Ch. xii. Effects of Epidemics on Registers, fyc. 513 



these instances exceeded the food and the accom- 

 modations necessary to preserve them in health. 

 The mass of the people would, upon this sup- 

 position, be obliged to live worse, and a greater 

 number of them would be crowded together in 

 one house ; and these natural causes would evi- 

 dently contribute to produce sickness, even though 

 the country, absolutely considered, might not be 

 crowded and populous. In a country even thinly 

 inhabited, if an increase of population take place 

 before more food is raised, and more houses are 

 built, the inhabitants must be distressed for room 

 and subsistence. If in the Highlands of Scotland, 

 for the next ten or twelve years, the marriages 

 were to be either more frequent or more prolific, 

 and no emigration were to take place, instead of 

 five to a cottage, there might be seven ; and this, 

 added to the necessity of worse living, would 

 evidently have a most unfavourable effect on the 

 health of the common people. 



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