1867.] The Public Health. 465 



composed of sandy gravel, is absorbent of fluids. Kefuse of men and animals is 

 allowed to accumulate within tbe town, in large offensive dunghills. In the warm 

 month of September, pigs might be seen standing knee-deep in their own dung. 

 Dirty liquids were stagnating in the sun in some of the narrow back courts, with 

 other foul accumulations unnameable — nuisances alike to sight and smell. 



" The air in Dunkeld is thus seen to be limited in extent, in consequence of the 

 small area surface occupied by houses; and, in consequence of its sheltered site, the 

 streets are screened from the wholesome breezes enjoyed by exposed towns. The 

 ventilation of individual houses is impeded by the plan of the streets, and by trees ; 

 and while such a combination of impediments to free circulation and renewal of 

 the air demands every precaution possible to preserve its purity, a want of proper 

 police regulations permits slovenly dirty people to pollute it for themselves and 

 their neighbours, by habits which, without exaggeration of language, may be 

 termed a disgrace to a civilized society. 



11 In 1851 and 1861 the census returns for the Dunkeld district gave 1,141 and 

 1,080 as the numbers of the population in these years; and the total deaths, within 

 the district from 1855 to 1861, a period of seven years, were 195, or 28 yearly — 

 numbers which are equivalent to a death rate of 25 • 5 for the district. 



" The inhabitants of the town, according to a competent local authority, were 

 about 1,000 in 1851, but in 1861 this number had diminished to 926, while the 

 deaths from 1855 to 1865, inclusive, were 265, or 24 1-1 lth yearly. If 950 be 

 assumed as an average population for the eleven years — and it probably is above 

 the actual number — the death rate for the town alone cannot be less than 25 '5. 

 It is 9*1 in excess of the rate in Grantown,* where the annual deaths among 

 1,500 Living are actually fewer than among a thousand in Dunkeld ; and it exhibits 

 the strange and melancholy spectacle of a small agricultural community, occupying 

 a beautiful Highland valley, who are not more healthy than if they were confined 

 to the dingy courts and lanes of a large town." 



If the author of the paper from which these extracts are made 

 -would add another obligation to that which he has conferred upon 

 society, by publishing these facts, he would do well. Let him draw 

 the attention of some spirited inhabitant of Dunkeld to the 49th 

 Section of the Sanitary Act of 1866, and recommend him to forward 

 a complaint of the disgraceful condition of the little place to the 

 Home Office ; we think we may safely predict that a visit from the 

 Government Inspector would soon reduce the death rate. 



* The author was comparing Dunkeld with Grantown in his paper. 



