Sanitary inquiry:- England. : Local reports on the sanitary condition of the labouring population of England, in consequence of an inquiry directed to be made by the Poor Law Commissioners. Presented to both Houses of Parliament, by command of Her Majesty, July, 1842
•- a. S- SSjsKlM r. ■-*' t / & <6o4=?0 /£ y ' <LQs4— « ” fS ■> , . .. * 4 SANITARY INQUIRY:— ENGLAND. LOCAL REPORTS ON THE SANITARY CONDITION OF THE LABOURING POPULATION OF ENGLAND, IN CONSEQUENCE OF AN INQUIRY DIRECTED TO BE MADE BY THE BOOR LAW COMMISSIONERS. Presented to both Houses of Parliament, by Command of Her Majesty, July, 1842. LONDON: PRINTED BY W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET, FOR HER MAJESTY’S STATIONERY OFFICE. 1S42, I CONTENTS. LOCAL REPORTS ENGLAND. PAGE 1. Report on the Sanitary State of the Residences of the Labouring Classes in the Counties of Devon and Cornwall. By W. J. Gilbert, Esq., Assistant Poor Law Commissioner ....... 1 2. Report On the Sanitary State of the Labouring Classes in the Town of Truro. By Dr. Charles Barham . • • • • .16 3. Report on the State of the Dwellings and General Economy of the Labour- ing Classes in Kent and Sussex. By Edward Carleton Tuffnell, Esq., Assistant Poor Law Commissioner ...... 36 4. Report on the Sanitary State of the Residences of the Labouring Classes in the Town of Brighton, and on the Causes and the Prevention of Fever. By Dr. G. S. Jenics ......... 57 5. Communication relative to Cottage Accommodation in the Uckfield Union, Sussex. By W. H. Newnham, Esq., Auditor . . . . .87 6. Report on the Sanitary State of the Residences of the Labouring Classes in the Counties of Berks, Bucks, and Oxford. By AF. H. Parker, Esq., Assistant Poor Law Commissioner ... .... 89 7. Report on the State of the Residences of the Labouring Classes in the Counties of Gloucester, Hereford, Monmouth, Salop, Worcester, Breck- nock and Radnor. By Sir Edmund Head, Bart., Assistant Poor Law Commissioner .......... 96 S. Report on Cottage Accommodation in the Counties -of Bedford, North- ampton, and Stafford. By Robert AViiale, Esq., Assistant Poor Law Commissioner .......... 125 9. Report on the Condition of the Residences of the Labouring Classes in the Counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. By Edward Twisi.eton, Esq., Assis- tant Poor Law Commissioner ........ 133 10. Report on the Condition of the Residences of the Labouring Classes in the Counties of Leicester, Lincoln, Nottingham, and Rutland. By Edward Senior, Esq., Assistant Poor Law Commissioner . . . .153 11. Report on the Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population of  the Labouring Population of the Parish of Breadsall in the Shardlow Union. By J. P. Kennedy, Esq., M.D., and Edward Senior, Esq., Assistant Poor Law Commissioner . . 182 13. Report on the Sanitary State of the Labouring Classes in the Borough of Birmingham. By a Committee of Physicians and Surgeons . 192 iv CONTENTS. Page 14. Report on the Sanitary Condition of the Working Classes in the Town of Wolverhampton. By Dr. J. Dehane 218 15. Report on the Sanitary State of the Labouring Classes in the Town of Staf- ford. By Dr. Edward Knight 225 16. Report on the Condition of the Habitations of the Lower Orders in Salop, Cheshire, and North Wales. By William Day, Esq., Assistant Poor Law Commissioner ......... 226 17. Report on the State of the Residences of the Labouring Classes in the Manufacturing Districts of Lancashire, Cheshire, Derbyshire, and Staffordshire. By Charles Mott, Esq., Assistant Poor Law Commis- sioner ........... 232 18. Report on the Sanitary Inquiry in Lancashire. By Alfred Power, Esq., Assistant Poor Law Commissioner ...... 256 19. Report on the Sanitary State of the Labouring Classes in the Town of Liverpool. By Dr. W. H. Duncan ...... 282 20. Report on the prevalence of Diseases arising from Contagion and certain other Physical Causes amongst the Labouring Classes in Manchester. By Richard Baron Howard, Esq., M.D. . ..... 294 21. Communication on an Improved Description of Cottage Tenements for the Labouring Classes. By Edmund Ashworth, Esq. . . . 336 22. Report on the Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population iu the Town of Lancaster. By Dr. Edward De Vitrie "... . . 341 23. Report on the Condition of the Residences of the Labouring Classes in the Town of Leeds in the West Riding of York. By Robert Baker, Esq. . 348 24. First Report on the State of the Dwellings of the Labouiing Classes in Cumberland, Durham, Northumberland, and Westmoreland. By Sir John Walsham, Bart., Assistant Poor Law Commissioner . . . 409 25. Second Report on the Same. By Ditto ...... 416 26. Third Report on the Same. By Ditto ...... 