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31
emphasize the fact that no account is taken of
constitution of the populations, and the fact that
children are more prone to contract infectious diseases
than adults. Again, the social status of
the individuals will have some influence on the
occurrence of infectious disease; and lastly, the
refusal to accept hospital treatment is likely to
lead to further cases in some of the families. It
seems fair to assume that in tenements of one
or two rooms there will not usually be many
children and that any children living in such
tenements will for the most part be young, as
most married couples of the artizan classes commence
life in one or two rooms, moving into
larger tenements as the family increases—being,
however, in some cases moved to do so by the
vigilance of the sanitary authority. In tenements of
three or more rooms will be found workers of a higher
class, who appreciate the value of cleanliness and
will endeavour to protect their children from known
sources of infection. Among these however removal to
hospital will not be so frequent, which fact tends
to minimise the advantages due to care and cleanliness.
In other cases the members of the families
thus housed will be above the ages especially liable to
infectious disease.
From these considerations it will be seen that the
subject is one of great difficulty, and one which will
require a careful comparison between a succession of