NATURAL HISTORY. 
33 
Does not such a fact as this, in conjunction with 
others of a similar nature, shew, that it would be 
desirable that an act should pass the legislature to 
compel those who erect any considerable range of 
dwelling houses, so to choose their site, that the 
necessary drainage may be effected ; the neglect of 
which must necessarily produce disease and its con- 
sequences a squalid population. But notwithstanding 
these defects in the medical police of Worcester, 
it must be conceded that fever is seldom epidemic in 
it. Nor is it only in the town of Worcester that we 
have the satisfaction to observe this comparative 
freedom from fever. Even in Kidderminster, where 
a large manufacturing population is pressed together, 
and where formerly, in the days of Dr. Johnstone, in 
the last century, scarlet fever and malignant sore throat 
were so fearful and so destructive, these diseases 
now very seldom assume a severe form. The im- 
provement in the health of the town in this respect 
may fairly in a great degree be attributed to a careful 
attention to the state of the small river, the Stour, 
which passes through it, by which accumulations 
of filth are prevented, and much of the ground, that 
was formerly marshy, is no longer visited by floods. 
Ague as a disease has almost ceased in this county, 
we rarely see a case of it ; although within the last 
few years it has been rather more prevalent than 
formerly. 
By consulting our infirmary records, I find that 
fifty years ago a large proportion of cases admitted to 
that institution were for ague ; but I doubt whether 
