INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 267 



laws, thus presents itself as the only one in accord- 

 ance with observation and past experience ; and. 

 after the full exposition I have already given of the 

 conditions of health of various important organs, I 

 trust little further proof will be required. At the 

 same time, as the principle is full of practical value, 

 I will take a short review of some facts which go 

 far to establish its accuracy. 



Considering that the human frame is constructed 

 to endure, in many cases, for sixty, seventy, or 

 eighty years, it must seem extraordinary to a re- 

 flecting mind that, in some situations, one-half of 

 all who are born should die before attaining ma- 

 turity ; and that, of 1000 infants born and reared in 

 London, 650 die before the age of ten years. It is 

 impossible to suppose that such a rate of mortality 

 was designed by the Creator as the unavoidable fate 

 of man ; for, by the gradual improvement of society 

 and a closer observance of the organic laws, the pro- 

 portion of deaths in early life has already been greatly 

 reduced. A hundred years ago, when the pauper in- 

 fants of London were received and brought up in 

 the workhouses, nmid impure air, crowding, and 

 want of proper food, not above one in twenty- 

 four lived to be a year old ; so that out of 2800 

 received into them, 2690 died yearly. But when 

 the conditions of health came to be a little better 

 understood, and an act of Parliament was obtained 

 obliging the parish officers to send the infants to 

 nurse in the country, this frightful mortality was 

 reduced to 450, instead of upwards of 2600 ! Can 

 evidence stronger than this be required to prove 

 that bad health frequently arises from causes which 

 man may often be able to discover and remove, and 

 which, therefore, it is his bounden duty to investigate 

 and avoid by every means which Providence has 

 placed within his reach ? 



The different rates of mortality in crowded cities 

 and country villages equally demonstrate the influ- 



