288 The Public Health. [April, 
bers of the community. The buildings were spoken of as intended 
for dwelling-houses, one story in height, in a narrow lane closed up 
at each end, and to which access can only be had by means of a 
covered passage. We say “intended,” for at the time of the report 
they were not ready for occupation. Will it be believed that in 
enlightened Glasgow, with its boundless wealth, its hundreds ot 
churches and other institutions of a religious, moral, and philan- 
thropic character, that dwelling-houses placed back to back, without 
any provision for ventilation, could be erected in the year of grace 
1868, and that under the eye of the police authorities? We may 
well ask, of what use is the Glasgow Police Act, passed in the year 
1866? 
It will be seen from the foregoing remarks, that there is not 
much of a very favourable character to report regarding Glasgow 
from a Public Health point of view. Of the sanitary state and 
prospects of other towns in Scotland much might be said, were 
there sufficient space at our command. All that is possible under 
the circumstances is a very brief reference to a few points of the 
greatest interest. 
During a large part of the last twelvemonth, the city of Edin- 
burgh has undergone such a minute and systematic visitation and 
inspection as have revealed a social and sanitary condition so hideous 
that one is tempted to regard with great doubt many of the state- 
ments just recently made at a meeting where the formal reports of 
the visitation committees were submitted to discussion and for 
approval. The movement originated in April last, with Lord 
Provost Chambers, of the eminent publishing firm. In his remarks 
as chairman at the meeting referred to, he said :—‘ We have called 
attention to the gross condition of the lower classes of Edinburgh— 
the intemperance, the want of proper houses, the discomfort of their 
dwellings, the want of proper air, light, and water, the demoralizing 
influences which prevail throughout the city in many ways, and the 
appalling fact, more particularly, that one in every nine of the 
population is a pauper! That is a very distressing thing.” 
Dr. Alexander Wood directed attention to the total absence of 
water and water-closets in the houses of many of the poor, and 
mentioned that some of the new houses which had recently been 
erected for the poor had the same defects as the old houses, referring 
especially to some buildings in the classic Canongate, where there 
are 33 families living in 35 rooms—including 24 children under 
five years of age and 101 adults—with no sink, water, or water- 
closet. The rooms, it seems, in which whole families live, average 
about 10 feet square. Another speaker, Sir James Y. Simpson, 
made the astounding statement that in Edinburgh—the “modern 
Athens ”—there are 60,000 people—one in every three of the 
population—living in houses of one room only. That is some- 
