Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: [An historical sketch of sanitary science]. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.
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![gi’eatly extended by a temporary Act in 1832. Official investi- gation into the sanitary condition of the labouring class of the population revealed a condition of things of Avhich the general public had no conception, and attention was directed to the fact that the seats of endemic disease were generally where the air or water were polluted. Crowded parts of toAvns, and the courses of rivei-s fouled by refuse, were observed to be the chief resorts of the epidemic; while high, open, and dry situations were not attacked. Tlie correlation of filth and disease was clearly established and universally acknowledged; and the consequence has been the movement towards the reconstruction of the cities of Europe. A new Poor Law Act was pa.ssed in ISS-l, and it soon became evident that legislation regarding sanitary matters was im- peratively called for. In 183G a comprehensive Registration Act was passed which afforded the first means of deriving sanitary information by bringing the registers throughout the kingdom into collocation in the hands of a Registrar-General, who submits an annual abstract of them to Parliament. In 1839, the first Report of the Registrar-General exhibited in a general survey the increasing amount and the causes of exces- sive mortality in towns; and, in 1840, a Select Committee on the Health of Towns, appointed by the House of Commons, recommended that Acts should be passed for a better regula- tion of buildings and construction of sewers, and for the appointment of Local Boards of Health, and inspectors. The report drew attention to the evils of interments in populous cities; the importance of water supply; the want of open spaces in crowded cities ; the necessity of some superintendence ovei- common lodtrinrr houses ; and the advantaires which would result from the establishment of public baths. In 1842, a R(‘jH>rt on the Sanifav)/ Condition of the Laltourinrj Pojnda- tion (f Great Britain was drawn up by Mr. Chadwick for the Poor (.law Board, which so elaborately <lescribeil the nnsati-fac- tory sanitary condition of the labourini;-population, and so ably exposed the feebleness of the law on the subject, that the (]ues- tion was brought under the serious attention of the .(.’abi iet. In 1843, a Royal C()mnli'^>ion, of which thi! Duke of Bncclench wa-^ chairman, was issued to inquire into the state of large towns and populous dostilets, and, speciallv a~ regardeil the causes of prevalent di ■rases, the lu-st means of improving- the public health by exi-;tin:;- laws givire.^ jiowers for drainage, water supply, and lapiiling regnlations, ami possilile amend- ments of those laws. The Commissioners made two valnatde rejiorts in 1844 and 184.5, and recommended that the Crown should inspect and snpervi.se the sanitary improvement of](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b24919937_0019.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
