The Sun.
London, England, 1863-09-11 00:00:00

In the autumn of last year apprehensions were
entertained lest the distress in the manufacturince
districts should lead to the oui break of some epide-
mic disease. In the month of October the attention
of the Mcdfell Depirtmont of the Privy Council
Wt s aroused, and Dr. Buchanan, one of the physi-
cians to the L'eidon Fever Hospital, was commis-
sioned to inquire into the sanitary condition of the
cotton distric-s. His investigations occupied about
two months, and at the end of December he made a
report which has been published as an appendix to
that of Mr. Simon, the Medical officer of the Privy
Council. That report is not confined to a mere
statement of the nature and extent of the disease
met with, but also contains much valuable informa-
tion es to the sueficiency of relief afforded, and the
eff,ct which prolonged distress has had upon the
Irlbits of the operatives.
In spite of the vast efforts which were made to
assist the unemployed one of the most lamentable
consequences of extreme destitution appeared last
winter. Lancashire had been wholly exempt from
typhus fox, r, of what is called by D. Buchanan
the "true Irish type," since 1847-8; but last year
it again appeared, and in Preston and Manchester
assumed an epidemic form. At Preston 227 cases
were ascertained to have occurred between midsum-
mer and the end of November, and those attacked
died at the rate of about 23 per cent. At Manchester
there were probably at least 100 attacks, and 20
deaths in the same period. The existence of typhus
ft ver was itself sufficient to suggest doubts as to the
success of the measures adopted for the relief of the
distress, and inquiry detected the existence of other
morbid conditions confirming thoie apprehensions.
Some of these conditions consisted of a simple de-
cline from the normal standard of health and
strength, while others constituted positive disease. ,
The towns visited were Ashton, Blackburn, Bol-
ton, Bury, Charley, Darwen, Manchester, Oldham,
Preston, Salford, Stockport, and Wigan. In all of
these, with the exception of Bolton and Bury, it
was found that the cotton workers, as a body, had
sustained a loss of strength, colour, and flesh. Uni-
versal emaciation and pallor did not indeed at first
sight strike the visitor, but those who penetrated
to the homes of the poor observed a wan and hag-
gard look about the people which is not habitual.
The parents had lost their health, and more gene-
rally than the children, and the paleness and ex-
haustion of the mothers, who almost starved them-
selves, were particularly noticeable. At Ashton
women had become weaker in childbirth, and
fainted readily from any excess of haemorrhage at
that time. Many mothers unduly prolonged the
suckling of their children, pleading in excuse that
they could not afford to purchase the food
appropriate to an infant which was being or
had jest been weaned. Children had suffered less
in their strength and apparent robustness. Indeed
inattention
and substitution of maternal care for the
and injudicious treatment of hired nursery keepers
had operated favourably upon their health; and
apart from special epidemics the ordinary maladies
of childhood were very slightly felt. In Preston,
through the summer and autumn diarrhoea was
much more prevalent than in ordinary years, and
the disease was peculiarly untractable. In no other
town was there such an excess, and in Ashton,
Blackburn, Bolton, Bury, and Stockport there
was less autumnal diarrhoea than usual. Cases
of dysentery, in no great number, but still
of exceptional frequency, occurred at Chorley,
Oldham, Salford, and Wigan. At Ashton
and Chorley diarrhoea had been a constant con-
comitant of measles, but except in those towns no
prevalent disease had been complicated by it. A
tendency to haemorrhage was witnessed in several
towns, and actual scurvy occurred among cotton
workers at Stockport, Preston, Blackburn, and Sal

ford. In almost all eases the sufferers were women

A disposition to ulcerate or slough, apparently in
consequence of altered habits and diet, was exhibited
in one cr two cases in Blackburn ; and one district
surgeon in Manchester found that all bruises and
Alight wounds were singularly difficult to heal.
Rheumatism was said to be particularly common
among other places at Ashton and Wigan. An un-
paralleled quantity cf itch was observed in Black-
burn, Manchester, Stockport, and Salford. Epi-
demic diseases, fostered as they are by bad diet, bad
air, and want of cleanliness, furnish a good index
to an exceptional preva;en C 3 of these agencies. Put-
ting aside sporadic cases the fallowing complaints
were met with in an epidemic form :—chickenpia
in a part of Manchester; measles in Ashton, Black-
burn, Eury, Chorley, Manchester, and to a less extent
in Salford, Preston, and Wigan; whooping-cough in

