M O R T 
ment of the metropolis’, as well as to the fubftantial bene¬ 
fit of its inhabitants. From this time, the remittent and 
intermittent fevers and dyfentery rapidly diminifhed in 
frequency and fatality; the two former now fcarcely ever 
originating in London, and the latter being feldom gene¬ 
ral or epidemic. Malignant fevers became lefs prevalent 
in gaols, and in the clofe habitations of the poor; and 
Newgate is no longer vifited by its annual typhus, which 
is now feldom found committing its ravages, even in the 
abodes of poverty. 
Among the various operations fubfervient to the arts 
and manufactures in this great city, there are many which 
contribute to diffufe in the atmofphere certain effluvia or 
vapours, fome of which are difagreeabie in their fmell, or 
difficult to refpire ; and others, though not fo obvious to 
the fenfes, are neverthelefs prejudicial to health. On the 
whole, however; the public health is not much affected by 
fuch effluvia. For, in the firft place, a difagreeabie fmell 
is by no means a certain criterion of an umvholefome at- 
hiofphere ; and, in the fecond, the volatilization of poi- 
fonous metals by fire, which conflitutes one of the moil 
probable means of contaminating the air, may be fo ma¬ 
naged, by connecting with the works proper chimneys, 
and other condenfing apparatus, as to obviate altogether 
the danger which might thence arife to the public. Many 
miftakes have been committed by writers on this fubject, 
and confiderable difference in principle has been mani- 
fefted in legal decifions refpeCting the degree of nuifance 
in fuch cafes. In the 17th century, the fmoke from coal- 
fires was deemed, both by natives and foreigners, one of 
the principal caufes of the unhealthinefs of London. This 
was Hated in ftrong terms by major Graunt, Obf. on Bills 
of Mortality, before quoted ; and Evelyn, who publifhed 
a pamphlet in 1661, entitled Fumifugium, in dignantly 
laments the “ clouds of fmoke and fulphur, fo full of 
iiink and darknefs, in which this glorious and an¬ 
cient city' wraps her ftately head ;” and he affirms, that in 
the year 1664, Newcaftle was beiieged, and coals not to 
be procured in London, “ divers gardens and orchards, 
planted in the very heart of London (as, in particular, my 
lord marquiife of Hartford’s, in the Strand, and my lord 
Bridgewaters’, and fome others, about Barbican), were 
obferved to bear fuch plentiful and infinite quantities of 
fruits, as they never produced the like, either before or 
fince, to their great aftonilhment.” In refutation of fuch 
notions, however, it is lufficient to remark, that, while 
this fuppofed cauie of unhealthinefs has been augmented 
to an incalculable degree, the actual condition of the me¬ 
tropolis, in point of falubrity', has been greatly improved. 
In like manner, the manufactories, in which various 
effluvia are difengaged from animal and vegetable matters, 
in confequence of putrefaction or fermentation, are no 
longer prejudicial to the public health, when they are con¬ 
duced with care and prudence. Thus in breweries, in 
ftarch and colour manufactories, as of turnfol and indigo, 
in paper-mills, &c. the fumes, which arife from the fer¬ 
menting and decompoling matters, can be dangerous only 
to thole employed about the works, and in the immediate 
vicinity of the velfels and apparatus. They ceale to be 
deleterious the moment they are riiffufed and combined 
with the external air, and cannot afteCt the inhabitants of 
neighbouring dwellings. Even where animal matters are 
liable to putrefy, as in the manufactories of cat-gut, tan¬ 
neries, and flaughter-houfes, the effeCts of thele corrupted 
exhalations, which, when dift'ufed in the neighbourhood, 
form an atmofphere very difagreeabie to breathe, may be 
obviated by proper care. Molt commonly fuch putrefac¬ 
tion is not neceli'ary to the operations going on, and only 
occurs from the animal fubftances being allowed to remain 
too long in the manufactory, or in too high a tempera¬ 
ture. It is only neceli'ary, therefore, to caufe the mate¬ 
rials to be frequently renewed, in order to prevent their 
cormption, and to keep the place clean. In this refpeCl 
ilaughter-hom'es are attended with lome inconvenience ; 
fcut this is by no means of fo ferrous a nature as to de-> 
Vojb* XVI. No. 1090. 
