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19
If we suppose that the death in the workhouse
is equally due to the three divisions of the parish,
then we find the most thickly populated district
suffering the same disparity as in the case of
phthisis. Thus, in the Berwick Street district, the
death from diseases of the lungs was one in 169 of
the population, in the Golden Square district one
in 241, and in St. James's Square district one in 392.
Of these deaths, as you see by the above Table, onethird
took place in children under five years of age.
Although so large a proportion of those deaths
occur during the autumn and winter quarters, and
are attributable to the direct agency of cold, it is
very obvious that the Berwick Street district is not
colder than the other parts of the parish, and that
we must look to the operation of other causes for
the explanation of the greater mortality of that
district from these diseases. I believe these causes
will be found in the crowded character of that
population. Where there is crowding there is
defective ventilation, and impure air. Where the
air is impure, the changes necessary to the health
of the body do not go on, and that debility is produced,
which results in those congestions of the
lungs, brought on by exposure to cold, which end
in disease and death. Unfortunately for the health
of the community, people only look at the last link
in this chain of causes, and frequently maintain the
warmth of their houses at the expense of excluding
the fresh air, by which alone the predisposition to
disease can be prevented.