Chapter X: Appendix

The following table shows the progressive decrease in the sum of vitality in the three classes of the inhabitants of Preston. The calculations are founded on the ages at death for the six years ending June 30, 1843:--

1. Gentry. 2. Tradesmen. 3. Operatives.

Born 100 100 100

Remaining at 90.8 79.6 68.2 the end of 1st year

,, 2nd year 87.6 73.5 57.5

,, 5th year 82.4 61.8 44.6

,, 10th year 81.1 56.6 38.8

,, 20th year 76.3 51.6 31.5

,, 30th year 72.3 45.9 25.2

,, 40th year 63.4 37.5 20.4

,, 50th year 56. 28.1 15.6

,, 60th year 45.1 20.5 11.2

,, 70th year 25.4 13.3 6.1

,, 80th year 8. 4.5 2.1

,, 90th year 1.3 .8 .2

,, 100th year . . . . .03

Terminates in Terminates in Terminates in
the 92nd year. the 96th year. the 103rd year.

_Evidence of Rev. J. Clay_. _Health of Towns Report_, _page_ 174.

The following table shows the progressive decrease in the vitality of the three classes from the age of 21 years:--

Gentry, &c. Tradesmen, &c. Operatives.

21 years old 100 100 100

Remaining at 30 94.7 89.4 79.7 years old

,, 40 years old 83.2 73.2 63.7

,, 50 years old 73.4 55.0 48.9

,, 60 years old 59.1 40.4 34.6

,, 70 years old 33.4 26.5 18.9

,, 80 years old 10.8 9.6 7.1

,, 90 years old 1.6 1.5 1.1

,, 100 years . . . . 0.6
old

Terminates at Terminates at Terminates at
92 years. 96 years. 103 years.

_Evidence of Rev. J. Clay_. _Health of Towns Report_, _page_ 175.

1. Saving by one-third of the actual number of 1,240 pounds Deaths. The expense of each being estimated at 2_l._ 10_s._

2. Saving in the excess of Births beyond 1 in 44 827 pounds of the Population; the expense of each Birth being taken at 1_l._

3. Saving in day's labour from sickness, 7,047 pounds estimating one-third of the cases out of the expense. 16,710 Cases.

4. Reduction by one-half of the existing expense 501 pounds of Widowhood and Orphanage, the amount taken from the actual expenditure.

5. Saving in the expense of Insurance, by 15,000 pounds keeping the water on night and day, so as to be in readiness at one minute's notice. Estimated on half the number of Houses at 6_s._ per House.

6. Saving of Productive Manure estimated at 25,000 pounds 10_s._ per head on the whole Population. All liquid and solid Manure and Street Sweepings being carried out of Town by the Sewers.

7. Saving in Washing, &c. consequent on the 10,450 pounds burning of Factory Smoke. Estimated at 1_d._ per head per week of the Population.

8. Saving of outside painting of Shops and 1,250 pounds Houses; estimating the cost per House at 25_s._ and the saving at one-fourth of the sum.

pounds _s._ _d._

Total annual saving to the town 47,815 0 0

Total weekly saving to the town 919 10 4

Total annual saving to each house 4 15 7

Total weekly saving to each house 0 1 10

Total annual saving to each 0 19 1 individual

Total weekly saving to each 0 0 4.25 individual

_Evidence of Rev. J. Clay_. _Health of Towns Report_, _page_ 197.

