We take much for granted in these modern times of ours, like, for example, the fact that our collective life expectancy means people aren't constantly dying around us. This wasn't the case in the mid-19th century, as these snazzy New York Times charts documenting the city's various deaths demonstrate.

From around 1851 to 1866, the paper ran these for New York and Brooklyn every week. The number of deaths and range of causes reported by the city inspector were widely varied, and they were printed as proto-infographics that would look at home on current-day explainer journalism websites.

Today, these serve as a reminder that you should be happy you don't live in the 1850s, as many of the causes of death are now easily prevented or treated. At the time, however, these served as a public health service, keeping the community aware of the dangers they faced every day because they had the misfortune of being alive in the mid-19th century.

October 7, 1851:

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January 14, 1852:

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September 28, 1852:

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