The dwelling house / by George Vivian Poore.

  • Poore G. V. (George Vivian), 1843-1904.
Date:
1897
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The dwelling house / by George Vivian Poore. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    uiagaziiies at the Port of Ostia, and then offering to the imhai)py llomaiiB the dioice of surrender or starvation. We are often asked to admire the Piouian aqueducts, and Puune is not infrecjnently held up to us as a model to he coi)ied. I fear we are copying her only ttx) exactly, and 1 fear that eciually with Rome we shall find out the futility of a hrutaland reckless exi)cnditure mainly directed towards the starvation of the soil and a senseless struggle with con- ditions imixised on us by Nature. I have heard it suggested that the cultivation of the soil of England is of no imjKjrl- ance, that our islands are destinetl for residential and manufacturing purposes only, and that our sustenance is to depend entirely uj)on * big-bellied argosies ’ l>earing all the treasures of more fertile climes. But the cultivation of the soil and the nurturing of the humus have im]>ortant bearmgs m>on (piestions other than food supply, and if we continue to starve the humus and to convey our lilth beneath it instead of u|>on it, I fear that the cost of living in this country is likely to increase, while the pleasures of existence will diminish. The moral of all that 1 have been saying is to the effect that to nourish the humus and to till it are the inexorable duty of the sanitarian. This simple duty is the key to plentiful food and a good supply of wholesome water. Nature is relentless, and will sooner or later destroy those who neglect to follow her inexorable laws. We iist d to sav that ‘ the weakest ’ (morally, physically, and mentiilly) ‘ must go to the wall.’ Now we use the expression * sur- vival of the fittest ’ to express the same idea. Nature does not relent, but man, in his commendable efforts towards philanthropy, endeavours to relent, and hence the principle underlying much mo<lern sanitary work is the attempt to bring about the survival of the unfittest. If 1 may judge from the criticisms to which at one time and another the