The Sun.
London, England, 1859-10-18 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE
PROMOTION OF SOCIAL SCIENCE.

BRADFORD, FRIDAY.

The Conference assembled at 11 o4clock this
morning to hear the address of the president of the
Department of Public Health.
The Right Hon.?:,W. COWPER (the president)
spoke as follows :—Health being a gift of nature is
often taken as a matter of course, but like all othei4
such gifts, it will fly away if not carefully guarded,
and the public health of a large modern town re-
quires for its preservation almost the labours of
Hercules. Man's life is a struggle, and the very
existence of his body is the result,of an unceasing
contest between destructive and repairing influ-
ences. At every breath he exhales, at every action
of muscles and nerves, a portion of his substance
wastes away and is cast off, and at every breath
that is drawn in and every -mouthful that is di-
gested that waste is repaired and that loss is sup-
plied. The forces of nature must be directed by
his skill, lest they injure instead of serving him. He
must never rest in his unceasing struggle to over-
come the tendency he finds in everything around
him to get into a wrong place. Even cleanliness,
the most obvious of simple duties, is the result of
the never-ending removal of impurities from places
they defile to their proper receptacle, and the
cleanliness most important to health is just
that which is least regarded—cleanliness of
the air that is breathed. The most refined
persons, who would indignantly refuse to en-
ter a room with soiled walls, and muddy floor,
and dirty company, sit complacently in ball-
rooms and theatres, where every one is breathing
impure air, soiled with the fumes of gas or wax
candles, and with other pernicious exhalations.
The impurities in which they are steeped are dis-
regarded, because they are not visible, and people
who are most particular about the materials of their
dinner cannot spare a thought for what they are
breathing ; and yet one is no less important than the
other. The accurate fitting of modern houses leaves
few crevices for the passage of air, and builders are
well satisfied when they have prevented any escape
of air, except up the clihnuey. But the law of ex-
pansion by heat has provided that vitiated breath
shall rise towards the great ocean of air rolling for
a height of 50 miles above us, in which all impuri-
ties are lost by dilution, but our impervious ceilings
stop the intended ascent, and drive down the cooled
carbonic acid gas to be again inhaled with injurious
results. But a hole in the ceiling and a hole in the
wall, permitting the natural movement of air, makes
nature our friend again instead of our enemy ; and
if we take the precaution of admitting the external
air by a channel passing round the back of the fire-
place, our current of air flows in warm instead of
cold. But cleanliness in the atmosphere of towns
is not so easily obtainable. From tall chimneys
and short chimneys, from furnaces and chemical
works, from sinks and gully-holes, from back yards
and middens, from gutters and lay-stalls, innu-
merable pollutions are continually pouring. Na-
ture has provided against all these defilements of
the air, if we but investigate her laws and take the
trouble of obeying them. The smoke that shrouds
our great towns in perpetual gloom might be rolled
away to let the sunshine appear if we would but
take the trouble, for opaque smoke is but ill-burnt
coal that ought to have been consumed in the fur-
nace. With reference to the refuse of towns, the
theory is clear, but the practice is lax and careless.
Every animal and vegetable is nourished by assi-
milating to its own use particles of the material
substances, such as air, water, and food, which are
continually circulating through its organism; but
by a general law, the substance which has been so
used is rendered unfit for a repetition of the same
use until it has been decomposed and entered into
a new combination. Care is, therefore, required to
hasten and render harmless the decomposition of
the refuse which might accumulate near the
habitations of animals and men. Nature is
fond of moving in circles, and the elements
which rise from the earth for the nourishment
of plants, and thence nourish animals, and the roe
nourish men, will, if restored directly to the earth,
afford nourishment and fertilisation to the soil from

