And the Medical Officer of Health for Paddington, in his report for 1871, wrote:-- "Serious evils of physical and moral character are found to afflict the population of these overcrowded houses. The want of fresh air, habitual uncleanliness, bad washing accommodation, with other unsanitary conditions, favour the spread of contagion. There is a notable increase of tubercular and consumptive maladies in our large cities, and the low form of vitality engendered in people who do not enjoy fresh air, leads to the abuse of stimulants and tobacco." In 1874 he wrote:-- "... Eighteen per cent. of the whole deaths--a formidable proportion--are from the tubercular class of diseases: a greater proportion than zymotic. The 206 deaths from consumption at ages between 20 and 60 show that there exists some general cause silently working great mischief and undermining the constitution of parents at a period of life in health and strength when they can least be spared from their families." And he added:-- "Large numbers of sickly and weakly children abound in the tenement-houses of our thickly populated streets." Nor were the homes of the people the only place where overcrowding worked its evil will. Many children--how many there is no means of knowing--suffered from it in the schools which they attended. The following extracts from reports of an Inspector of the School Board[127] present a vivid picture of the condition of many schools in existence so late as the year 1874. 1. ---- _School_. "This is a wretched place, a disgrace to the metropolis. The 'school' is held in an old dwelling-house in Clerkenwell. The house was at one time used as a stable. The approach is most unwelcome, and on entering the schoolroom (upstairs) a most deplorable picture presented itself to the eye. Fifty children crowded together in a small, dingy, shapeless room with space for sixteen, and the window and door carefully closed--in fact, the latter and the doors downstairs carefully bolted. The sooner this place is closed the better." 2. ---- _School_. "As regards the accommodation provided, thirty-six young children were sitting in an upper room into which the rays of the sun on a bright day in June could not enter--twilight in mid-day." 3. ---- _School_. "It would be impossible for words to describe the inefficient state of this so-called school. Eighty-two children of different ages--boys and girls--huddled together in a miserable, badly lighted, badly ventilated room, affording accommodation for twenty-three at the utmost. "No books, no apparatus, no seats; floor and bare walls: the 'teacher' an aged man, standing in the midst of a crowd of children and wielding a cane to keep the 'scholars' quiet, and thus the time goes on." 4. ---- _School_.