208 
measures to some extent competent to mitigate their power 
the condition of the country would have been perilous in 
the extreme, and at the present time we are by no means 
free from serious danger owing to their increasing pressure 
— danger of epidemic disease fostered by the organic matter 
generated by overcrowding — danger from intemperance to 
both national health and national wealth — and danger of 
deterioration of race owing to the sickliness and stunted 
growth of the children that survive. It is surely our duty 
then to promote a more efficient system of sanitary adminis- 
tration — to take full advantage of the facilities afforded by 
recent legislation for the improvement of our towns — to try 
to abate the practice of intemperance — and to endeavour to 
spread amongst all classes a knowledge of the laws of 
health. 
