YV/iA
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ARMY MEDICAL LIBRARY
FOUNDED 1S36
WASHINGTON, D.C
THE
SANITARY CONDITION
THE LABORING POPULATION
NEW YORK.
WITH SUGGESTIONS FOR ITS IMPROVEMENT.
A DISCOURSE
(WITH ADDITIONS)
DELIVERED ON THE 30TH DECEMBER, 1844, AT THE REPOSITORY OF THE
AMERICAN INSTITUTE.
JOHN H. GRISCOM, M. D.
FELLOW OF THE COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS ; PHYSICIAN OF THE
NEW YORK HOSPITAL J LATE PHYSICIAN OF THE CITY AND
EASTERN. DISPENSARIES.
HARPER & BROTHERS, 82 CLI F-STREET.
1845.
WAA
f]0 ■ < , /
PREFACE.
The subject matter of the following pages was originally addressed,
in the form of a letter, to the Chief Magistrate of the city. Its prepara-
tion was undertaken, principally with a view to an exposition of the
true principles which should regulate the action of public bodies, in
matters relating to the health of cities, in a knowledge of, or concern
for, which, recent events had shown our own municipal legislature, to
be somewhat deficient. Appreciating fully the importance of its facts
and suggestions, the Mayor transmitted the communication to a co-
ordinate branch of the City Government, recommending it to their serious
attention. After several weeks' deliberation upon it, the committee to
whom it was referred arrived at the conclusion, embodied in the follow-
ing language quoted from their report : " Your committee do not profess
to be judges of the subject, or in other words, they do not think it proper
at this time, to go into such a measure," and they recommended that
the paper be returned to its author. Under these circumstances no other
course remained, in order to obtain for the subject its merited attention,
than to lay the communication before the public, as was done in a free
lecture.
The writer embraces this occasion to acknowledge his obligations to
the several professional gentlemen, and Tract agents, who have so kindly
aided him in preparing this expose of the sanitary condition and wants
of this city ; — to Hon. James Harper, for his complimentary though un-
availing recommendation of the paper to the Common Council, as well
as to him and to Hugh Maxwell, Andrew Boardman, Gen. James Tall-
madge, Wm. B. Crosby, Peter Cooper, Horatio Allen, T. G. Mower,
M. D. U. S. A., James J. Mapes,Hon. Wm. T. McCoun, J. L. Mott,
Wm. Shotwell, Josiah Rich, and Wager Hull, for the voluntary and libe-
ral assistance rendered by them, in bringing it before the public, in its
present form. Thanks are due also to the American Institute for the
ree use of their Repository, for the delivery of the discourse.
272 East Broadway, January, 1845.
CONTENTS.
Page
Objects briefly stated, 2
Distinction between Public Health and Individual Health, 3
System of Tenantage of the Poor, 6
Arrangements of dwellings of the Poor, 7
Cellars as residences — their influences, 8
Ventilation — Amount of air necessary for each person, - - - 10
Number of Sick Paupers — Greater proportion of Females, - - - 13
Letter from John A. Swett, M. D. 15
do. do. Stephen Wood, M. D. 16
do. do. B. McCready, M. D. 18
Scrofula — the prevailing disease, --.-.._ 19
Respective influences of food and air, -»-.--- 20
Number dying at certain ages, ....... 21
Comparative chances of life in different Occupations, "
Government a party to the degradation of its subjects, ... 22
Influence of ill-health on morals, ....... 24
Queries addressed to the Tract Missionaries, ..... 25
Answer from Rev. G. Hatt, «.«
" " J. B. Horton, 27
" " Samuel Russel, Jr. ---.-... 30
" " John H. Bulen, 32
" " Rev. Isaac Orchard, 34
Dependence of the Community on the Labor of its Members, - - 39
Extract from Hon. Horace Mann, ....... «e
Present External and Internal Health Police, ...... 41
Late appointment of City Inspector, and memorial of Medical Profession, - 43
Suggestion of a new Arrangement for, and Proper Duties of a Sanitary Police, 44
Fresh air a preventive of Intemperance, 49
Medical Education in an Officer of Health necessary, .... 59
Letter from R. K. Hoffman, M. D. 51
Sewerage — Burial Places, &c — Study of causes of disease, 52
Study of Physiology recommended, - 55
SANITARY CONDITION
LABORING POPULATION OF NEW YORK.
