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27
is too limited; and however pleasing it may be to
those of cultivated tastes to see trim walks and
varied flowers and shrubs in place of open greens
and commons, I cannot but regret to see how little
use is made by the people of the one instead of
the other. The boundless mirth of children at
their games, and the rude gaiety of working men on
our open commons, were infinitely preferable, in a
sanitary point of view, to the orderly respectability
of the few who now seek quietude in the well-ordered
parks into which some of our commons and greens
have been transformed.
These last subjects may seem somewhat foreign
to the immediate work of your Medical Officer of
Health; but I claim in these Reports the privilege
of pointing out those general principles of sanitary
science, which must be known and understood by
the whole community before they can be acted on
by the Legislature. I believe that the Medical
Officer of Health may be doing as much good by
drawing the attention of his fellow-parishioners to
the general field of sanitary action, as by confining
himself to the details of his own locality. The good
that is to be done by sanitary science is more
through enlightened public opinion acting upon
the whole community, than by stringent laws acting
in particular instances.
In the confidence that I shall ever have your
sympathy and support, as I have had hitherto,