The Sun.
London, England, 1846-12-26 00:00:00

THE HEALTH OF TOWNS ASSO-

CIATION.

At a meeting of the members of the association, held
on Wednesday, Lord Ashley in the chair, communica-
tions were received from Sheffield, and other places
where branch associations have bean formed.

FEVER AT MINCHINHAMPTON FROM THE EZPOSURE OF
HUMAN REMAINS REMOVED FROM CHURCHYARD.

Dr. SOUTHWOOD SMITH, i❑ moving the appointment
of a select committee to consider and report upon the
provisions of Mr. Mackinnon's Bill, fur the prevention of
interments in large towns, said that he had to lay before
the committee some cor espondence, developing the
cause of an epidemic fever which had broken out and
ravaged the small town of Minchinbampton. He con-
ceived it most important that this correspondence should
be laid before the proper authorities and the public,
as it could scarcely fail to establish the conclusion,
that those provisions which it was at present
contemplated to confine to the larger towns,
should be extended to the smaller towns, and that
to new churches, whether erected in towns, or in the
rural districts, common grave .yards should no longer be
attached. The facts contained in the correspondence to
which he wished attention to be given were most im-
portant in relation to the physical question as to grave-
yard emancipations. In his report on the practice of
interments, Mr. Chadwick had adduced evidence de-
monstrative of the conclusion that the emanations from
human remains, in a state of decomposition, were noxious
in their effects on human life. He regarded this corres-
pondence as a striking illustration of this fact, and he
thought it important to give it publicity, because the
public are often more impressed by a single case than
by a volume of evidence. The first letter he had re-
ceived was as follows—(Letter No. 1.) To this he had
sent the following reply—(No. 2.) The information he
had received in reply afforded further illustration—
(No. 3.) To this he had given the following reply—
(No. 4.) And a furtber correspondence took place as
follows—(Nos. 5 and 6.) To those who really understood
the subject, there was nothing extraordinary in all this ;
what was extraordinary was, that when interments in
towns had been prohibited, even in Spain, such facts
should continue to be resisted in this country.
The motion for the appointment of a special com-
mittee was agreed to unanimously, and it was ordered
that the correspondence should be referred to it, and
that a copy of it should be forwarded to Mr. Chadwick
for his information :

No. I.