Total A. B. C. D.
Number of Cost per House for Capital. Rent per House. Total Total Increased Rental
Houses. Outlay. required defraying by
Annual Instalments of
Principal and Interest of
20 Years for the House
cleansing and Water
Apparatus, and 30 Years for
Sewers and Drains.

pounds _s._ _d._ _s._ _d._ pounds pounds _s._ _d._

1. In want of water 5,000 0 10 0 0 6 2,500 200 15 0

2. . . . main sewer 10,000 0 5 0 0 2 2,500 162 12 6

. . . secondary do. 7,919 2 9 6 2 6 19,599 1,274 18 9

3. . . . house-drains 10,000 0 15 0 0 9 7,500 487 17 9

4. . . . water closets 10,000 2 0 0 2 0 20,000 1,606 1 0

5. . . . ventilation 10,000 0 15 0 0 9 7,500 602 4 6

6. . . . street-sweeping 10,000 . . . 9 3 . . 4,625 0 0

pounds _s._ _d._

Total immediate expenditure of 51,599 0 0 capital required for the improvement of the town

Total increased rental 8,959 9 8 (including the annual expense of street-sweeping)

Immediate expenditure for each 5 19 3 house

Total increased annual rent 0 15 11 for each house

Total increased weekly rent 0 0 3.75 for each house

Immediate expenditure per head 1 3 9 of the population

Annual expenditure per head of 0 3 6.5 the population

Weekly expenditure per head of 0 0 0.75 14/52 the population

_Evidence of Rev. J. Clay_. _Health of Towns Report_, _page_ 196.

DR. ARNOTT TO THE AUTHOR, ON THE SUBJECT OF VENTILATION.

Bedford Square, January, 1845.

MY DEAR SIR,

To aid the memory of persons inquiring about the means of preserving health, I have elsewhere endeavoured to mark clearly, that the four things, fit _air_, _temperature_, _aliment_, and _exercise_, are all that need to be secured, and the two things _violence_ and _poisons_ all that need to be avoided, by men of sound constitution, that they may enjoy uninterrupted health and long life;--and consequently that the causes of all other disease than the decay from age are to be looked for in errors committed in regard to these four necessaries, or in the direct influence of these two kinds of noxious agents. The tabular view on the opposite page {282}, now to be examined, exhibits the subject to the eye.

* * * * *

In some moderately warm and uniform climates of the earth, such as the Azores or Western Isles in the Atlantic, the two first mentioned necessaries, viz. fit temperature and pure air, are so constantly present that the inhabitants no more think of them as necessaries to be laboured for than they think of the gravitation which holds their bodies to the earth as such a necessary. But in colder, or changing climates, to procure house-shelter, clothing, and fuel, for cold weather becomes a very considerable part of the necessary business of life. And where food is dear, that is to say, obtainable only as the reward of much labour, as is true in England, the amountof labour which individuals can perform with safety to their health, is often not sufficient to supply all the urgent wants.

Exposure to temperature lower than what suits the human constitution is so severely felt, that persons, even before fixed disease has arisen as a consequence, cannot remain indifferent to it; and how little soever some minds are disposed to reflect or speculate on such subjects, there are few who are not aware that all the diseases which in this and other climates are called winter diseases, as catarrhs, quinsies, pleurisies, croups, rheumatisms, &c. &c. are consequences of error in regard to temperature. But only persons whose attention has been specially directed to the subject become fully aware of the fatal influence of that want of fresh air which the closeness or otherwise faulty construction of dwellings occasions. The immediate effect is little felt, although the insidious enemy is unfailingly producing diseases perhaps more destructive even than those from cold, above enumerated. Impaired bodily and mental vigour, and the scrofulous constitution which renders persons more liable to many diseases and among these to consumption, the destroyer at present of about a sixth part of the inhabitants of Britain, may be cited as part of the effects.

In England, as yet, many singular and hurtful misconceptions prevail on the subjects of both warming and ventilating. The object of a little work which I published some time ago on these subjects, was to substitute for the misconceptions correct knowledge, and to describe some new and simple means of obtaining the objects sought. A considerable change, however, in common opinions and habits is not easily effected, and the co-operation of many labourers will be required to accomplish all that is here wanted. In a new edition of the book, now in preparation, I have attempted to convert some remarkable errors that have been committed in public situations into useful warnings or lessons for the future. It is but recently that even the members of our Houses of Parliament became aware that many of their body formerly had lost health, and even life, from want of a complete ventilation of the Houses, easy to be effected. And at present the havoc made in the crowded workrooms of milliners, tailors, printers, &c. and the injury done to young health in many schools, from similar want of knowledge, are most painful to contemplate. Without the requisite knowledge very expensive attempts are made with little or no benefit; with that knowledge, the desired ends may be completely attained at little cost.