which they proceed, while, if allowed to wander in
the air they will exude a poisonous influence. So
all water brought from rivers or wells for distribu-
tion through a town should, after passing through
the houses, complete its sanitary course by washing
the refuse into the earth, and ultimately regain its
original purity by percolating into the river or
spring. At Rugby and at Watford this law of na-
ture is strictly observed; an apparatus of pipes and
hose conveys the liquid sews ge from the streets to
the farm, which it irrigates with profit. But in the
case of large towns, where the drains carry away a
great bulk of water and gravel from-the surface
drainage, and where irrigation is not in request,
this natural method is inapplicable, The most tempt-
ing arrangement is at once to convey all into the
nearest river, and these outrages against the purity
of rivers, that ought to be the pride and pleasure of
towns, are everywhere attempted to be perpetrated.
The Thames being the thoroughfare of literary as
well as business men, having on its banks, within
reach of every whiff of odour the Ilouses of' Parlia-
ment, has found competent defenders, and has by
act of Parliament been declared exempt from the
filthy task of receiving the contents of the sewers,
and ✓is hereafter to become a_ river again, in-
stead of a gigantic drain. But the Mcdlock,
at Manchester, and numberless rivers of other
towns, large and small, still want defenders, and it
is necessary to declare and maintain that the
cleansing of houses and streets must not lead to the
pollution of rivers. The necessity which the Me-
tropolitan Board of Works believe to exist of cast-
ing into the sea, at enormous expense' that which,
if separated from the water and gravel with which
it is mixed, would fertilise half a country, is discre-
ditable to the mechanical and chemical skill of the
nation ; but I am still in hopes that so wasteful and
clumsy a proceeding may be rendered unnecessary,
and that, if the attention of competent persons be
drawn to so important a matter, means of deodo-
risation will before long be discovered, by which
those salutary processes which the soil is adapted
by nature to produce will be artificially attained
without too much inconvenience or undue cost.
Some invigorating and manly exercises are necde i
for the health and recreation of men who are em-

ployed in sedentary or monotonous occupations.
Gymnastic grounds have been established near
Primrose-hill, in London, and also in Liverpool, by
the munificence of an individual. The pastfines of
races, running in sacles, and dancing, which are
being revived at harvest homes and similar
gatherings, show that the universal taste for
trials of strength and for humorous games is
not wanting even to this grave generation ; and
the success which has attended the revival
of old English sports at Wenlock, under the
name of Olympian games, is very encouraging.
Every town should have its parks, where the popu-
lation may disport themselves on holidays and Sun-
days, and get health as well as recreation from the
beauties of nature. It cannot be expected that many
towns will receive gifts as noble as that which was
conferred on Halifax by Mr. Crossley, on Derby
by Mr. Strutt, and on Birmingham by Mr. Adder-
ley ; but every town may secure a park for itself by
the imposition of a moderate rate to reps the loan
by which the land is purchased. Comprehensive,
and at the same time minute records of the number
and causes of sickness and death are absolutely ne-
cessary for a sure and steady advance on this sub-
ject. The official supply of statistics, which is quite
accurate as to numbers, is at present insufficient for
our purpose. The'registration districts are not set
out with any view to produce vital statistics, but
simply follow the subdivisions required for pooe-law
relief. They are not coincident with the limits of any
sanatory jurisdiction, and do not separate people
according to the conditions or occupations we desire
to compare; so that in local or detailed inquiries
the Registrar-General's reports will often not avail.
An improvement in the registration of the causes
of death is urgently needed, and there is no rea-
son why it should be combined with the registra-
tion of marriages; but it should be placed as
far as possible in the hands of medical men. We
want a registration of sicknesses that do not termi-
nate fatally. The easiness with which this might
be procured is shown by the weekly publication of
illnesses occurring in the public establishments of
the metropolis, which was for some months pub-
lished by the General Board of Health from infor-
mation gratuitously supplied by the medical officers
of health of the metropolis. But though the re-
turns of mortality are not as complete as might be
desired, yet, under the able interpretation of Dr.
Van, they give us broad and intelligible results. In
fixing the aim to which we should direct our efforts
it is desiralde to ascertain as ler as we can the pro-

portion of the annual mortality which is prevent-
able by means within our reach. It is estimated
that if all the population were living in a healthy
condition, and life were only terminated by natural
decay, the ordinary age at which men.and women
would depart would be eighty. But it is more
important to know that in 64 out of 623
registration districts the average annual death rate
is less than 17. in 1,0(a) persons living. 'Nese dis-
tricts are salubrious in their natural features, and •
their populations, amountinr, to 1,000,000, is chiefly
employed in agriculture ; but, on the other hami,
the cottages are exposed to many of the evils that
most denounce ; they are not model districts,
but they arc districts from which the chief evils we
are seeking to remove arc absent, and they furnish
a fair practical standard of what is possible to at-
tain. While, then, persons die at the rate of 17 in
1,000 in these standard districts, above 22 in 1,000
die on the average of all England, and 36 in the
worst urban districts ; and as 419,815 persons died
in 18,57, if the mortality of the rest of England had