From this Table, it will be seen that the ratio of deaths per annum amongst different classes of employés for the whole period of years, now under consideration, has been as follows, A It is thus evident that, for the whole period from 1840-52, the ratio of deaths has been, amongst the first three classes of servants, least in the group engine-drivers, and highest in that of guards. similar result also appeared in Table XXXIV. This relation, however, of the mortality from accidents has not been uniformly maintained by the same three classes throughout the whole of the period under observation, as will be seen by a comparison of the mortality of stokers with that of guards for the period 1844-48. The mortality of the fourth and fifth groups of employés differs widely from that of the other three groups; and the same remark is applicable to the ratio of injuries in the same groups. The ratio of injuries being among Engine-Drivers = 1 in 171 In respect to deaths, the ratio for stokers was intermediate between that for engine-drivers and guards; but so far as injuries are concerned, the ratio for stokers is higher than that for either guards or engine-drivers, It will assist the object of this inquiry to consider the facts of the preceding Table, as given in the following condensed sum mary: VOL. XVII. PART III. ૨ This abstract presents facts of a very remarkable nature when compared with those given in Abstract H, page 306, of the former paper. In the preceding abstract, it will be seen that, in the first group of employés, consisting of engine-drivers, stokers, and guards, the numbers of injuries and deaths are almost identical, while amongst passengers (see Abstract O) the ratio of injured to killed was 675.20 per cent. In regard, however, to the group consisting of porters and other servants, the number killed has been 1 in 555, and the number injured has been 1 in 1,099; or the ratio of injured to killed about 50.04 per cent. In this way of looking at the question, some results are disclosed, and which merit important consideration. There appears in this abstract a very curious law, but one which, on reflection, is quite consistent with the circumstances known to influence the risk to which each class of persons is exposed. By viewing, in connection with the preceding results, some of the facts set forth in Abstract O, the following conclusions are arrived at: A very slight consideration of the nature of the circumstances, under which the accidents take place in each of the above classes, will at once explain the great disparity between the ratio of the killed and injured. If the different circumstances in which the two classes of trespassers and passengers be contrasted, it will at once appear that, in the event of an accident occuring, the chances of its proving fatal differ widely in the two groups; the former being injured principally by trains overtaking them while in motion, and consequently the probability of the accident proving fatal is very great; but, in regard to the latter, it has been shown in Table IV., that the bulk of accidents to passengers take place under circumstances of a much less violent nature, and in which the tendency to be fatal is quite inconsiderable compared with the accidents to which trespassers are liable. Of the 297 defined causes of fatal accidents to trespassers recorded in Table VI., no less than 268 are assignable to the cause run over;" while, of the 228 fatal accidents to passengers, 99, or 43.42 per cent., have been occasioned by collisions of trains, and trains running off the line. Accidents of this kind, it will be found, are of a less violent nature than any other, and have, therefore, less tendency to be fatal; and if these facts be kept distinctly in view, the great disparity in the relative fatality of accidents in different classes, as shown in Abstract P, will be readily understood. The following illustration of the tendency of different classes of accidents, so far as passengers are concerned, to prove fatal may be interesting and instructive on this point of the inquiry: ABSTRACT Q. Ratio of Injured to Killed amongst Passengers from different causes. Accidents from the last group of causes, it will be seen, are of a much more fatal character than those in the first group; and an inspection of the causes, included in the last of the above groups, will show that they are of a kind more in common with those which affect railway servants in general, than the causes contained in the first group, and hence the explanation of the disparity exhibited in Abstract P preceding. Abstract R gives a succinct view of the liability of different classes of persons to be injured by accidents from various causes, and also the chances of those accidents proving fatal; and it will be seen, that, in the following classes, the great bulk of the accidents take place under circumstances in which the cause of injury is of a very violent nature, and can, with few exceptions, be scarcely otherwise than fatal: Again, it will be seen, that, in the following classes, the accidents also taking place under circumstances likely to be fatal: These facts are sufficient to account for the tendency of different kinds of accidents, as they affect different classes of persons, to prove fatal. In Abstract Q, it will be found, that accidents to passengers from " collisions," running off the line," and "collisions at stations," were much less fatal than those taking place from other causes; so also will it be found that, amongst the three important classes of railway servants, engine-drivers, stokers, and guards, is the tendency of accidents, from the same three causes, much less fatal than from other causes. |