Report to Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State For the Home Department, from the Poor Law Commissioners, on an Inquiry Into the Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population of Great Britain; With AppendicesChadwick, Edwin
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Report to Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State For the Home Department, from the Poor Law Commissioners, on an Inquiry Into the Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population of Great Britain; With Appendices
Chadwick, Edwin
Housing -- Great Britain; Public health -- Great Britain
I have been informed, that some tailors’ workshops at Glasgow have been
carefully ventilated, and that the immediate results are as satisfactory
as were anticipated, but the change has been too recent to permit any
estimate of the effects on the general habits of the workmen.
The preceding case may serve as a general instance of the practical
difference of the effects in the saving of suffering as well as of
expense, by active benevolence exerted with foresight in measures of
prevention, as compared with benevolence exerted in measures of
alleviation of disease after it has occurred.
The subscriptions to the benevolent institution for the relief of the
aged and infirm tailors, by individual masters in the metropolis, appear
to be large and liberal, and amount to upwards of 11,000_l._; yet it is
to be observed, that if they or the men had been aware of the effects of
vitiated atmospheres on the constitution and general strength, and of
the means of ventilation, the practicable gain of money from the gain of
labour by that sanitary measure could not have been less in one large
shop, employing 200 men, than 100,000_l._ Independently of subscriptions
of the whole trade, it would, during their working period of life, have
been sufficient, with the enjoyment of greater health and comfort by
every workman during the time of work, to have purchased him an annuity
of 1_l._ per week for comfortable and respectable self-support during a
period of superannuation, commencing soon after _fifty_ years of age.
Of that which in these instances appear to be the main cause of
premature disease and death, defective ventilation, it is to be remarked
that until very lately little had been observed or understood, even by
professional men or men of science; and that it is only when the public
health is made a matter of public care by a responsible public agency
that, what is understood can be expected to be generally and effectually
applied for the public protection. Vitiated air not being seen, and air
which is pure in winter being cold, the cold is felt and the air is
excluded by the workmen. The great desideratum hitherto has been to
obtain a circulation of air which was _warm_, as well as fresh. This
desideratum has been attained, after much trial, in the House of
Commons; but there is reason to believe that, by various means, at an
expense within the reach certainly of large places of work, a
ventilation equally good might be secured with mutual advantage.
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