People like to talk about the good old days, but, actually, the cities of the 19th century were dirty and , in many ways, filthier than today. Communicable disease was a great concern. There was still smallpox and also yellow fever, malaria, cholera and typhoid. The infant death rate was high, and there were other dangers as well.  It is true that people were not being killed by cars. However, they often were killed or seriously injured by runaway horses. It was quite common, Dr. Adrian said. Crime was a great concern then too, according to Dr. Adrian. Mugging wasn't as common then, he said, but it did exist. Pickpockets were very skilled, too. Also, from the 1830's on, there were a lot of summer ghetto riots. That wasn't just something from the 1960's. There were several causes, but, basically, it was because many people moved to the cities from rural areas. Planning of cities and their neighborhoods was controlled by land speculators and real estate developers who were only interested in making money. Finally, Dr. Adrian thinks that the situations and problems facing American cities have not changed so much,