' No duty can engage the attention of the magistracy of a city or
state, more dignified in itself, more beneficial to the present generation,
or more likely to prove useful to their descendants, than that of pro-
curing and maintaining a sound state of the public health.
Of the three objects contemplated in the Declaration of Independence
as necessary to be secured by government, the first named is " Life."
Higher purposes cannot be conceived for which governments should
be instituted.
As upon the condition of health of an individual are based his physi-
cal and mental strength, his ability for self-maintenance, his personal
happiness, and that of others dependent on him, and also his usefulness
to his family, to the community and his country ; and as the commu-
nity depends for its prosperity upon the performances of its members,
individually and collectively, in the measure of influence committed to
them respectively, so does the health of the people affect the capacity
and interests of the state.
As upon the individual, when sick, falls an increased pecuniary bur-
den, with (in general) a suspension of income, so upon the state or
city, must rest, not only the expenses of removing an unsound condi-
tion of public health, but also, from the attendant loss of character, a
diminution of its resources.
When individuals of the pauper class are ill, their entire support,
and perchance that of the whole family, falls upon the community.
From a low state of general health, whether in an individual or in
numbers, proceed diminished energy of body and of mind, and a viti-
ated moral perception, the frequent precursor of habits and deeds, which
give employment to the officers of police, and the ministers of justice.
These, among other considerations, together with the recent ex-
pression by the chief magistrate of the city of his interest in the sani-
tary condition of his constituency, by the recommendation to the Com-
mon Council of a measure of no ordinary importance to their welfare
1
2 SANITARY CONDITION OF THE
and comfort,* induce me to urge attention to a measure of improvement
which has long impressed my mind, as one, above all others, demand-
(\ ing the action of the City Government. J J
When it was my pleasure, as it was my duty, in 1842 and '43, to
devote my small energies to the sanitary improvement of my native
city, stimulated by the consciousness of being engaged in a work here-
tofore untried in any systematic form, and promising results of the
highest and most enduring interests to my fellow citizens, 1 seized the
occasion to recommend to the Common Council the adoption of a mea-
sure of Health Police, which I thought of serious necessity. It was
the last effort I was enabled to make upon the subject, before I was
again consigned to the private ranks, by removal from office. I then
hoped to see the small beginning I had made, grow into shape and use-
fulness under the fostering hands of whoever might be my successors.
But, in common with all who had the subject so much at heart, I have
been disappointed ; for not only was it untouched, but the seeds which
1 had planted were neglected, and suffered to rot in the ground. Ano-
ther political revolution brought with it the hope, strengthened by loud
professions of municipal reform, that at last the day was certain and at
hand, when this subject would be no longer allowed to slumber, but
would be regarded as one of the most urgent, and among the first, of
the objects of attention by the new Common Council. The expecta-
tions of the public could not be mistaken ; but an erroneous apprecia-
tion, or an entire misconception, in some quarter, of the duties and re-
quisite qualifications of an officer of health, has deferred the hopes en-
tertained of the further prosecution of this interesting, and vitally im-
portant, sanitary reform.
The desire which stimulated me in former days was, however, not
suffered to sleep in my bosom ; a year's reflection, and daily and more
extended observation, have not only confirmed my confidence in the
feasibility, but increased the conviction of the necessity, of the measure
I had proposed, and they have enabled me to modify, enlarge, and illus-
trate the plan, while the determination displayed by the new chief
magistrate to do his share of the reforms promised, has inspired me
afresh with the hope that the present might be a favourable time for a
renewed presentation of my favourite design.
