Page:The reports of the Society for Bettering the Condition and Increasing the Comforts of the Poor (IA b21971961 0001).pdf/153

Rh, would be useful in all towns; but particularly among manufactures, where the poor are incapable of receiving proper medical relief, in their own close and noisome dwellings; and where they are peculiarly liable to communicate contagion, not only to their own family, and to those who dwell under the same roof, but to the neighbourhood. A Board of Health, to prevent the spreading of contagious diseases among the poor, is peculiarly applicable to a crowded town: but it is not exclusively so. It would be very useful in country villages and country neighbourhoods; to assist and stimulate the overseers in that part of their duty, which relates to the health of the poor; and to prevent the progress of infectious disorders.—It is peculiarly in the prevention of disease and contagion, that the benefits return with increase upon the benefactor, and that the merciful receive mercy.