116 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



county court judges, and their direct unanimous testimony in favor of the 

 change." 



On the day after the delivery of this address, the society again met, and 

 several hours were devoted to the inaugural addresses of the " Presidents " 

 of the several departments into which the association had been divided for 

 business purposes. These departments were, Jurisprudence and Amendment 

 of the Law, over which Lord John Russell presided; Education, Sir J. Pak- 

 ington ; Punishment and Reformation, Mr. Hill, Recorder of Birmingham 

 (in the absence of the Bishop of London, who had engaged to preside in that 

 department) ; Public. Health, Lord Stanley ; Social Economy, Sir Benjamin 

 Broclie. 



The addresses of these presiding officers were all delivered in the Town 

 Hall, before the whole assembly, before the sections had separated to their 

 several meetings, and were generally, although prepared for delivery to the 

 individual departments to which their respective authors belonged, of a com- 

 prehensive though practical character. 



The address of Lord Stanley, of the section of public health, abounded in 

 statistics, and in very able deductions drawn from them. These statistics 

 had reference to the conditions of living, dieting, and to the sewage of great 

 towns, the last a most important question ; for at present we really only 

 remove a nuisance from our own locality to fix it in that of a neighbor. 

 Our principle is like that of Mohammedan citizens, who, when suffering 

 from the plague, only implore Allah to remove the pestilence to some other 

 town. The closing portion of the noble Lord's speech is well worthy of 

 being read, and remembered. " Dry and unattractive as sanitary studies 

 may appear, they belong to the patriot no less the philanthropist : they 

 touch very nearly the future prosperity and the national greatness of Eng- 

 land. Do not fancy that the mischief done by disease spreading through 

 the community is to be measured by the number of deaths which ensue. 

 That is the least part of the result. As in a battle, the killed bear but a small 

 proportion to the wounded. It is not merely by the crowded hospitals, the 

 frequent funerals, the destitution of families, or the increased pressure of 

 public burdens, that you may test the sufferings of a nation over which sick- 

 ness has passed. The real and lasting injury lies in the deterioration of 

 race, in the seeds of disease transmitted to future generations, in the degen- 

 eracy and decay which are never detected till the evil is irreparable, and of 

 which, even then, the cause remains often undiscovered. It concerns us if 

 the work of England be that of colonization and dominion abroad if wild 

 hordes and savage races are to be brought bv our agency under the influence 



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of civilized man if we are to maintain peace, to extend commerce, to hold 

 our own among many rivals, alike by arts and arms, it concerns us, I 

 say, that strong hands shall be forthcoming to wield either sword or spade 

 that vigorous constitutions be not wanting to endure the vicissitudes of 

 climate and the labors of a settler in a new country. I believe that what- 



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ever exceptions may be found in individual instances, when you come to 

 deal with men in the mass, physical and moral decay necessarily go to- 

 gether ; and it would be small satisfaction to know that we had through a 



