UNHEALTHY EMPLOYMENTS. 281 CHAPTER XVIII. UNHEALTHY EMPLOYMENTS. "Ill fares the land-to hastening ills a prey, "By day, by night, the poison they inhale MARY ANNE BOURNE. THE UNHEALTHY EMPLOYMENTS OF OUR LABOURING CLASSES, which occasion a loss of human life, it is fearful to contemplate, arise in many cases from ignorance or neglect of the plainest hygienic principles. It is surprising that, while statistics furnish us with convincing proofs of the danger or the noxious influence of certain occupations, and while science lends its aid to suggest remedies, so little attention is paid to the subject by employers, or by the workmen themselves, who go on from day to day breathing the subtle poison which is gradually wasting them away, indifferent to the antidote which would remove its fatal influence, reckless of the present, careless of the future, in too many cases hastening the approach of death by gross intemperance and folly. The Industrial Pathology Committee, in connection with the Society of Arts, has taken up the subject of dangerous and unhealthy employments, and the results of their labours must undoubtedly insure a better knowledge of the evils arising therefrom, and the proper measures to be taken for their remedy; but it is a singular fact that, notwithstanding the most vigorous measures have been taken to obtain information in the manufacturing districts, by means of circulars inviting co-operation, little notice has been taken by those most interested in the inquiries, and the praiseworthy endeavours of the society have been, in most cases, treated with silent indifference. It is difficult to conceive such conduct in the presence of so many endeavours that science is making for the amelioration of unhealthy labours. To such men as Dr. Guy, Dr. Chambers, Dr. Waller Lewis, Mr. Simon, Mr. Twining, and others, a feeble acknowledgment can only be rendered for the humane and enlightened spirit of investigation which they have brought to bear upon the painful lot of the workman. The general registry of the empire serves to keep the subjects of poverty, distress, and disease before the public, while the sanitary commissions point out by examples the means of averting disease. So far the government works wisely; but greater activity and a more direct supervision over noxious trades and occupations are needed, and we are induced to believe that a Public Health Commission, similar to the department of the Hygiène Publique et Salubrité at Paris, will not be long withheld. The advantages of the French system are explained in a valuable report on the sanitary laws and ordonnances in force in France, presented to Parliament by the medical officer of the General Post-Office, Dr. Waller Lewis, which is well worthy the attention of the philanthropist and the political economist. One great evil to workmen, and a principal source of disease among them, is the UNWHOLESOME CONDITION OF THEIR DWELLINGS. Until this is remedied, and wise sanitary measures adopted, the humanity of science can but imperfectly perform its mission in lessening the risks that are encountered in the workshop. It is computed that, among the working population of Liverpool UNWHOLESOME DWELLINGS OF THE POOR. 283 living in cellars, one person in every twenty-five is annually attacked by fever, a consequence of the wretched condition in which they exist. They reside, generally, in narrow, dirty streets, while such as are employed in-doors are exposed to impure air, arising from want of ventilation, exhalations from sewers and drains, and from the masses of refuse matter, which, for want of proper receptacles, are left in the yards and rear of houses, to spread their pestilential vapours on every side. Mr. Simon states that the City of London is behindhand in public baths, public laundries, and model dwellings. Nowhere is the high-class artisan so ill-housed, or, to speak more properly, ill-lodged; nowhere does he find cleanliness of person and of clothes so difficult and so costly. In the whole city of London there is hardly a place where a poor man can lodge himself, much less where he can place a family, without constant and immediate contact with unutterable nuisances. About 77,000 children are born in London annually. Such arrangements of the houses, and of the squares and open spaces, should, therefore, be progressively made, as it is known by experience are conducive to the health, vigour, and efficient training of children. Facilities for the distribution over wider areas, and for the periodical concentration of the town population, can be made by the agency of the railways; and, as the working people go and return to the shops at regular hours, they may evidently be conveyed at as little cost as any kind of merchandise. What is also requisite is the BETTER EDUCATION OF FEMALES in the arts of domestic economy. To the extreme ignorance of domestic management on the part of the wives of the mechanics much of their misery and want of comfort are to be traced. Many a confirmed drunkard attributes his habits of dissipation to a wretched home, and a respectable working man is rarely met with, whose house is not managed by a prudent and respectable wife. Here, then, lies the remedy for much of the mischief and unhappiness that accompany poverty. Training schools should be generally established, in which girls might be instructed in household duties, and thus enable them to become, later, useful helpmates instead of encumbrances to labouring men. The good work is already commenced. Miss Burdett Coutts, with that enlightened discernment which has distinguished her liberality, has established an institution of a useful and practical character, where young females will be taught home duties, such as befit them for the class of society in which they may be placed. No doubt the attention of government will be directed to this all-important subject, and the endeavours that are being made by philanthropic individuals for the same object will be promoted in every possible way. While it cannot be doubted that many arts and manufactures are injurious to health, these evil consequences, as well as hereditary predisposition to disease, are promoted by INTEMPERANCE, and that this deadly habit occasions more disease and death to mechanics than the various employments of all the manufactories combined. One half of the week is often spent in the public-houses, and, in order to obtain subsistence and pay for his debauchery, the workman is obliged to work night and day. The DRESS OF WORKMEN requires particular attention, for the impurities that are collected in the clothes from dusty employments, unless removed, affect the general health of the wearer considerably. Labourers are generally very faulty in this respect. Their linen is not changed sufficiently often, and they are not clothed enough. Those engaged about furnaces, exposed to intense heat, are too indifferent about the sudden change their bodies undergo on leaving their work, and do not prepare themselves for it, frequently bringing on catarrhs, pleurisy, and rheumatic affec tions. The AGE at which laborious employments are com menced is another fruitful source of disease. In Birmingham, except in pin manufactories and a few others, it is by no means an uncommon occurrence for children, under ten years of age, to be employed in manufacturing processes in the workshops. When they are made to labour at so early an age the development of the frame appears to be impeded. Such individuals, when arrived at maturity, are generally short in stature, and their muscles unequally evolved. In the selection of a trade for the young of both sexes, disregard is too frequently paid to hereditary or peculiar predisposition to disease. Inattention to this circumstance oftentimes casts unmerited disrepute upon comparatively harmless occupations. More evil effects, perhaps, arise from the condition of the WORKSHOPS than from the processes carried on in them. These are generally too small, frequently damp and badly glazed, but almost always imperfectly ventilated. Some of the large modern manufactories are peculiarly well suited to the purposes for which they have been erected; but for the most part the shopping is in the unceiled roofs of ill-constructed buildings, and is suffocatingly hot in summer, and very cold in winter. M. Lombard, of Genoa, has computed that in a thousand deaths consumption has furnished the following proportions:-In occupations subject to mineral and vegetable emanations, 176; with various dusts, 145; with sedentary life, 140; with workshop life, 138; with hot and dry air, 127; with stooping posture, 122; with sudden movements of arms, 116; with muscular exercise and active life, 89; with exercise of the voice, 75; living in the open air, 73; with animal emanations, 60; with watery vapour, 53. M. Lombard finds phthisis in a much larger proportion among the workmen in narrow, close localities, than among professions carried on in vast spaces well aërated. It appears that the inhalation of coarse particles is less dangerous than that of dusts finely divided, which |