292 



LIFE IN MONTREAL. [Chap. VII. 



The next year (1868) they had to regret that the Council 

 had made no official reply to their statement : and the apathy 

 of the authorities had discouraged many of the voluntary 

 workers. " There were 2063 deaths of infants under one year; 

 so that of every five children born in our city, only three could 

 gain the right to live more than twelve months. If one of our 

 citizens is deservedly sentenced to the Penitentiary for ten 

 years, for preventing the birth of one child, is there no guilt 

 chargeable on the owners of property, on the official guardians 

 of the public health, and on the educated and Christian inhabi- 

 tants generally, who, by the neglect of the plainest sanitary laws, 

 allow such a frightful waste of infantile life ? " There were, 

 however, proofs that they had not laboured in vain. Many of 

 the officials were helpful : nearly five miles of sewerage had 

 been constructed : their President, W. Workman, Esq., had 

 been elected Mayor, and the new Health Committee of the 

 City Council seemed more in earnest. " They hope that the 

 time is not far distant, when it will be felt cheaper to secure 

 the services of a medical Officer of Health, who has learnt not 

 only how to cure, but how to prevent disease, than to depend 

 on the partial labours of volunteers, however cheerfully ren- 

 dered, and of policemen who have never studied the laws of 

 health ; when it will be acknowledged wiser to lay out streets 

 and build houses in a healthy manner, than by bungling and 

 patching to produce imperfect results at a grievous cost ; when 

 our rulers, instead of asking the people, and especially the 

 richer class, to obey the Health Laws (sometimes without 

 doing it themselves), will compel them to do so, with the quick 

 and strong arm of power, such as all feel necessary when there 

 is a danger of fire or other grievous calamity ; and when the 

 money which is freely spent in magnificent buildings or other 

 objects, desirable indeed but not essential, will not be grudged 

 to give a chance of life to our little ones, and preserve to our 

 adults the power to work and to be happy. " " In order to lay 

 the foundation of a free reference library on sanitary subjects, 

 [Philip] lent his whole collection (including several works now 

 out of print) to the Board of Arts, whose library is always open 



