OCR Rendition - approximate

128 STATISTICAL 1`i(;t11R11;1, INTO hospitals under treatment for fractures and amputations two considerable groups; the ono consisting of markedly rclicrious find pion'll. befriended individuals, the ol.her of those who were remarkably ,'rd hearted and neglected. Arr honest eornpn'ir>on of heir respe01lIe periods of treatment, and the results would nuu>ifeat it distinct, price( of the efficacy of prayer, if it existed to oven a 111111111: fraction of Ow amount that religions teachers exhort. 114 to believe. Au inquiry of a somewhat. similar nature may be made info the longevity of' persons whose lives nr賓 pt病yrd for ; e 'o that of the praying classes generally; and in both these cases wo can ew.ily obtain 'statistical facts. The public prayer for the s'>vcrcign of ev('ry state, Protestant and Catholic, is and has bell) in Iho spirit of our own, 11 Grant her in health long to live." Now, ns a siniplo nutitcr of fact, has this prayer any cllicacy i 'There is n memoir by hr. Guy, in the Jo+nn rl q/ Mt, Sta(i.cf 'ttf Swirl/ (vol. xxii, 1). :355), ill which he compares the nroali a a go of sovereigns with thal of other classes of persons. Ilis results are expressed ill the following table : Boons Ana ATTAINED nY NALLI Or castors ( I.asstsy a 110 1100 Fi付tciiIIn meat Sara Tens, PROM 1758 To 1843. 1h:ATns 71Y A(kIDENr N1 A,et.rsca; All I; ENVIA Pr D. 3100., 1 Member: of lioyal houses 97 in number 6-1104 Clergy 945 ,, 6 1.1,49 316.42 Lawyers 294 418.14 66 41 Medical Profession . . 244 ("7'31 67'67 English aristocracy . . . . 1,17.9 11 (11'31 Gentry 1,632 11 70.22 'trade and commerce . . . 1313 138'74 Officers in the Royal Nosy . 36,6 68.40 English literature and science 395 (17.5.1 6.1.2222_ Officers of the Army . . . 569 11 67'07 Fine At ts 239 G-1 96 61.71 The sovereigns are literally the shortest lived of all who have the advantage of affluence. The prayer has therefore no efficacy, unless the very questionable hypothesis be raised, that the conditions of royal life may naturally be yet more fatal, and that their influence is partly, though incompletely, neutralised by the effects of public prayers. It will be seen that the same table collates the longevity of clergy, lawyers, and medical men. We are justified in considering the .clergy to be a far more prayerful class than either of tho.other two. It is their profession to pray, and they have the practice of offering morning and evening; family prayers in addition to their private devotions. A reference to. any of the numerous published collections of family prayers will show that they are full of petitions for temporal benefits. Wd do riot, however, find that the cle gy fire in any 1) Zh clement men are those n,hose lies are recorded in Chalmers's Biography, withecme additions from the Annual Register. Tltl' t' L1L"ICACY olc PRAYER. 120 wily nu7re long lived in consequence. It is true that the clergy, as a whole, ,.how at life-value of 1111'.19, fig against. 11(1'14 for the lawyers, ;113,1 (ii'' 11143 3 th,. un品lical nn'n ; but- the easy counts)' 11111 and, tittaaily r('pow of et, 1111to ' of the clergy' are obviota) nanatory conditions in th1品r titcour. '1'hiC lifler,'nee is revei'xtd whera the comparison rmtd b tav.-vn (list ingoishetl narlnhn's o1' the (b)TV classes-t.hitt iy to ytt}, bcatvrevl p1-Coats of satheicnt not(, lo have had their lives recorded is as biographical dictionnl'v. AV'bon we examine dais cate;mt' tht v:da1 of life nmunG; the :11131 i', lnwvers, and anedicaal 111(11 i.: 115 GG I", GG ,I ;111(1 tt7'U1 resI .y reciively the" clergy being g the shortest lived of the throe. Hence the prayers of' the clergy for protection against, Ih(= perils aural diwl ers of the night, for protection dnt品ng the day, tilt(( far recovery from sickness, appear to be futile in 3051411. In nnv work oil "lloreditary Genius," and in the chapter on " lbvint=_," I have worked out. the Nil)) jeol with setae minuteness oil other data, but. with precisely the smno result-. I Show that the divines are not. specially favoured in those worldly matters for which they naturally pray, butt rnl.h'1' the emltrary, it fact which I ascribe in part- to their having, as a class, iudifercnt constitutional vigour. I give abundant reason for all this, and do not care to-repeat myself ; but I should be glad if such of' the readers of' this present paper who may be accustomed to statistics would refer to the chapter I have mentioned. They will find it of use in confirming what I say here. They will believe tae the more when I say that I have taken considerable pains to get at the truth in the questions raised in this present memoir, and that., when I was engaged upon them, I worked, so fiat as my material went, with as much care as I gave to that chapter on 11 Divine"" " and lastly, they will understand that, when writing the chnptef' in question, I had all this material by me unused, which justified me in speaking out as decidedly as I did then. A further inquiry may be made into the duration of life among missionaries. We should Iffy greater stress upon their mortality than upon that of the clergy, because the laudable object of a missionary's career is rendered almost nugatory by his early death. A man goes, say to a tropical climate,; in the prime of manhood, who has the probability of many years of useful life before him, had he remained at home. He has the鋲ertainty of being able to accomplish sterling good as a missionary;. if -be should live long' enough to learn the language and. habits of the country. In the interval he is almost useless. Yet the painful experielicoof many years shows only too clearly that the missionary is not' 'supernaturally endowed with health. He does not live longer than other people. One missionary after another dies shortly after his arrival. The work that lay almost nithin the grasp of each of theln lingers incompleted. Itmust here be repeated, that comparative immunity from disease compels the suspension of no purely material law, if such an expres-