Report on leprosy / by the Royal College of Physicians, prepared for Her Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies, with an appendix.

  • Royal College of Physicians, London
Date:
1867
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report on leprosy / by the Royal College of Physicians, prepared for Her Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies, with an appendix. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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    i izing causes as stated in the notes of the registrars:— houses old and ill cleansed, and many deaths from Cholera have taken place in it.” St. John’s District. Deaths, 1849.—Cholera, 212; Diarrhoea, 60. Deaths from Cholera to 10,000 living = 62. Tlie classes chiefly attacked were mechanics, labourers, and their famihes residing in— Regent'street. Lower Garden-street. Douglas-street. Emerj'-cottages. Chapter-street. Edward-street. Causton-cottages. Duck-lane. Dorset-street. Rochester-row. &c. 'Fhe folloudng are the Registrar’s notes on a few of the cases:— Dorset-street.—“ Son of a stonemason; Cho- lera, eight horns. In this house one man had lost all his family, to wit, his wife and two chil- dren, and another person lost one child. The house consists of six rooms, not by any means in a confined situation. It appears cleanly, and well supphed with water, but the occupier says there are two gratings in the yard from which stench arises, and the drain which carries off the soil jrom the privy in the yard runs under the house, and is defective.” Douglas-street.—“Of the fourteen deaths which occurred in Douglas-street eleven took ])lace on the south or lower side, 'fhe houses consist either of three or four rooms, but are situated so low that, for the most part, there is a descent of one or two steps from the foot pavement to the entrance passage. The drainage is extremely defective, and several of the occupants complain of the nuisance from the laundresses throwing their dirty soap suds into the street, leaving continually black stagnant puddles along the gutter in front of these houses, even in the driest weather.” Upper Garden-street.—“ Son of a labourer; Cholera, five days. The parents, wnth six chil- dren, were living in a kitchen. One child died on the previous week, and other children of the same parents were attacked.” Hugh-place, Vincent-street.—“ Second death from Cholera in this house.” Regent-street.—“ITie third death from the same eause in this house during three weeks.” Lower Garden-street.—“ The sanitary condi- tion of this street is truly wretched. It is situated extremely low, wth inefldcient drainage; the St. Margaret’s District. Deaths in 1849.—Cholera, 225; Diarrhoea, 52. Deaths from Cholera to 10,000 living = /2. The working classes and their families were the greatest sufferers i places chiefly attacked Tothill-street. Gai-dners-row. King-street. WiUow-street. Trenter’s-place. 1 this district, and the vere— York-street. Providence-row. Palmers-village. York-street. &c. The Registrar adds the following note on the localizing causes of the epidemic;— “ A remarkable fatahty was observed in those localities in which there existed surface drainage, overcrowded dwellings, insufficient supply of water, and obstructed ventilation.” It will be observed, that the sanitary con- ditions brought prominently forward in the jireceding evidence, as specially determining the localization of epidemic disease in this portion of the metropolis, are defective drainage and sewerage and overcrowding. 'fhe whole district resembles in these respects the districts on the south side of the Thames. It is only about two feet above Trinity high- water mark, and cannot consequently be tho- roughly drained with the ordinary fall. The subsoil is porous, and admits of percolation and admixture of fluids within it, such as is hinted at in Mr. Wilson’s evidence. It was, I believe, found that the execution of the new sewerage in Victoria-street drained the weUs, a pretty strong proof of the source from which a portion, at least, of the well-water is derived, and showing how little the public is aware of those subter- ranean causes which are always in operation in lowering the health of the inhabitants in cities where there is no proper system of drainage and water supply. Cesspools sunk in porous soils are an important source of the water which is pum.ped up from wells in their xncinity. This is a fact which has been long knoum in regard to the metropolis, many parts of the sub- soil of which have become so saturated in the course of ages with the foetid contents of cess- pools, that their presence can be easily detected in the well-water. There can be little doubt that inattention to this circumstance was one
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