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quence either of their refusal to discontinue, or neglecting to
remove the causes of complaint against their works, and I
have the satisfaction of stating, that in every instance in
which proceedings have been taken by the Solicitor, under
the orders of your Board, against the Proprietors, a conviction
has been obtained and a fine imposed upon them.
It may not be inappropriate at the present time for me to
say a few words on Trades' Nuisances and the offensive
effluvia arising from the various Manufactories in the District.
I have often been asked whether the effluvia are injurious
to the inhabitants living in the neighbourhood of such works?
My answer invariably has been, "That I do consider them
injurious, not only to the inhabitants of the immediate
locality, but also to the whole district." I am desirous of
expressing to you my opinion rather more fully on this
subject, in consequence of the very obscure ideas most
persons entertain of what is meant by such-and-such a
nuisance being injurious to health.
It would appear from observations that have fallen from
many who have made the enquiries, and from arguments
used by parties desirous of defending or screening the owners
of such properties, from the imputation or the reality of
creating or diffusing effluvia from their premises which are
really injurious to health, that they suppose the phrase
"Injurious to health" means the direct production of some
pestilential disease, such as Cholera, Typhus Fever, Scarlet
Fever, or other serious maladies that may happen to arise in
localities exposed to these effluvia. Now such is not the
meaning of the phrase "Injurious to health," and such is not
the proper acceptation of the term as understood by Medical
and Scientific Men. I do not pretend to say that under
certain conditions of the human system such effluvia may not
tend directly to produce certain maladies, for undoubtedly
they do; but I think it would be wrong to attribute the
general unhealthiness of certain districts entirely to the
effluvia arising from these manufactories. Nothing would
be more absurd than to suppose, if an epidemic should break
out, or any other disease arise in the neighbourhood of