ABSTRACT
The growth of urban civilization, though familiar in Britain, also has profound effects in the less developed world. Infectious diseases, which ravaged such concentrations of population in previous centuries, are now under control, but evidence continues to emerge that crowding is a potent cause of disease. Studies on animal population (Christian, 1964; Calhoun, 1973; Ratcliffe and Snyder, 1962) have demonstrated a wide range of physical and psychological effects from crowding, including diminished stature, hypertrophy of the spleen and adrenal glands, glomerulohephritis, reduced immunological reactivity, delay in sexual maturation, increased sensitivity to alloxan-induced diabetes, and premature atheroma. Studies on human populations have come up with similar findings, though open to alternative interpretations.
