The parasitic diseases arising from the
introduction into the body, through food, of the larvae of the
entozoa, would cease. That large class of deaths from pulmonary
consumption, induced in less favoured cities by exposure to impure
air and badly ventilated rooms, would, I believe, be reduced so as to
bring down the mortality of this signally fatal malady one third at
least.
Some diseases, pre-eminently those which arise from uncontrollable
causes, from sudden fluctuations of temperature, electrical storms,
and similar great variations of nature, would remain as active as
ever; and pneumonia, bronchitis, congestion of the lungs, and summer
cholera, would still hold their sway. Cancer, also, and allied
constitutional diseases of strong hereditary character, would yet, as
far as I can see, prevail. I fear, moreover, it must be admitted that
two or three of the epidemic diseases, notably scarlet fever, measles,
and whooping cough, would assert themselves, and, though limited
in their diffusion by the sanitary provisions for arresting their
progress, would claim a considerable number of victims.
With these last facts clearly in view, I must be careful not to claim
for my model city more than it deserves; but calculating the mortality
which would be saved, and comparing the result with the mortality
which now prevails in the most favoured of our large English towns, I
conclude that an average mortality of eight per thousand would be the
maximum in the first generation living under this salutary _regime_.
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