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BRITISH ASSOCIA TION-OPENfNG ADDRESS. 107
surplus at his aommand. But the fact is that little can be
done in snoh a matter by any minister unless he be snpporfed
by a strong public opinion.
Tbe remarks which I most wished to make are now eompleted,
and there only remain one or two minor topiofl to
which I wilI more briefly allude.
The excessive mortality in great towns seams to demand
more close attention than it has received. For many years
Liverpool stood at or near ths top of the list as regards
mortality, but by strenuous efforts it has been rendered more
healthy. Manchester, on tho other hand, rtlthough often considered
tho best pnvcd, best wntorod, and in some other
respects the best rnnnnged town in the country, hns lately
taken a very high or evon tho highest pIuce as regards
mortality. In Salford, too, tho death-rato has steadily grown
in recent yonrs. It would seem as if we were ontirely at fault,
and that dl our o5ccrs of henlth, snnitnry commissionors, and
the improvements of science and civilisation, cannot prevent
nearly twice as many peoplo from dying as would die in a
healthy and natural st,ato of things.
Withiu the last few months attention has boen drawn to
this subject by a prolonged discussion in The &?tcheeter ,
Guccrdicct~. It was occasioned by Nr. Basendell, who brought
before the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society
cert,nin statistics tending to sllom that tllc mortality of
"anohester mas not duo to any pcculiar excess in tho rnto of
infantile mortnlit~y. It mas an old opinion that iu a manufacturing
tovn like Manchester the children are neglected, while
their mothers are employed at tho mills ; but Mr. Ihxondell
showed that tho dcnths of infants under fivo years actually
bear a less proportion to the wholo number of deaths than in
any other of the large towns. This conclusion N ~ S somewhat
severely criticised by the Medical Officer of Health for Salford,
and by Dr. Rnnsome and Mr. Royston, of the Manchester
Sanitary Association. The latter gentlemen pointed out that
the true mode of computation is to compare the deaths of
infants with the number of infant,s living, and- the deaths of
adults with t.he number of adults. But even when calculations