The teeth a test of age, considered with reference to the factory children. Addressed to the members of both Houses of Parliament / by Edwin Saunders.

Date:
1837
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The teeth a test of age, considered with reference to the factory children. Addressed to the members of both Houses of Parliament / by Edwin Saunders. 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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    The average height of a child of twelve is, ac- cording to Ft. In. Mr. Horner, ... 4 2 Mr. Fielden, ... 4 51. Mr. Cowell, . . . 4 3^ Were such a test allowed to continue in opera- tion, the Factories' Regulation Act must be rendered practically useless. But even this criterion appears to have been in many instances evaded, and, hke every other which has been hitherto employed, to have been made the vehicle of deception. For- merly, when the child was to be judged of by its general appearance, in addition to the age, fraud was not uncommonly effected by substituting an elder child to obtain the certificate for a younger sister or brother. Thus, Sarah, being thirteen years of age, would apply for a certificate under the name of a younger sister, Jane, perhaps of ten only, which she would readily obtain for her use. And when the fraud by substitution failed, the dress, and every artificial aid that could be resorted to, were so arranged as to impart a more mature appearance to the child than its years justified. These and similar deceptions were now to be pro- vided against, by ascertaining the height, and making subsequent examinations to compare their certified with their actual stature, and thus deter- mine their identity. The resources of the ingenuity and invention of the parents, however, stimulated as they were by their necessitous condition and the