1871. 1881. Kingston 55,929 77,057 Richmond 26,145 33,633 Reading 33,340 43,494 Windsor 26,725 31,992 Staines 20,199 23,774 Uxbridge 25,538 27,550 Brentford 71,933 101,706 Eton 24,928 27,721 Wycombe 38,366 40,278 Henley 18,916 19,992 Oxford } 21,016 21,902 Headington } 22,756 28,723 --------- --------- 385,791 477,822 I am well aware that some of the districts in the above list are below the intake of the water companies, but the figures serve to show how rapid is the increase of population in the valley of the Thames, which is one of the most popular districts in the whole country. This concentration of people along the banks of the river must have the effect of lessening the purity of the water which we drink. Thus it is evident that what I have called the loose end of our sanitation is a growing expense and a growing danger. Hygiene, to be a permanent benefit, should move along natural lines, and organic refuse ought to be committed to the soil as quickly as possible, when it would cease to be a danger, and would prove a source of profit. If the evil effects of free trade are to be counteracted, it will be by returning the refuse of our towns free of cost to the impoverished agriculturist. If we in England go on as we are going, and if our brethren in the Colonies follow our example, as they are doing, I believe our race must become extinct, and it will be a Chinaman rather than a New Zealander who will sit in contemplation on the ruins of London Bridge. CHAPTER II. LONDON FROM THE MEDICAL POINT OF VIEW. It is impossible to appreciate the causes of the insanitary condition of Old London without a knowledge of the state of medical education at the time. This chapter will show clearly that scientific medicine is of comparatively modern growth, and it will not need any professional training to distinguish between the superstitious dogmas of the past and those scientific principles which have resulted from the systematic study of medicine by strictly scientific methods. If the scientific study of medicine should from any cause be checked, there can be no doubt that we should soon again make acquaintance with those pestilences which wrought such fearful havoc in the Middle Ages. CHAUCER’S DOCTOR.