Remarks on an epidemic of typhus which prevailed in the cotton districts of Lancashire and was described by Dr. Campbell of Lancaster in the year 1785 / read by Christopher Johnson of Lancaster at the Meeting of Certifying Surgeons held in Manchester on July 14th, 1869.

  • Johnson, Christopher.
Date:
1869
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Remarks on an epidemic of typhus which prevailed in the cotton districts of Lancashire and was described by Dr. Campbell of Lancaster in the year 1785 / read by Christopher Johnson of Lancaster at the Meeting of Certifying Surgeons held in Manchester on July 14th, 1869. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Y.—During the prevalence of the present fever, the apartments should . be fumigated with tobacco. Brimstone might perhaps be more powerful, but in burning it yields an acid which would be injurious to the cotton, VI. —Great attention ought to be paid to the privies. They should be washed daily, and ventilated in such a manner that the smell arising from them shall not be perceptible in the workrooms. VII. —The rancid oil which is employed in the machinery is a copious > source of putrid effluvia. We apprehend that a purer oil would be much . less unwholesome, and that the additional expense of it would be fully compensated by its superior power in diminishing fiction. VIII. —A strict observance of cleanliness should be enjoined on all who work in mills, as an efficacious means of preventing contagion, and of pre¬ serving health. It may also be adviseable to bathe the children occasion¬ ally. The apparel of those that are infected with the present fever should be well fumigated before it is worn again, and the linen, &c., of the sick should first be washed in cold water, lest the steam arising from the heat ! communicate the distemper to the person engaged in that operation. Cros- ter’s lye, when it can be procured, is preferable to water. The bodies of those who die of the fever should be closely wrapped in pitched cloth, and interred as soon as propriety or decency will permit. Smoking tobacco will be a useful preservative to superintendants of the works, and to others exposed to infection who can practice it with convenience. IX. —We earnestly recommend a longer recess from labour at noon, and a more early dismission from it in the evening to all who work in the cotton mills. But we deem this indulgence essential to the present health and future capacity for labour of those who are under the age of fourteen. For the active recreations of childhood and youth are necessary to the growth, the vigour, and the right conformation of the human body. And we cannot excuse ourselves on the present occasion, from suggesting to you, , who are the guardians of the public weal, this further very important con¬ sideration that the rising generation shall not be debarred from all opportuni¬ ties of instruction at the only season of life in which they can be properly improved. Had these men omitted the concluding paragraph from their report, we , should even then have considered they had done the state good service, and j' conferred a benefit on the cotton trade at a critical period of its existence. Its insertion gives no ordinary value to their work—the document assumes a prophetic character,—its authors seem to gaze into the far future, and to realize the times in which we now live. Here we have the bold outline of a complete factory act. The necessity for legislation demonstrated, the direction and the extent clearly defined. “ Brave men lived before Agamemnon,” aud brave and true men labored in our profession for the best interests both of rich and poor, long before the names of Oastler or Ashley were heard amongst us.