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therefrom a temporary relief from depression, and education has
most probably never taught him how pernicious such a practice is
to the health of his body, and how destructive to the faculties of his
mind. All teaching must be, and will be of no avail, while such a
state of things is tolerated, and to use the eloquent words of Mr.
Simon, " No sanitary system can be adequate to the requirements
of the time, or can cure those radical evils which infest the underframework
of society, unless the importance be distinctly recognised,
and the duty manfully undertaken of improving the social condition
of the poor."
Following out these principles, on the 14th March, 1856,1 visited
a row of houses in Kenning's Buildings, popularly nicknamed
"Rabbit Hutch Row" on account of their ruinous and dilapidated
condition. These tenements are without drainage or water supply.
They are eight in number, built of wood and tiled, each consisting
of a ground floor only, subdivided by a partition into two rooms with
a door and window at each end of the house. The planks composing
the outside of the houses have evidently not been painted for
years, and are in many places falling asunder. I entered No. 8,
tenanted by Cogan, the inside was in worse condition than the out,
it was neither wind nor water tight. No. 4, tenanted by Dowsett,
was in rather better condition, though still wretchedly bad; but at
No. 1 the ceiling had fallen in, and daylight could be seen through
the roof and sides of the house. I never saw a more miserable
hovel used as a human habitation. Two houses were closed and
untenanted, and at the other three I knocked but could not gain
admission. The worst part, however, is still to come. The privies
are built two together, back to back, immediately behind the houses.
At No. 1 the seat of the privy had fallen in, and the whole is in
such a dilapidated state, that it cannot be used. At No. 8 the
privy has no sides, but consists merely of a seat and a few tiles
overhead, so that any person in it would be quite exposed to the
view of the passers by. At Nos. 5 and 6 the privies have been
pulled down and the bogs left uncovered. Every minute they are
sending forth their polluted and poisonous exhalations, and the inmates
of the adjoining houses are literally living in an atmosphere
of decomposing human excrement. I feel satisfied that such abominations
will not be long allowed to survive after being brought
under the notice of this Vestry.
Mortality of the Month.
The number of deaths registered in Rotherhithe during the past
month was thirty-nine. As in February, diseases of the chest predominated
as causes of death, namely, pneumonia, bronchitis, and
phthisis. There was one death from croup in twenty-four hours in a
child fourteen months old. One man aged 40, died of carbuncle,
complicated with erysipelas of the face. This disease (carbuncle) appears
to me to have become more common of late years. No diarrhœa.