Observations on the epidemic fever of MDCCCXLIII in Scotland, and its connection with the destitute condition of the poor / [William Pulteney Alison].

  • Alison, William Pulteney, 1790-1859.
Date:
1844
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the epidemic fever of MDCCCXLIII in Scotland, and its connection with the destitute condition of the poor / [William Pulteney Alison]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    destitution in those towns was better than usual; we know, that by such means alone, above 4000 persons were preserved from absolute destitution, during the whole of last winter and spring in Edinburgh: 2. That into all these distressed towns, the immigration of strangers, during last winter, in consequence of the dearth of employment, and the limitation of the charity- labour to those who had a legal settlement, was certainly much less than usual; and we know, that strangers, newly arrived at any town, are always persons pecu¬ liarly adapted for the reception and extension of epi¬ demic disease. But, in accordance with the principles which I have stated above, and which are exactly the same as stated formerly (Management of the Poor in Scot¬ land, 2d edit., p. 10), it will be at once perceived, that the relation which I maintain to exist between destitu¬ tion and fever is not simply that of cause and effect, but that of predisposition, favouring the effect of another cause, which is essentially variable. Where destitution exists, it prepares victims for fever, but the fever u bides its timer It springs from a specific contagion (at least that is the only source from which we are sure that it springs), which rises and falls in intensity from various causes, known and unknown; but when, in the course of these fluctuations, it invades a community where there is a large amount of misery and destitution, its extension there is, cceteris paribus, much greater than elsewhere. According to this view of the subject, it might natu¬ rally be expected, that when the charity-work for the unemployed was discontinued, and when they, or their families, from different towns, were obliged to wander about the country in search of work, the fever, still