584 Proceedings of the British Association. 



-when manufactures are not in demand.— Messrs. Webb Hall and G. W. 

 Wood cautioned the meeting against supposing that the introduction 

 of this system would everywhere produce the same beneficial results 

 which had followed its adoption in Eastbourne. 



Mr. Noble read a paper 1 On the Influence of the Factory System 

 in the developement of Pulmonary Consumption.' He compared the 

 prevalence of consumption in the manufacturing town of Manchester, 

 with its amount in other places where there is little or no manufac- 

 ture. According to the census of 1831, there were 49,932 families 

 resident in Manchester and Salford ; the entire registered deaths in 1839 

 were 9,223, and the cases of consumption 1,454, that is, 1 death from 

 consumption out of every 34 families, and 3 from consumption in every 

 19 deaths from all causes. In agricultural Essex, with a population of 

 62,403 families, the deaths from consumption in 1839 were 1,201, and 

 the total number of deaths 6,352 ; being, in the agricultural district, 4 in 

 every 21, and in the factory district but as 3 in 19. In the district em- 

 bracing Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire, and the southern divisions 

 of Lincolnshire, comprising a population of 67,351 families, the deaths 

 from all causes were 7,306, and those from consumption 1,308, or nearly 

 1 death in every 5. Thus the general mortality was lower in the agri- 

 cultural districts, but the proportion of consumptive cases to deaths 

 was greater. In Liverpool, out of 43,026 families, the deaths for 1839 

 were 9,181, and the deaths from consumption 1,742. Thus in Liverpool 

 there are 2 deaths from consumption out of every 49 families, and in 

 Manchester only two out of every 68. In Birmingham the condition 

 was more favourable, being nearly 1 death from consumption out of 

 every 36 families. In London the rate is 2 deaths from consumption 

 out of every 105 families, and the proportion of consumptive cases to 

 deaths from every cause exactly the same as Manchester, or 3 out of 

 19. With the exception of the metropolis, Manchester has fewer con- 

 sumptive cases in proportion to the number of deaths from every cause 

 than any of the districts above mentioned ; and hence Mr. Noble in- 

 ferred that factory labour has no direct tendency to produce con- 

 sumptive disease. Taking the register of deaths for three years in the 

 township of Manchester between the ages of fifteen and forty, the 

 following results were obtained ; 174 consumptive deaths were of per- 

 sons employed in factories, 590 of persons registered in various oc- 

 cupations, and 377 without any stated employment. Of the factary 

 operatives 45 were spinners, 49 winders, 28 piecers, 15 reelers, 11 

 carders and frame-tenders each, and 10 stated generally to be employ- 

 ed in factories. The general conclusion from these and similar facts 



