The Press.
London, England, 1857-10-17 00:00:00

TII E PRESS, OCTOBER 17, 1857.

were 14-I.Bdo. The same authority added that the annu, al
average of death; in England and Wales due to preventiolo
causes might be estimated at II 3,0t)0.
The noble lord proceeded to trace with great minute-
ness of detail the various causes of disease, showing
at the same time how one breach of the natural law
led to another. He touched upon the law of density or
aggregation and the law of altitude as affecting
disease, and upon the industrial pathology of trades,
contending that the remedy was very much in the
hands of individuals rather than in those of the
Government. He showed the necessity of remedial
measures generally, but he urged that legislation
was useless unless it met with the support of public
opinion. Enlarging upon the importance of enforcing
proper regulations for the management of lodging
houses, ho recommended the construction of model
dwellings, contending that they ought to be remu-
nerative to thoie who erected them. He then ad
vanced to the sewage question, with respect to which
he said so much of late years had been spoken, and
so little, comparatively speaking, done. It was
better, however, of two evils, to do nothing, than to
do that which would have to be again undone. It
seemed to him that any plans for improving our
sewage system were very imperfect until we had
ascertained what to do with the sewage when col-
lected. file noble lord then touched upon questions
affecting the sale of poisons, adulterations, compul-
sory vaccination, State medicine and medical relief,
and concluded a most able address, full of interest-
ing deductions from the statistics with which it
abounded, in the following terms :
There are other topics on which T wished to touch. I
regret to leave unnoticed the legislation of successive Par.
!laments in regard to the Board of Health, the perpetually
repeated conflict between central and local authority, the
struggles, failures, and successes of the last few years: but
time would fail. Brevity on such questions could not but
lead to misunderstanding ; fulness of treatment would be
impossible ; and to those whom I see around me T already
owe a double apology, for, while lamenting the length to
which these remarks of mine have extended, I lament still
more that, compelled to touch as it were on the surface of
many topics, I have been unable both from limited space
and limited knowledge to do justice to any one. Only take
with you this last word. Dry and unattractive as sanitary
studies may appear, they belong to the patriot no less than
the philanthropist; they touch very nearly the future
prosperity and the national greatness of England. Don't
fancy that the mischief done by disease speeding through
the community is to be measured by the number of deaths
which ensue. That is the least part of the result. As in
a battle, the killed bear but a small proportion' to the
wounded. It is not merely by the crowded hospitals, the
frequent funerals, the destitution of families, or the
increased pressure of public burdens, that you may test the
suffering of a nation over which sickness has passed. The
real and lasting injury lies in the deterioration of r ace,
in the seeds of disease transmitted to future generations,
in the degeneracy and decay which are never detected till
the evil is irreparable, and of which, even then, the cause
remains often undiscovered. Tt concerns us if the work of
England be that of colonisation and of dominion abroad,
if wild hordes and savage races are to be brought by our
agency under the influence of civilised man, if we are to
maintain peace, to extend commerce, to hold our own among
many rivals, alike by arts and arms—it concerns us, I
say, that strong hands shall be forthcoming to wield either
sword or spade—that vigorous constitutions be not wanting
to endure the vicissitudes of climate anti the labours of a
settler in a new country. I believe that whatever excep•
tions may be found in individual instances, when you
come to deal with men in the mass physical and moral
decay necessarily go together, and it would be small satis-
faction to know that we had through a series of ages
successfully resisted every external agency if we learnt
too late that that vigour and energy for which ours stands
confessedly preeminent among the races of the world
were being undermined by a secret hut irresistible agency,
the offspring of our own neglect, against which science and
humanity had warned us in vain.

The noble lord on resuming his seat was loudly
cheered.

In Social Economy Sir BENJAMIN BRODIE—who very
tersely put forward the objects of the Association,
and said that it would have to act on public opinion,
which would not be taken by storm—devoted himself
principally to an able and lucid statement with re-
ference to the condition of our public charities, while
the delivery, by Mr. HILL, of an able and lengthened
address on the Punishment and Reformation of
Criminals, concluded the proceedings. Mr. Hill
said that in his judgment the Boom! of
Directors of Irish convict prisons had practically
solved the problem which has so long perplexed our
Government and our Legislature—" What shall we
do with our convicts ?" The results of their great
experiment answered thus,—" Keep your prisoners
under sound and enlightened discipline until they
are reformed—keep them for your own sake and for
theirs. The vast majority of all who enter your
prisons as criminals can be sent back into the world,
after no unreasonable term of probation, honest men
and useful citizens. Let the small minority remain,
and if death arrive before reformation let them remain
for life."

In the different sectional departments papers
were read. In the first, presided over by Lord John
Russell, one by Mr. E. T. Wakefield on the