TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 215 



I hope to see a great extension of the instruction in this as well as in other 

 du'ections. 



Assuming the possession of a certain amount of knowledge, which is now all but 

 uimersally spread, the only real difficulty of a thin population in a temperate 

 climate is the protection of life and property. That assured, they can without 

 difficulty supply their material wants in the way of animal and vegetable food and 

 of clothing. A very little and generally a very'easy selection ensures a sufficiently 

 pm-e water supply. Moderate cleanliness will secure sweet air in the houses, and, 

 except in the feus or in certain valleys, there is always pure air out of doors. 1 do 

 not assert that these conditions always exist in sparsely peopled countries ; it is 

 sufficient that they may, and sometimes do, exist. 



Insecurity first, and therewith scarcity of food, have been sufficient causes in most 

 countries and in most times to compel aggregation. Towns, and even large cities, 

 are quite as much a consequence of barbarism as of ci\-ilization. The real problem 

 of civihzation has been to render hfe tolerable in such aggregations, and that problem 

 is only yet partially sohed. We shall see by-and-by that it is now presented to us 

 in a new and Aery troublesome form. It has always been a very difficult question, 

 arid the sacrifice of life due to its imperfect solution has been enormous, and is 

 still large. 



Among the difficulties of town life I reclcon chiefly : — 



1. The insufficient supply of fresh air, whether from overcrowding within the 

 houses, or from narrowness or uuwholesomeness of the streets. 



2. The mere proximity of individuals facilitating the spread of contagious or 

 infectious disease. 



3. The getting rid of excreta or waste products. 



4. A wholesome water supply to be provided and kept pure. 



Of overcrowding I need not say much here ; the circumstances which determine 

 that are the concern of Section F rather than of the Mechanical Section. In this 

 country at least it does not fall to the engineer to plan new cities in the wilderness. 

 What he can do is to palliate the effects of overcrowding by suppljdng the means of 

 ventilation and cleanliness. I do not propose to-day to entangle myself in the 

 great and complex problem of ventilation ; yet it is well not to pass 'one or two 

 points unnoticed. 



It is rather difficult to say what pure air is. So far as health is concerned, the 

 wind oil' the sea or the mountain is pure, or as good as piu-e. Whether the east 

 wind be so or not is an open question. I suspect that its unpleasant character is 

 due more to its dryness, and consequently to its chilling effect— an efl'ect quite 

 independent of its temperature— than to' any actual contamination. Meat and 

 milk, at any rate, will keep good with an east wind at least as well as with a west 

 wind. However this may be, we are all sensible that when we are to leeward 

 of a large town the wind smells of the town. Not to mention factories and 

 unsavoury trades, one day it has passed over miles of hot roofs and walls, and 

 streets of unclean dust ; another day, the rain or the watercarts have converted 

 miles of street into a reeking slough, compared with which a natural fen is a 

 cleanly thing. In any case we know and feel tliat we are breathing the waste 

 products of human industry and of human life, to the detriment of our vitality, as 

 well as to the offence of our nostrils. 



I do not think sufficient attention has been paid to the mischief which may 

 arise from copious watering unaccompanied by careful scavenging. We all know 

 what town mud consists of, its wliolesomest element being probably what makes 

 it look the worst, namely, soot. In Loudon there are hundreds of acres of mud and 

 dirt kept almost constantly moist, by rain when there is any, and by watercarts 

 when there is not. Now it seems to me tliat, merely looking at it from a broad 

 general point of view, this is not likely to be healthy ; "it seems to combuie all the 

 conditions necessary to the carrj-ing on of unhealthy putrefactive and Aeo-etative 

 processes on a very extensive scale. I do not pretend to estimate the quantitative 

 efiect of this as an element of disease, but I think it would be making a large 

 demand on your faith as well as mine to ask you to doubt its qualitative effect. 

 At any rate, I tliink we ought to consider veiy seriously wliether mere watering is 

 any proper substitute for careful and complete' scavenging, and wliether, in fact, we 



IS* 



