Sanitary survey of the State.

  • Massachusetts. General Court. House of Representatives
Date:
[1849]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Sanitary survey of the State. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    27/40 (page 27)
    to make a definite quantity of cloth, nails, or machinery, is as¬ certained and published. The amount of human labor, skilled and unskilled, male and female, the value of wages and board necessary for the production of cotton and woolen cloths, shoes, books, steam-engines, &c., are all so well determined and estab¬ lished, that the actual cost and profits of these manufactures can be calculated. But what is the cost of life and health,—what is the wear and waste of human strength and power,—caused by the different employments, has not yet been inquired into and ascertained. Whether the thousands, that are now leaving their farms and country homes, to live in denser villages or com¬ pact cities, and to become operatives in mills, foundries, ma¬ chine or other shops, can, in their new situations and occupa¬ tions, enjoy as high a degree of health, and as much strength, and as great a length of life, as they could have enjoyed, if they had remained upon their farms, and in their more scattered residences,—these matters are to be investigated, and seem worthy of the attention of the government of every nation, and especially of our own. There are some manufacturing and other operations, that give forth effluvia clearly perceptible, and, in some instances, very offensive to the senses. These disagreeable operations and pro¬ cesses are supposed, by some, to be injurious to the health both of those who are immediately engaged in them, and of those who live in their neighborhood. Chemical laboratories, paint- works, lead-works, tanneries, butcheries, gas-works, &c., are thought by many to be unhealthful; but whether they are so or not, and, if so, to what extent, is not as yet known. The French government has investigated these matters in part; and the able reports of the commissioner, M. Villermie, show, that the popular notion is well founded in regard to some, but not in regard to others. Cities and Towns. There is a strong tendency in our people to gather into cities and compact towns. The late censuses show that, while these have rapidly increased, the rural population has