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of expansion, either by packing closer than in 1851, or by the addition of new houses,
it follows that a portion of the population of St. Giles must emigrate every year, or, in
other words, that whatever be the amount of immigration into the district, emigration
must exceed that amount by 400 every year.
A notable proportion of this emigration is into the Hospitals of other districts;
some St. Giles residents dying there (no less than 90 in 1857), and others, when
cured, not returning to their former abodes.
Section 5.—Trades, eye.—i have very little to state with regard to the occupations
of persons in the St. Giles district. These, probably, differ little in kind from
the rest of the town. Private persons on the one hand, and labouring men on the
other, would probably be found in numerical excess. As far as I know, there are no
manufactures or works which can seriously affect the public health; the only establishments
to which I have devoted special observation, have been slaughter and cowhouses.
The slaughter-houses of St. Giles are 15 in number, scattered through all
parts of the district in connexion with butchers' shops; other central districts have more
of these places, thus Holborn licenses 26, and the Strand 47. I have nothing to
retract from the strong opinion I have formerly expressed against the present mode of
licensing slaughter-houses; I still consider a system to be radically vicious that permits of
no examination of the health of the animals killed, or of the quality of the meat, and
which must always be inadequate to prevent the occurrence of nuisances.
The existing slaughter-houses in St. Giles, however, continue to afford as little
ground for objection as can be expected; but the very injurious practice of allowing the
blood to go down the drains, has been found to be common, almost one-half of the
butchers having been detected in this offence at one or another time.
With regard to the cow-houses, I admit that there is no abstract reason why
cows should not be kept in a town without injury to their own health, or that of the
neighbourhood. Practically, however, serious objections exist. At the best, the cows
live from one year's end to another with very insufficient exercise, and under artificial
conditions of atmosphere and food, by which their secretion is stimulated, and they
cannot therefore afford so wholesome a fluid as country milk. Still, if this were all,
the case would not be strong against them, but as it is, cows, in a London cow-shed,
are often subjected to every conceivable evil influence that could ever enter into the
practice of ignorant men, and they then become serious nuisances to a central district.
Never breathing the open atmosphere, " for fear they should catch cold," but confined
under densely-populated rooms, or even under-ground, without light, air, or drainage,
fed on sour and decaying food, drinking water impregnated with their own excretions,
he poor animals are a source of disease to the neighbourhood, they themselves lose
heir health, and cannot by possibility furnish a healthy milk.
But as we cannot, if we wished, by any summary proceeding, remove cows
from the town districts, it has been a matter of much anxiety to make their dwellings
as healthful as possible, and the measures taken with that view will be considered
hereafter.