It is a measure of Sanitary Reform. It is designed to relieve the
city of a part of the heavy burden of sickness and mortality, which now
oppresses its population, more especially that portion least able to re-
lieve themselves, and most requiring the interposition and protection of
Law. It will be seen to be a measure of humanity, of justice to the
poor, of safety to the whole people, and of economy to the public
treasury.
The objects of this communication, briefly stated, are these ; — 1st, to
show that there is an immense amount of sickness, physical disability,
and premature mortality, among the poorer classes ; — 2d, that these
are, to a large extent, unnecessary, being in a great degree the results
* Puhlic Baths.
LABORING POPULATION OF NEW YORK. O
of causes which are removeable ; — 3d, that these physical evils are
productive of moral evils of great magnitude and number, and which, if
considered only in a pecuniary point of view, should arouse the govern-
ment and individuals to a consideration of the best means for their re-
lief and prevention ; and 4th, to suggest the means of alleviating
these evils and preventing their recurrence to so great an extent.
Before proceeding to the explanation of the subject, it is necessary to
understand the distinction between Public Health and Individual Health.
In some senses these are different, in others they are similar, and have
an intimate connexion. The difference depends chiefly on the cause
being personal or general. Thus an individual may be made sick by
causes which affect no one else, as in Dyspepsia, Ophthalmia, Rheuma-
tism, &a, and yet even these diseases, personal and peculiar as they
seem to be, will sometimes be found dependent upon causes which
affect large numbers at the same time. For instance, the well water,
which we have heretofore been obliged to drink, was the frequent
cause of Dyspepsia, and some other complaints. Ophthalmia sometimes
prevails extensively in asylums and hospitals, and at the Long Island
farms it has several times proved a scourge, while both it and Rheu-
matism are frequent among the residents of damp and dark cellars.
Consumption is an instance of a disease of individual character,
but which is, to a vei} r considerable extent, in its commencement and
progress, influenced by the circumstances surrounding the patient. The
same may be said of Scrofula especially, of which, indeed, many other
diseases are only accompaniments or symptoms.
While there is scarcely a disease which may not at times become
epidemic or endemic, there are some more strikingly and uniformly so;
ex. gr. : Fevers of various kinds, as Yellow, Typhus, Intermittent,
and likewise Small Pox, Scarlatina, Cholera, Measles, &c.
Summer is the season generally deemed most prolific in diseases ;
the cause usually assigned for this is the heat of the weather acting
upon animal and vegetable matter, producing more extensive and rapid
decomposition, the gases from which are generally imagined to be so
destructive to health and life. It is true that certain diseases prevail
mostly during the hot months — these are Yellow Fever, Cholera In-
fantum, and the like, while Typhoid and Bilious diseases are frequent
in autumn, the latter also attributable to the same causes. The quan-
tity of these offensive vegetable and animal materials is, therefore, among
other things, supposed to be, in a considerable degree, the generator, and
regulator of the intensity, of these diseases. But this is not by any
means the whole of this subject. By a reference to some of the An-
nual Mortality Reports, it will be seen that sometimes as great a num-
ber of deaths occurs during the cold months as during the hot. These
are mostly of those affections attributable to the influence of cold and
of increased moisture, principally diseases of the Lungs. To a certain
degree this view of causes is correct, but in both cases, a well-directed
inquiry into the condition in which people live, the position and ar-
rangement of their working and lodging rooms, the character of their
food, their habits of dress and cleanliness, the well or ill ventilated
4 SANITARY CONDITION OF THE
rooms they occupy by day and by night, would, in this city, as it
has done in other places, develope an amount of ignorance and inat-
tention to the laws of life which would astound the most credulous,
and fully account for the great and premature mortality of our
citizens.
At all seasons of the year, there is an amount of sickness and death in
this, as in all large cities, far beyond those of less densely peopled, more
airy and open places, such as country residences. Even in villages
of small size, there is an observable difference over the isolated country
dwelling, in the proportionate amount of disease prevailing ; proving
conclusively that the congregation of animal and vegetable matters,
with their constant effluvia, which has less chance of escape from the
premises, in proportion to the absence of free circulation of air, is det-
rimental to the health of the inhabitants.