430 SANITARY INQUIRY— ENGLAND. No. 1. ON THE SANITARY STATE OF THE COUNTIES OF DEVON AND CORNWALL. By W. J. Gilbert, Esq., Assistant Poor Law Commissioner. Gentlemen, — In conformity with your instructions, I beg to send you a report of the sanitary state of my late district; it is less full and particular than I could have desired, but the change of Assistant Commissioners’ districts, which occasioned my removal into Staffordshire, obliged me to leave my inquiries incomplete. My attention has been confined to the two counties of Devon and Cornwall. Several practitioners of eminence in different parts of those counties will report to you fully and in detail the state of their respective neighbourhoods : in addition you will obtain reports from the various surgeons acting as medical officers in the dif- ferent unions of those counties. My information is obtained chiefly from examination of the medical officer’s books and personal inquiry of those conversant with the state of the poor, by conversation with the labouring peo- ple themselves, and from inspection of their dwellings, and of the neighbourhoods in which they reside. From these several sources of information. I find that numerous causes of disease exist similar to those pointed out by Drs. Arnott, Smith, and Kay, in their reports on parts of the Metropolitan districts, and the fatal consequences of these causes are easily and distinctly traceable. The immediate cause is usually malaria, arising chiefly from three sources — open drains, dirt-pits and heaps, and the state of the cottages. Causes of Disease. Ihe diseases arising from malaria present themselves in man}'' forms : they frequently assume a character apparently not result- ing from such causes. The inmates complain of fits, convulsions, paralysis, ulcers, indigestion, and various other diseases; they tell you that they and their families have always been subject to them, and ascribe them to hereditary or personal infection, to low or unsuitable diet, hard work, exposure to cold, and other causes; but wherever such a regularly recurring complaint is found, almost 2 San it ary In q u iry — England. invariably there is some open drain, some stagnant pool, or some long encouraged collection of decomposing animal and vegetable matter. In other places we find the dung-heap and the poison ; but all the inhabitants in health. But on the occurrence of a change in the weather, in the wind, in the temperature of the climate, the whole party within the range of the poison are on their sick-beds ; head-aches, constipation, sinall-pox, and fevers ; and in many cases atrophy. Collections of decomposing Animal and Vegetable Substances. The collection is a property highly prized, and frequently forms the subject of bitter contention between neighbours in tbe same narrow court or unventilated passage. The attempt to remove any part is the sure cause of contention, and would subject to an- noyance and ill-will any well-disposed and more intelligent neigh- bour who should interfere. In addition to the instances which you will receive from the reports of the medical men, I may relate to you some few amongst the many I have found in my personal examinations. In the parish of Modbury, many of the dwellings of the poor are arranged round narrow courts having no other opening to the main street than a narrow covered passage. In these courts there are several occupants, each of whom has accumulated a heap. In some cases, each of these heaps is piled up separately in the court, with a general receptacle in the middle for the drainage. In others a pit is dug in the middle of the court for the general use of all the occupants. In some the whole courts up to the very doors of the houses are covered with filth. Around this mass, the cottages of the residents are arranged, having no back outlet, no back windows, or other means of ventilation. The windows and doors of the houses open and look towards this mass; and all the air supplied to the inmates is obtained through these doors and windows. The residents I learnt w:ere very frequently subject to fever, and were always regarded as the first to be affected by any epidemic disease. The gross ignorance or carelessness from which such a state of things could result does not, however, ap- pear confined to the poorer classes of inhabitants, but to be far more widely extended, if we may judge from the following circum- stance. Information was given me that a common sewer ran through Modbury, and wras collected in an open pool in one of the inn-yards. The greater part of this inn-yard I found had been excavated so as to form a deep pit on each side of the sew’er ; which was here laid open. The surface was several square yards quite open, and the depth considerable. Within two or three feet of the surface of this filth was a window which I was told was the window of one of the bed-rooms of the inn. By the side of this filth-pond was the skittle-ground of the inn. Many of the town’s- people I understood were there of an afternoon to enjoy their 3 Counties of Devon and Cornwall. holiday, and the skittles and balls lying around recently used gave evidence that the account was correct. By what means the inn- keeper managed to induce people to pass their time on the em- bankment of such a deep wide pond of most offensive filth I am at a loss to account ; but it was so extremely offensive, that, having obtained the information, we were glad to make a hasty retreat. The inn-keeper was accustomed to clean this out once or twice a- year and sell it as manure. I give this as an instance of abuse amidst a village population in a rural district, and there are many villages in which instances of a similar kind might be found ; and in country places where there are rows of cottages, or even in the case of single cottages, similar nuisances may be observed. In an old parish workhouse belonging to a large town in