Sins against the laws of health : illustrated by the vital statistics of the Crosshill District : being a lecture delivered on behalf of the library of the Crosshill Young Men's Christian Association, 29th April, 1880 / by Eben. Duncan.

  • Duncan, Eben.
Date:
1880
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Sins against the laws of health : illustrated by the vital statistics of the Crosshill District : being a lecture delivered on behalf of the library of the Crosshill Young Men's Christian Association, 29th April, 1880 / by Eben. Duncan. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    looked upon os being so nice and cosy. When I visit in the evening, I find crowded into those small places large families of cliildren, and the air still further poisoned by three or four gas jets, every gas jet consuming as much air as three people. In ninty-nine cases out of a hundred, there is not the slightest attempt at providing any outlet in the upper part of the room for the sulphurous vapours and other impurities to find exit, nor is there, j>roper inlet for fresh air. 'I’he inlets which do exist are the awkwardly placed crevices left by badly-fitting windows and doors, through which currents of cold air are drawn by the draught of the fireplace. These things , help to mitigate the evil; but mp^t peojde, even educated and in- telligent in other respects, do all in their power to shut up every crevice by which fresh air can enter. It is cjisy to understand the headaches, the bad appetite, the unrefreshing sleep, the tendency to catch cold, and the ultimate break-down in the ill-used lungs, which were meant to breathe the pure air of heaven. It has long been known that tubercular diseases could be produced at will in animals exposed to such conditions of bad ventilation. Some years ago a new monkey-house w'as constructed in the Zoological Gardens, London. No expense was spared to show hospiUdity to the tropical strangers. The house was made like an English drawing-room, with open fireplaces near the fioor, but with ' no other means of ventilation. Above 60 healthy monkeys were placed in it. In about a month 51 of these were dead, and in every case it was found that death was caused by tuber- ’ cular consumption of the lungs. The hot and contaminated air contained in the upper pai't of the room had no outlet, and so the monkeys were condemned to breathe over and over again their own exhalations, with a result as calamitous to the unfortunate animals as was the black hole of Calcutta to the English prisoners of Surajah Dowlah. When this defect was pointed out to the managers of the Institution by Dr. Neil Arnott, channels for ventilation were opened in the ceiling, and thence- forward healthy monkeys could live in that room. The want of provision for ventilation would be equally calamitous in taany families were it not that they are not so completely imprisoned to their rooms as w’cre these monkeys, and when the family is gathered in the room at night the air is partially changed by the occasional opening and shutting of the door. Dr. Guy some years ago pointed out that among the letterpress printers of London the number of men suffering from such symp- toms as spitting of blood and chronic cough (symptoms of consuTnption) was in exact proportion to the amount and purity of the air in which the men worked. He calculated that among 10,000 letterpress printers, in a workroom with air space amounting to 800 cubic feet per man, 400 ^yould die annually from consumption, while 10,000 men working in rooms with an air space of less than 500 cubic feet per man, 1200 would