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

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.

537/594 (page 227)

$those pnrlieG, (tlie labouring' classes,) for whose ad- rant;if;o this' act was iatended, to avail themselves of it or not, as they tni«;ht think pro[}er. No. 10. !>iHiraa M'l'h^rsoii, esq-iire, is the coro- ner ox ihis p:fiish. He resiilt-: on his own property, in t]ie HU:e: Moun\?A[i Vall^^v, a t.listancc Oi dt least thirty seven iijiles from IVlar.chionKil Bay, aud forty- live iniles n'otrt lite extreme nart ofUu; »>aiish. I he- liL've he ss remunerated partly by -ixed yalary. ana paiily by fees. Hij pro!)able income I do not know, nor can I state the a^/erajie nun»?>cr of inouests or po.^t mcrUMn examinaiious arisinj^ out of them. No. 11. I hv-iieve that great a» I vantage wo.dd arise from the oJtice of coruiiei l»ein«^ hlled Uy a daly qua- lined medical {.r \ctitioner; chiefly ijccause hy his professional knowled^-e, he might, in cases of doubt or dirticnh'v, witU mneh advantas'o offer Ids aiivice and opinion, and thereby greatly assist a jury in tha onerous dutv of ^oimins; a coriect verdict. No. 12. hi the churcii of England only is there any re^ir^ler kept of i/n-lhs, marriages, nnd deaths. Sucfi register, i am informeci, exterds back uninterrupted- ly for upwards cf a century. i\o. 1.3. ] am not aware whether in such register the cause oi death if, recorded. '^'-'^ No. \ i. Tiie riJe of marriage is now being general- ly observed by the peasantry of this district, and con- ijequently the number of births, as the offspring of illicit intercourse of the sexes is diminishing. No. I h.ave reason to believe that the'practice of obcalrism is very common in tliis parish. No. JO. There are uneducated black men, and I believe others, who practice as quack doctors*' in this palish, it is somevJiat difikuU to discover what payment they receive for their visits or medicines. No. 17. I have known some instances whe<e im- proper, and in some cases, deleterious drags have been adnnnistered by such persons. Additional dan- ger sometimes arises to patients in certain cases by$