Star.
London, England, 1816-10-04 00:00:00

"E OF THE CHILDREN 4MPLOYECD
• MANUFACTORIES. •

LEvidesso taken before a Select Connottme of dm How of .
Commons.]
MATTEMW BAILLIit M.D. called ie and massog.
You are by protessinn a Physttian t—l • ,
You have 40:4 meth experiente in your pen t'
.41see. , ..; •
Has your attention been directed to children
Not perhaps so much to children as to grown peoples,
except those that have arrived at some considerable'
age : in this country the health of children it: more'
generally attended to by those getrtienten who attend
; wooer who are pregnant ; and it does not very often.,
hippen that children are brought under the attention
of an ordinary physiCiak except in particular cases,
until they are three or for years olds alter that '

they very often come undes...klie. management of the
general physicians of the country.
At what age may children, without endangering
their health; be adntitted into factories, to be regu-
larly employed IS hours.* dar, allowing than one
hour and a half to go and return frinn Meals, and
one hour for instruction fr—sl should say, that there
was no age, no time of life Whatever, where that kind
of labour could be made eonpatible,...ln most Mini-
unions, with the fulimaintenante*of health.
Do you think that children from fireh to ten
years of age could be employed moroilipttenhottrs
per day, without injury to their caltstittition ?—I
.think not; and if it wiwlett to me to determine, L
should say, that they ought to be emplcled fewer
hours, for the full maintenance of health.
What do you consider to be the effect upon the
development add growth of the bodies of . children
from six to ten years of age, of so many haisre con-
finement per day ?—I cannot say mdch from•experi-
mice not having-attended . children that have been
labenring in- manufactories but I can say, what
ears to me, to be likely to arise out of so much
abour, from general principles of the animal econo.
• my. L should say, in the first place, that the growth
Of these children •would be stunted ; that they would
not arrive so rapidly at their full growth ;
that they would not have the same degree of general
strength; that it is probable their digestion would not
be so vigorous as in children who are more in the open
sit and less confined to labour; that they would pro-
bably be more liable to glandular swellings than chil-
dren who are bred differently: and I think it likewise
probable, that in particular manufactories at least.
-they would be more likely to be affected with diseases
of the lungs.
What would you consider to be the effect On the
mental faculties of children so young, when. in addi-
tion to the.facts already. stated the attention is con-
stantly fixed and employed on one set of objects for
days, months, and years?—.! should think that they
Would acquire- more acuteness with regard to that
particular employment; but that with regard to all
general employments, and all general exercises of the
mind, they would be inferior to what they would be,
if their minds were directed to a reater number of
objects -either of curiosity or of study.
Have you considered at what age children might be
kafely employed in factories ?—I can only answer this
question. by a kind of conjecture, which is founded
upon my acquaintance with the animal economy : 1
should say, that seven years old was perhaps she. ear-
liest see at which children should be an vtisplarda.
Hew many hours would you recommend children
of that tender age to be employed ?—I should say, that
at that age, probably, for the first year, they should not
be employed more than four or five hours a-day; and
. for the two succeeding years, they might be employed
s;i or seven hours a-day that afterwards they might
be employed teo hours a-dey, and beyond that, in
my Opining, there ought to be no increase of labour.
_Have you had any opportunities of knowing what
has been the state of health in any manufactory t—l
really must say I have not. The only manufactory
of that kind I ever saw was at New Lanark; which
Mr. Owen sbewed to me about two hours.
Would not the state of the health of the persons em-
ployed depend most materially on the state of the at-
- rnosphere in which they were employed ?-1 have no
doubt it would have considerable influence, but 1
consider Ibis as only one circumstance ; if they are
in a very cold atmosphere, or in a very hot one, they
would be more liable to suffer/Ilan in a temperate at-

mosphere, certainly.
Might not the children work in a proper tempera-
ture a greater number of hours than they could do)
without injury, in either of the extremes of beat or
cold ?—I think that they might.
Are you acquainted with the work in which those
children are generally employed ?—I am very imper-
fectly acquainted with those works.
In speaking of the injury to young personearising
from labour, do you mean to speak of labour which
requires great bodily elation ?---4 did not suppose
that children at so early. an age were employed in
4reit bodily exertion, but I meant any bodily exer-
tion in which they were confined in a given space,
and their minds nbt allowed to wander into the vari-
ous channels of thought, and their limbs allowed the
son of irregular exercise which takes place in chit.
dreg who are living in the usual manner.
Is not the state of maturity of children very diffe-
rent .in those brought up in the country, to those
brought op in town'?—With regard to children who
are brought tip in the country, they an more vivo-
rots ; and Ybatre no doubt, in many instances, their
progreirtbssards-mamrity may be more rapid than
in chailren who ate reared in a large town:
And'yonf espifitace hasprincipally been in tows?
.....Eittirely, I mit lay.
• Have you bee* called tb give any opinion, or to
know the name health, in different.mannfutoties
have mot.-
• • Ilhat is the state of heat, as ascertained by a ther-
women. -in which children might work without in-
jury my, that the temperature which' is
Ivo* the rebels mast favourable is about 60 degrees
'of .hot.
Tar your opinion on this subject, do you take
'leap teorteosidersuou theoituation in which childten
woide be placed, if at an earlier period, they were net
em toyed is each factories ?-4•do not know that the
whole of this pentad on my mind, but certainly it
'ura's ajot alma from it g I drew the comparison be-
MHO *bye children as employed in manufactories,
and lbeordia a ry employ:flea totchildrea in the country.
' Woold children Of the age' of ten be employed in the
ordiamity boom oft* couture— No; but tarould,