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Phthisis or Consumption destroyed 392 persons in
1855 and 334 in 1856. In reference to this and the
other diseases such as Scrofula, and Hydrocephalus,
(the "water-on-the-brain" of infants), I wish to point
to a fact not generally recognised and certainly imperfectly
appreciated by the public, namely, that they are
far more intimately associated with defective general
sanitary conditions and the neglect of personal hygienic
care than is commonly supposed. The origin of Scrofula
and Lung-consumption is frequently traced to an attack
of Hooping-cough, Measles, Scarlatina, or Fever. There
is the same association between Insanity and Epidemic
diseases. I entertain a firm conviction that if we are to
indulge a hope of diminishing Consumption, the disease
which numbers more victims than any other; and
Insanity, that terrible affliction, which carries desolation
and ruin into individual homes, and which already constitutes
an appalling burden on the community; that
hope can only be justified by the steady prosecution of
sanitary improvements.