These circumstances have never yet been investigated in this city,
as they should be. Our people, especially the more destitute, have
been allowed to live out their brief lives in tainted and unwholesome
atmospheres, and be subject to the silent and invisible encroachments
of destructive agencies from every direction, without one warning voice
being raised to point to them their danger, and without an effort to
rescue them from their impending fate. Fathers are taken from their
children, husbands from their wives, " ere they have lived out half
their days," — the widows and orphans are thrown upon public or pri-
vate charity for support, and the money which is expended to save
them from starvation, to educate them in the public schools, or, per-
chance, to maintain them in the work-house or the prison, if judi-
ciously spent in improving the sanitary arrangements of the city, and
instilling into the population a knowledge of the means by which their
health might be protected, and their lives prolonged and made happy,
would have been not only saved, but returned to the treasury in the
increased health of the population, a much better state of public mor-
als, and, by consequence, a more easily governed and respectable com-
munity.
It is of course among the poorer labouring classes that such know-
ledge is most wanted. The rich, though they may be equally ignorant
of the laws of life, and of the best means of its preservation, live in
larger houses, with freer ventilation, and upon food better adapted to
support health and life. Their means of obtaining greater comforts
and more luxuries, are to them, though perhaps unconsciously, the very
reason of their prolonged lives. Besides this, they are less harassed
by the fears and uncertainty of obtaining for themselves and families
a sufficiency of food and clothing. They are thus relieved of some of
the most depressing influences, which tend to reduce the energy of mind
and body in the poor, and render the latter more susceptible to the in-
roads of disease.
Sanitary regulations affect the pauper class of the population more
directly than any other, because they live in situations and circumstances
which expose them more to attacks of disease. They are more crowded,
they live more in cellars, their apartments are less ventilated, and more
LABORING POPULATION OF NEW YORK.
exposed to vapours and other emanations, &c, hence, ventilation, sew-
erage, and all other sanitary regulations, are more necessary for them,
and would produce a greater comparative change in their condition.
The influence of drainage upon the health and lives of the population,
is too well known to require, at this day, any argument. Almost every
one has heard of the effects of marshy soil, in country situations, pro-
ducing Intermittent Fever, or Fever and Ague, and of the entire disap-
pearance of the disease, simply by draining off the water, and permit-
ting the ground to become dry. Its results in populous cities are
equally well marked. The last instance which has come to my know-
ledge is one stated by Professor Buckland, that in St. Margaret, Leices-
ter, England, containing 22,000 inhabitants, it appeared that one portion
of it was effectually drained, some parts but partially so, and others not
at all. In the latter, the average duration of life is thirteen years and a
half, while in the same parish, where the drainage is better, though
only partial, the average is twenty-two years and a half, showing the
frightful effects of a bad atmosphere. It were easy to quote several
instances, some important ones, from London statistics, but it is unne-
cessary, as I presume the fact will not be disputed, that sewerage and
its kindred measures, exert a striking influence over the condition and
duration of human life.
The investigations to which I have briefly alluded, as so necessary
and desirable for this city, have been carried on in other countries, with
a degree of enthusiasm, sustained by talent and learning, which does
honour to Philanthropy. No one can rise from the perusal of the works
of Edwin Chadwick of London, or of Parent Du Chatelet of Paris, or
of many others who have laboured in this field of humanity, without
feeling a portion of the ardor which inspires them, and wishing he had
been thrown into the same pursuit, that some of the leaves of the same
laurel might encircle his own brow. It is the cause of Humanity, of
the poor, the destitute, the degraded, of the virtuous made vicious by the
force of circumstances, which they are now investigating, and exposing
to the knowledge of others.
