[Sanitary inquiry : - England. : Local reports on the sanitary condition of the labouring population of England, in consequence of an inquiry directed to be made by the Poor Law Commissioners. Presented to both Houses of Parliament, by command of Her Majesty, July, 1842].

  • Great Britain. Poor Law Commissioners.
Date:
[1842]
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: [Sanitary inquiry : - England. : Local reports on the sanitary condition of the labouring population of England, in consequence of an inquiry directed to be made by the Poor Law Commissioners. Presented to both Houses of Parliament, by command of Her Majesty, July, 1842]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    ON THE SANITARY STATE OF THE COUNTIES OF DEVON AND CORNWALL. By W. J. Gilbert, Esq. Assistant Poor Law Commissioner. Gentlemen,—In conformity with your instructions, I beg to send you a report of the sanitary state of my late district; it is less full and particular than I could have desired, but the change of Assistant Commissioners' districts, which occasioned my removal into Staffordshire, obliged me to leave my inquiries incomplete. My attention has been confined to the two counties of Devon and Cornwall. Several practitioners of eminence in different parts of those counties will report to you fully and in detail the state of their respective neighbourhoods : in addition you will obtain reports from the various surgeons acting as medical officers in the dif- ferent unions of those counties. My information is obtained chiefly from examination of the medical officer's books and personal inquiry of those conversant with the state of the poor, by conversation with the labouring peo- ple themselves, and from inspection of their dwellings, and of the neighbourhoods in which they reside. From these several sources of information, I find that numerous causes of disease exist similar to those pointed out by Drs. Arnott, Smith, and Kay, in their reports on parts of the Metropolitan districts, and the fatal consequences of these causes are easily and distinctly traceable. The immediate cause is usually malaria, arising chiefly from three sources—open drains, dirt-pits and heaps, and the state of the cottages. Causes of Disease. The diseases arising from malaria present themselves in many forms: they frequently assume a character apparently not result- ing from such causes. The inmates complain of fits, convulsions, paralysis, ulcers, indigestion, and, various other diseases; they tell you that they and their families have always been subject to them, and ascribe thorn to hereditary or personal infection, to low or unsuitable diet, hard work, exposure to cold, and other causes; but wherever such a regularly recurring complaint is found, almost