" 7slenchinhampton,Nov. 8, 1846.
" TO DR. SOUTHWOOD SMITH.
" SIR,—I beg to apologise for the great liberty lam
taking in addressing you; but knowing the interest you
take in the sanatory improvement of our towns,
I am anxious to obtain your valuable opinion for
which I shall feel much honoured and obliged. Our
town is situated on a considerable elevation; each
shower of rain produces its little torrent, which passes
through the streets with considerable power; our streets
are wide, and the inhabitants tolerably cleanly; no offen-
sire business being carried on, and the place has been
proverbial for health. I have practised as a surgeon
here for 16 years, and until the last two years I have no
recollection of having had a single case of typhus fever.
In the latter end of the year 1844 I had many cases,
uniform in their symptoms, and a disposition to assume
the typhoid type. Last year very few occurred. Within
the last two months we have had upwards of 150, so as
to induce a general meeting of the respectable portion
of the inhabitants. The fever is identical with that of
the former year, but more severe. Cold rigours, con-
gestion of the brain, great prostration of the vital powers,
blood dark, with delirium on the second or third day,
are the early symptoms.
" In the year 1843 our church was rebuilt; a great
portion of the churchyard was sunk and removed; many
bodies reinterred; an immense quantity of this earth
was used on pasture land close to the town. A large
bank, more than one hundred loads, now remains within
fifty yards of the town• Our church was five hundred
years old; population of the parish is six or seven thou-
sand; graves densely crowded; some of the earth very
dark on being removed. Pray are the above circum •
stances, which took place three years since, likely to
afford malaria, Sc as to account for so much disease at
this time?
"I am compelled to add that the street and the rec-
tory, both adjoining, were the first and most severely
visited (that is, this year). Our rector's family of four,
the wife and daughter died, also the gardener. I regret
to say that many cart loads of the dark earth was put in
trenches by the side of the walks on the premises, the
gardener frequently diggiug up bones.
"As the heap of earth now remaining is the important
subject of inquiry, would you recommend its immediate
removal?
"Again, Sir, do I beg to apologise for thus troubling
you, and to assure you the favour I shall esteem an an-
swer at your convenience,
"I have the honour to subscribe myself,
"Yours obediently,
(Signed) "DANIEL SMITH.
"Our hamlet and adjacent places are free from fever."
No. 11.
" TO DANIEL SMITH, ESQ.
"London, 38, Finsbury-square, Nov. 8, 1846.
" Sir,—lt is very surprising how such a plan could
have been conceived, much less actually adopted, as that
which you describe ; namely, covering pasture land and
bordering gardens with decayed and decaying human
bodies, in the shape of earth very dark,' conveyed
directly from a churchyard five hundred years old, and
taken from graves densely crowded.' This dark
earth' must be highly charged with animal matter,
fur such matter has been constantly infiltrating into it
for ages. The weather during the latter part of the
summer, and the beginning of the autumnal quarters,
has been peculiarly favourable to its decomposition.
In accounting for the general spread of epidemics
during the last two quarters of the present year, the
Registrar-General, in his report for the summer quarter,
ending the 30th of September, says:—' The rapidity of
decomposition, the facility with which all kinds of animal
matter run into putrefaction, enable us to understand
how, in a summer like the past, in which the temperature
was unusually high, the diseases referable to an impure
atmosphere should have been so prevalent and fatal.'
No one can doubt that a large mass of earth, highly im-
pregnated with animal matter, is capable of contaminat-
ing the atmosphere, and therefore that the bank of this
earth, consisting of more than 100 loads which now re-
main within fifty yards of the town,' ought to be instantly
removed. Still, however, I should not counsel you to re-
gard this earth, shocking and dangerous as it is to have
placed it in such situations, as the sole cause of the dis-
ease which has appeared in your town. I should advise
you to have a regular and strict examination made of the
sewers, drains, and gutters of the town, of the state of the
privies and cesspools, and of any other collections of filth
and refuse, and of the stagnant pools and ditches in the
town and neighbourhood, to have all such matters removed,
and thoroughly to cleanse every part of the town, the
poorer parts especially, with currents cf water. But if
you have no sewers in your towns, and nothing but surface
drainage, or if you have these, but are without an ample
supply of pure water, it is not the excellence of your
position and soil that will give you health, or secure you
from the visitation of epidemics. Allow me to recom-
mend to your careful study, and to that of all persons
of authority and influence in your neighbourhood, the
report of the Health of Towns Association, just pub-
lished by Charles Knight. Withont sewers, without
under-ground drainage from the houses into them, and
without ample supplies of water to keep them always
clean, you can never be secure from typhus fever, and
other painful and fatal maladies. It is, I hope, begin-
ning to be perceived that it is the duty of medical men
to endeavour to prevent diseases as well as to cure them;
and it seems to me that the medical profession have it
now in their power to perform a signal service to the
public, by urging on and by directing the present sana-
tory movement.
" I am, Sir, your faithful servant,
(Signed) " SOUTHWOOD SMITH."
No. 111.
" TO DR. SOUTHWOOD
" Minchinhampton, Nov. 16, 1846.
Sir,—l beg to acknowledge, as well as thank you,
for your polite courtesy in replying so promptly to my
inquiries relative to the sanatory condition of our town.
I purposely avoided stating my own views on the sub-
ject, and I feel much gratified to find that yours are
in unison with my own, as to the imperative necessity of
removing the heap of earth so contiguous to our town.
I find, however, that this heap is not exclusively com-
posed of churchyard earth, but contains some rubbish ;
and instead of being 100 loads, as I stated in my former
letter, it amounts to 400 or 500 loads. It was carefully
hand-picked, that is, the large bones were collected and
buried. Small bones are now and then seen, which point
out the nature of the stuff. Near this heap, and somewhat
parallel to it, is a long patch or ridge of exclusively
churchyard earth, which was intended to fill up some
inequality of the ground. Tnis extends nearly 70 yards,
and amounts to 400 or 500 loads also, and is about a
yard in thickness ; there is, of course, much surface ex-
posed to the atmosphere ; 103 loads were spread about
as manure, as before stated. The newly-erected part of
our church was sunk, to be in unison with the archi-
tectural proportion of the older, or remaining portion,
and, consequently, to make a suitable and new approach
much lowering of the ground was requisite ; thus a con-
siderable part of the churchyard was sliced down, to
within a foot or two of the remains. In fact, some
were exposed and re-interred, and others occasionally
required to be covered to keep them from view, and this
part is densely crowded with graves. The churchyard was
enlarged, and the new ground coated with the churchyard
earth from its fertilizing effects, so as to hasten the rapid
growth of grass. These additions I consider so serious,
that I am induced to submit them to your consideration.
Our parish consists of hamlets principally. The town
itself contains oaly about 800 inhabitants, and is formed by
four streets crossing at right angles, and has a consider-
able descent, which produces, after a shower, a current
of water of much power, passing into the under drains
with a velocity which thoroughly and effectually cleanses
them. Much, also, is carried off by surface draining,
the lower part of the town terminating with an abrupt
descent. We have no ditches; our soil is shallow, androc
kexists everywhere. Our church was completed in
the autumn of 1843; previous to which I have no recol-
lection of having h
the to during the had
d a single case of idiopathic fever in
fourteen years I had resided in it,
although I see nearly-
I,oooa patients annually in my pri-
vate and public capacity assnths f surgeon to the dispensary,
and during the last two.
mohave atteindnhedfrloomo casestheir
of the epidemic, or more, in the town, which,
uniform
symptoms, must, I conclude, arise from some spe-
cific
cause. The subject has produced, and still excites,
painful interest, and the inhabitants are divided in opinion
as to the probable cause, and the remedial measures which
should be adopted, and an imperfect committee of
these individuals has been appointed ; but as this sana-
tory quorum is not directed by medical men, it is only
partially effective.
And now. , Sir, may I beg the favour
of your further valuable
advice. Arentehiensge
ni circaa larmi
as,t asnoc
ae
se
which I have stated capable of p
to produce fever, assisted or developed by the present