In the Report of the Sanitary Commission of Massachusetts, 1850, Lemuel Shattuck compared mortality rates for earlier years in urban Boston and in country towns with those reported from England. Shattuck's detailed report showed that the country towns had mortality rates comparable to the healthiest districts in England. Boston, however, had rates comparable to those of London, where the average life expectancy was shorter by eight years than that of England overall.*The study reported below addressed the same issues for the early 1970's with particular reference to the social and demographic correlates of excess mortality by selected causes . . .