Corn- wall, I found that the inmates had long been suffering from fever, which in some cases had assumed a typhoid form. The medical man was said to have given due attention, and the patients were well supplied with medicine. The house was in the lowest part of the town and in a damp situation, and I was told near the common sewer, which at that part had very little fall, and con- sequently but bad drainage. In the middle of the small court- yard of the workhouse, towards which the windows faced, I found a dung-heap collected, which I had immediately removed, and was glad to learn that shortly afterwards there was a visible im- provement in the health of the inmates, and ultimately that the fever was entirely removed. As further evidence on this subject— Mr. Moyle, medical officer of the Kea’and Feock district, Truro union, says — “ The decomposition of refuse vegetable and animal matter thrown from the houses is constant, and filth of every description is lodged within a few feet of the door. They have also stagnant pools near the doors which emit a most intolerable stench.” “ The chief object of the proprietors is to accumulate as much manure as possible for the cultivation of their gardens and for the growth of potatoes. Many persons have a heap of 20 loads of dung, most abominably shocking to the olfactory powers of strangers coming near it, within a short distance of the doors. Independent of the turnpike roads, there are no scavengers or other persons appointed to remove the soil in my district.” Mr. Spry, medical officer of the Truro district, Truro union, says — In this road, called the Back lane (in Truro), is a lodging-house for vagrants, and some tenements adjoining, the filth from which is all cast into an open trench before the houses. From the attention paid to the sw eepings of the streets by the commissioners of paving and lighting, a general show of cleanliness is preserved, but in some of the courts n 2 4 Sanitary Inq u iry — Engl a n d. where the scavengers are prohibited from entering, being private pro- perty, and no thoroughfare, the stench is sometimes abominable, and instead of being desirous of having the accumulated filth removed, each resident emulates the other in filling his much-cherished pit. One such place on the western side of Culinick-street is especially remarkable for this distinction, and here two out of the four cases of typhus occurred. One of them, transferred to me by my predecessor in office, I imme- diately caused to be removed to the workhouse in a healthy situation, where he ultimately recovered; and the other case also did well, although kept in the same situation, by the purification of the premises and court, and liberal allowances of porter, wine, &c.” Mr. C. Doble, medical officer, St. Just district, Truro union, says — “ Contagious febrile disease was very prevalent in Veryan parish. A great number of cases arise from stagnant pools, accumulations of sea- weed, &c. The labourers generally keep a stagnant pool for the purpose of obtaining dung.” Mr. Hvgoe, medical officer of the Padslow district, St. Columb Major union, says — ’ “ During the period within which I am required to report", there has not occurred a single case of contagious disease within this district, the absence of which I attribute principally to the cold wet weather we have had. Some years since typhus was always prevalent during the summer months when the heat was greatest, induced in my opinion by the filth allowed to accumulate in the streets and bye places of the towns and villages. The streets are constantly covered with refuse, animal and vegetable matter ; and I doubt not, should the coming summer prove hot, we shall have a return of that form of fever above alluded to. The population of the parish of Padstow is 1822. In the year 1833 cholera prevailed: in that year *70 deaths took place. In the preceding year typhus fever produced the same rate of mortality, and in 1831, 43 deaths from typhus and scarlatina. The year after the cholera prevailed, viz. 1834, only 31 deaths are recorded. There were 31 deaths in 1835, and 35 in 1836. During these years, immediately after the prevalence of cholera, much greater attention was paid to cleaning the streets and the removal of various nuisances ; but there still exist many causes likely to produce disease, should we have a return of very warm weather favour- ing the production of miasma. The local advantages for draining and cleaning the town are great, from the excellent supply of fresh water which might easily be made to pass through every street; aud there is a gradual descent towards the sea. All obnoxious matters might by that means be washed away, instead of being allowed to accumulate as at present, rendering the streets alike disgusting to the senses of smell and vision.” Mr. J. Fry, medical officer, St. Breock district, St. Columb Major union, says — “ Heaps of dung with vegetable matter deposited near the dwellings of the poor (and such houses are not sufficiently ventilated) have been heretofore the cause of fever spreading.” Counties of Devon and Cornwall. 