"This is not a school--it seems a baby-farm. Seventeen children in a small, filthy hovel. There were four infants a few months old; one lay on a small bed, another in a small cot, and the two others in positions which I cannot here describe. The little ones were quite naked. The woman who pretends to look after this 'school' was engaged in a back yard washing. From the woman down to the infant, all here seemed steeped in ignorance and wretchedness." Here is a case reported by the Medical Officer of Health for Whitechapel, so late as 1880:-- "A schoolroom at 11, Pelham Street, Spitalfields; 9 feet long × 8 × 8. There were twenty-five children aged 4-7, and the master and his wife, in all twenty-seven persons, giving 21·3 cubic feet for each." And here is a report of an early crêche, or baby farm, also in Whitechapel, in 1879:-- "The Sanitary Inspector found on the ground floor of 24, Freeman Street, Spitalfields, a woman and twenty-five children all under three. They were left in charge of the occupier of the room from nine until 5.30 p.m., who was paid 3d. per week per child. The room was 15 feet × 7 × 7, thus affording 28 cubic feet of space per child!! The room was badly ventilated, there were neither chairs nor seats, the children were on the floor, which was in a wet and dirty condition." The other causes of insanitation were also flourishing. "Noxious businesses" of various kinds continued to pollute the atmosphere, despite legislation against them, and the existence of local authorities charged with the administration of that legislation--a permanent pollution all the year round, and from which there was no getting away. Very commonly the arches under the railways were used for making and storing artificial manures, the smell from which was intolerable. The Medical Officer of Health for St. Mary, Newington, 1871:-- "The private manure-mixing yards have ever been the cause of much annoyance and illness to those living in the neighbourhood. One of these," he added, "had for years been complained of." And yet the Vestry had not shut it up. And the air was tainted and vitiated by the emanations from them, the owners having no vestige of regard for other people's health. Another cause of insanitation was the existence of slaughter-houses throughout London, in the most crowded parts, and in close propinquity to dwelling-houses; indeed, in the yards of some of them were slaughter-houses, with all their unpleasant concomitants. Cow-houses, too, also close to houses, were numerous, and, in the outer parts of London, even piggeries. A great opportunity was lost in 1874 for greatly diminishing, if not actually terminating, the great "nuisance" of slaughter-houses.