Science in Public Affairs 



served as the type. The results were a terrible 

 indictment of the life of the people in great cities. 

 An intimate connection between housing and 

 health was established. In Aberdeen most of the 

 children were drawn from three-roomed houses, 

 in Edinburgh from two-roomed houses. In Aber- 

 deen 0.5 per cent, of the children were in apparent 

 poor health, in Edinburgh 19.17 per cent, and in 

 both towns the proportion in bad health varied 

 directly with the more or less crowded condition of 

 the district from which the children were drawn. 

 Along with bad housing came, as a rule, bad feeding. 

 As effects and causes the two conditions were prac- 

 tically inseparable. The schools were all compara- 

 tively healthy buildings, and " race " differences 

 were hardly felt. It was the home life that told 

 its story in such figures as these : l 



Mental dullness : Aberdeen, 8.8 per cent. ; Edinburgh, 12.33 

 per cent. 



Badly nourished : Aberdeen, 9 per cent. ; Edinburgh, 29.83 

 per cent. 



The Edinburgh child is nearly ij ins. shorter and 

 5 Ibs. lighter than the Aberdeen child, while the 

 latter is nearly up to the British average, but is 

 both shorter and lighter than the American. Height, 

 weight, pallor, bad health, bad nutrition, want of 

 alertness, and bad carriage, all alike told against 

 the children of the capital, even as compared with 

 those of Aberdeen, though these were by no means 

 all that could be desired. 



The Commissioners were not able to decide as 



1 p. 24. 

 4 



