Sales catalogue 641: Maggs Bros

Date:
1937
Reference:
WA/HMM/CM/Sal/13/171
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Sales catalogue 641: Maggs Bros. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    59/88 page 57
    SANITATION IN INDIA. 169 NIGHTINGALE (FLORENCE, 1820-1910). Famous Nurse in the Crimean War. THIRTEEN AUTOGRAPH LETTERS SIGNED TO SIR J OHN STRACHEY, ANGLO-INDIAN ADMINISTRATOR. 77 pp., 8vo. London, 26th April, 1864—30th July, 1873. £52 10s A most interesting series of letters addressed to Sir John Strachey, who was President of the Permanent Sanitary Commission, entirely dealing with the subject of sanitation in India. Although Florence Nightingale never went to India, the sanitary condition of the Army and the people there became one of the chief interests of her later life. She made herself thoroughly familiar with every side of Indian social life, and constantly wrote on native education and village sanitation, and in 1890 contri- buted a paper on the subject to the congress at Buda-Pesth. ‘‘T beg leave to thank you very sincerely for your ‘Second & Third Sections’ ‘Cholera Epidemic of 1861’ which you have been kind enough to send me, a ee valuable work. And your commission is doing a great & good service. ‘“T send by this mail the ‘Suggestions’ for Sanitary Works for Indian Stations, drawn up in obedience to your minute of March 24. BS , lt was at one time thought that in London it would be necessary to avoid sanitary works, & trust to cleansing solely in districts inhabited by the poorer & least civilized Irish population. But for many years it has been found that they & even the ‘ dangerous classes,’ thieves &c. appreciate wholesome domestic conveniences with water-supply, just as much as richer classes. i I beg to assure you that all who know anything about the matters in England have been delighted with the zeal, energy & sound sanitary know- ledge, with which the Bengal Sanitary Commission, under your auspices, have set about their gigantic work, to which all that we have here is mere child’s play. You have nothing to learn from us. . . We can shew you completed towns, where every house is drained & supplied with water, & the sewage applied to agriculture. “You would see an Indian problem solved at Aldershot, where the camp is dr ained, supplied with water, and its sewage is being applied to agriculture. : : The first thing now to be done is:—that the Presidency Govern- ments should have surveys made. “The steps would be these:—l. The Sanitary Commissions to advise the Government as to the stations most requiring improvement. 2. Government to appoint a Committee to survey the station or town. It will not do for Sanitarians to die especially in such places as Calcutta. And T do trust the Sanitary Commission will always go to Simlah with the government, and visit the plague-spot in the Delta as little as possible. ‘““T am afraid you hardly think a tour of inspection of military Stations a healthy occupation. : Lower Bengal is, I suppose, the endemic centre of India. This, you will say, 1s only a theory. But at least it expresses one fact, viz. that of all parts of Northern India, Cholera & Fever are most apt to appear there. There, (as elsewhere), after the epidemic has assumed a certain intensity it spreads & flies about like an incendiary lighting up the conflagration wherever there are materials ready to catch fire. However much the N.W. may be improved, cholera & fevers will remain indigenous in Lower Bengal. But, should you ever succeed in draining that huge swamp, and clothing it with crops, we shall hear little of Cholera. I would you had a ministry of Agriculture! ‘“The world’s thanks are due to you for the amazing improvement in the health of Calcutta. Taken on the last 2 years, the death rate of Calcutta has been lower than that of Liverpool or Manchester.’’ Etc. 170 NIGHTINGALE (FLORENCE). AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED TO (DR. CHARLES J. B. WILLIAMS). 1° pp.,-8vo. London, 6th July, 1858. £5 5s Written shortly after her return from the Crimea. ‘“We (which, in my language, means the troops and I) have business tonight which, I am afraid, will prevent me from having the pleasure of seeing you.”’ Ete.
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