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.

    53/70 (page 51)
    SI It must not be forgotten that individuals take or build houses for the purpose of letting them to the poor by the room—the more rooms they can make available for that pur¬ pose the greater is their gain; ventilation is neglected, and the health of the tenant is sacrificed to the avarice of the landlords. Would it not be desirable that Government should make private interest yield to public good ? In those instances where partial ventilation exists, it would appear to result from accidental circumstances (as the convenience of the builder), and not from any attention being paid to the subject. The Inspectors of prisons recommend no less than 1,000 cubic feet for every prisoner, as being essential to health and ventilation. [31.] Is the neglect of it productive of demoralisa¬ tion, such as drunkenness, &c. ? A very large majority reply affirmatively to this question; and those who appear to have well considered the subject, agree that the neglect of ventilation is productive of depres¬ sion, faintness, &c., and that the poor resort to ardent spirits to relieve these sensations. They further state that if the house of the poor man be made miserable from this cause, he will not be much in it, but will frequent the public- houses, preferring the glittering polish of a gin-palace to his own uncomfortable dwelling. [32]. It is proved that the want of ventilation is a prolific source of disease, such as fever, con¬ sumption, scrofula, &c., among the inhabitants. Do you think that public means should be adopted for promoting a proper system of ventilation in all edifices for public assemblage and resort, especially those for the education of youth ? All have answered this question in the affirmative. In most public buildings there is a total want of means to regulate the ingress and egress of air. The results which necessarily take place from such neglect are, accumulations of poisonous gases, the products of respiration and of the