Chorley, Manchester, Salfoiel, and Stockport; scar•
hatina in Ashton, Darwen, Manchester, Oldham,
and about October and November in Stockport ;
typhoid rather frequent in Bolton, Bury, Chorley,
Darwen, and Stockport; true typhus cases were
seen in Preston, Manchester, and Chorley. At
Chorley measles had frequently been complicated
with ophthalmia.
.Scarlatina, whever it occurred,
was distinguished by the extreme degree to which it
affected the mucous membranes. Very bad throats,
with nasal discharges, and glands in the neek greatly
swollen, had been commonly observed, and in some
places, as at Oldham, had given a highly fatal caa-
reefer to the epidemic. In that town, the popula-
tion of which is 72,233, there were 169 deaths from
scarlatina between midsummer and the Ist of
December. Drunkenness with the diseases and
accidents produced by it were unequivocally less
prevalent than usual. Only in Manchester, Salford,
'and Wigan, where a large portion of the inha-
bitants are not engaged in the cotton trade, had in-
temperance prevailed to its ordinary extent.
The inquiry of Dr. Buchanan was, as we have
'hinted, not confined to the diseases which had been
produced or aggravated by distress, but extended to
tee more general sul4ject of the income, expendi-
ture, and the state and habits of the operatives.
AS the result of the investigations into the financial
branch of the subject it was found that low health
analactual disease had resulted and would result
from the income of the unemployed being below the
ct.
(lard that would procure them adequate food.
Actual observation eu showed that health cannot be
senPat?..,r an amount of food less than is repre-
le. 9.1„1.
rje
t". • 6d. per head per week w holesale, or
lest the all value. In the month of December
all souree,"„age income of the cotton workers from
as out of thus. nearly 24. per head per week, but
etout la. s'l Payments for rent, amounting to
eer week
and oemetireas Per family, for candles, and
tity of food procurable
Luc had to be :made, the quau-
auch as could .„) Zale was On the average only
1.6, 51., but which at, tr:ieci at contract pric!e4 for
From the ceeattieneinaetail shops would cost ls. 711
more than
ef the distress until No-
ber scaree4
eteeuet of food w„, .proeun three quarters of that
°anoint; which ought not to
There is one small
indicates the clinging to hablibe overlooked, as it
h-e who are buff • " prudence on the
y,rt o. t„o, • buffering the a
children
distress.
Tice
.41:Iny of the operatives have their
clubs, and religiously discharge the in
in burial
wee;tiv peyments of penny per head,
are, It is said, sed to r •
best p.ea teem, .2.e poor
Istance
either in money' or in tickets the currency of
particular shop, h
which let hot confined to a their
choice in this respect is hardly a wise one. pron;
rices charged at n-
u comparison between the r n
tail shops and those paid for articles supplied
by contract it appears that 10d. given in kind
Nor is the
is equal to a shilline given in money.
nd confined
advantage of the system of relief in -di
to the question of value. The articles supplied from
the stores of guardians and relief committees are, as
a rule, better and more pure than those obtainable
tst the shops ; and under such a system the poor
escape the temptation to unprofitable expenditure
to which when relief is given in money they are too
often disposed to yield.
The nature of the diet of the operatives and its
preparation have, of course, a bearing upon their

nutrition scarcely less important than its amount.

In thee respects the poor of Lancashire suffer not

a little in consequence of their previous habits and
their want of knowledge as to how to make the

most of the food which is now procurable. They have

been used to live upon a generous diet, and suffer

In‘lre from the lack of animal food than if they had
'lot been a.constomed to its liberal use. In prosper-