Report of the Health of London Association on the sanitary condition of the metropolis; : being a digest of the information contained in the replies returned to three thousand lists of queries, which were circulated amongst clergymen, medical men, solicitors, surveyors, architects, engineers, parochial officers, and the public.

  • Health of Towns Association (London, England)
Date:
1847
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the Health of London Association on the sanitary condition of the metropolis; : being a digest of the information contained in the replies returned to three thousand lists of queries, which were circulated amongst clergymen, medical men, solicitors, surveyors, architects, engineers, parochial officers, and the public. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    52/70 (page 50)
    VENTILATION AND LIGHT, [30.] Is sufficient attention paid to the ventilation of workshops and houses occupied by the poor in your district ? With three exceptions all have answered this question in the negative. For the inattention so universally shown to so important a subject, the following reasons, among others, have been suggested :— 1. The ignorance of architects and builders as to the principles of ventilation. 2. The ignorance of employers both as to its principles and importance. S. The carelessness and ignorance of the people as to the evils resulting from the want of a due supply of pure air in and about their dwellings. 4. The want of power on the part of the poor to secure a good and economical ventilation. The injurious effects which arise from the want of proper attention being paid to this subject in factories and work¬ shop appears to have led to the following recommenda¬ tion :— (( That provision be made to secure the efficient ventila¬ tion of factories and workshops—the ventilation to be approved of by the Inspector of Health, or each workman to have 500 cubic feet of space at least” In carrying out a system of ventilation in the poorer dwell¬ ings, much difficulty will necessarily be experienced, in con¬ sequence of the inmates, by constantly respiring impure air, having become enfeebled. They would rather continue to breathe a vitiated, and even a poisonous atmosphere than tolerate the admission of pure air, should it happen to be productive of the slightest draught. External ventilation, effected by the opening of tliorough- ffires, &c., as contemplated in Question 85, would, perhaps, in some measure, mitigate the evil, by admitting air and light more freely to the abodes of the poor.