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the house. Every article of bedding, clothing. &c., in the room in which
a person has died of small-pox, or other infectious or contagious disease
should be disinfected with sulphurous acid gas, and it should remain for
some time exposed to the atmosphere before the same is again occupied by
another person. How far the mourning coaches, which among the poor
are frequently employed for conveying the corpse to the cemetery, and
which in many instances are filled with the relatives of the deceased, may
be a cause of contagion, is a subject well worthy of investigation.
The vaults underneath the Churches of Whitechapel, Spitalfields,
Trinity, Miuories, the German Church in Little Alie Street, the Lutheran
Church in Hooper Square, and the Danish Church in Wellclose Square have
been properly secured, aud no nuisance from the numerous dead bodies
which were buried in them can now arise therefrom.
In addition to the substantial benefits above enumerated which
have accrued to this District since the formation of your Board,
the District has partaken in an equal degree with other parts of the
Metropolis of the benefits derived from the compulsory education of
children, as is seen in the diminution of juvenile crime. The valuable
assistance which Sauitary Boards have derived from the energies of
the School Board officers in visiting the residences of many of
those children who are compelled to attend school is a matter to be acknowledged.
The co-operation of the sauitary officers with the School Board
officers is most important, for it will be found that the physical health of
the children will keep pace with their advancement in knowledge aud their
improvement in moral health. Tho teaching of children merely to read,
write and cipher, will do very little towards making them think; and unless
children are taught to think they will not become useful members
of society, nor acquire a feeling of self-respect and a respect for
others. Habits of industry must be instilled into children at an early
age, so that when they leave school they may feel pleasure in performing
useful labours. As the maintenance of health is all important to their
success in life, the elements of physiology should be taught in every school.
The advantages which the public has derived by the exertions of the
several Boards and local authorities are also seen in the last annual report of
the Registrar-General. At page IX. in this report, it is stated that "in 1837
not more than 58 in 100 men and women possessed the art of reading and
writing; but there has been progress, and I have year by year assiduously
noted the increase in these numbers in the 39 years, so that I am now able
to report that instead of 58, eighty-one in a hundred write their names in
the marriage registers"
"The economic value of a population depends very much on their
command over the powers of nature which they acquire by education, but