Medical Jurisprudence, Volume 1 (of 3)Paris, John Ayrton
Science
Medical Jurisprudence, Volume 1 (of 3)
Paris, John Ayrton
Medical laws and legislation -- Great Britain
The dictum of _Rolle_ that usefulness shall dispense with noisomness
has, however, been broken in upon by many more modern decisions; in
_Morley_ v. _Pragnel, Cro. Car._ 510, an innkeeper brought an action
against the defendant for erecting a tallow-furnace so near his inn that
many of his guests left the house, and he recovered damages for the
injury; _Tohayle’s_ case was then quoted; he had erected a
tallow-furnace in the Strand, which, on indictment, was ordered to be
abated, (see also 1 _Hawk. P. C._ 463 where _Rolle’s_ doctrine is
questioned.)
As to the physical effect of each particular species of bad smell, there
may always be some doubt, and much contrariety of evidence is to be
expected; this however is certain, that those stenches which may be
innocuous to persons in full health, are by no means so to invalids or
persons of irritable nerves or stomachs; and to pregnant women they are
generally allowed to be dangerous.[553]
Habit has also a powerful operation in diminishing the deleterious
effects of such effluvia; instances daily occur in which the fumes of
certain manufactories affect strangers in the most violent degree, while
the artisans engaged in the occupations which produce them; or the
persons accustomed from their residence to the full force of their
influence, scarcely experience any inconvenience; nay, in some cases,
they would even seem to derive a degree of benefit from such an
atmosphere, and to suffer whenever they quitted it;[554] like the
criminal recorded by Sanctorius, who fell sick when taken out of an
infected dungeon, and did not recover until he had been returned into
the impure air to which he had been so long habituated. We apprehend
that the history of the French bastile would furnish the physiologist
with some extraordinary illustrations of the power of habit over the
functions of the body. We introduce these remarks for the purpose of
shewing, that persons immediately engaged in an indictable manufactory,
are not only morally, but physically, incompetent to give evidence in
proof of the extent of the mischief it may create: in addition to which
it must not be forgotten, that in those works in which are carried on
the fusion and volatilization of metals, the workmen employed in the
interior of the building escape the deleterious fumes which pass up the
flues, and spread desolation over the surrounding district. These views
will moreover enable us on many occasions to reconcile the conflicting
testimony which is so often given on trials of nuisance, without in the
least impeaching the veracity or sincerity of the individual witnesses
engaged in the contest.
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