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mortality, in a season when all who passed near the polluted
river which flows through London, were compelled to press
their nostrils closely together, in order to shut out the
disgusting odour which was wafted to them from that
noisome stream. Had such a calamity, as the Cholera then
come upon us, those pestilential gases, which the coarsest
senses shrank from with an instinct of disgust and dread,
might very probably have renewed amongst us horrors as
extensive and appalling as those of the plagues of by-gone
days. By God's goodness no such epidemic came; but the
warning should not therefore be less heeded, nor the resources
for security be less diligently sought for or less
actively employed.
On an investigation of the causes of death, I noticed one
fact, to which I consider it desirable to direct your spccial
attention. I allude to the very large number of children,
who arc returned as having been accidently burnt to death,
In most cases, these deplorable occurrences will doubtless be
found to have arisen from the neglect of their parents, who,
either from the necessity of absence, or culpable inattention,
have left their children unprotected at home, and consequently
liable to any disaster which might chance to befall
them. The constant recurrence of such accidents in our
hospital returns is strongly suggestive of the necessity of
some plan, like that already adopted in certain parts of
London, by which children might be taken carc of and provided
for during the day, whilst their parents were absent.
Infant nurseries have been instituted, as a means of meeting
the requirement in question, where, by payment of a trifling
sum, children of all ages are received from their parents
while the latter are engaged in their ordinary daily occupations,
and callcd for at the close of the day. Nothing seems