A letter to the vestry of St. George's, Hanover Square, on sanitary work and experience in Belgravia / by C.J.B. Aldis.

  • Aldis, C. J. B. (Charles James Berridge), 1808-1872.
Date:
1857
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A letter to the vestry of St. George's, Hanover Square, on sanitary work and experience in Belgravia / by C.J.B. Aldis. 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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    I need scarcely say, that the scraping out of these rich mor- sels from one receptacle into another augments the nuisance immensely. Now questions may arise, do these places require im- proving in order to check the evil or do they not ? and this is only one out of many plague spots. I believe that the most inveterate anti-sanitary reformer, should he have slept in the back parlour described above, would expect to wake the next morning with headache, nausea, and loss of appetite; or if he remained longer and suffered from fever, would think it very hazardous to continue there, and would not be surprised at finding two children dead from a most malignant form of measles, as I did in the back room on the first floor at a marine-store dealer’s in Belgravia, in June last, for it is not an imaginary case. The bones were ordered to be taken away immediately and removed more frequently, and the place cleansed and lime-whited, and the remainder of the family lodging there persuaded to quit the premises. With such dens as these we cannot be surprised at epidemic diseases be- coming more virulent, or that the inhabitants, generally, suffer from what Sir James Clark has appropriately termed the London Cachexia, or bad habit of body, and need a restor- ation in change of air, which, to do them justice, even despisers of sanitary reform seek, and endeavour to avoid town malaria by sleeping in the country. INIany of the Vestry cannot be aware of the amount of sanitary work which has been accomplished in the Belgrave sub-district, for I report to the Sanitary Committee appointed over this district, who, being the local authority, carry into effect such improvements as are necessary, and only make ex- tracts from my Reports to be submitted to the Committee of Works upon important matters, such as the construction of sewers, some of which have been effected, I am happy to say,