Issue 1, Vol. 48 (2024)

Based on thorough studies of Wieliczka’s parish registers and the 1788 census,
the most relevant ratios for the protoindustrial population are presented. The results are
compared with other towns and cities of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and in
Europe, in order to present the characteristics of a mining town in comparison with other
centers. Building on the results, it will be possible to determine whether Wieliczka can
be characterized as a Western European town.

In this article, health statistics were used primarily as a source of information for
the study of some mortality phenomena in Austrian Silesia at the turn of the 20th century.
The period is determined by the preservation of the sources, as these are statistics stored
in the Provincial Archives in Opava, i.e., the original written sources compiled by the
district doctors. These sources made it possible to track the numbers of births and deaths
in the individual political districts and statutory towns in Austrian Silesia. In the birth
statistics, the share of children born with qualified obstetric assistance was examined. In
the death statistics, the composition of deaths by age and cause of death was monitored.
Additionally, the seasonal distribution of these phenomena was also examined to the
extent permitted by the data sources. At the beginning of the study, a thorough check of
the credibility of the sources, i.e., health statistics, was conducted.

This paper is based on analysis of autopsy protocols from the Czech capital
Prague between 1918 and 1968. The protocols were produced by the staff of institutes of
forensic pathology (before 1939 there were two such institutes, later only one). Surviving
collection of protocols from that period consists of 59 413 items, which likely represent
a complete set of postmortem examination done in Prague. This paper will focus on
protocols related to traffic accidents which will be analysed according to several categories
including gender, religion, age, type of vehicle involved etc.