OBSERVATIONS ON THE MANAGEMENT OF THE POOR IN SCOTLAND.OBSERVATIONS on THE MANAGEMENT or THE POOR IN SCOTLAND, AND ITS EFFECTS ON THE HEALTH OF THE GREAT TOWNS. BY WILLIAM PULTENEY ALISON, MD, FRSE. YSLLOW AND LATE PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS, EDINBURGH. HONORARY FELLOW OF THE KING AND QUEEN'S COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS IN IRELAND; PROFESSOR ‘THE INSTITUTES OF MEDICINE IN THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH ; AND ONE OF THE PHYSICIANS IN ORDINARY TO HER MAJESTY FOR SCOTLAND, Tha poor shall never cease out of the land."—-Davr. xv. 11. + Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good."—Row. xil. 21. i WILLIAM BLACKWOOD & SONS, EDINBURGH ; . AND THOMAS CADELL, LONDON. MDCCCXL. | 41g. | .PREFACE. In undertaking to give an opinion on a subject -of such extent and importance as the nature of the provisions which it is right and expedient to make for the relief of poverty, in this or any other civilized country, I am quite aware that I may be thought to have entered on a discussion, which is both with- out my province and beyond my powers. When it is stated, however, that in the two great- est cities of Scotland, where the science and civili- zation of the country may be supposed to have at- tained their highest development, and where medi- cal schools exist, claiming as high a rank in point of practical usefulness as any in Europe, the annual proportion of deaths to the population is not only much beyond the average of Britain, but very con-