202 report— 1842. 



cause and consequence of destitution * ;" and as inattention to cleanliness 

 may also be considered as an universal attendant of extreme poverty, it is 

 not easy to see how the effects of the one can be traced without these effects 

 being found in some degree to be influenced by the other; nor, indeed, does 

 it seem possible to distinguish ,the effects of extreme poverty from those of 

 defective ventilation and draining, because the poorest people have no choice 

 of residence, and cannot avoid congregating in such numbers as to imply 

 very deficient ventilation. 



The effect of intemperance on the human constitution in producing disease I 

 and death is undoubted; and we too often witness the pernicious effects pro- 

 duced on the family of the drunkard by his expending on what is to injure 

 his health, degrade him in the eyes of his fellow men, and bring him to an 

 early grave, those funds whereby he would be enabled to procure a greater 

 abundance of wholesome food, clothing and fuel for his family, to protect them 

 against the inclemency of the seasons and the ravages of disease, and by be- 

 stowing upon them a better education at once to procure a more happy home 

 for himself and for them. It is gratifying, however, to learn from well-in- 

 formed parties in the towns reported on, that marked improvement has taken 

 place in the temperance habits of the people: and too much praise cannot 

 be bestowed on those philanthropic individuals whose exertions have been 

 the means of urging forward this salutary reformation. 



We have endeavoured, but without success, to ascertain the exact quantity 

 of spirituous liquors consumed by the population of Glasgow. The quantity 

 brought into the city may be easily ascertained ; but the quantity that is sent 

 out of Glasgow, in such portions as may not require a permit for its protec- 

 tion, or even where the requirement of a permit may not be attended to, 

 and which is consumed by the agriculturists, and by many inhabitants of the 

 towns and villages to a considerable distance, round Glasgow, cannot be as- 

 certained, and therefore the amount of population by which the spirits entered 

 in the books of the Excise is consumed cannot be stated. 



Without being in possession of sufficiently accurate information to enable 

 us to state whether a greater excess in the use of intoxicating liquors is more 

 customary in Glasgow than in the other towns for which our tables are 

 constructed, it will readily be admitted that this pernicious vice is too pre- 

 valent in all of them ; and the amount of destitution and misery arising in 

 consequence of it is greatly to be deplored. It has frequently been stated 

 as one of the principal causes of female life being better than that of the 

 males, that the men are more intemperate in their habits than the women. 

 Were this the case, the greatest abuse of spirituous liquors may be looked 

 for in Edinburgh, as the female life in that town is 0*50 per cent, better than 

 the male life. And the most moderate use of spirituous liquors may be 

 looked for in Perth, as the male life is only 0*20 per cent, worse than the 

 female life in that town. In Glasgow the female life is better than the male 

 life by 0*46 per cent.; in Aberdeen by 048 per cent.; and in Dundee by 

 0*33 per centf Were, therefore, the relative mortality of men and women 

 as the indulgence in intoxicating liquors, and the women alike temperate 

 in their habits in the different towns, then these figures would form a sort of 

 index of the degree of intemperance indulged in by the men. It may be 

 objected to this, that the number of females employed at the factories of 

 Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dundee, may have injurious effects on female life, 

 and make the difference in the proportion of male and female deaths in these 

 towns to be less than it otherwise would be. As, however, the inhabitants 



* Dr. Arrot's Report on the fever cases of Dundee. 



f See abstracts of the proportion of male and female deaths. 



