Observations on the prevailing practice of supplying medical assistance to the poor, commonly called the farming of parishes : with suggestions for the establishment of parochial medicine chests; or, infirmaries in agricultural districts.

  • Henry Lilley Smith
Date:
1819
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the prevailing practice of supplying medical assistance to the poor, commonly called the farming of parishes : with suggestions for the establishment of parochial medicine chests; or, infirmaries in agricultural districts. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    Extract from an Account of a Provision for the Poor at Ongar during sickne'§s. By the Rev- WilUam Herringhdmn t In the parish of Chipping Ongar in the County of Essex, there are provided for the use of the poor, hi time of sickness, not only bed linen and a wrapping flannel gown, but also a large easy wicker chair, with a head to it, a bed chair and a stand for'a candlestick, with a convenient apparatus for a pannikin at the top, jn which any kind of liquid may be heated, merely by a rush light. These articles, with blankets, which are distributed amongst the poor in winter, and are required to be re- turned in warm weather, are kept at the Workhouse, and may be obtained upon application. The chair, which is also made, to answer the purpose of a night chair, being of wicker, is lighter and more easily carried about than a * wooden chair, and has been provided at a reasonable expense, having cost only ll. 6s. It has likewise the advantage of being easily washed, as the lining (which is wadded) is only tied in with tapes, and being hooded, is a shelter to the patient againsf the wind. The candlestick is of modern contrivance, consisting of a tiibe with a kind of bason at the top of it, both which are filled with water- Into this tube a rush- light is placed, which as it wastes in burning, is raised up by the water, and kept always at the same height, by which means it is sufficiently near to the pannikin fixed in a frame above it, to warm any liquid which it contains. The want of some conveniences of this kind in country parishes, must have been frequently noticed by those who are in the habit of visiting the sick cottager or his family. Many a poor person has been prevented sitting up when it was advisable so to do, by not having any thing to sit in but a common chair, which does not afford the support to be found in a.i easy chair, nor the warmth and comfort to be de-
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