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13
The sickness returns among the poor of the
several City Unions have also been below the
average; for while the total number of cases
attended by the Union medical officers during the
year is but 9,473, the average numbers for the
last five years is 11,228; but the number of fever
cases has risen from an average of 670 to 845; in
fact, the general prevalence of fever in the metropolis
has led to much public discussion of the
circumstances supposed to be concerned in developing
it, and very early in the year attention was
directed to this matter. It was shown that there
are certain districts of London which are constantly
supplying patients to the London Fever Hospital;
and these are the abodes of wretchedness and filth.
It frequently happens, however, that the powers of
the law are insufficient to deal with the sanitary
evils of these places; for the inhabitants of them
are of the very lowest class of society, and they
either wickedly abuse, or utterly disregard the
attempts which are made to improve their dwellings.
Nothing, indeed, can be more disheartening
than the unsuccessful and yet constantly repeated
efforts to better the condition of these places.
We want a despotism to deal with them; for there
is not only the disinclination or determined opposition
of landlords to all species of sanitary improvement,
but there are also the ignorance and
mischievous perversity of the tenants; and these