ON THE DECREASE OF DISEASE EFFECTED BY THE PROGRESS OF CIVILIZATION. By C. F. H. MARX, M.D. PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE IN THE UNIVERSITY OF GÖTTINGEN, ETC. ΤΟ EDWIN CHADWICK, ESQ. Barrister-at-Law, &c. &c. DEAR SIR, There is no man in this great empire, whose name can be so appropriately placed at the head of an essay on the DECREASE OF DISEASE BY THE PROGRESS OF CIVILIZATION, as your own. Allow us the pleasure of placing it there, of expressing, at the same time, the high sense we entertain of your labours, and of associating you, though not of our profession, with its very highest offices, -the diminution of the causes of disease, and through this, the elevation of mankind in the intellectual and moral scale. Your GENERAL REPORT ON THE SANITARY STATE OF TOWNS, is, beyond all question, one of the most valuable contributions that has lately been made to the noblest department of medical science, the Art of preserving the Health of the Community,-and will have an influence upon the human family as long as it exists. With an expression of our sincere respect, and warmest sympathy with your labours, Believe us, Dear Sir, To be yours very sincerely, C. F. H. MARX, R. WILLIS. June 18th, 1844. PREFACE BY THE ENGLISH EDITOR. My distinguished friend, DR. MARX, won all hearts on the occasion of his visit to England in the summer of 1841, and I have always been anxious publicly to show him in what dear remembrance I hold his short stay among us, and how much I prize his friendship and esteem. It seemed to me that I could do this in no better way than by making him known in England in our mother tongue, and I have for some time intended to give to my professional brethren one or other of his smaller works in an English dress. The excellent essay of my friend, "On the Decrease of Disease effected by the Progress of Civilization," enables me, I trust, to present him to a wider circle than that which is merely professional, and thus to extend the sphere of his influence and usefulness. Physicians have no place in the body politic; it would be well for humanity if they had; for who, since the revival of letters in Europe, have been fore |