No. 216.] 465 



bauchery and folly, but they are not compelled to reside in cellars, 

 and chambers ill ventilated, or to associate with filth, in foul air. 

 They are only to be reached by moral teaching. But those whom 

 penury subjects to the necessity of living in the cheapest rooms, who 

 must submit to the hardest extortions, or live in the street, and 

 whose gross ignorance prevents them improving their condition as 

 much as they might, had they a knowledge of the true mode — these 

 constitute a large class for whom humanity demands that we should 

 employ every means in our power for bettering their physical, as well 

 as their moral condition. Of what' use is science, if it cannot be 

 applied to the practical purposes of life, or employed to improve the 

 character and condition of our fellow creatures. It can no longer 

 be shut up in monkish cells, nor yet will I believe that its absence 

 in an officer of health, will, by the community, be regarded as quali- 

 fication for office. 



These pages have become extended to a number entirely unexpected 

 at the commencement, yet no allusion has been made to many mat- 

 ters of sanitary value, which cannot be omitted in the consideration 

 of the general subject, without leaving it in a state of incomplete- 

 ness. The present condition and wished for improvement of the 

 destitute part of our population, have been my specific objects of 

 attention. An extract from the latest (English) work upon the sub- 

 ject of ventilation, recently put into my hands, places this whole 

 subject in its true light. " The dwellings of the extremely poor 

 present scenes of misery, desolation, and woe, which it is afflicting 

 to witness, where the sensibilities are not hardened against the suffe- 

 rings of humanity. They must be seen to be understood, and to 

 draw ou.t that amount of individual sympathy, which they imperious- 

 ly demand, in a civilized and christian community. The station of 

 this country in arts, literature and science, is acknowledged through- 

 out the globe, as well as its naval, military and commercial power; 

 and latterly, its exertions against the slave trade, have given a noble 

 example in the cause of humanity, and soften the recollections of 

 former times. But the regeneration of its own population, or rather 

 the placing of them in that condition which the progress of religion 

 and philanthropy demands, is perhaps a task of more moral grandeur, 

 and of still more difficult execution than any which it has attempt- 

 ed." 



To this I will only add, in conclusion, (what has been before briefly 

 referred to,) that respecting the laws of health and life, it may be 



[Am. Inst.] EE 