5 M. F. Trevan, medical officer of Ihc third district, Bodmin union, gives a return of 1*2 case3 of typhus fever “amongst la- bourers residing principally in narrow lanes in a small and dirty fishing town.” Mr. Trevan says — “ I believe the cause to be a disregard of ventilation, want of sewers, the formation of cesspools, the effluvia arising from the approximity of pigsties with accumulations of filth composed of animal and vegetable matter in a state of putrefactive decomposition.” *'*_ Mr. Ward, medical officer of the town of Bodmin district of the Bodmin union, gives a return of 15 cases of typhus and 30 of synochus occurring in the old workhouse and town of Bodmin. Mr. Ward says — “ In the outcases the majority occurred in St. Nicholas-strcet, where more or less fever of a typhoid character generally prevails. At the rear of the houses there is a good deal of wood and thicket with con- siderable accumulations of filth from the houses, cowhouses, stables, pigsties, &c. The malaria arising from the decomposition of animal and vegetable matter is, in my opinion, the chief cause of keeping up the infection. Three of the five cases of death took place in this street in one family of five persons occupying one small room (having no other to sleep in), damp and ill-ventilated.” Mr. Belling, medical officer of the Lostwithiel district, Bodmin, union, says — “ Three of the four first cases” (in his return, viz. typhus) “ which occurred in the Lostwithiel poor-house were evidently produced by miasma or putrid efHuvia arising from accumulated filth, and which, if not removed before next spring, will certainly cause a return of the disease.” Mr. Jocc, medical officer of the Chittlehampton district, Barn- staple union, says — “This district consists of three parishes, Swymbridge, Bishop’s Tawton, and Landkey. Typhus fever occasionally prevails here ; but by far the most prevalent is synochus. During the last ten years, I have in numerous instances clearly traced the origin of this disease to miasm, arising from the putrefaction of vegetable and animal substances. And it is with great satisfaction I am enabled to state that such causes might readily be removed by the interference of proper authorities : at present, however, they are never attended to. * * * * But the most frequent cause of disease is the manure pit, which is generally, for the sake of convenience, made as near to the door of the dwelling as possible. To the poor man it is of some importance in the cultivation of potatoes ; and into it every species of filth is thrown. The manure is generally allowed to collect tor 12 months, at the expiration of that time is carted away for the garden or the potato-field, when fever generally appears in our villages.” 0 Sanitary Inquiry — England. Mr. Peyton Pick, medical officer of the Braunton district, Barnstaple union, says — “ Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 (in his Medical Return) were cases of fever occurring in people living close to a marsh which is occasionally covered by the tide. Immediately behind the houses there are several manure pits, which are generally filled with very putrid water and filth. Besides the above cases, there were at the same time several others in the adjoining houses, principally in children a little removed above the pauper. This neighbourhood might be easily improved by filling up the pits and draining. The cases 10, 11, 12 (1 typhus, 2 synochus) were in children whose residence has two pigsties in front of it. The inhabitants of these houses are very often ill, and are too poor to remove the nuisance. I have noticed that fever is not the only disease which is induced indirectly by the decomposition of animal and vegetable sub- stances near the residences of the poor ; but that the inmates of houses so situated are less capable of resisting injurious physical causes from their constitutions being wakened by the malaria.” Mr. Henry Hele, medical officer of the Ashburton district, Newton Abbot union, says — • “ The refuse and filth, necessarily arising from the consumption of the families and otherwise, is usually thrown in a pit at the back of the houses, frequently beneath or near the room in which they principally live. They have no other place to keep the filth above named ; and if they had, the principal number do not appear to have the wish to remove it further off. They cannot be convinced of the mischiefs arising from the generation and accumulation of foul air. Their sewers or drains, when any, are not kept clean, and frequently they are found to be com- pletely choked ; the scavengers are not permitted to remove the refuse and dung from the backs of the houses, as the poor preserve it at any risk, for the purpose of manure for a small crop of potatoes or otherwise. The ventilation around the houses is generally very bad. “ I firmly believe that the majority of cases” (of contagious febrile diseases) “is produced by a crowded state of the inmates, together with the accumulation of filth, in the immediate vicinity of the dwellings.” Mr. S. Hunt, medical officer of the Chagford district, Oke- hampton union, says — “ You will perceive, there are (in the Return) 82 cases of fever, and two only specified as typhus: of these 44 occurred between July 13th and September 13th, 1838, and all within a mile of the village of Chag- ford, and in it. As I reside in the village, and have been for several years the medical attendant on four separate clubs, consisting of about 400 