A L 1 T Y. 25 
mand their baniffiment without the limits of cities. A 
llaughter-houfe, indeed, when the filth and blood are col¬ 
lected in heaps to putrefy, is peftilence itfelf; but, when 
the offal is regularly removed, it ceafes to be a nuifance. 
Hence a little attention on the part of the magiftrates, 
that butchers do not throw out the blood and refufe of 
the animals which they kill, nor fuffer them to accumu¬ 
late, is fufficient to obviate any difgulting and unhealthy 
effeCts arifing from flaughter-houles. 
Of the manufactories in which effluvia are driven off by 
fire, thole of the mineral acids, which were formerly 
deemed extremely injurious, have been found by experi¬ 
ence to be deftitute of danger; and even thole effluvia, 
which are difengaged in the preparations or mercury, 
lead, copper, antimony, and arl'enic, and which are really 
dangerous to thofe who inhabit and affift in the works, 
can never injure thofe who refide in the neighbourhood, 
except when proper chimneys, that may convey the va- , 
pours out of the reach of refpiration, or condenfe them, 
are omitted to be ul'ed. Hence the magiftracy ought 
chiefly to confine its attention to the adoption of mea- 
fures of precaution, and to direft fcience towards the 
improvements of which thefe procefl’es are fulceptible 
with regard to health, inftead of haltily banilhing fuch 
manufactories from their cities. See a Report of the Nat. 
Inllitute of Paris, 1806. Annaies de Chimie, tom. liv. 
Edinburgh Med. and Surg. Journal, vol. ii. p. 290. 
The diminution of mortality, then,as appears from the 
foregoing ftatements, is greatly dependent upon a fyftem 
of cleanlinefs and ventilation, carried on upon an exten- 
five fcale ; and this fyftem has effected what quarantines, 
peft-houfes, &c. in vain attempted to accomplith. Indeed, 
from the conftant exiftence of the plague in London dur¬ 
ing the 17th century, it can fcarcely be fuppofed to have 
been imported at the particular periods when it raged fo 
deftruCtively; and, on the other hand, our quarantine- 
laws, however rigid and fevere they may be, are by no 
means adequate to the exclulion of all contagion. See 
Howard on Lazarettos ; Heberden on Increal'e, &c. of 
Difeafes. But the laft mentioned author obferves, “ That 
the plague w’as ever actually bred in London, it might be 
odious to afl'ert, and would be impoffible to prove ; yet, 
to any one who reflects upon its frequent returns in this 
capital until the latter end of the 17th century, and its 
total abfence fince, notwithflanding the great increafe of 
our trade, by which it was fuppofed to be imported, it 
muft, I think, appear probable, that, if its origin were de¬ 
rived from foreign contagion, at leaft its propagation 
ought, in a great meafure, to be attributed to fome pre- 
dil'pofition of the town in thole days, which has fince 
been corrected.” 
As for thofe epidemic difeafes by which mortality is 
at times extenfively and fatally increaled, and which ap¬ 
pear to originate, not in miafmata or in the effluvia from 
the human body in confined fituations, but in a fpecific 
contagion (fuch as the fmall-pox, mealies, and fcarlet- 
fever), the means of public iecurity are not fo much 
within our reach. For the two laft mentioned maladies, 
indeed, we know of no preventive means; fo thap the in¬ 
habitants of large cities muft probably undergo them once 
in the courfe of life. But, for the fmall-pox, the direCI: 
peftilence that vifits mankind, a method of amelioration 
lias been reforted to, for nearly a century, in Europe, by 
which the lives of multitudes have been preferved, but by 
which alfo death has been inflicted upon multitudes of 
others, whom prejudice,careleffnefs, ormifinformatian,have 
led to negleCt the employment of the preventive, fince it 
has been an artificial fource of continued contagion; we 
mean inoculation. Similar prejudice, negligence, or mil- 
taken views, continue to be fata! to the public health, by 
encouraging the propagation of this due contagion, even 
after an experience of twenty years has eftablilhed the effi¬ 
cacy of the invaluable difeovery of Dr. jenner, the cow- 
pock, in i'uperfeding the influence of fmall-pox, while it 
does not contribute to generate any contagion which may 
U injure 
