196 
magazine of science and art. 
1830, 81; 1831, 203: of these 119 were from 
cholera, and the conclusion he arrived at was 
that “ the ravages of cholera have been almost 
exclusively confined to persons whose minds 
were greatly depressed by vuguc and undefined 
fears and exaggerated apprehensions; to the in¬ 
firm, the broken down in health from intemper¬ 
ance and debauchery: to the ill-led, ill-lodged, 
and ill-clothed : to the negligent of personal and 
domestic cleanliness, and to those living in dirty, 
confined, ill-ventilated, and crowded situations, 
.Whilst, on the contrary, regular habits, 
nourishing hut temperate diet, the avoidance of 
cold and excessive fatigue, especially in the 
night, cleanliness and tranquillity of mind, have 
been observed to give the greatest chance of es¬ 
cape to those most exposed to the disease, and, 
when accompanied by residence in open and 
clean situat ions, to afford almost total exemption 
from its visitation in its most malignant form. 
The exemption of Birmingham from the 
ravages of this fearful sconrge is one of the most 
remarkable circumstances-of the kind on record, 
and furnishes most convincing proof of its 
superiority in sanitary conditions. On the 
rumoured approach of the pestilence, the people 
here, as elsewhere, became alarmed, and local 
Boards of Health were established! to one of 
which I was appointed medical officer. In that 
capacity, I, of course, assisted in promoting 
every available means of defence against the 
enemy. While doing so, however, I ventured to 
predict that Birmingham'would suffer little, if 
at all, from the disease. I have forgotten not 
the smile of incredulity with which this opinion 
was received. It nevertheless proved correct, for 
although the towns and villages within eight 
miles around were very severely visited, and 
although little or no diminution of the usual 
intercourse occurred, not a single, case of the true 
Asiatic type of the disease appeared in Birmingham, 
and that this was not a merely accidental event 
has been clearly proved by the fact that, in 
neither of the two subsequent cholera epidemics, 
in 1849 and, I believe, 1853, were there a dozen 
cases of the characteristic form. Wiiat has 
already been said of the causes of the superior 
healthiness of Birmingham, as compared with 
other places, will in part account for the fact. 
The peculiar situation of the town, nearly in the 
centre of the kingdom, at a very considerable 
height above the level of the sea, the permeable 
substrata over which it is.built, affording great 
facility for natural drainage, the excellence of its 
system of sewerage, an ample supply of good 
water, and the character of its manufactures, are 
also to he noticed as materially conducing to so 
gratifying a result. 
But I shall far exceed the limit of time to 
which, I understand, I am expected, as nearly as 
possible, to conform, if I go on with this part of 
my subject. It is time, therefore, to invite your 
attention to local matters, and to those circum¬ 
stances connected with our own present and 
probable future sanitary condition, with the 
view of indicating those measures which appeal- 
to me to he necessary to ho adopted, if we would 
avert, or if we cannot altogether do that, at least 
mitigate the severity of those epidemic visita¬ 
tions by which other places where such pre¬ 
cautions have been neglected have so fearfully 
suffered. 
The Registration Act for this colony has not 
yet been long enough in operation to afford 
correct data for estimating the true ratio of 
mortality, nor until the population becomes less 
migratory, and the colony assumes more of the 
characteristics of older Settled countries, will 
they become sufficiently accurate to be quite 
reliable. 
Were wo to take those furnished by the statis¬ 
tical document just presented to our Legislature, 
us strictly or even nearly true, we must come to 
the conclusion that this colony enjoys a most 
enviable exemption from the causes of mortality. 
According to the numbers there given, the ratio 
of mort dity in the year 1855, was 1 iii 66 only. 
This is certainly too good to be entirely true. 
From a notice of a pamphlet, by Dr. llackin of 
Geelong, “ on the health and sanitary condition 
of that town and suburbs," which appears in 
the last number of the. Australian Medical Journal, 
published in Melbourne, I find the ratio of 
mortality there is as high as 1 in 37.4 of the 
population. Now, seeing that the mortality of 
London is only 1 in 40, of all England only 
about 1 in 45 or 6, while that of Birmingham in 
1848 was very little more than that of Geelong 
is now (1 in 36.79), the Doctor is scarcely 
justified in the tone of congratulation he 
assumes. 
For present purposes, therefore, I must con¬ 
sider these statistics as all hut valueless. It will 
he in the future only that their importance can 
become appreciable. Our immediate concern is 
to enquire if we have now existing any of those 
removable causes of disease und premature 
death which have been already adverted to, and 
if so, to endeavour to have them obviated. I 
can assure you from my own knowledge that we 
have. Indeed I may say that there are few 
present but myself who can form anything like 
an adequate conception of the state of some 
parts of this city. It is an old saying that “ one- 
half the world does not know how the other 
half lives," and nothing short of ocular demon¬ 
stration can enable you to form a just idea of 
the mode in which many of the poorer classes 
in this city exist. I will, however, endeavour to 
give you some notion of the condition of a few 
of those places which have come under my 
notice in the performance of my duties as one 
of the surgeons to the dispensary. 
My district comprises Bourke and Macquarie 
Wards, iuclnded in the spate bounded on one 
portion of the circumference by the waters of 
the harbour and on the other by a line drawn 
from Dawes' Battery down George street to 
Liverpool-street, up the latter street to Hyde- 
park, and thence diagonally to W’oolloomooloo 
Bay. 
Behind Boody’s Glasgow Beef house in George- 
street, is a court containing 5 or 6 houses, built 
on its northern side and with a high dead wall 
opposite to them ; the court has but one opening 
—and that not a direct one—from George-street, 
is much below the level of the street, is un¬ 
drained and unpaved, and, therefore, always 
damp: The houses have no back yards, and are 
therefore very badly ventilated, and the ground 
floors of all liut one are considerably below the 
level of the court There are only, I believe, two 
rooms in each, one over theother,communicating 
by an open ladder. The aspect of the place is 
