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brings them within the influence of predisposing conditions (dust,
constrained positions, ill-ventilated premises, etc.), as well as being
generally of a more sedentary character. It is probable also that
alcoholism, which is an important predisposing condition of
phthisis, plays its part in increasing the incidence upon men, who
not only drink more, but who come more within the range of
public house infection.
Dr. MacLearn, the Medical Superintendent of the Holborn
Infirmary, Archway Road, N., writes to me under date January
3rd, 1905:—"The total number of deaths from phthisis, occurring
in the Holborn Union Workhouse Infirmary, during 1904, was 156;
of these, 113 were of patients coming from Finsbury. The number
of phthisis cases now under treatment here, and who are residents
of Finsbury, is 112; of these, 18 are women and 94 are men."

These are not the full number of deaths, which probably
reached at least 300 in each year, or 1,500 per five years, but the