LONDON SANITARY IMPROVEMENTS. 319 



other perfumes to dissipate and break the contagions vapor. This is 

 an instance of the danger of infection proceeding from the corrupt 

 effluvia of dead bodies." 



Many illnesses then originated in churches, and even those whose 

 houses were exceptionally wholesome were often exposed to a danger- 

 ous atmosphere when they went to church on Sundays. 



The general food of the poor and the middle classes addfd greatly 

 to their unhealthiness, and itself caused disease. Owing to the 

 absence of good roads, it was impossible to supply the large popula- 

 tion of London with fresh food throughout the year, and, conse- 

 quently, salt meat and salt fish formed the staple diet during the 

 winter. For the same reason fresh vegetables were unattainable; so 

 that meat, cheese, and bread, with beer as the common drink at all 

 meals, was the regular food, with chiefly salted meat and fish in 

 winter. As a result, scurvy was very common. Dr. Cheyne, in 

 1724, says: " There is no chronical distemper more universal, more 

 obstinate, and more fatal in Britain than the scurvy." And it con- 

 tinued to be common down to 1783, when, Dr. Buchan says, " The 

 disease most common in this country is the scurvy." But very soon 

 afterward it decreased, owing to the growing use of potatoes and tea, 

 and an increased supply of fresh vegetables, fruit, milk, etc., which 

 the improved roads allowed to be brought in quantities from the 

 surrounding country. 



Now, it is quite certain that the excessively unhealthy conditions 

 of life, as here briefly described, continued with very partial amelio- 

 ration throughout the middle portion of the century; and we have to 

 consider what were the causes which then came into operation, lead- 

 ing to the great improvement in health that undoubtedly occurred in 

 the latter portions of it and in the early part of our century. 



Beginning with improvements in the streets and houses, we have, 

 in 1762, an Act passed for the removal of the overhanging sign- 

 boards, projecting waterspouts, and other such obstructions. In 

 1766 the first granite pavements were laid down, which were found 

 so beneficial, and in the end economical, that during the next half 

 century almost all London was thus paved. In 1768 the first Com- 

 missioners of Paving, Lighting, and Watching were appointed, and 

 by 1780 Dr. Black states that many streets had been widened, sewers 

 made; that there was a better water supply and less crowding. 1 

 From this date onward, we are told in the ' ' Encyclopaedia Britannica " 

 (art. " London "), a rapid rate of progress commenced, and that since 

 1785 almost the whole of the houses within the city had been rebuilt, 

 1 See " Fourth Report of the Royal Commission on Vaccination," Q. 10,917. 



