Remarks on the study and practice of public medicine : being the introductory address, delivered at the opening of the winter session at University College, London, October 4th, 1875 / by W.H. Corfield.

  • Corfield, W. H. (William Henry), 1843-1903.
Date:
1875
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Remarks on the study and practice of public medicine : being the introductory address, delivered at the opening of the winter session at University College, London, October 4th, 1875 / by W.H. Corfield. 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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    IQ wants and to its digestive powers, and, as subsidiary causes, deficient light and impure air, produced especially by overcrowding of the sleep- ing-room. Poverty—inevitable poverty—plays a great part in the pro- duction of some of these causes.” And Sir William Jenner continues : “Judging from my own experience, I should say that rickets so severe as to lead even indirectly to death, would be comparatively rare did the poor know how to feed a young child ; were the poor aware of the necessity of the infant being fed with food fitted to its age. Law can do something here ; for it can make compulsory the teaching of the practical laws of health in all schools supported in any degree by the public money. Diffusion of practical knowledge is the great preventive remedy of rickets.” And now let us hear Dr. Ferguson on the Degenei-acy of the Factory Population. In a letter, dated February 26th, 1874, he writes : “ Within the last fortnight, six children have come to me, producing registers to prove thirteen, and in one case fourteen years of age. The heaviest of them weighed fifty-six pounds, and the tallest was half an inch over four feet. The average weight of the healthy factory child of thirteen years I find to be seventy pounds, and average height fifty- four inches.” Thus, you see that the heaviest was fourteen pounds under average weight, or one-fifth too light; and the tallest five and a- half inches, or about one-tenth too short. He says, too : “I am meeting every week with cases like these, in which feeble children, overtaxed by working full time, either lose weight or grow at a very abnormally slow rate.” And : “ I am alarmed at the large and in- creasing number of physically feeble children coming to pass half-time. Many giving proof of nine years come before me, weighing not more than forty-one or forty-two pounds. I am constantly meeting with young persons, aged from fifteen to nineteen years, of not more than the average weight of a healthy factory child of thirteen, whom, when examined for half-time, I noted as physically feeble. For nine years I have closely observed, and am certain that each year the proportion of physically feeble children presented to me has gone on increasing, with the single exception of 1873.” Here is an alarming evil, and one which, if unchecked, will produce a permanent deterioration of the whole factory population. And what are the causes of it ? The great cause is the same as the one pointed out by Sir William Jenner as the great cause of rickets—improper and insufficient nourishment. What is the natural nourishment of young children ? What is the one perfect food which contains all the neces- sary substances in proper amount? Milk. Hear Dr. Ferguson again : “ From long and careful trial, I find children in the mills to grow, on the average, between thirteen and sixteen years of age, nearly four times as fast on milk morning and night as on either tea or coffee.