Health of Towns Commission : minutes of evidence given by Joseph Toynbee ... on scrofulous affections and their causes.

  • Toynbee, Joseph, 1815-1866.
Date:
[1844]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Health of Towns Commission : minutes of evidence given by Joseph Toynbee ... on scrofulous affections and their causes. 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.

    17/28 (page 15)
    Supply of Water—Impure and Deficient. sse in our own rooms.” One poor woman, labouring under •erne debility, and who attributed her illness to the bad smells Ihe place, told me to-day that she could not go out of her room •-dtehen cellar) without feeling sick from the smells arising from (cesspool, and that it woidd make her still worse if any opening fe made in the window. In places which are not overcrowded, which do not need ventilation so urgently, I have had cases (idebility, headache, pains in the head, and general depression, cch were attributed, and were correctly attributable, to the bad mrs arising from the cesspools. The patients continually com- iin of these smells. It is a common expression amongst them, Ve owe some rent, but as soon as we can pay it we shall get ly from this place, on account of the bad smells from the cess- 11.” The strong bear tliese stenches; but they take beer, which \y consider necessaiy to counteract their effects. 'hen your own observations lead you to coincide in the con- sion that there cannot be a healthy population living over or iidst the emanations from cesspools? Exactly so; I find people themselves are now becoming aware of the noxious cts of these smells, which now form a subject of discussion on erst them. D ou have mentioned that, in visiting this class of the popula- n, you find the want of personal cleanliness one collateral cause kbsease? Decidedly so. las the action of want of cleanliness as a cause been shown ‘the effect of cleanliness in abating it or removing it? Yes; the cases of porrigo or scald head in the children, and some aammations of the eyes—very common disorders amongst them hich I have removed mainly by the strict enforcement of nliness and general ablutions. I believe that a variety of ases, such as affections of the chest, rheumatism—which are generally considered to have any connexion with personal aanliness—are greatly aggravated by the neglect of it. IHow far, in such places, does this want of personal cleanliness lar to be influenced or governed by the nature of the supply ater, its quality, whether it be accessible, or has to be fetched •onvenient distances, or otherwise ? It was only this morning tit a patient stated that she could not drink the water that was pplied to the house, it being “full of insects.” Patients have id that they only drink water when they cannot get beer. They ve complained to me that they are often compelled to go to a ■•tance to fetch water, because the water supplied to the house 50 bad. Have you observed how far the impurity of the water may have en from neglect to cleanse the water-butts ? 1 have observed ut the water-butts do not look very proper receptacles, being ideof wood, from which the paint has decayed, and the wood itself J. Toynl)cc,