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UPON THE SANITARY STATE OP CLERKENWELL.
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from the blood, just as the yeast is thrown out by the fermenting liquid: both
are visible and tangible.
But several of the zymotic poisons are gaseous and invisible, as those of
typhus and measles; yet they are as surely present, and capable of infecting
a sound body.
The emanations from decomposing animal and vegetable matters are also
capable of exciting a zymotic action upon the living body, and of poisoning
the blood, and even of acting upon dead organized bodies. Thus, breathing
an atmosphere loaded with decomposing animal and vegetable matters will
induce a low febrile state, resembling that of infectious typhus. Milk will
not "keep" when in a putrid atmosphere, and meat will rapidly putrify
under similar circumstances. Even the emanations from living human beings,
especially when concentrated as in crowded habitations, will produce a morbid
state of the body, and will especially favour the spread of infectious diseases;
so altering the blood as to render it in a most favourable state for the action
of the peculiar poisons of typhus, scarlet fever, &c., and producing a high
rate of mortality when they occur under these circumstances.
Hence these diseases abound where such emanations are present; hence,
also, these diseases rage with great mortality among the poorer classes. We
might be sure, from approaching a "mob," that zymotic diseases would
cause great mortality among its members; for the foetid emanations evolved
surely indicate that their blood must be already prepared for the luxuriant
growth and propagation of these maladies.
In addition to the zymotic action of these emanations, their very presence
indicates that the air is impure, and not capable of producing the necessary
changes in the blood by respiration. Moreover, they seem to form a nidus
for the retention of the infectious zymotic diseases; for a new family
occupying a room in which they are perceptible, and in which some one has
suffered from one of these diseases, will surely find the poison therein in a
sufficiently concentrated state for the propagation of the disease. The evolution
then of emanations in crowded localities, such as this district, should be
put a stop to as soon as possible; and we shall see presently that the law has
given the Vestry full power to do this.
There are some emanations, however, which displace no air, which have
no corrosive power, which exert no zymotic action, and which, from being
almost universally diffused in the natural air, and being associated with
pleasing scenes, are generally considered agreeable—such as perfumes—are
not injurious to health, unless present in such quantity as to excite headache
and nausea, or destroy the appetite, &c., and so interfere generally with the
nutritive functions. They are extremely volatile and diffusible, a minute
quantity impregnating a very large amount of air: thus, a grain of musk will
evolve its peculiar odour for years without losing any appreciable weight.
It is commonly supposed that if a nuisance be of noxious quality, it is an
easy matter for the medical officer to prove it but the fact is quite otherwise,
for this would often necessitate residence upon the exact spot, and the
uninterrupted observance of numerous local circumstances and influences
entirely beyond reach in practice. It would require the presence of an extremely
poisonous effluvium to produce sudden and overwhelming pestilence
and death, rendering its relation to these obvious and clear. Again, a very
impure air may be breathed, and may give rise to a vast amount of disease,
accompanied with but little mortality, because other sanitary conditions may