Part 17
“The malaria alluded to arises from the decomposition of vegetable matter left upon Otmoor (a marsh of about 4000 acres), by the previous winter’s flood, and acted upon by the sun, &c., during the summer.”
_Mr. J. Holt_, the medical officer of the Leighton Buzzard union, reports:—
“I have had only 34 cases of remittent and intermittent fevers during the last year, which is a small number in comparison to the amount usually occurring in hot summers. The great prevalence of these fevers at such times is attributable principally to the number of stagnant ponds and ditches which are situated in the very midst of many of the towns and villages of this union, and which, in hot weather, become quite putrid and offensive from the quantity of decaying animal and vegetable matter. I have generally observed that the greater number of these fevers occur in houses situated in the immediate vicinity of these ponds, and have no doubt is the chief cause of nearly all the fevers of this description. The villages to which I more particularly refer are Egginton, Eddlesbon, Cheddington, &c.”
The sanitary effects of road cleansing, to which house drainage and road drainage is auxiliary, it appears is not confined to the streets in towns and the roads in villages, but extends over the roads at a distance from habitations on which there is traffic. Dr. Harrison, whose testimony has been cited on the subject of the analogy of the diseases of animals to those which affect the human constitution, in treating of the prevention of fever or the rot amongst sheep, warns the shepherd that, if after providing drained pasture and avoiding “rotting-places” in the fields, all his care may be frustrated if he do not avoid, with equal care, leading the sheep over wet and miry roads with stagnant ditches, which are as pernicious as the places in the fields designated as “rotting-places.” He is solicitous to impress the fact that the rot, _i. e._ the typhus fever, has been contracted in ten minutes, that sheep can at “any time be tainted in a quarter of an hour, while the land retains its moisture and the weather is hot and sultry.” He gives the following instance, amongst others, of the danger of traversing badly drained roads. “A gentleman removed 90 sheep from a considerable distance to his own residence. On coming near to a bridge, which is thrown over the Barling’s river, one of the drove fell into a ditch and fractured its leg. The shepherd immediately took it in his arms to a neighbouring house, and set the limb. During this time, which did not occupy more than one hour, the remainder were left to graze in the ditches and lane. The flock were then driven home, and a month afterwards the other sheep joined its companions. The shepherd soon discovered that all had contracted the rot, except the lame sheep; and as they were never separated on any other occasion, it is reasonable to conclude that the disorder was acquired by feeding in the road and ditch bottoms.” The precautions applicable to the sheep and cattle will be deemed equally applicable to the labouring population who traverse such roads.
Such instances as the following, on the prejudicial effects of undrained and neglected roads, might be multiplied. _Mr. E. P. Turner_, the medical officer of Foleshill union, in accounting for some cases of fever, states:—
“These cases of typhus all occurred in the same neighbourhood, where the road is bad and a dirty ditch of stagnant water on each side of it; the road is generally overflowed in the winter. The disease broke out in the month of October; other cases occurred in the same neighbourhood at the time.”
The nature of the more common impediments which stand in the way of the removal of the causes of disease and obstacles to production described in the preceding, are noticed in the instances following. Others will be adduced when the subject of the legislative means of prevention are stated.
_Dr. Traves_, on the sanitary condition of the poor in the Malton union, states,—
“The whole of the low district above alluded to, and extending into the Pickering union, (known by the name of the Marishes, or Marshes,) has at different times within the last few years been the seat of typhus and other fevers.
“Attempts were made by some of the landed proprietors a few years ago to effect a system of drainage and embankments likely to prevent the inundations of these rivers in wet seasons, but the attempt was abandoned in consequence of the reluctance of certain townships to bear their portion of the necessary outlay, and any partial system of embankment is positively injurious, inasmuch as the water that is let in upon the land at a higher point of the river is prevented returning into the stream again by an embankment at a lower point, so that this water, containing vegetable matters in a state of decomposition, must remain stagnant until evaporated by the sun’s rays, or dissipated by the wind; cases of fever occurring under these circumstances have repeatedly come under my observation, as well as that of other medical men familiar with the district, and this fruitful source of disease (in seasons like 1839 more especially) will probably now remain in full force until an Act of the legislature shall effect a change.”
