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upon the poor and wage-earning class. The children of the
wealthy and of those in easy circumstances of life, enjoy
opportunities in regard to recreation unshared by the less
fortunate. With them, distance from the scene of daily
employment is not the insuperable obstacle. Residence
may be chosen in consideration of the requirements of
the family, and country and seaside change supplies a
common alternative to the monotony of town life.
The Royal Commissioners in their report upon the houses
of the working classes speak of the effect which close
building has upon health.
"In St. Luke's, ophthalmia among the young is very prevalent
and can be traced to the dark ill-ventilated crowded
room in which they live.
"Among adults too, overcrowding causes a vast amount of
suffering which could be calculated by no bills of mortality
however accurate. Even statistics of actual disease consequent
on overcrowding would not convey the whole truth
as to the loss of health caused by it to the labouring classes.
That overcrowding lowers the general standard, that the
people get depressed and weary, is the testimony of those
who are daily witnesses of the lives of the poor. The general
deterioration in the health of the people is a worse feature
of overcrowding even than the encouragement by it of
infectious disease. It has the effect of reducing their stamina
and thus producing consumption and diseases arising from
general debility of the system. Nothing stronger could be
said in describing the effect of overcrowding than that it is
even more destructive to general health than conducive to
the spread of epidemic and contagious diseases."
In the out-patient department of one of our large
hospitals, evidence has been collected upon the condition