An inquiry into the morbid effects of deficiency of food, chiefly with reference to their occurrence amongst the destitute poor : also practical observations on the treatment of such cases / by Richard Baron Howard.

Date:
1839
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An inquiry into the morbid effects of deficiency of food, chiefly with reference to their occurrence amongst the destitute poor : also practical observations on the treatment of such cases / by Richard Baron Howard. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    this cause, came under the author’s notice. Great merit is, indeed, due to Richard Gould, Esquire, and the other Parochial Officers, for their praiseworthy and unremitting exertions to mitigate the suffering, and for the promptitude with which they- adopted measures to relieve the almost universal distress. The marked benefit, and decrease of % indisposition which took place during a judicious distribu- tion of soup, &c., under the direction of these gentlemen, demonstrated, very clearly, the advantages of supplying food, rather than money, to the poor,'[on such occasions. When the latter is given, it is too often injudiciously spent in purchasing tea, and other innutritious articles, or even alcoholic liquors, instead of being1 expended in wholesome and nutritious provisions. In treating of the morbid effects arising from deficiency of food, it was necessary to advert occasionally to other privations and injurious agents, to] which the poor are exposed, and by which these effects are [modified and increased: yet it has been the endeavour of the author to confine his observations, as closely as the nature of the subject would permit, to the morbid states particularly attributable to defective nutrition; and he has not attemp- ted to give a complete account of those diseases common to the indigent classes, which may be the combined effect of their occupations, habits, and poverty. Manchester, May '27th, 1839.