A classification of manual labourers : by the practical application of which in self-supporting, charitable and parochial dispensaries, our philanthropy may be reduced to a system, our best class of poor prevented from retrograding into pauperism, and our necessitous and legitimate paupers separated from the comparatively improvident and vicious.

  • Smith, Henry Lilley, 1788-1859.
Date:
[1831?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A classification of manual labourers : by the practical application of which in self-supporting, charitable and parochial dispensaries, our philanthropy may be reduced to a system, our best class of poor prevented from retrograding into pauperism, and our necessitous and legitimate paupers separated from the comparatively improvident and vicious. 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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    t° '7re '!U0'™ by “*• Fofesaion to have distingninhed themselves by then- successful treatment, or by the superior manner m u Inch they may have written on these disorders. But the relief afforded by our excellent Hospitals can only e extended to afew; and indeed from the regulations of those chanties,—from the distance they are from each other — from their difficulty of access to inexperienced persons’— and the distaste of country people, (who associate the idea ° th,es,e PbIic Gildings with others less benevolent )-se- vera days must elapse before the necessary assistance can be obtained, even by those who have friends to procure tnem the proper recommendation. Centripetal Dispensaries, on the other hand, will have the advantage of giving immediate medical relief, and of thus frequently arresting the progress or diminishing the violence of a serious complaint. They will render less frequent the necessity of parochial aid, and in this way at once prevent an increase of expense to the parish,—and do away with the necessity of dealing wholesale in Hie bowels of I K sick poor, as well as keep up in the mind of the poor man that honest, useful, and laudable spirit of independence 'Vinci, must generally be broken before he can submit lo be attended by the parish surgeon, and which is usually f0| andefrom wffiS^:tSiTfilTOUrable «•*** ^ ^ *efor hSnfr^tf dicaf'ffi 1 C‘rcUmstaces. 'he attendance of the me- and m!“hCTS ^ h“bltat'°,,s °, the impendent labourers d mechanics on these liberal terms, will preserve lha, durable connection between the different orders of £ 'V ,S 80 Wel1 Caloulated to make known the distressed l;,0!!- ,S° “ t0 eXCite ad dlrect the benevolence of neither klow “* disPositio”r experiment, which should it succeed, will probably h * an example that will be generally followed thronlhont°,he l-igdom, and permanently secure to every class of so il all the various advantages to be derived from the Y state of medical and surgical knowledge-aL which T as° they miglTbe!'1'8111 ‘° ° ^ PUbl‘C S° effect“a»y To the Honorable the Commons of die Uu.ied , r „ °r -hich must SHEWETH, 1 HAT it is the practice of overseers of the poor in many parishes to contract by the year for attendance on their poor, when sick or hurt, and that this practice is produc- tive ot the following evils : 1 It induces many to apply to a parish for their surgeon who otherwise would not seek gratuitous relief; and who and ling ■«*“*» f°°d It causes those, who are paupers, to be inadequately at- tended, as the surgeon finds an assiduous discharge of duty is followed by an increase of trouble, without any increase of remununeration. It causes many to continue chargeable to a parish tunng convalescence, in consequence of not coming under the notice of the surgeon. It may produce a disposition, (or the suspicion of such a disposition) to use medicine of an inferior qualify ofien causing the poor to sell their necessaries for supplies of quack medicine, by which relief appears so cheaply offered, and is so temptingly recommended.* Where midwifery is included i„ the contract, it is subversive of proper feeling, by obliging the-poor women accouche.-'™ ' ^ °f 5P*1*1 aaS™e„t, their It is a great impediment lo the extension of vaccination for as vaccination is not usually included in the contract,’ the cases accumulate till the parish is alarmed by the intro- duction ot the smal pox,-when, if t vaccination is resorted he 1 ,rT T partial’ and has eiTen lo many of the doubttul and mixed cases, that have so much divided and perplexed the public mind. It is unkind to the poor who are by this practice con- hned to a particular practitioner, who experience has con- vinced them, is unacquainted with their disorder; who may (Copy.) necessarily be the case so long as they are tn’rned overat Baster, or perhaps quarterly, in the midst of their afflictions to a new contractor, chosen by individuals whose object it s to get the work done at the lowest price, and who cannot make any estimate of the skill or education of the candi- It is a continual source of dissention amongst the wor- thiest men „t the profession. Their confidence in their art is weakened by it, as they receive no support in difficult cases from each other, and their estimation and character is reside °Wered “ ‘'le ^ °f the d'StnCt io 'hich they In conclusion, your petitioner further declares that it is consistent with his belief, as well as some degree with h,s actual knowledge, that if the sums paid by parishes ac- cording to their contracts; with such sums as they pay on account of unforeseen cases, not included in them; together wnh the various sums collected from the poor for that me- dical assistance which to themselves appears the most cheap and efficacious, were judiciously employed in the formation of District Dispensaries, they might be provided without distressing their best feelings in regard to independ- ance, at their own homes, or at the Dispensary; which would assure the most speedy and effectual re-establish- ment of health, combining likewise, when it might be neces- saiy, the skill of all the practitioners within the district, and promoting unanimity amongst the profession, whilst in’ all probability it would ultimately remove one third of the pauper population from tile parochial funds. Therefore your petitioner prays this Honorable House, that the subject in all its various bearings, may be forthwith referred to the consideration of a committee of the House. H. L. SMITH. Votes and Proceedings of the House of ) Commons, Mercurii, 14 die Aprilis, 1824.1 County of W ETI'.ri0” Henry Lilley Smith, Surgeon, of Southam, in the ‘o S°cS^Labo^°fcMed,Cal AttendaaCe fM the Po°r: referred Iff”'8 ,0. '™'Cr dnclors. “id to tile delusive promises of nuaek medicine ,s to be exeused i„ every mao who lives by ° and oho has no chmce between getting in debt lo the pri, ileged regain? suigoons, or going to l„s parish for one; nnd if by chance either of these uncertain modes of gelling relief are successful, they have a claim . »n he gratitude of the individual and his friends, to’enhance their v trade will cease. PP 7 g *° them’ nnd t,iat unhappy .ccu,re&rt„!°™!‘r °f ,I“I fatal case of small pox were reouesKdT • b' °e'd * *•»>» theSoutlinm Dispensary, Si , , ' r aa.gbbuiirs be vaeciaaled, and in lei? .useen bfe T TI T ' ere Pt,P,l|at'on within 5 miles that were went mSa L l T T’, be The number who went satisfactorily through the process was 1027; and it is gratifying to reflect, that tins was done without persuasion, threat, or aav other inducement time the common sense of the poor, when the means were placed, I hope, judiciously within their reach; t.e. without seuding the. to a veslry or poor house, bat being allowed to fee] that il was altogether an aflo r of their own choice. We have no, from ,1m, time .ad a case of small pox in this neighbourhood that has extende.l on, of more o, ie IT|C ' , b““ br™8bti whil.t it is and has been more ot less disturbing the repose of the greater part of the country See Observations on the prevailing prac,ice of supplying Medical Assistance to the s,ek Poor of Parishes. witl, Suggestions for fhc elb lishmeal of Dispensaries in Agriculluial Districts. And also lire Pros pectus of the Dispensary, established at Southam in 1623. F. SMITH, PRINTER; SOUTHAM.