On certain causes affecting the origin of disease in large towns / by Thos. Williamson.

  • Williamson, Thomas
Date:
[1866?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On certain causes affecting the origin of disease in large towns / by Thos. Williamson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    munity of Leith is to be referred to the present condition of its old harbour. Much has of late years been both written and said re¬ garding the Water of Leith as a public nuisance. With this troubled question I do not mean at present to intermeddle: its existence may be injurious to public health, or it may not; that is not the point which I intend to establish: I do not wish to disturb its troubled streams, but prefer coming nearer home, by directing attention to the old harbour of the town, which may be said to be the grand depository of all its treasures. It is an admitted fact that, during the ebb of the tide, the basin of the harbour is continually exhaling from its bed a large quantity of most deadly and poisonous gases, the result of animal and vegetable matter undergoing the process of decomposition, whilst at the same time numerous eyelets, connected with different large drains, are continually discharging their fetid contents into the common reservoir. Standing on either of the draw-bridges at low tide, and looking down upon the surface of the water, one would at first be disposed to fancy that it was dis¬ turbed by a heavy fall of rain: the numerous bubbles are, however, not the result of rain, but the constant and rapid escape of poisonous gas from the slimy bottom of the harbour. One cannot fail to recognise in this state of matters a most fruitful source of disease. Accordingly, if district No. 6 of the town—including Broad Wynd, Burgess Close, Shore, etc., all in immediate proximity to the har¬ bour—is contrasted with district No. 7, which includes Anderson’s Place, Arthur Street, Brown’s Entry, etc., but remotely situated from the harbour, it will be found that, whereas the population in both districts is nearly similar, No. 6 being 2224, and No. 7, 2289, the rate of juvenile mortality is nevertheless most strikingly different, No. 6 (harbour district) furnishing, as proportion of deaths under five years to deaths at all ages, no less than 63 per cent., whilst No. 7 gives a return of only 32 per cent. During the past twelve months typhus fever of a very bad type has prevailed in Leith, and from the return of the hospital house-surgeon, it appears that from August 12, 1862, till July 1, 1863, not fewer than 181 cases of the disease had been under treatment in our local hospital. I find, in running over the Table, that the large proportion of 55 out of the 181 cases treated were resident in close proximity to the harbour. I trust that the present disgraceful condition of our harbour, so fraught with danger to the lives of the community, will not be per¬ mitted to continue so much longer; but that, through the harmonious co-operation of the town councils of Edinburgh and Leith, who are at present engaged in the matter, a new and happy era in its history may soon arise.1 1 Since the above remarks were written, the Edinburgh and Leith Sewerage Bill has been passed; so that, in the course of a short time, we may expect confidently that the harbour nuisance will cease to exist. EDINBURGH: PRINTED BY OLIVER AND BOYD.
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