Practical œconomy, or, A proposal for enabling the poor to provide for themselves : with remarks on the establishment of soup houses : and an investigation of the real cause of the present extravagant consumption of fine wheaten bread by the people of this country / by a physician.

Date:
1801
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Practical œconomy, or, A proposal for enabling the poor to provide for themselves : with remarks on the establishment of soup houses : and an investigation of the real cause of the present extravagant consumption of fine wheaten bread by the people of this country / by a physician. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    millions, the evil must therefore have en- creased in the proportion of ten to one.* Dr. Mill-man, in 'his work on Scurvy, mentions the case of two ancient ladies who, from a combination of poverty and pride, lived on tea and bread alone for several months, till at length they became affected with every symptom of the scurvy, spongy bleeding gums, petechias on the limbs, with extreme emaciation, and were rescued from the jaws of death only by an immediate change of diet. The obvious alteration in the constitution of the inhabitants of this country, princi- pally indicated by the increase of what are termed nervous complaints, has, by many accurate observers, been attributed to the prevailing use of this beverage among all ranks of people. The pernicious habit of swallowing ardent spirits has no doubt some share in producing these disorders. About fifty years ago, however, before the present high duties were imposed on malt spirits, * In the year 1795, 29,311,010 pounds of Tea were exported from China, most of which is consumed in this country; the calculated average of home consumption is twenty-three millions of pounds annually. Vide Sir George Staunton’s Voyage to China,