Whitney Keen makes some very good points. He included this comment: there were periodic famines in the country due to inadequate distribution channels for food, and I would suspect more accidents (although street accidents in cities were notorious). Indeed, agriculture remains one of the most dangerous occupations in the world with a high rate of fatal accidents. The observation about street accidents put me in mind of something I read when I lived in Oakland, Calif., years ago. That city was settled rather late, especially after the civil war. I believe that it was by the mid-1870s, though, that they had already built a streetcar system on Broadway in Oakland. One day there was terribly streetcar accident involving at least a dozen badly injured people. Suddenly it dawned on the citizenry that they had neglected to build any hospitals! One was founded shortly thereafter, almost needless to say, but on a curious note, the woman who spearheaded the building effort believed in homeopathy, so that that was the orientation of the citys first hospital. Miles Fowler ________________________________________________________________ Sent via the WebMail system at mail.nexet.net