ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author presents his theme ‘Urban mortality 1750–1850’ in the form of 12 ‘graphic mirror images’. The ratio in the city of Haparanda had been similar to this all the time, that is, there was a lower infant mortality than in the rural community because suckling by the mothers was generally practised. Conversely, the mortality of small children was substantially higher than in the countryside. The ‘attention’ of parents, physicians and society focused increasingly on these hitherto neglected age groups. The change in the range of causes of death is explicable less in terms of the history of biology than this history of mental attitudes and culture. As studies on mortality always deal with the dying and death of individuals it seems also appropriate to probe every time into their world view and beliefs in order to understand what death means to them.
