First report. : Minutes of evidence taken before the Commissioners appointed to inquire whether any and what special means may be requisite for the improvement of the health of the metropolis.

  • Great Britain. Metropolitan Sanitary Commission.
Date:
1847
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: First report. : Minutes of evidence taken before the Commissioners appointed to inquire whether any and what special means may be requisite for the improvement of the health of the metropolis. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    That is to say, of those who did not go to the hospital? The parish of St. George No. 2. was one of those which were the first and the most severely visited, was it not ?—Yes, it was : 1 h l^ Hooper, Esq., had under my own attendance upwards of 2,000 cases during the prevalence of the epidemic. Surgeon. What was the condition of the persons and places which the cholera most severely visited?—The majority of those attacked were the occupants of Kent-street, the Mint, and other courts aad alleys in the parish. They were filthy in their habits, living in confined and im- pure air ; their habits were the worst possible ; they were in a state of susceptibility to any disease which happens to be floating about in the atmosphere ; there were many vEtgrants and mendi- cants inhabiting the low lodging-houses, where they sleep for a penny or two-pence the night; they were wretchedly destitute. How were their habitations in respect to drainage?—Many of them had not evpn cess- pools, the soil was oozing from a corner and through the pavement of the courts ; where there were cesspools, they were in very bad condition, seldom or ever emptied. How were they as to supplies of water?—Almost destitute of water. In what condition were the pavements in and about the courts and residences?—The pave- ments were nearly all broken up. Within the dwellings, there was no boarding to the floors of many of the houses, the inmates slept on the earth, on a few shavings generally. What is the present condition of the same district ?—A little improved, but not much : in some courts it is now even in a worse state. I will mention, as an example, Three Tuns Court in White-street, in which there are about 15 houses and probably 150 inhabitants, principally Irish. There is but one privy, and that without covering; the fluid soil is running down the ' court in front of all the houses. They have no water but what they beg from the neighbours. Several of the houses are entirely without windows or floors, that is, without boarding on the floors. The proprietor of the court is said to be in prison for debt. The people crowd in there r; because they pay no rent. There is no person responsible for them, and no law to enforce 1 proper sanitary measures. The Court-Leet, the Commissioners, the Magistrates, and the ! Commissioners of the Borough Pavements, have been applied to, but there is no law to compel ' any one to put the place in a condition fitting for human habitation. I can, however, adduce examples of other courts, not quite in so bad a condition, but still deplorable, where the inha- bitants do pay rents, and high rents, too, compared with the nature of the accommodation. It is almost imnecessary to ask you whether these places are and have been the abodes of typhus ?—Constantly ; they are never free from it. Suppose that cholera were again lo visit this country, would you expect it in those places i as before ?—No doubt of it. Had you much typhus fever during the prevalence of cholera?—No, typhus certainly did not prevail as an epidemic during the prevalence of cholera. Had you many cases in which those who were attacked with cholera, but did not die, fell into typhus ?—A few, but not generally. Do you think epidemic cholera took the place during this period of epidemic typhus ?—It is certain that cholera attacked the same description of persons, and prevailed in the same localities as typhus, while few or no cases of typhus were observed when cholera was at its highest. Have you any instance in your district in which improved drainage, supply of water, and ventilation, has been followed by a diminished susceptibility to epidemic diseases?—I am sorry to say that I know of no places in which any material improvement of any kind has taken place; in regard to draining, supply of water, and ventilation, the district remains in the same { wretched state. Have you any doubt that improvement in these modes of cleanliness would be followed by a corresponding diminution of fever cases?—I have no doubt of it. Were these places properly drained, paved, cleansed, and supplied with water, and should cholera again reappear in the metropolis, would you expect to find any diflTerence in the number and severity of your cholera cases?—I should expect a great diminution, both in the number and intensity of the cases. Do you think the description of persons who now live in those places, and who would probably become the first victims of cholera, should it again visit the metropolis, would appre- ciate the value of these means of prevention ?—I am persuaded the great majority of tliem would. The persons who reside in the streets and courts in your district appear to be among'those that live in a state of the greatest filth and wretchedness to be found in the metropolis. Do you think that even those persons would avail themselves of the means of greater cleanliness if they were afforded them ?—I think they would to a very considerable extent. I think the fault is not in the people so much as in their want of means. These people can procure no water (even when it is to be got) without very great labour. The woman is always obliged to carry it up stairs; consequently she is very sparing in the use of it; and those stairs are common to all the families in the house, so that no one thinks it her duty to wash them. I have been often struck with the filthy state of the water in the rooms; even that for drinking and other domestic use has an offensive odour, from having absorbed the foul air of the room, though indeed, water for drinking or even washing the hands is seldom to be found ; if I ask for it I have generally to wait till it is fetched. Then again, I often find a tub of exceed- ingly fihhy water which has been used over and over again, on the landing place outside of the rooms, the odour from which is most offensive. It is also very common to find the clothes which have bean washed in this filthy water drying in the room; the evaporation from these clothes I regard as most pernicious, and in the room in which the air is poisoned in this way there may be two or three children ill iu bed, or perhaps the father or mother ill with typhus fever. So that in this district also, these poor people have the like difficulty in obtaining pure water and in getting rid of their foul water?—Yes, they have.