304 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1817. 



informed that the deformity of the 

 spine, legs, arms, &c. of these 

 boys, proceeds generally, if not 

 wholly, from the circumstance of 

 their being obliged to ascend 

 chimiiCys at an age when their 

 bones are in a soft and growing 

 state; but likewise, by their being 

 compelled to cany bags of soot 

 and cloths, tlie weight of which 

 sometimes exceed twenty or thirty 

 pounds, not including the soot, the 

 burthen of which they also occa- 

 sionally bear for a great length of 

 distance and time ; the knees and 

 ancle joints become deformed, in 

 the first instance, fr(nn the position 

 they are obliged to put them in, in 

 order to support themselves, not 

 only while climbing up the chim- 

 ney, but more j)articularly so 

 whilst coming down, when they 

 rest scdely on the lower extremi- 

 ties, the arms being used for 

 scraping and sweeping down the 

 soot. Your committee refer ge- 

 nerally to the observation of every 

 one as to the stinted giowth, the 

 deformed state of body, the look 

 of wretchedness and disease which 

 characterizes tliis unfortunate 

 class ; but it is in evidence before 

 them, that there is a formidable 

 comphiint which chimney-sweep- 

 ers in particular are liable to; 

 from which circumstance, by way 

 of distinction, it is called the 

 Chimney-sweeper's Cancer. Mr. 

 Wright, a surgeon, informed 

 your committee, that whilst he 

 was attending Guy's and Saint 

 Bartholomew's Hospitals, he had 

 several cases undsir his care, some 

 of which were operated on ; but 

 in general they are apt to let them 

 go too far before they apply for re- 

 lief. Cancers of the lips are not 

 80 general as cancers of the scro- 



tum; the witncFs never saw but 

 two instances of the forn)er, 

 though several of the latter. Mr. 

 Cline informed your committee by 

 letter, that this disease is rarely 

 seen in any other persons than 

 chimney-sweepers, and in them 

 cannot be considered as frequent ; 

 for duiing his practice in St. 

 Thomas's Hospital, for more than 

 forty years, the number of those 

 cases could not exceed twenty ; 

 but your committee have been in- 

 formed, that the dread of the ope- 

 ration which it is necessary to 

 perform, deters many from sub- 

 mitting to it; and from the evi- 

 dence of persons engaged in the 

 trade, it ajjpears to be much niore 

 common than Mr. Cline seems to 

 be aware of. But it is not only 

 the early and hard labour, the 

 sj)are diet, wretched lodging, and 

 harsh treatment, which is the lot 

 of these children, but in general 

 they are kept almost entirely desti- 

 tute of education, and moral or 

 religious instruction ; they form 

 a sort of class by themselves, and 

 from their wr rk being done early 

 in the day, they are tuined into 

 the streets to pass their time in 

 idleness and depravity : thus they 

 become an easy prey to those 

 whose occupation it is to delude 

 the ignmant and entrap the un- 

 wary ; and if their constitution is 

 strong enough to resist the dis- 

 eases and deformities which are 

 the consetpiences of their trade, 

 and that they should grow so 

 nmch in stature as no longer to 

 be useful in it, they are cast upon 

 the world without any means of 

 obtaining a livelihood, with no 

 haV)its of industry, or rather, what 

 too frequently happens, with con- 

 firmed habits of idleness and vice. 



In 



