1865.] On the Predisposing Causes of Pestilence. 387 



the law compels obedience ; whilst in Paris it is so well known that 

 the criminal tribunals are sure to endorse and give effect to the well- 

 considered recommendations and decisions of the " Commission des 

 Logements Insalubres," that offenders are only too glad to repair the 

 breach of the law (as we shall presently find they do in the large 

 majority of cases) by what our neighbours call a settlement " a l'anii- 

 able," an expression so expressive that there is no need for its translation. 



In the Beport issued by the Commission for 1852 to 1856 inclu- 

 sive,* we find the following pointed out as the prevalent causes of 

 disease — unhealthy interiors (of dwellings), resulting from want of 

 cleanliness, insufficient light, imperfect ventilation, want of space, 

 occupation of cellars, imperfect water supply, inefficient drainage, 

 humidity, and overcrowding ! precisely the same catalogue of evils 

 that have so long desolated the homes of the poorer classes of Britain ; 

 and in a later Eeportf of its labours, the Commission refers particu- 

 larly to the character of the cellars which are deemed unfit for human 

 habitations. Some of these are described as mere caves, into which 

 a little light and air is admitted through external openings, and it is to 

 these especially that the attention of the Commission has been directed. 

 They have, of course, prohibited their use as day and night dwellings. 



In perusing these reports we may be permitted to remark en 

 passant, that it is impossible not to perceive the fitness of the present 

 form of government in France for certain of the people's wants, and 

 the need that exists for caution in pronouncing upon the suitability of 

 this or that mode of legislation. Imperial rule in Britain would be 

 out of place, and centralization is the abhorrence of Englishmen, but 

 if our readers were to glance over these reports, they would find that 

 the acts of the French legislature in ameliorating the condition of the 

 working classes are probably the very best that could be devised, looking 

 at their position in the moral and intellectual scale, and that there exists 

 a thorough understanding between the people and its rulers. 



Whilst with us private individuals, companies, and municipal 

 councils are occupied with the " Utilization of Sewage " question, in 

 France the initiative is taken by the State ; and in furtherance of 

 another important matter, usually promoted in England by private 

 individuals, namely, the erection of model lodging-houses, we find the 

 coffers of the Imperial Treasury freely opened ; for we are told in the 

 report referred to, that his Excellency the Minister of the Interior 

 having acquainted himself with the nature of the project for providing 

 lodging-houses for the working classes at Lille, had granted 100,000 

 francs to facilitate the construction of these dwellings. It is a pity 

 that we English cannot find it in our hearts to cast away a little of 

 our self-complacency, and that we do not study the ways of our neigh- 

 bours with a view rather to profit by their good example than to 

 criticize their imperfections. 



* 'Commission des Logements Insalubres — Rapport General sur les Travaux 

 de la Commission pendant les anne'es 1852, 1853, 1854, 1855, et 1856." Paris: 

 Charles de Mourgues Freres, successeurs de Vinchon, Imprimeurs de la Prefecture 

 de la Seine. Rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 8. 1857. 



t 'Rapport, 1857, 1858, 1859.' Same publishers. 



2 e 2 