_Mr. Thomas Marjoribanks_, the minister of Lochmaben,—
“No means of any consequence, so far as I am aware, have yet been tried to remedy the evil, the removal of such substances as generate malaria. There are no scavengers appointed for the removal of nuisances. One great mean of preventing the generation of malaria (in my opinion) would be the lowering of the bed of the river Annan, which would to a great extent free the surrounding lands of stagnant water, give greater facilities for draining, improve the system of farming, lessen the risk of damage, and increase the quantity as well as improve the quality of the food which the low lands produce, and in every way conduce to the comfort and cleanliness of the inhabitants. It is computed that in consequence of the flooding of the Annan, damage during the last four years has been done to the amount of 6,000_l._, and this along only about three miles of its course. The property is very much subdivided, and, in consequence, poverty and want has increased to a great extent among the small proprietors.”
In closing this exposition of the state of the chief external evils that affect the sanitary condition of the labouring population, it may be observed that the experience, on which the conclusions rest as to the principles of prevention is neither recent nor confined to this country. That which is new, is the advantages we possess beyond other times, and perhaps beyond all other countries, in capital and practical science for its application. The experience of the advantage of public sewers to the health of a town population is nearly as old as Rome itself. I may refer with M. Du Châtelet to the experience of that city, to illustrate the consequences of neglects, such as are manifest amidst large masses of the community throughout the country, and are partially displayed in the mortuary registers first cited. He gives the details from the treatise _De Adventitiis Romani Cœli Qualitatibus_, by the celebrated Italian physician Lancisi, who deeply studied the sanitary condition of Rome, and wrote several admirable works on the subject, which had the happy effect of inducing the pope to cleanse and drain the city:—
“The barbarians of every tribe having several times pillaged and sacked the city of Rome, the aqueducts were destroyed, and the water, spreading into the surrounding plains, formed marshes, which contributed greatly to render uninhabitable the surrounding country.
“The aqueducts existing no longer, the sewers and privies were alike neglected, and produced serious and frequent sicknesses, which were more effectual in destroying the population than the arms of the barbarians. All the historians of these remote times, and particularly St. Gregory, in his Homilies, and the deacon John, in the Life of that saint, give a frightful picture of the city of Rome. The air became so vitiated that plagues and fevers of a malignant character continually carried on their ravages to such a point that Peter Damien, writing in the eleventh century to Pope Nicholas II., to intreat him to accept his resignation, alleged as the pretext the danger he ran every instant of losing his life by remaining in the town.
“It was principally during the abode of the popes at Avignon that all which regards health was neglected at Rome, and some historians have not hesitated to attribute to this negligence the depopulation of the town, which was reduced in a little time to 30,000 inhabitants.
“Things remained in this state to the end of the fourteenth century, an epoch at which the popes, resuming the ancient labours, restored things to their proper condition; a new title to glory of Leo X., who of all the popes was the one who occupied himself with this important object in the most especial manner.
“It is, in part, to these precautions that we are to attribute the rapid increase of the population of Rome, which, from 30,000 souls, reached in a short time to 80,000; and it is a thing worthy of our attention that after the death of this pontiff the population quickly fell to the number of 32,000, because, according to the contemporary authors, everything having been neglected, the first calamities were renewed.
“Happily for Rome this state of things did not continue long, because all successive popes, instructed, it appears, by the experience of ancient times, having carried on immense labours, and constructed fresh sewers, have given to the air of this city the necessary purity.”
Italy presents instances, though comparatively modern, of the removal of disease by land drainage:—
“At Vareggio,” observes M. Villermé, “in the principality of Lucca, the inhabitants, few in number, barbarous, and miserable, were annually, from time immemorial, attacked about the same period with agues; but in 1741 flood-gates were constructed, which permitted the escape into the sea of the waters from the marshes, preventing at the same time the ingress of the ocean to these marshes both from tides and storms. This contrivance, which permanently suppressed the marsh, also expelled the fevers. In short, the canton of Vareggio is at the present day one of the healthiest, most industrious, and richest on the coast of Tuscany; and a part of those families whose boorish ancestors sunk under the epidemics of the _aria cativa_, without knowledge to protect themselves, enjoy a health, a vigour, a longevity, and a moral character unknown to their ancestors.”
The histories of other cities, and particularly of Paris, afford illustrations of the effects of the neglect of public cleansing, which begin in the ignorance and carelessness of the superior officers, and continue in the predominance of ignorance and obscure interests of a multitude in the present day:—
“For several years the suppression of an enormous cesspool at Paris near the Barrière des Fourneaux was implored by the inhabitants. Placed under the predominant winds, it was a permanent cause of annoyance to the quarters of St. Germain and St. Jacques. But all petitions were in vain. A singular occurrence brought about the event for which the people had prayed more than 50 years. In a hunting party, the Prince of Conde was carried by a fiery horse towards this same cesspool; finding it impossible to turn the animal, the prince had the presence of mind to throw himself on the ground, but the horse darted forward into the cesspool and disappeared. The next day an order was issued from Versailles, enjoining M. Lenoir, the lieutenant of police, to fill up the cesspool, which was accordingly done.”