members in the lower walks of life, among whom typhus fever raged at the period above named, I am certain that the greater number of those cases were typhus ; the number of cases I had on my visiting list of typhus at that time was 84, nearly the whole of whom resided in the vil- lage. Surprise is constantly expressed at this village being so frequently attacked with typhus fever, and having nearly at all times a typhoid type of fever lingering among the poorer inhabitants ; and the surprise is most natural, situated as it is on a hill within three miles of Dartmoor, having an abundance of pure water flowing through every street ; and 7 Counties of Devon and Cornwall. the soil being what is called ‘ a light sandy soil the whole district too is perfectly free from malaria, produced by natural causes. “The village contains about 1000 inhabitants, nine-tenths of whom are daily labourers, either at a large woollen manufactory or agriculture. The cottages of the labourers are, generally speaking, very old and incon- venient, &c. &c. A great number of them are situated in blind alleys called ‘ drangs,’ without privies or drains ; but all the refuse matter is carefully collected, and preserved throughout the year, as manure for potatoe ground. Each cottage has a pigsty within three yards of the door, the drainage of which adds to the already offensive effluvia that are gene- rally around it! 1 * * * * The occurrence of typhus fever has not been at regular intervals : it has appeared with violence three times in the space of ten years ; but among some of the poor in those drangs, there is nearly at all times a degree of fever having the typhoid character. “ I most certainly attribute the primary cause of the appearance of typhus fever among us to the malaria generated around each cottage, by the decomposition of animal and vegetable matter in the dung-hill, pre- served to manure the potatoe ground rented by each cottager. The secondary causes are the crowded state of their rooms; as many as 12 or 14 individuals sleep in one small apartment, parents and children, many grown up as well as lodgers ; in some instances a poor diet : but the general diet is wholesome, consisting of potatoes, pork, puddings, &c. “ In conclusion, I have to state my perfect conviction, that an improved style of residences for the poor, combining free ventilation with a re- moval of those dung-heaps, the erection of privies and formation of drains, would render typhus fever almost unknown among us. During the last very severe epidemic, there wras not one person attacked above the grade of a labourer, though it was as severe a form of disease as ever 1 wit- nessed among the crowded lanes and alleys of Southwark whilst in at- tendance on the Southwark Dispensary.” Mr. B. J. Ball, medical officer of the Mevagessey district, St. Austel union — gives, in his Return, three cases of scarlatina gravior; the patients three children of a miner, whose residence he states to be in a low and marshy situation. Mr. Ball describes this dwelling, which is in the parish of St. Ewe, as “a small cottage with only two rooms, and a dung-pit before the door, kept expressly for the purpose of accumulating filth for manure, which he uses for his garden. A pit of this sort is considered by almost every poor man in this district as a necessary appendage to his cottage; he even values it at half his living, and says that, if he is obliged to do away with the pit, he cannot grow his potatoes, &c. : not thinking it is the very nursery of the fever which rages so on his children : and I have often the greatest difficulty in getting cottagers to re- move them, although fever may be raging 1o an alarming extent in his house ! ! ” In the larger towns, some attempts have been made to protect the inhabitants against disease, and the causes referred to, in many instances, have been removed. Since the visitation of the cholera, which alarmed the local authorities, and attracted their 8 Sanitary Inquiry — England. attention to the subject of general health, the magistrates and the several boards of health have diffused more generally a knowledge of those circumstances which conduce to disease, and so tended To remove them. Assisi ed by some medical gentleman, I personally inspected all the back alleys and courts, and other parts usually occupied by the poorer classes of the people in Exeter, Plymouth and Devon- port. At the time of the cholera, the towns had been closely inspected, and many nuisances removed ; and since, they have not existed to such an extent as previously, and the cases’ of fevers, and other diseases having their origin more immediately in malaria, have not been so numerous. In effecting these improvements and in removing nuisances, it is acknowledged that the powers of the law were overstepped ; which are admitted to be defective for sanitary purposes. Some very able reports from these towns will, I trust, be sent to you; and I shall therefore think it unnecessary to go more fully into particulars. It will however, I think, be found from these reports, that there are existing instances of a nature analogous to those before men- tioned, calling for some system of general sanitary police. Open Drains and Sewers. Another prominent cause of malaria is to be found in open drains and sewers. There