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enquiry into this problem has been undertaken at your
pathological laboratory, and you are referred to
pages 75 to 79 which deal with the work of this
laboratory.
It would be rash at the present time to associate
directly the incidence of this form of anaemia with
unemployment, indeed, it should be stated quite
clearly that the factors leading to this anaemia are still
obscure, but I cannot help feeling that a more generous
diet, even if we do not know the precise item it would
supply, would be likely, materially, to alter the incidence
of these cases of anaemia.
During the later months of pregnancy this falling off
in the amount of haemoglobin, as the red colouring
matter is named, is met with even in fine, upstanding
and well fed athletic women, and of course where you
have this abnormal drain upon the resources of the
expectant mother it is not to be expected that some
added nourishment during the later months of
pregnancy is likely, at one and the same time, to arrest
this added drain and augment significantly the amount
of haemoglobin in the blood.
(d) Housing.—The conclusions taken from the
evidence given before the Royal Commission on the
Geographical Distribution of the Industrial Population
show that the factors most important in enhancing
the death rates of residents in towns are (1) crowding
together of houses ; (2) crowding together of people
into houses too small for them ; (3) the apparent
aggravation by urban conditions of other adverse
effects of economic pressure upon the standard of
living and environment ; and (4) the production of
smoke from factories and homes which reduces the
effective sunshine.
In my Annual Report for 1937, I stressed the view
that we ought to consider the number of persons to