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are 155.3 and 161.3, and in the whole of England
they are 154.8 and 155.1, thus showing a steady
and general increase in the death-rate of infants. The
same is the case with the mortality of children up to
5 years of age; for while in all England there are but
262.3 of such deaths to every 1,000 births, in the
Metropolis there are 293.2, and in the City 348.9—
the range being from 298.5 in the best districts to
392.7 in the worst. All this points to the existence
of certain unwholesome influences that operate most
seriously on infant life in the crowded localities of
our large towns; and these influences are chiefly
referable to the ill-conditioned houses of the poor—
houses, which are not merely structurally defective
and, therefore, unsuited for the use of such tenantry,
but are also so dilapidated from age, and so filthy
from constant occupation, as to be beyond the reach
of sanitary improvement. And it is not alone that such
places are in the highest degree unwholesome ; they
are likewise from their brutal surroundings the
prolific nurseries of crime—persistently forcing upon
the young the worst examples of indecency and
immorality ; and thus it is that the physical and social
atmosphere of such places has its baneful influence
upon the health and character of the inmates. Even
the owners of such property are so influenced by it,
as to be for the most part unwilling to make any
sanitary improvement or to set before their tenantry
any sort of laudable example. This condition of
things has again and again been the subject of severe