are few neighbourhoods in which some of these are not to be found, and attendant upon them, their usual follower, fever in different stages. In the reports of the medical men, you will doubtless find this stated as a leading cause of disease ; and many instances will be furnished to you, and I shall therefore content myself with giving you one instance ; although there are few towns and villages which would not furnish some similar. In Tiverton there is a large district, from which I find nu- merous applications were made for relief to the Board of Guardians, in consequence of illness from fever. The expense in procuring the necessary attention and care, and the diet and comforts re- commended by the medical officer, were in each case very high and particularly attracted my attention. I requested the medical officer to accompany me through the district, and with him, and afterwards by myself, I visited the dis- trict, and examined the cottages and families living there. The land is nearly on a level with the water ; the ground is marshy and the sewers all open. Before reaching the district, I was as- sailed by a most disagreeable smell ; and it was clear to the sense that the air was full of most injurious malaria. The inhabitants, easily distinguishable from the inhabitants of the other parts of the town, had all a sickly, miserable appearance. The open drains in some cases ran immediately before the doors of the houses, and some of the houses were surrounded by wide open Counties of Devon and Cornwall. 9 drains, full of all the animal and vegetable refuse not only of the houses in that part, but of those in other parts of Tiverton. In many of the houses, persons were confined with fever and dif- ferent diseases, and all I talked to, either were ill or had been so ; and the whole community presented a melancholy spectacle of disease and misery. Attempts have been made on various occasions by the local au- thorities to correct this state of things by compelling the occupants of the houses to remove nuisances, and to have the drains covered ; but they find that in the present state of the law their powers are not sufficient, and the evil continues and is likely so to do, unless the legislature affords some redress in the nature of sanitary powers. Independently of this nuisance, Tiverton would be con- sidered a fine healthy town, situate as it is on the slope of a hill, with a swift river running at its foot. It is not these unfortunate creatures only who choose this centre of disease for their living-place who are affected, but the whole town is more or less deteriorated by its vicinity to this pestilent mass, where the generation of those elements of disease and of death is constant and continuing. State of the Cottages and Dwellings of the Poor. Another cause of disease is to be found in the state of the cot- tages. Many are built on the ground without flooring, or against a damp hill. Some have neither windows nor doors sufficient to keep out the weather, or to let in the rays of the sun, or supply the means of ventilation; and in others the roof is so constructed or so worn as not to be weather-tight. The thatch roof frequently is saturated with wet, rotten, and in a state of decay, giving out malaria, as other decaying vegetable matter. The construction of the cottages is generally very defective; usually one room on the ground-floor, and one or two on the first-floor. There is often deficient sleeping room, and no means of afford- ing the different members of the family separate apartments: the parents and children, both male and female, frequently sleeping in the same apartment. Many cottages are without privies, andl'ew have the necessary addition of a dust-pit, or a place for washing potatoes, or for other household work. Some of this description of cottages which have come under my observation are the following : — 1. A cottage at Modbury, which I visited with the medical officer: the inmates consumptive: the head of the family in a weak condition ; suffering from cough and occasional vomiting of blood. One of his daughters died of consumption a few months previously. T. he medical officer stated that it was impossible to mitigate the sufferings of the family, unless they were removed to a drier and more comfortable habitation. The ground-floor of mud, and m a very wet and dirty state ; the walls streaming with 10 Sanitary Inquiry — Eng tan d. wet. One bed-room up stairs for the whole family, which con- sists of a man, his wife and two daughters. This apartment dark and imperfectly sheltered from the weather. The planks of the floor damp ; completely blackened by filth ; and in so broken a condition that it was unsafe to tread on them. — Rent 21. 10,?. per annum. 2. Another cottage nearly opposite the above, I found to be floored with rough stones and mud, in the same manner as the street, and almost equally damp and dirty. One bedroom up stairs, divided by a wooden partition. This room much exposed to the weather. Family all more or less affected with rheumatic fever, expressed themselves fully conscious that their ill-health arose from the miserable condition of their dwelling. Rent 21. 