32 
ILLUSTRATIONS OF 
being frequently inundated, particularly in the sou- 
thern parts of the county, as about Upton, where, 
after floods, (which almost surround the town) the 
population is liable to sore throat, bronchitis, and 
low fever. 
The stream of the Severn is much increased after 
entering the county, by three small rivers and two 
canals which join it before it reaches Worcester. 
The river flows rapidly by Worcester in a winding 
but for the most part south-easterly direction. The 
chief streets of the city are situated several feet above 
the river, and the consequence is that although the 
river rises very high in time of floods, the inhabitants 
of these parts are not affected by them ; but those 
in the lower parts, chiefly inhabited by the poor, as in 
Turkey, Cripplegate, and Hylton lane, are very liable 
to be inundated, and thus from the stagnation of 
water in the ditches and low grounds, miasmata 
arise, and the inhabitants, consequently, after rainy 
seasons suffer from fever and inflammatory disorders. 
From want of draining, also, other parts of the city 
are rather liable to disease. This objection unfortu- 
nately applies to some of the houses that have been 
most recently erected ; in the Blockhouse Fields, for 
example, the houses are erected upon a low marshy 
ground, and from the circumstance of the bed of the 
canal, which runs near it, being higher than the 
foundation on which the houses are built, it is 
difficult to get an effective drainage ; the result is, as 
the books of our charitable institutions shew, that 
low fever is more frequent here than in other parts. 
