Report to the Right Hon. Lord Panmure, G.C.B., &c., Minister at War, of the proceedings of the Sanitary Commission dispatched to the seat of war in the East, 1855-56 / presented to both Houses of Parliament, by command of Her Majesty, March 1857.

  • United Kingdom. Sanitary Commission (1855-1856)
Date:
1857
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report to the Right Hon. Lord Panmure, G.C.B., &c., Minister at War, of the proceedings of the Sanitary Commission dispatched to the seat of war in the East, 1855-56 / presented to both Houses of Parliament, by command of Her Majesty, March 1857. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    Pages Proceedings of the Commissioners—continued . . 64 to 148 Sanitary Condition of Balaklava . . . . 85 to 106 Description. Population from 500 to GOO; coii- figiiratiou of harbour; its local position cannot be considered healthy; besides these' local sanitary defects, other causes of disease came into operation; harbour filled with shijjj^ing, town overcrowded with inhabitants and with horses and cattle, putrescent organic matter accumulated where most hurtful; difficulty of removing this; every sort of refuse thrown into the harbour, whose margin became a mass of filth, manure, ofial, and dead carcases of animals, ]). 87; the marsh at the head of the harbour used in the winter of lS54-55as a place of interment, where the corpses, laid almost in water, were sparingly covered with earth; the latrines were insufficient, and nuisances covered the hill sides; the state of the harbour was most unsatisfactory; the mass of corrupting matter in it, increased by the action of the salt water, produced the most horrible smells, and endangered the public health both in Balaklava and the camps near it, p. S8; fevers were prevalent, passing into typhus. Commissioners met in Balaklava April .6, 1855; statements of Dr. Gavin and Mr. Newlands; chief difficulty in carrying out improvements was the want of labour, which was never overcome until the Army Works Corps arrived, p. 90; the Commissioners were obliged to restrict their requirements to measures of necessity only; pre- cautionary measures enjoined, p. 91; Report to Lord Eaglan; difficulty of obtaining labour; death of Dr. Gavin, p. 93. 500 labourers asked for, 155 only granted; Mr. Newlands returned to Liverpool, and the direction of the sanitary works reverted to the military authorities, p. 94. Progress of improvements, exertions of Admiral Boxer, p. 96. In May, after great heat and heavy rain, the cholera appeared on board ship; a system of medical inspection organized, the harbour divided into three districts; in- structions to the medical inspectors, p. 97. Extracts from reports of the inspectors; attention required as to the sanitary condition of ships used for the transport of animals • the emanations from the margin of the harbour proved to have been the most powerful localizing causes of the pestilence; inability of charcoal, though a deodorizer, to remove the effects of organic efiluvia, p. 100; instance of the '-Chester, a charcoal vessel; development of cholera checked by the precautionary measures taken, p. 102. bamtary works pushed on; extracts from diaries of the inspectors; removal of the manure and offal by barges or 1^ burning; improvement of tho sanitary state of tlie'towu ot JJalaklava, p. 103.