15s. Many of the cottages in the lower part of the same town were exceedingly damp, dirty and ill-ventilated ; and the inmates stated by the medical officer to be continually subject to fevers and rheu- matic complaints. No privies. The flooring generally very damp, and commonly a want of sufficient sleeping accommodation ; families consisting of man, wife, and one or two grown-up child- ren (besides those of younger years), having but one bed-room. — Rents for cottages of this description vary from 21. 8s. to 21. 15s. per annum.” As further evidence of the bad state of the cottages inhabited by the poorer classes, Mr. Doble, medical officer of the Perranzabuloe and St. Agnes district, Truro union, says — “ Where typhus prevails to any extent, the inhabitants of those places arc far from being cleanly, perhaps a large family occupying one single bed-room.” Mr. Moyle, medical officer, Kea and Feock district, Truro union, says — “ Some of the cottages whence febrile diseases arise are unduly crowded. I have known 12 or 14 persons sleep in a room of 14 feet square, low, and with but one window. Low mud walls with few conveniences. The roof always of thatch, the inside of which is often very black, full of dust, and spider’s webs. But few houses properly supplied with water. “ Whatever the situation of the pauper’s house in my district, whether high, medium, or low, it is uniformly damp from a want of sewers to take off the rain and slop water ; dirty from (with many) a total disre- gard of personal cleanliness; low; ill ventilated; many houses of a ground and one upper room, often lodging in one and sometimes two beds from five to nine or even 12 persons, with one window only in the upper room, so fixed that it cannot be opened.” Mr. Ilender, medical officer of the sixth district of the Laun- ceston union, says — “The tenements occupied by the poor are frequently too small; the chambers being crowded with beds, thereby rendering their purification by washing so troublesome as to induce many to neglect it altogether. 11 Counties of Devon and Cornwall. I believe if general attention were given by the poor to the cleanliness of their habitations and persons, not only contagious and infectious fevers, but many other diseases would be less frequent and less severe.” Mr. J. F. Smith, medical officer of the fifth district of the Launceston union, says — “ The houses inhabited by the poor in this district are generally in a most dilapidated condition ; consisting of one room on the ground floor, and one bed-room, having no other place for their potatoes, fuel, &c. Scarcely one house in ten is weather-tight, and there is generally an ac- cumulation of filth in front of the doors, as they have no proper receptacle for refuse. I consider that in this district there is a great need of su- perior cottage accommodation ; and that the health and condition of the inmales would thereby be considerably improved and benefited.” Mr. Street, medical officer of Penryn district, Falmouth union, says — “ Within the town there are at least eight or nine lodging-houses, the nightly resort of itinerant travellers. These are lodged in rooms very crowded with beds : frequently a room of ten feet square will contain four beds, and in each of these beds three persons are allotted to sleep. Out of the seven cases of typhus returned, five occurred in those lodging- houses. The authorities have frequently been applied to to remove the nuisance, but without avail, the answer being ‘ We have no power to remedy the evil.’ This I consider as a great source of fever in this town. “ There is an inferior class of labourers, chiefly paupers of out-parishes, and receiving out-door relief from their different parishes who have come to reside in Penryn, whose residences are very bad, and generally speak- ing in a very filthy and dilapidated state. They inhabit single rooms only in houses where there are several different families residing, and perhaps there are four or five persons crowded together in a small room. Few of the smaller class of cottages have privies ; and the receptacle for the refuse is generally very near the dwelling, and is by no means kept cleanly, nor are the contents frequently removed.” Mr. Ward, medical officer of the Bodmin district, Bodmin union, says — “ It appears to me that the improvement of the cottage residences of the poor would exert a very beneficial influence on the prevalence of fever; for at present houses ill-ventilated, damp, badly drained, and sur- rounded by cesspools and accumulations of filth, are but too common. Generally speaking, too, there is a want of proper accommodation, for I myself have seen, amongst the cases quoted in my return, four persons ill of a continued fever in one bed ; neither have the poor, even where it is practicable, any due regard to the removal of nuisances and filth from their doors.” Mr. J. Fry, medical officer of the Egloshayle district, Bodmin union, says — “ A few years since, autumnal typhus prevailed to a great extent in a small country village in my district (St. Mabyn), commencing on a young subject who had laboured under a severe attack of influenza, easily 12 Sanitary Inquiry — England. traceable from house to house in those exposed to it, to the number of 45 to 50 — one death. “ In no one instance could I but remark the peculiarity favourable to its propagation, such as the ground floors of many being under the