DEATH-TOLL OF ENGLAND AND WALES. 133 



would have been heavier had not sanitary or other influences 

 been active to counteract the increase of morbific agencies 

 that have been at work. 



It is not difficult to prove that certain important causes of 

 excessive mortality have of late years increased consider- 

 ably in their pressure upon the populations of England and 

 Wales ; and I would specially advert to three of these : — 

 I. The density and size of towns; 2. Intemperance; 3. 

 The improper feeding and treatment of children. 



I . The Density and Size of Towns. 



" In the last twenty years/^ says Dr. Farr, ''the towns 

 of England have increased from five hundred and eighty 

 to nine hundred and thirty eight, their population from 

 nine to fourteen millions." — Supplement to 35th Ann. 

 Rep. p. viii. 



The population throughout the country has increased so 

 that, on the average, there are now 1*74 acre to each in- 

 habitant; and in the decade 1841-50 there were 2"2i; and 

 in most of the towns there is a still greater proportional 

 increase in the density. Thus in London it has doubled, 

 the acreage to a person sinking from '04 to "02 ; and the 

 same proportional decrease of acreage is found at Ply- 

 mouth ('04 to '02) ; at East Stonehouse it has sunk from 

 •02 to "Oi ; in Salford and Portsmouth the space has 

 diminished from "oS to "05, in Leicester from '07 to '04, 

 in Stoke-on-Trent from '23 to •15, in West Bromwich 

 from '32 to "19. 



It is not easy to estimate the exact effect upon health of 

 this crowding together of populations. Its operation is 

 compounded of many distinct elements. Thus Ur. Farr 

 himself ascribes a direct influence to the dead and decom- 

 posing organic matter floating in the air of towns, the pro- 

 duct of respiration and of excrementitious matter of all 

 kinds ; and there can be little doubt that it is a powerful 



