68 Literary and Philosophical Society. 



apartments should be fumigated with tobacco. Brimstone 

 might, perhaps, be more powerful, but in burning it yields 

 an acid which would be injurious to the cotton. 



' VI. Great attention ought to be paid to the privies. 

 They should be washed daily, and ventilated in such a 

 manner that the smell arising from them shall not be 

 perceptible in the workrooms. 



' VII. The rancid oil which is employed in the machin- 

 ery is a copious source of putrid effluvia. We apprehend 

 that a purer oil would be much less unwholesome, and that 

 the additional expense of it would be fully compensated 

 by its superior power in diminishing friction. 



'VIII. A strict observance of cleanliness should be 

 enjoined on all who work in mills, as an efficacious means 

 of preventing contagion, and of preserving health. It may 

 also be advisable to bathe the children occasionally. The 

 apparel of those that are infected with the present fever 

 should be well fumigated before it is worn again, and the 

 linen, &c., of the sick should first be washed in cold water, 

 lest the steam arising from the heat communicate the 

 distemper to the person engaged in that operation. 

 Croster's lye, when it can be procured, is preferable to 

 water. The bodies of those who die of the fever should be 

 closely wrapped in pitched cloth, and interred as soon as 

 propriety or decency will permit. Smoking tobacco will 

 be a useful preservative to superintendents of the works, 

 and to others exposed to infection who can practise it with 

 convenience. 



1 IX. We earnestly recommend a longer recess from 

 labour at noon, and a more early dismission from it in the 

 evening to all who work in the cotton-mills. But we deem 

 this indulgence essential to the present health and future 