It is often said that " one half the world does not know how the
other half lives." The labor of raising the veil which now separates
the two halves, by which the misery and degradation of the one, have
been concealed from the view of the other, has been theirs and their
associates. Howard, called by distinction the Philanthropist, revealed
to the gaze of the astonished multitude the interior of the prisons of
England, and straightway the process of reform commenced in them,
and continued until the prison system of the present day, has become
one of the most striking examples of the spirit of the times. But Chad-
wick and Du Chatelet, especially the former, are diving still deeper into
the subject of moral and physical reform. They are probing to the
bottom the foul ulcers upon the body of society, and endeavouring to
discover the causes of so much wretchedness and vice, which fill the
prisons and work-houses. Howard's labours tended to cure the disease,
Chadwick 's to prevent it. These operations constitute a highly impor-
tant part of the great work of melioration and improvement, in the con-
ft
6 SANITARY CONDITION OF THE
dition of mankind, now going on, in nearly all civilized countries, and
which characterize the present age.
If not on a par, in importance, with the improvement in education,
which has of late made such rapid strides, it certainly is second only to
it, and indeed it may well be questioned, whether improvement in the
physical condition of the lower stratum of society, is not a necessary
precedent, in order that education of the mind may exercise its full and
proper influence over the general well-being. Teach them how to live,
so as to avoid diseases and be more comfortable, and then their school
education will have a redoubled effect, in mending their morals, and
rendering them intelligent and happy. But without sound bodies, when
surrounded with dirt, foul air, and all manner of filthy associations, it is
vain to expect even the child of education, to be better than his ignorant
companions, if indeed you do not, by educating him, give him an addi-
tional weapon, by which he may prey more successfully upon his fellows.
This country, and especially this city, it is hoped, will not much lon-
ger be behind others in this cause of the suffering poor and depressed
humanity. Some movements, promoting this investigation, have re-
cently been commenced, but much is yet to be done. The path has
been pointed out to us by pioneers across the Atlantic ; there is abun-
dant disposition to pursue the object, which only requires to be sought
out, and put to work by the authorities, to procure all the desirable re-
sults of such labours.
The system of tenantage to which large numbers of the poor are sub-
ject, I think, must be regarded as one of the principal causes, of the
helpless and noisome manner in which they liveV/The basis of these
evils is the subjection of the tenantry, to the merciless inflictions and
extortions of the sub-landlord. A house, or a row, or court of houses,
is hired by some person of the owner, on a lease of several years, for a
sum which will yield a fair interest on the cost. The owner is thus
relieved of the great trouble incident to the changes of tenants, and the
collection of rents. His income is sure from one individual, and obtain-
ed without annoyance or oppression on his part. It then becomes the
object of the lessee, to make and save as much as possible, with his ad-
venture, sufficient sometimes to enable him to purchase the property in
a short time.
The tenements, in order to admit a greater number of families, are
divided into small apartments, as numerous as decency will admit.
Regard to comfort, convenience, and health, is the last motive ; indeed,
the great ignorance of this class of speculators (who are very frequently
foreigners and keep a grog shop on the premises) would prevent a pro-
per observance of these, had they the desire. These closets, for they
deserve no other name, are then rented to the poor, from week to week,
or month to month, the rent being almost invariably required in advance,
at least for the first few terms. The families moving in first, after the
house is built, find it clean, but the lessee has no supervision over their
habits, and however filthy the tenement may become, he cares not, so
that he receives his rent. He and his family are often found steeped
as low in depravity and discomforts, as any of his tenants, being above
ft
LABORING POPULATION OF NEW YORK. 7
them only in the possession of money, and doubtless often beneath them
in moral worth and sensibility.
It is very frequently the case that families, after occupying rooms a
few weeks, will change their location, leaving behind them all the dirt
which their residence has occasioned. Upon this the next comers will
sit down, being so much occupied with the hurry of moving, and with
the necessity of placing their furniture immediately in order, that atten-
tion to cleansing the apartment is out of the question, until they are
" settled," and then, if done at all, it is in the most careless and ineffi-
cient manner. Very often, perhaps in a majority of the cases in the
class of which I now speak, no cleaning other than washing the floor,
is ever attempted, and that but seldom. Whitewashing, cleaning of
furniture, of bedding, or persons, in many cases is never attempted.