The great error committed in regard to ventilation has been the want of an outlet in or near the cieling of rooms, for the air rendered impure in them by the breathing of inmates and the burning of candles, lamps, gas, &c. At present the only outlet of English rooms is the fire place or chimney opening near the floor. But all the impurities above referred to rise at once towards the cieling, because of the lessened specific gravity of air when heated, and there they would at once escape by a fit opening. Where there is no such opening, however, they become diffused in the upper air of the room, and can escape only slowly by diving under the chimney-piece as that air is changed. Thus the air of a room above the level of the fire-place, whenever there are people or lights in the room, must always be loaded, more or less, with impurity. The purest air of the room is that near the floor, being the last that entered, and the coolest, therefore and heaviest specifically; and with this the fire is fed, while the hotter impure air remains almost stagnant above, around the heads and mouths of the company. To remove the evil here referred to, I have shown, that even with an open fire, if the throat of the chimney be properly narrowed by a register flap, an opening made near the cieling into the chimney flue, with a valve in it to allow air from the room to enter the chimney, but allowing no smoke to come out--will serve very effectually; and that where there is no open fire the ventilation can, by the means described, be made still more complete.

The great error with respect to warming in rooms for many inmates has been to have all the heat radiating (none being given off by contact) from one focus or fire place, persons near to which consequently must receive too much, and those far from which will receive too little; while the supply of fresh air enters, cold, at a few openings chiefly, and pours dangerously on persons sitting near these. In common rooms, with open fires, the evils described may be lessened considerably by admitting fresh air through tubes or channels which open either near the fire, or all along the skirtings so that the fresh air is equally distributed over the room and mixed with the mass of air previously in it: but to have what is desirable, the air before distribution must be warmed by some of the simple means now known, as of warm channels in the brick work around the fire, or of the air being made to come into contact with the surface of properly regulated stoves, or tubes containing heated water. I have given detailed accounts of these means in the publication above referred to; and I have contrived and described various regulators applicable to stoves and to the furnaces of hot-water apparatus, which give complete command over the rate of combustion, and save nearly all the ordinary trouble of watching fires.

Then, to give complete efficiency to both the warming and ventilating apparatus described, I have had made a simple air-mover, or ventilating pump, which may be worked by a weight, like a kitchen jack, or by a treddle, like a spinning-wheel or turning-lathe; and which, in all states of wind and of temperature, will deliver by measure any quantity of air into or out of any inclosed space.

The means of ventilating and of warming now referred to, may in different cases be adopted in part or in whole. In the dwellings of the poor of cities, where the same room serves for all purposes,--working at a trade, sleeping, cooking, and is never unoccupied, a brick taken out of the wall, from near the cieling, over the fireplace, so as to leave there an opening into the chimney-flue, removes great part of the evil; and if a simple chimney-valve, which I have described, allowing air freely to enter the chimney, but no smoke to return, be added, and there be an additional opening made in some convenient part of the wall or window to admit and distribute fresh air, where air enough cannot enter by the crevices and joints about the door and window, the arrangement might be deemed for such places complete. Even in a milliner's or tailor's crowded work room a larger opening of this kind into the chimney, with its balanced valve, and with a branching tube having inverted funnel mouths over the gas lamps, or other lights, and conveying all the burned air to the valved opening {287} in the chimney, is so great an improvement on present practice, that many would deem it perfection. To this, however, may be added, at little cost, an opening for admitting, and channels behind the skirting for distributing, the fresh air; and to make the thing really complete, there must be also the means, by a stove or by hot water pipes, of warming the air before its distribution; and there must be the ventilating pump to inject and measure air when such action may be required. During the winter, in many cases the chimney draught would be sufficient to produce the desired currents of air without the pump.

