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which the houses are old and dilapidated, and are
so saturated with the filth of ages, that nothing will
thoroughly cleanse them. Can it be surprising,
therefore, that they are the constant abodes of
disease; that tabes and scrofula, and hydrocephalus,
are the endemic maladies which strike down the
infant; and that phthisis and renal affections are the
disorders which shorten the life of the adult? Nor is
it to be wondered at that they are frequently visited
by graver forms of disease, as fever and alvine disorders.
In one sense, perhaps, it is encouraging to
find that City improvements are fast encroaching
upon this kind of property; and if it were not that
the destruction of it always leads to the overcrowding
of other places equally unfit for a
residential population, its demolition would be a
manifest advantage. But in this age of improvement,
there is little or no concern for the domestic
wants of the poor, and the mischiefs which are
growing out of such neglect, will soon call for active
legislative interference. Model lodging-houses
which were built and intended for the poor, are
occupied by a superior class of persons, and in
reality, there is no house accommodation provided
for those who are so largely displaced. What
therefore can be expected but this terribly necessitous
over-crowding, which the sanitary officer vainly
endeavours to lessen? That the habits of the poor