A History of Epidemics in Britain, Volume 2 (of 2): From the Extinction of Plague to the Present TimeCreighton, Charles
History
A History of Epidemics in Britain, Volume 2 (of 2): From the Extinction of Plague to the Present Time
Creighton, Charles
Epidemics -- Great Britain -- History
“Great numbers of the labouring poor,” says Ferriar of Manchester,
“who are tempted by the prospect of large wages to flock into the
principal manufacturing towns, become diseased by getting into dirty
infected houses on their arrival. Others waste their small stock of
money without procuring employment, and sink under the pressure of
want and despair.... The number of such victims sacrificed to the
present abuses is incredible.” And again:
“It must be observed that persons newly arrived from the country are
most liable to suffer from these causes, and as they are often taken
ill within a few days after entering an infected house, there arises a
double injury to the town, from the loss of their labour, and the
expense of supporting them in their illness. A great number of the
home-patients of the Infirmary are of this description. The horror of
these houses cannot easily be described; a lodger fresh from the
country often lies down in a bed filled with infection by its last
tenant, or from which the corpse of a victim to fever has only been
removed a few hours before[177].”
Two instances from the same author will show the severe type of the fever.
The tenant of a house in Manchester, who was herself ill of typhus
along with her three children, took in a lodger, a girl named Jane
Jones, fresh from the country. The lodger fell ill, but the fact was
kept concealed from the visiting physician until her screams
discovered her: “She was found delirious, with a black fur on the lips
and teeth, her cheeks extremely flushed, and her pulse low, creeping,
and scarcely to be counted.” Treatment was of no use; she “passed
whole nights in shrieking,” and in her extremity, she was saved, as
Ferriar believed, by affusions of cold water. Another case, exactly
parallel, proved fatal in three days:
“In 1792 I had two patients ill of typhus in an infected
lodging-house. I desired that they might be washed with cold water;
and a healthy, ruddy young woman of the neighbourhood undertook the
office. Though apparently in perfect health before she went into the
sick chamber, she complained of the intolerable smell of the patients,
and said she felt a head-ache when she came down stairs. She sickened,
and died of the fever in three days[178].”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account