London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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City of London 1848

Report on the sanitary condition of the City of London for the year 1848-9

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84 CONCLUSION.
proposes to itself,—in the immense amelioration
which it proffers to the physical, social, and (indirectly)
to the moral condition of an immense
majority of our fellow-creatures, it transcends the
importance of all other sciences, and in its beneficent
operation seems most nearly to embody the
spirit and to fulfil the intentions of practical
Christianity.
Ignorant men may sneer at its pretensions;
weak and timorous men may hesitate to commit
themselves to its principles, so large in their application
; selfish men may shrink from the labour of
change, which its recognition must entail; wicked
men may turn indifferently from considering that
which concerns the health and happiness of millions
of their fellow-creatures. To such men an
appeal would indeed be useless. But, to the Corporation
of the City of London (whether as assembled
in its entire Parliament, or as represented
within the confines of this Court)—to the Corporation
which, on so many occasions, has attained
patriotic ends by great expenditure and sacrifice ;
to men earnest, strong-minded, and practical, having
much consideration for their fellow-creatures, and
having little consideration for personal toil or municipal
expense, so only that they may fulfil a great
Christian duty, and may confirm the gratitude with
which history records their frequent services to
humanity;—to such a Corporation, and to such
men, the Country looks for the perfection of a