124 IMPROVEMENT OF LABOURING 



one man could not live, we would rest satisfied 

 with the experiment; and not attempt to 

 naturalize our species by a system of pro- 

 gressive training to live in sinks of iniquity 

 degrading to the British character. 



Although we do not experience the effects 

 of living in London to be greater than what 

 we anticipated, still we feel a very material 

 difference in the quality of the air which we 

 breathe, and this difference is doubled and 

 tripled as we proceed towards the centre of 

 the town. The air is not only more densely 

 loaded with smoke, but also by many other 

 impurities ; and although the last may not be 

 traceable to any particular source, yet they are 

 sensibly felt as being present in a greater 

 degree. There can be no doubt as to the 

 cause of such a difference, and of the impurity 

 of the air in general. The whole arises from 

 the immense amount of decomposition con- 

 tinually taking place. Among old houses, this 

 waste is of course greatest where the materials 

 of the buildings were originally of equal quality. 

 Every house with all its contents is daily and 

 hourly undergoing dissolution, and hence giving 

 off part of their constituent elements in a 



