A few remarks on the state of disease and sanitary arrangements in the Hundred of Wirral / by William Hewitt.

  • Hewitt, William
Date:
1857
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A few remarks on the state of disease and sanitary arrangements in the Hundred of Wirral / by William Hewitt. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    sensible to zymotic influences, which, however, prove fatal to their children and cattle. I shall now briefly enumerate a few of the most common diseases in this locality. FEVER. Undoubtedly one of the most common diseases in this locality is what is usually called fever. This fever at its commencement presents no very decided characters. We should hardly be justified in styling it typhus or typhoid, and still less so pure inflammatory fever. Some subjects are more seriously affected by it than others, and if neglected it may pass into typhus, but, generally speaking, such a termination is rare. Of late years all fevers have manifested a decided tendency to become typhoid, that is, have assumed a lower and more unhealthy character. This tendency has not been confined to diseases affecting man, but to the lower animals also. I shall have to refer to this again. It is not my intention to mention any of the symptoms of this fever, which is pretty well known to all of you, but content myself with mentioning that such a disease does exist to a considerable extent in this locality; and this fact, taken in conjunction with the statement of the Registrar General, naturally leads us to investigate the cause. The fever I have before mentioned is endemic, or confined to a certain place, from which it does not seem to spread; it is therefore neither contagious nor infectious, that is, so long as it retains its original characters, not having degenerated into typhus or typhoid. The first question that may naturally be asked is, Why this variety of fever should emanate from one spot, and affect those the immediate vicinity ? The answer is simple: because the in exciting cause is close at hand; and that exciting cause in this locality, and in fact in all agricultural districts, in the unwholesome and dirty state of the farm yards. The description of a surgeon practising on the east coast is fully corroborated by myself. He says, in speaking of the farm yards and premises, “ The drainage is bad; the cattle yards and sheds are brought too near the dwelling-house, in order that they may be more easily overlooked ; the drainage, if any, is by the surface, into the nearest pond or ditch ; the yards are filled with sodden excrement and straw; in