190 REPORT—1 858. 
accounted for by the prevalence of intemperance. It further appears in the same 
Appendix, that whatever may be the primary cause of the greatly augmented mor- 
tality in the army, the immediate cause of it is the prevalence of consumption to an 
extent entirely unprecedented, and quite unknown in connexion with any other series 
of observations in the whole range of vital statistics ; and without a corresponding 
increase from other causes, taking all branches of the army, the deaths from disease 
of the respiratory organs form about 60 per cent. of the deaths from all causes. The 
following abstract, however, places the results in a very distinct light :— 
Asstract B. 
Number of Deaths from diseases of the 
respiratory organs. 
England and Difference 
Vales. Actual. per cent. 
Household Cavalry... 62°870 79 +25°656 
Dragoon Guards, &c. . 251°112 400 +59:291 
Infaitity.t.222 2. .0.s6 or 760°005 1641 +115°902 
Foot Guards ..........6+ 203°560 555 +172°647 
MD Otal iis teccewse wees stan 1:277°547 2675 +109°387 
The Commissioners, finding that the enormous mortality from consumption was 
the great scourge of the army, and that it was impossible to account for its preva- 
lence from any of the causes already described, have, as most readers of the news- 
paper press are no doubt fully aware, attributed it mainly to overcrowding of the 
barracks. 
In my examination before the Commission, and in the papers submitted by me, 
and forming the Appendix already quoted from, the effect of various employments 
on health, the influence of different forms of physical exercises, and the manner in 
which intemperate and irregular habits show themselves in the immediate cause of 
death, are very fully discussed. None of the questions, however, submitted for my 
consideration by the Commission, involved, I regret to say, the consideration of the 
influence of overcrowding or bad ventilation on the development of diseases of the 
lungs, or I should have been glad at the time to have submitted the hypothesis to 
whatever statistical tests were available. Nor has any other witness, nor the Com- 
missioners themselves, supplied any facts or numerical evidence leading to the con- 
clusion at which they have arrived in their Report, that overcrowding in ill-condi- 
tioned barracks is the main cause of the great destruction of life by inducing phthisis 
in the army. 
From the deserved importance attached by the public to the deliberation of the 
Commission, it is in every way most necessary that such means as are available 
should be employed to test the practical value of the empirical opinions on which 
the overcrowding hypothesis is founded. The still imperfect returns made by the 
Registrar-General, however, prevent this from being done in that complete manner 
which is desirable, but they contain much available evidence, which can, although 
only by a considerable amount of labour, be brought to bear on the question. 
Having devoted the necessary time for that purpose, I now beg to submit to this 
Section the results at which I have arrived. 
That a sufficiently broad basis might be taken on which to found or establish a 
reliable test, I have taken the returns of the mortality for the whole of England and 
Wales, and the various districts thereof, for the seven years 1848-54. 
As shown in details in Tables I., II., III., [V., V., and VI. inclusive, the mor- 
tality per cent. has been determined for the different terms of life, and for the various 
classes of diseases. 
Ist. For the whole of England and Wales. 
2nd. For London. 
3rd. For those districts of the kingdom in which the density of population varies 
from *28—*72 per hectar (the hectar equals nearly 2} acres). 