All the means here spoken of have already been and are in satisfactory operation in various places. The chimney-valves have been made by Mr. Slater, gas-fitter, 23, Denmark Street, Soho, and Mr. Edwards, 20, Poland Street, Oxford Street. The pump by Mr. Bowles, 58, Great Coram Street, and Mr. Williams, 25, Upper Cleveland Street. The stoves by Mr. Edwards, Poland Street, Messrs. Bramah and Co. Piccadilly, Messrs. Bailey, Holborn, and others.

I am, my dear sir,
yours very truly,
N. ARNOTT.

* * * * *

CHARLES WHITTINGHAM, CHISWICK.

THE FOUR NECESSARIES.

In fit Kind and In Deficiency. In Excess.
Degree.

1. AIR Suffocation Excess of Oxygen.

Unchanged Air.

2. TEMPERATURE Cold (intense) Heat (intense.)

3. ALIMENT:--

Food Hunger Gluttony, or Surfeit.

Drink Thirst Swilling water.

4. EXERCISE:--

Of the body Inaction or Fatigue or
Exhaustion.

Of the mind Ennui Want of Sleep.

Certain depressing Certain exciting
passions, as fear, passions, as anger,
sorrow, &c. jealousy, &c.

Of the mixed Solitude Debauchery.
social aptitudes.

THE TWO NOXIOUS AGENTS.

1. VIOLENCE:--

Wounds,--Fractures,--Burns, &c.--Lightning.

9. POISONS:--

Animal, Mineral, Vegetable.

Certain of these, such as _alcohol_ in its various forms, opium, tobacco, &c. which in large quantities kill instantly, when they are taken in very moderate quantity can be borne with apparent impunity, and are sometimes classed as articles of sustenance, or they may be medicinal, but if taken beyond such moderation, they become to the majority of men destructive slow poisons.

Contagions,--as of plague, small-pox, and measles.

Malaria of marshes, thickets, and of filth.

Footnotes:

{147} See Appendix.

{202} "There are several thousand gratings which are utterly useless on account of their position, and positively injurious from their emanations."--Mr. Dyce Guthrie. Health of Towns Report, vol. ii. p. 255.

{209} "To give an idea of the principle of contour lines, we may suppose a hill, or any elevation of land covered with water, and that we want to trace the course of all the levels at every 4 feet of vertical height; suppose the water to subside 4 feet at a time, and that at each subsidence the line of the water's edge is marked on the hill; when all the water is withdrawn, supposing the hill to be 24 feet high, it will be marked with a set of six lines, denoting the contours of each of the levels, exactly 4 feet above each other."--Mr. Butler Williams's evidence before the Health of Towns Commission.

{214a} See Mr. Toynbee's Evidence. Health of Towns Report, vol. i. pp. 87, 88.

{214b} See Dr. Arnott's Evidence. Health of Towns Report, vol. i. pp. 45, 46.

{215a} See Dr. Guy's Evidence. Health of Towns Report, vol. i. p. 92.

{215b} In St. George's, Southwark, out of 1467 persons who received parochial relief, 1276 are reported to have been ill with fever.

{233} The mischief that may be done by associations for benevolent purposes, when ill-directed, is admirably shown in a pamphlet on the subject of Visiting Societies by "Presbyter Catholicus." James Darling, Little Queen Street, 1844. One of the objects of this pamphlet is to show that the command addressed to alms-givers "not to let their left hand know what their right hand doeth," concerns the receiver as much as the giver--that "a man's alms will be converted into a source of almost unmixed evil, if their distribution become a subject of notoriety," which is the case in public charities. This, like most general propositions, is not to be construed over strictly; but there is much truth in it, (especially if we take the word "alms" in its most restricted sense) and it deserves to be weighed carefully by all who wish to render their benevolence most available.

{282} The tabular view has been moved to the end of the letter in this Project Gutenberg transcription.--DP.

{287} The author of this book has tried one of these "valved openings" recommended by Dr. Arnott, and has found it answer very well.