Partial descriptions of the condition of the labouring classes, in respect to their residences and the habits which influence their health, afford but a faint conception of the evils which are the subject of inquiry. If only particular instances, or some groups of individual cases be adduced, the erroneous impression might be created that they were cases of comparatively infrequent occurrence. But the following tabular return made up from the registration of the causes of death in England and Wales, which is the most complete yet attained, will give a sufficiently correct conception of the extent of the evils in question, when illustrated by the evidence of eye-witnesses, the medical officers whose duty it has been to attend on the spot and alleviate them. The table comprehends the abstract of the returns of the deaths from the chief diseases, which the medical officers consider to be the most powerfully influenced by the physical circumstances under which the population is placed—as the external and internal condition of their dwellings, drainage, and ventilation. _To the Poor Law Commissioners._ _Deaths in Counties from Diseases governed by Locality._ ┌───────────┬───────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ COUNTIES. │Number of Deaths during the Year ended │ │ │ 31st December, 1838 from │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ ├───────────────────────────────────────┤ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1 │ │ │ Epidemic, Endemic, and Contagious │ │ │ Diseases. │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ ├───────────┬──────────┬────────┬───────┤ │ │ Fever: │ │ │Hooping│ │ │ Typhus, │Small-pox.│Measles.│Cough. │ │ │Scarlatina.│ │ │ │ ├───────────┼───────────┼──────────┼────────┼───────┤ │ ENGLAND. │ │ │ │ │ │Bedford │ 155│ 75│ 40│ 66│ │Berks │ 204│ 288│ 21│ 86│ │Bucks │ 256│ 85│ 61│ 27│ │Cambridge │ 231│ 136│ 57│ 90│ │Chester │ 592│ 279│ 178│ 87│ │Cornwall │ 443│ 135│ 168│ 491│ │Cumberland │ 165│ 188│ 11│ 83│ │Derby │ 394│ 77│ 79│ 71│