A particular evil had attracted the attention of an able minister, who had recourse to the expedient which we have seen recently re-discovered and introduced into practice into one section of the sewerage of London:—
“The great sewer of Montmartre being uncovered, and the fall exceedingly small, it was easily choked, and spread infection through all the neighbourhood. Turgot thought that the best method to obtain a ready flow for the muddy waters it received was to wash it by frequent currents. A vast reservoir, capable of containing about 22,000 measures of water, was in consequence established at the opening of the sewer, opposite the Rue des Filles-du-Calvaire. The waters of Belleville were conducted there, together with those of two wells dug in the vicinity. This volume of water was, on certain days, let into the main sewer by means of flood-gates, which could be opened at pleasure. The scouring of the sewer by a current of living water attracted the public attention, and produced the most happy results. Shortly the people could dwell on the confines of this ancient ditch without fear of dangerous exhalations. The quarters of the Faubourg Montmartre, of the Chaussée-d’Antin, of the Ville-l’Evêque, and of the Faubourg St. Honoré, became populated. At length the land was so valuable in these different quarters that the possessors of the banks of the sewer demanded and obtained the permission to cover it over at their own expense.”
The mode of cleansing had, however, been before proposed by another minister:—
“In the conferences which were held in 1666 and 1667 at the house of the Chancellor Seguier respecting the grand police of the kingdom, a thorough examination was made of the sewers of Paris, which began to multiply. The minutes of these sittings still exist. We see there the opinions given on the subject by each of the members of the commission, and particularly by Colbert, who in the sitting of the 13th of January, proposed, as the best method of cleansing the sewers, to establish several fountains in the quarters where they were necessary, and at the side of each of them a reservoir of 15 measures, which should be let out all at once. Nothing, assuredly, could be better than this proposition. But one thing was wanting to the minister—the water could not be procured.”
But the water, though abundant in the vicinity of Paris, is still wanted, and the cause of the want is thus noticed by M. Du Châtelet:—
“Paris possesses an immense mass of water, which can be distributed into every quarter and every house. Does the demand multiply with the pipes? Assuredly not, and one might well be surprised to see the negligence and apathy of proprietors in this respect. Some persons adduce the fact to prove that seven litres[12] of water are sufficient for the inhabitants of Paris, whilst sixty are necessary for London, and still more for Edinburgh. But if we look closer to the conduct of the proprietors, we shall find that it proceeds from calculations well understood. It is the certainty that they will have sooner to empty the cesspools which scares them. This operation, and the expense it often brings with it, influences the venal propensities of the proprietors. Is it likely that they will pay for water of which the inevitable result will be to multiply the number of operations they dread the most, and which increase the expense in an enormous proportion? Thus the actual state of our cesspools, and the mode of emptying them now in use, are, in our opinion, the principal causes which prevent individuals from taking the water, and which retard the period in which the city will receive the interest of the enormous sums that it has devoted, and still devotes daily, to the supply of water.”
It is to be hoped, however, that the legislature will give the powers and direct the means requisite in this country, to furnish to every city in Europe a practical demonstration that by the art of the engineer, the obstacle to improvement, formed by the great expense and annoyance of removing the refuse of houses and streets may be rendered inconsiderable. In Paris the interests of turbulent bodies of men, the water-carriers, and another class of men called the chiffonniers, who live by raking for what they can find amongst the refuse cast into the streets, are opposed to any change which will reduce the charge of imperfect cleansing, and the disease promoted by filth. The general practice in that metropolis is to cast all the rubbish of the house into the street on the overnight, or before seven o’clock in the morning, when men attend with carts to sweep it up and remove it. In the nighttime, however, the chiffonnier comes with a lantern and rakes amongst the refuse, and picks from it bones, rags, or whatever may have been thrown away by accident, or the carelessness of the servants. The offensive filth of their persons and their occupation, makes them outcasts from other classes of workmen; they sleep amidst their collections of refuse, and they are idle during the day; they are like all men who live under such circumstances, prone to indulgence in ardent spirits; being degraded and savage, they are ready to throw away their wretched lives on every occasion. There are nearly 2000 of the chiffonniers alone in Paris, and they and the water-carriers were conspicuous actors in the revolution of 1830. During the administration of Casimir Perrier the householders had complained of the inconvenient mode of cleansing the streets by large heavy carts drawn by three horses, which, during their slow progress throughout the day, obstruct the public thoroughfares and occasion great inconveniences, especially in the narrow streets.