Some have old pieces of carpet, which are never shaken, (they would
not bear it,) and are used to hide the filth on the floor. Every corner
of the room, of the cupboards, of the entries and stairways, is piled up
with dirt. The walls and ceilings, with the plaster broken off in many
places, exposing the lath and beams, and leaving openings for the
escape from within of the effluvia of vermin, dead and alive, are smeared
with the blood of unmentionable insects, and dirt of all indescribable
colours. The low rooms are diminished in their areas by the necessary
encroachments of the roof, or the stairs leading to the rooms above ; and
behind and under them is a hole, into which the light of day never
enters, and where a small bed is often pushed in, upon which the luck-
less and degraded tenants pass their nights, weary and comfortless.
In these places, the filth is allowed to accumulate to an extent almost
incredible. Hiring their rooms for short periods only, it is very common
to find the poor tenants moving from place to place, every few weeks.
By this practice they avoid the trouble of cleansing their rooms, as they
can leave behind them the dirt which they have made. The same room,
being occupied in rapid succession, by tenant after tenant, it will easily
be seen how the walls and windows will become broken, the doors and
floors become injured, the chimneys filled with soot, the whole premises
populated thickly with vermin, the stairways, the common passage of
several families, the receptacle for all things noxious, and whatever of
self-respect the family might have had, be crushed under the pressure
of the degrading circumstances by which they are surrounded.
Another very important particular in the arrangements of these tene-
ments must here be noticed. By the mode in which the rooms are
planned, ventilation is entirely prevented. It would seem as if most of
these places were built expressly for this purpose. They have one or
two windows, and a door at one side of the room, but no opening any-
where else. A. draught of air through, is therefore an utter impossibility.
The confined position of the dwelling itself, generally, prevents the
access of the external currents of air, even to the outside, to any con-
siderable extent. The window sashes, in addition, perhaps are so arran-
ged, that the upper one (if there are two) cannot be let down, being
permanently fastened up ; hence the external air, poor as it is, cannot
visit the upper section of the room, unless by opening the door, by which
8 SANITARY CONDITION OF THE
the interior of the room is exposed to view. If there is a sleeping
apartment, it is placed at the extremity of the room farthest from the
windows, is generally but little larger than sufficient to hold a bedstead,
and its area is reduced, for air, by the bed furniture, trunks, boxes, &c<
and having no windows, fresh air and sun light are entire strangers to
its walls. In this dark hole there is, of course, a concentrated accumula-
tion of the effluvise of the bodies and breaths of the persons sleeping in
it, (frequently the whole family, several in number,) and this accumula-
tion goes on from night to night, without relief, until it can easily be
believed the smell becomes intolerable, and its atmosphere productive
of the most offensive and malignant diseases. There is no exaggeration
in this description. I cannot too highly colour the picture, if 1 would.
What, then, will be thought of the condition of thousands of our fellow-
citizens in the winter season, when every crevice is closed to keep out
the cold air, and when I state, that what I have described, I have re-
peatedly seen and felt in the summer, when the windows and doors are
opened to the fullest extent, day and night, admitting all the ventilation
possible, small as it is.
I have had recent occasion to visit several of these pestiferous places,
and I pen these paragraphs in the month of August, with their sight
and smell fresh upon my senses.
The almost entire absence of household conveniences, contributes much
to the prostration of comfort and self-respect of these wretched people-
The deficiency of water, and the want of a convenient place for washing,
with no other place for drying clothes than the common sitting and bed
room, are very serious impediments in the way of their improvement.
Without any convenient or safe place to deposit wood, or coal, or food
in large quantities, all their purchases are by " the small," from the
neighbouring grocer, (who is perhaps the landlord,) at prices from 10
to 50 per cent, above the rates at which they might be obtained, under
better circumstances.
