Report by the Central Board of Health of Jamaica / presented to the legislature under the provisions of the 14th Vic. chap. 60, and printed by order of the Assembly.

  • Jamaica. Central Board of Health
Date:
1852
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report by the Central Board of Health of Jamaica / presented to the legislature under the provisions of the 14th Vic. chap. 60, and printed by order of the Assembly. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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    passions, tho frequent recnrronce of strong mental emotions, vicious and exhausting indulgencies, each and all sap the strength and grievously im})air the health of the body. No one who has seen any thing of the lower orders, but must have observed the com- plete want of coutroul they posses over themselves, have witnessed the outbursts of furious and ungo- vernable rage, simulating mania rather than a mere ebullition of temper, during which they often wreak their veiigence u|)on others, and frequently also upon themselves. Instances of persons injuring their bo- dies and destroying life itself under these storms of temper, are not uuf^ommon, and in the majority of cases are traceable to jealousy. This subject leads lis to the consideration of promiscuous intercourse. The evils arising from it are fearful to contemplate, both in a moral and ])hysical view. That the morals of the upper and middling classes are, within the last few years, nmch improved in this respect, there can be no doubt; at any rate, among those who yield to the influence of public opinion, a feeling of shame exists, under violations of the rules of decen- cy and propriety, wliich leads them to court secresy ; but there yet prevails, both in town and country, a mass of the people who are reconciled to look only to convenience in their family arrangements, and to believe it a sufhcient warrant for immorality. Among the lower classes of the population there is great reason to fear that little or no advance has been made in better maxims of social life. If a moral feel- ing exists among them, it is shewn by the calendars of our criminal courts, where the women complain of rape, or of attempts to commit rape, and unhap- pily they occur incessantly. If any one fact has been made clear during the great sanitary movement, it is that this sin owes it origin in a great measure to the overcrowding which occurs at night in rooms and houses. The precocity of children out here, and its relation to this subject, is truly appalling. The phy- sical evils arising from an abuse of this animal pro-