Prevention of cholera : being the substance of a letter to the Chairman of the Board of Guardians of the Sheffield Union / by J.C. Hall.

  • Hall, John Charles, 1816-1876.
Date:
1853
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Prevention of cholera : being the substance of a letter to the Chairman of the Board of Guardians of the Sheffield Union / by J.C. Hall. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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

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    PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. In a few days several editions of this little work have been sold, which proves how fully alive the great body of the people are becoming to the absolute necessity of sanitary measures, for the removal of those causes which at present exert so baneful an influence on the lives of thousands of the inhabitants of our cities, towns, and villages. Since these remarks were first addressed to the Chairman of the Sbeflield Board of Guardians, and published at the special request of the Board, certain lengthy directions have been issued from the authorities in London, not materially differing from those already given by myself. I must take this opportunity of ex- pressing to the Guardians my warmest thanks for the prompt manner in which my suggestions have been adopted. In every town in this kingdom, the chief localities of disease and death are the narrow courts and lanes inhabited by the poor—the dis- tricts thus unhealthy in London and our larger towns are well known; the effects of the causes there permitted to exist are known also; it is known as certainly as the large red cross on the door, and over it the words “Lord have mercy upon us,” in the days of the Plague, denoted that house to be visited by the pestilence, that in all densely-crowded neighbourhoods where the streets are dirty, narrow, and badly drained, the houses without the means for ventilation, cleanliness, or decency; there will be found those diseases, which spread from such abodes to the more favoured habitations of the wealthy—here are the congenial abodes of drunkenness, idleness, profligacy, and crime ! here recruits are daily trained, not only for the work- house and the hospital, but also for the gaol and the gallows—for filth, destitution, and crime herd together, they are naturally congenial and in- separable companions. It is, therefore, manifestly the duty of the authorities in every town to put a stop to this fearful state of things; humanity, justice, the safety of the commonwealth,—the duty we owe to ourselves, our neighbours, and our God, alike demand that such evils be no longer permitted to exist. Surrey-street, Sheffield, Sept. 28, 1853.