The factory system, in its hygienic relations : an address delivered at Boston at the annual meeting of the Massachusetts Medical Society, May 27, 1846 / by John O. Green.

  • Green, John O. (John Orne), 1799-1885.
Date:
1846
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The factory system, in its hygienic relations : an address delivered at Boston at the annual meeting of the Massachusetts Medical Society, May 27, 1846 / by John O. Green. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    To any point that demands correction or modifi- cation, the estimate or the language of hyperbole is injurious, inasmuch as it does not induce unhesitating assent. The temperance societies, throughout our land, have rendered important service. Moderation, —the never-failing attendant on good sense, has already modified, and will continue to modify, some of the asperities and impracticable parts of their original constitution : unnecessary self-privation and rigor will gain few proselytes, and so far defeat the praise- worthy intentions of many of their founders. But especially is it to be regretted that it should ever as- sume a party character, than which no garb can worse become so heavenly a virtue. Already have we seen, in the violence of partizan warfare, the fair name of the most moral men and the best citizens wantonly assailed, because they had never seen fit to join in the unholy strife, which has disdained and rejected even the sanction of religion. It is enough for our present purpose, that a more strictly and universally temperate class of persons cannot be found than the nine thousand operatives in the city of Lowell. No physician, however, in estima- ting the influence of intemperance from the bills of mortality, has a fair criterion of its real state. In the various forms of fevers, the inflammations and dis- eases of various organs, in convulsions, apoplexy, palsy, suicide, epilepsy, and even pulmonary con- sumption, he must often see its effects, if not in their production, certainly in their aggravation. Much has been said with regard to the proper number of meals, and the interval that ought to elapse