sur- rounding land on a clay soil, not sufficiently drained ; apartments not having any thoroughfare for air; eating and sleeping in the same; no convenient privies ; collections of dung and vegetable matter near the dwellings preparing for sale or potatoe crops. I have now several cases of fever in the parish of Egloshayle (synochus), having the same exciting causes as above.” Mr. T. B. Torr, medical officer of the Loxhore and Mar wood district, Barnstaple union, says — “ There is much 'room for improvement. The houses are low and badly ventilated. The windows very small; and more than one half of them are incapable of being opened. The cottages are for the most part inadequate in size for the number of inmates ; and cold and damp in consequence of the neglect of the landlords to keep them in repair. Thatch is almost the universal mode of covering, .and this from the pre- judical practice (which I am constantly condemning) of placing new layers of reed on the old and decomposed materials of the roof: it is of very frequent occurrence, to observe them attain a thickness of three, or even five or six feet! And thus results a species of artificial marsh constantly suspended over the sleeping rooms; the emanations from which (as most of these rooms arc without ceilings) must be detrimental to health.” Mr. Joce, medical officer of the Chittlehampton district, Barn- staple union, says — “ The cottages of the poor are generally more capacious than in many other parts of England ; for the most part constructed of stone or mud and covered with thatch. They are, however, frequently much neglected by their owners. The roofs become permeated with moisture ; the side Avails soaked Avith drainage from the thatch ; and the ground- floors are often without pavement. Such an atmosphere is generally prejudicial to health, and deserves the consideration of all persons in- terested in the preservation or the comforts of the poorer classes.” Mr. Cooke, medical officer of the Barnstaple district, Barnstaple union, says — • “ The cases of typhus (in the return tAVO in number) occurred in low lodging-houses frequented by mendicants and vagrants, and generally croAvded and in a most filthy state.” Mr. Pearse, medical officer of the Tavistock district of the Tavistock union, says — “The continued fevers (in the return 83 cases) include those of the typhoid character ; and Avould be greatly diminished in number had the poor more house-room and suitable accommodations as appurtenances. The great majority of the poor in this toAvn are shut up, a Avhole family (on an average man, Avife, and three children) in a room not more than 12 feet square, Avhich serves them as kitchen, scullery, store-room, bed- 13 Counties of Devon and Cornwall. chamber, wash-house, drying-room, and all ; not having either garden, curtilage, water-closet, or any other convenience. Such a state of things tends not only to deprave the health, but also the morals of the poor in a very great degree.” Mr. C. K. Vacy , medical officer of the Lefton district of the Tavistock union, says — , “ The faulty construction of the greater number of the houses of the poor, neither ventilation nor proper drainage being attended to, together with the crowded state of their inmates, is undoubtedly a frequent cause of disease.” A. D. Acland, Esq., a guardian of the Axminster union, who has favoured me with a communication on this subject, gives his opinion, that — “ The accommodation in the cottages of the poorer classes is very insufficient in many respects, according to our views of what is necessary. It does not appear that the poor themselves feel it to be at all an incon- venience, or not generally so. It is in their moral habits that the evil is mostly seen. “ With regard to their moral habits as connected with their cottages, there is one very great and serious evil — the growing up of brothers and sisters to years of puberty in the same bed-rooms with their married parents, and even with a married brother-in-law and sister, or the con- verse. By this means it is obvious that habits of indelicate thought and conversation, and ultimately of action, are soon produced. In fact, few women in this neighbourhood ever marry until they have had, or show obvious signs of being about to have, their first infant. I am far from saying that their greater separation would secure morality ; that security is to be found in higher powers, and in principles inculcated by early religious education and careful superintendence ; but their mode of life does tend to undermine their existence, even where those principles are implanted, and affords a ready stimulus to evil where that has commenced.” In the towns, families occupy separate rooms in the several cottages ; and have but one room for the common purposes of cooking, taking meals, and sleeping. In the improved class of cottages I find these defects removed. There is a sitting-room, a small sloping-room behind for cooking and washing, and other domestic offices ; and a privy and dust-bin so situated as not to be offensive to the inmates of the house. I beg to inclose some plans of cottages of an improved kind, which were sent to me by Mr. Jack, a medical officer of the Plympton St. Mary union, with the following letter : — Dear Sir, King’s Tamerloji, January 13, 1839. 