But the most offensive of all places for residence are the cellars. It
is almost impossible, when contemplating the circumstances and condi-
tion of the poor beings who inhabit these holes, to maintain the proper
degree of calmness requisite for a thorough inspection, and the exercise
of a sound judgment, respecting them. You must descend to them ; you
must feel the blast of foul air as it meets your face on opening the door ;
you must grope in the dark, or hesitate until your eye becomes accus-
tomed to the gloomy place, to enable you to find your way through the
entry, over a broken floor, the boards of which are protected from your
tread by a half inch of hard dirt ; you must inhale the suffocating vapor
of the sitting and sleeping rooms ; and in the dark, damp recess, endea-
vor to find the inmates by the sound of their voices, or chance to see
their figures moving between you and the flickering blaze of a shaving
burning on the hearth, or the misty light of a window coated with dirt
and festooned with cobwebs — or if in search of an invalid, take care
that you do not fall full length upon the bed with her, by stumbling
against the bundle of rags and straw, dignified by that name, lying on
the floor, under the window, if window there is ; — all this, and much
LAE0RING POPULATION OF NEW YORK.
9
more, beyond the reach of my pen, must be felt and seen, ere you can ap-
preciate in its full force the mournful and disgusting; condition, in which
many thousands of the subjects of our government pass their lives.
" There vapors, with malignant breath
Kise thick, and scatter midnight death." //
There are two features of a cellar residence which more especially
render them objectionable ; 1st, the dampness, and 2d, the more incom-
plete ventilation. In any cellar the impossibility of access for the heat
of the sun to the parts of the soil adjacent to the floor and walls, and
the absence of currents of air through the room, keep it much more
damp than rooms above ground, where the heat and air have freer ac-
cess. This is emphatically the case with inhabited cellars, inasmuch
as the inmates are careful to exclude the external air, by closing all the
avenues of its approach, in order to preserve the temperature high in
winter and low in summer. The moisture, whose escape is thus pre-
vented, is in itself a very prolific source of disease, and combined with
the darkness and impure air of these places, is actually productive of a
great amount of sickness. Could the sun and air be made to reach them,
and were it possible to establish a sufficient ventilation through them r
much of their noxiousness would be relieved ; but under no circum-
stances can they be made fit for the residence of living beings ; they are
properly adapted only as receptacles for the dead.
In addition to these impediments to the drying of these places, they
are very often so situated, that the surface water finds its way into them
at every rain storm. It may be remembered that in the summer of
1843 all the underground apartments in many sections of the city were
completely flooded by a deluge of rain. In the eastern part of the city,
in Delancy, Rivington, Stanton, and many other of the neighbouring
streets, almost every cellar (and great numbers of them are inhabited)
were half filled with water. This evil will not recur to so great an
extent, in the neighborhood alluded to, sewers having been built in
some of the streets. But in other sections, indeed in every section,
where the position of the basement is unaltered, and sewers are not con-
structed, the nuisance must be suffered at every rain storm. In some
courts to which I can point, the surface is below the level of the street,
and at every rain, the water being unable to run off into the street, is
all discharged down into the adjacent areas and cellars, keeping them
almost constantly wet. It was but a short time ago I met with the
case of a woman, the wife of a tailor living in a noted court in Walker-
street, and occupying partly a basement, in which she was compelled
to pass much of her time. She has lived there six months, four of
which she has been sick with rheumatism, and on that account, unable
to work. Otherwise she would be able to earn considerable by assist-
ing her husband. They have four children depending upon them, and
are obliged to seek assistance from the public, in consequence of this
sickness^ She attributes her disease to the water in the cellar, which
runs in, and obliges her to bale out, and wipe up, at every storm. The
money expended upon them in charity, would have rectified all this
2
ff
10 SANITARY CONDITION OF THE
difficulty, have preserved the health and strength of the family, and
saved all parties much trouble and suffering.
Another case is that of a woman with two children — her husband a
labourer — living in a cellar in Lewis-street, two months. Before
moving to this place, she lived in an upper room in Spring-street, and
was there always well, but has been sick ever since she went to live in the
cellar.