In the beginning of the year 1834, when the cholera broke out, the attention of the authorities was directed to sanitary measures, and the municipality decided that the cleansing of the streets should be done by contract, by a quick relay of carts of a smaller and more convenient shape, drawn by single horses; and in order to diminish the inconvenience of the presence of these improved vehicles, the contractor was allowed to collect one load for each of his carts on the overnight, which would have led to a practice similar to that of London, where the dust-carts take the refuse direct from the house without any deposit in the streets. But in this arrangement an important interest had been overlooked; the chiffonniers, who were said to have been aided and directed by the owners and men belonging to the superseded vehicles, rose in revolt, attacked and drove away the conductors, broke to pieces the new carts, threw the fragments into the river, or made bonfires with them. Unfortunately at that time the cholera had broken out at Paris. The mobs of chiffonniers which collected on the following day were swollen by other crowds of ignorant, terrified, and savage people, who were persuaded that the deaths from the strange plague were occasioned by poison. “My agents,” says the then prefet of police, in an account of this revolt, “could not be at all points at once, to oppose the fury of those crowds of men with naked arms and haggard figures, and sinister looks, who are never seen in ordinary times, and who seemed on this day to have arisen out of the earth. Wishing to judge myself of the foundation for the alarming reports that were brought to me, I went out alone and on foot. I had great difficulty in getting through these dense masses, scarcely covered with filthy rags; no description could convey their hideous aspect, or the sensation of terror which the hoarse and ferocious cries created. Although I am not easily moved, I at one time feared for the safety of Paris—of honest people and their property.” In fact the riot was one of the most dangerous that had been witnessed in that city, and it was not suppressed without great exertions and some loss of life. The anxieties which it occasioned to the minister, Casimir Perrier, and his disgust at the political use made of it, were considered to have contributed to his death. He was himself attacked with the cholera, and died a few days after. Shortly before his death, when expressing his disgust, he said to the prefet, “My friend, we are harnessed to a vile carriage.” “Truly so,” replied the prefet, “and the ways are dreadfully dirty.” The material ways of the city continued as they were, the prefet seeing that the introduction of the new carts became “a motive to discontent and collision,” took upon himself to set aside the contract with the contractor, who, he states, received no other compensation for his losses than a permission which he could not use to collect the refuse during the day, and the chiffonniers continue to the present time in the exercise of their wretched vocation at the expense of the public health and cleanliness.
The course of the present inquiry shows how strongly circumstances that are governable govern the habits of the population, and in some instances appear almost to breed the species of the population. Conceiving it probable that the amount of filth left by defective cleansing had its corresponding description of persons, I made inquiries of the Commissioners of Metropolitan Police. From returns which they obtained from their superintendents, it appears that of the class of bone-pickers, mud-rakers, people living on the produce of dungheaps in mews, courts, yards, and bye lanes insufficient cleansed, 598 are known to the police. From an observation of the proportion of filthy children and adults who appear amidst refuse whenever there are new buildings and an unusual quantity of rubbish, and from other circumstances, I believe that, were the refuse of houses daily cast into the streets in London in the same manner as at Paris, London would soon have as large and as dangerous a population of the chiffonnier class. I am informed by Sir Charles Shaw, the chief commissioner of police at Manchester, that there are 302 of them known within the police jurisdiction of that town also. He complains that they have heretofore been licensed in their occupation; that, the children are pilferers, and occupy the attention of the police, and furnish a large quota to the stock of juvenile delinquents and the population of the prisons. I am informed that in Bath there are about 100 of them known; and in other towns and places I have little doubt that they would be found in like proportions, which approach the proportions of the stated numbers of chiffonniers to the population of Paris. These degraded creatures are also found amongst the inmates of the workhouses, and the close identity of their habits with those of the chiffonniers of Paris afford a striking proof of the similarity of the population produced by similarity of circumstances. They are thus described to me by an eye-witness:—
“The bone-pickers are the dirtiest of all the inmates of our workhouse; I have seen them take a bone from a dungheap, and gnaw it while reeking hot with the fermentation of decay. Bones, from which the meat had been cut raw, and which had still thin strips of flesh adhering to them, they scraped carefully with their knives, and put the bits, no matter how befouled with dirt, into a wallet or pocket appropriated to the purpose. They have told me, that whether in broth or grilled, they were the most savoury dish that could be imagined. I have not observed that these creatures were savage, but they were thoroughly debased. Often hardly human in appearance, they had neither human tastes nor sympathies, nor even human sensations, for they revelled in the filth which is grateful to dogs, and other lower animals, and which to our apprehension is redolent only of nausea and abomination.”