males exceeded that of females in the period of the war 1862-1865, in 1865, 1868, 1871-1873, 1888, 1889 and 1891; and in the five-year period 1892-1896, there has been a gradual annual increase in the ratio of males. In the census years 1865, 1870, 1875, 1880, 1885, 1890 and 1895 the population of females exceeded that of the males.

TABLE 46.-Mortality of Males and Females compared.-1860-1896.

In table 47 the deaths by age and sex are given for certain periods of life, for the years 1895 and 1896; by which it appears that in the year 1896, 1,371 more males than females died under one year, and the excess in the deaths of males over females was 1,509 under five years of age. From twenty to thirty years the deaths of the females exceeded those of the males by 38, and for all other ages the deaths of the females exceeded those of the males by 542.

Table 48 presents the ratio of deaths at certain ages, as compared with the total number, for a period of twenty years. The percentage of deaths under five years of age was greater than that of any year since 1880.

TABLE 48. Deaths at Different Ages. - Percentages.

Infant Mortality: - The number of deaths under one year of age for 1896 was 11,765, or 23.82 to the total mortality. This was greater by 792 deaths than the average for the five years, 1892-1896.

As compared with the number of births, the ratio 15.78 per cent. is the least in any single year since 1886, except 1895.

TABLE 49. Infant Mortality. - Twenty Years, 1877-1896.

Table 50. According to this table, it will be observed that the mortality changes in conformity to the age. The highest rate is under one year. It is to be regretted that the materials for 1890 could not be found to complete the table, as the only true way to find the rate of death.

In table 51 is given the average age at death of all who have died in the state, by counties, for forty-five years in quinquennial periods. In every county there was an increase in the average age, as compared with the average for thirty years, ending 1880. The average of the ages at death in the five-year period, 1891-1895, is greater in every County than that of the preceding five years, except Dukes, Hampshire, and Suffolk Counties.