Extracts from the evidence given before a select committee of the House of Commons on the health of towns / by George Alfred Walker.

  • Walker, George Alfred, 1807-1884.
Date:
[1841]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Extracts from the evidence given before a select committee of the House of Commons on the health of towns / by George Alfred Walker. 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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    3487. Have the goodness to describe to the Committee their state? —The majority of the buryiiig-places in London, whether they be called vaults, cellars, or grave-yards, are in a very dangerous and disgusting condition. 3488. Will you state what, in your opinion, is their physical and moral effect?—I have collected irrefragable proofs of both positions ; I have given abundant evidence of their dangerous and immoral in- fluence; I have, since I published my work, become acquainted with many instances, demonstrating the injurious effect of masses of bodies in putrefaction ; I calculate, according to the present returns of mortality, we should have at least 5,000,000 of bodies amongst us in a hundred years, taking it at 52,000 per annum. I have no ques- tion that the extent of mortality has never been fairly entered until the late excellent Act; it was matter of speculation. I have demon- strated that bodies have been placed in spaces that could not pro- perly contain them ; hence has resulted a shocking state of things ; the mutilation of bodies, the destruction of their envelopes, with a host of immoral consequences and injurious results, 3489. Chairman.'\ Have you any doubt of the injurious effects of this practice ?—None. Here is one instance: I speak now of the nursing of bodies in lead, in what are called vaults, in the midst of human dwellings; it is a most injurious practice, and one that ought to be annihilated. The lead cannot confine the gas, therefore the only way to get rid of the nuisance, is to take the bodies away at once, where a sufficient quantity of good air can be found circulating with- out interruption. During the demolition of the old church of St. Dunstan's, the dead in the vaults were removed. This was found to be a matter of some difficulty and much danger. Several of the la- bourers employed refused to continue the work. They were well supplied with brandy, and under the influence of a half-drunken ex- citement, they effected their removal. William Mutton, a labourer, employed, within a few hours after his exposure, complained of a nauseous taste in the mouth and throat, severe pain in the chest ae- companied with a cough; his skin subsequently became of a deep yellow tinge, and extremely harsh and dry. This man was at times so affected with the effluvia, that he was compelled to support himself against the wall of the vault. In removing the body of a man who had committed suicide, the gaseous exhalation was so powerful that he was rendered unconscious for a considerable period. He invari- ably declared that this was the cause of his death. 3490. Do you think it was ?—I should think it more than likely ; I have produced a number of results in my work. I will give a recent case:—Thomas Beal, 2, Cromwell-place, Little Shire-lane, a strong compactly-made man, aged 26, has been employed as grave-digger about four years ; he was engaged in the month of January, 1840, in assistmg William West, the beadle of St. Mary-le Strand, to clean up the rector s vault previous to the reception of the body of a deceased parishioner, who died 27th January, 1840; the vault, a detached building, is entered by steps from the church-yard ; two of the men employed were sensible of a disgusting odour, which left a coppery taste m the throat. On the evening of the same day Beale ha^ vo- miting cough, and considerable expectoration, and extreme lassitude ■ during hve or six days. Six days after this exposure he consulted me, in consequence of a peculiar eruption, which first attacked the