IN RELATIONTO
DISEASE, POVERTY, AND CRIME
WITH ANAPPENDIX
ON THE CONTROL AND PREVENTION OF
INFECTIOUS DISEASES.
BY
BENSON BAKER, M.R.C.S.E.,
DISTRICTMEDICAL OFFICER AND PUBLIC VACCINATOR OF CHRIST CHURCH,
SAINT MARYLEBONE, MEMBER OF THE NATIONALASSOCIATION
FOR THE PROMOTION OF SOCIAL SCIENCE,LICENTIATE
IN MIDWIFERY, FELLOW OF THEOBSTETRICAL
SOCIETY OF LONDON, L.S.A.,F.A.S.L.
LONDON:
W. TWEEDIE, 337, STRAND, W.C.
1866.
ONE SHILLING.
p. iiLondon:
“Marylebone Mercury” Steam Printing Offices,
6, North Street, Manchester Square, W.
The following pages having already appeared in the form ofletters in the Marylebone Mercury, any preface on my partmight be deemed unnecessary. Having been repeatedly askedto collect and publish them, I intended to revise if not rewritethe whole, but my professional duties have deprived me of thetime, so at once I place them in the hands of my indulgentreaders. This pamphlet does not pretend to be a treatise onHygiène, but simply to hint at some of the evils whicharise from the neglect of sanitary regulations, also to suggestsome simple remedies, and further to try and induce men to regardhealth as one of the most valuable and sacred gifts of God.
BENSON BAKER.
94, Lisson Grove, N.W.
The relation of the rich to thepoor, and the poor to the rich, has always been a subject ofinterest to the philosopher, moralist, economist, andphilanthropist. This relation was, in feudal times, clearlyenunciated, and as vigorously acted upon. The dark days andlong evenings that witnessed the tolling of the curfew bell havepassed away. Since those days we have made advances insocial and political freedom, and class distinctions have becomeless obvious. Freedom of thought has developed a greaterequality of social rights; but are the poor really any better offnow than they were in the days when William hunted in the NewForest? I confess that many will reply in the affirmative;but when I see around me on every side so much disease, poverty,utter wretchedness, and crime, I conceive it difficult for thecondition of man to be worse than that in which thousands in thismetropolis exist. Look at the condition of the overcrowdeddwellings of the poor; they are not homes. The wordhome in its full and happy significance and association isunknown to them. The proud boast of every Englishman, thathis house is his castle, is a mere fiction. “There isno place like home, be it ever so humble,” is a truth tha