Another applied for medical aid who lives in a cellar, immediately ad-
joining which, is the vault of a church-yard, the moisture from which
comes through into the apartment, to such an extent, as obliged them to
move the bed away from the wall.
It is not a difficult matter for the Dispensary Physician, while receiv-
ing applications for medical aid at the office, to distinguish, in a majo-
rity of cases, the cellar residents from all others, without asking a ques-
tion. If the whitened and cadaverous countenance should be an insuffi-
cient guide, the odor of the person will remove all doubt ; a musty
smell, which a damp cellar only can impart, pervades every article of
dress, the woolens more particularly, as well as the hair and skin.
At No. 50 Pike-street is a cellar about ten feet square, and seven feet
high, having only one very small window, and the old fashioned, inclin-
ed cellar door. In this small place, were lately residing two families
consisting of ten persons, of all ages.
Dr. Reid, the ventilator of the new houses of parliament, places the
quantity of air necessary for the perfect, free, and wholesome respiration
of each adult person at ten cubic feet per minute.* Others before him
have estimated it as low as two cubic feet. I coincide with Dr. Reid
in his statement of the amount necessary for the attainment and pre-
servation of perfect health ; but the latter estimate is entirely too low.
If we take the average of thes? two extremes, (six feet,) we shall find
that the ten persons in the cellar of 50 Pike-street would render its 700
feet of air, unfit for the support of health, in less than fifteen minutes.
Now, suppose them to retire and close the door and window at ten
o'clock at night, what must be the condition of the air of the room, when
they rise at five the next morning ?
Is it astonishing that the Dispensary is called upon, very frequently,
to extend its aid to these inmates ? and should there not be some remedy
for this dreadful state of things ? The whole of these premises, besides
the cellar, is in a condition unfit for human habitation, and yet crowded
to a melancholy degree. A sanitary law that would reach this case, and
* " If we look to the fact that less than half a cubic foot of air passes through the
lungs of an adult in a minute, this estimate may at first appear excessive, but if we
remember, that at each expiration, a quantity of air is emitted, which mingles with
an additional portion of air largely exceeding its own bulk, and that there are twenty
such expirations in a minute, while provision is likewise required for the air that
affects the surface of the body, and for the endless variety of minor effects produced
by furniture, lighting, heating, refreshments, &c ; where no peculiar adaptation for
these purposes have been introduced beyond (hose usually observed, it will be seen
that the estimate is by no means immoderate. The real question is not, what the con-
stitution can bear, but that amount which is conveniently accessible in ordinary
habitations, and which is essential for the wants of the system." — Illustrations of the
Theory and Practice of Ventilation, by David Boswell Reid, M. D.
LABORING POPULATION OF NEW YORK.
11
be well applied, would save a large amount of life, health, money, and
morals. The same may be said of hundreds of other places, of which
this is a fair average sample. There are many places still worse.
An inquiry into the amount of air allowed to children in schools, to
the inmates of prisons, and to laborers in work-shops, will exhibit a
degree of neglect, or ignorance, in relation to this vitally important sub-
ject, in individuals having the training and guardianship of these classes,
truly lamentable, as well as surprising. For examples.
One of the Public Infant Schools of this city, having an average atten-
dance the year round, of 200 children, was for a long time, and until
recently, kept in the basement of a church, the dimensions of which
were 46x30x8^ feet, equal to 11730 cubic feet. The proximity of
the adjoining buildings rendered it so dark in a sunny day, it was difficult
to see to write on a slate a short distance from the windows. A large
stove warmed the room in winter. These children had about sixty
cubic feet each, for the six school hours, equal to ten cubic feet per hour,
when each child should have ten cubic feet per minute. Ventilation
was unthought of, until recently, and now in consequence of the position
and arrangement of the building, it is very imperfect.
The dormitories of the House of Refuge have each an area of less
than 200 cubic feet. When the door is closed on the inmate, his bed,
which is about eighteen inches from the floor, is extended nearly across
the cell, diminishing by so much its atmospheric area, and intercepting
almost wholly the communication between a very small opening at the
bottom, and another at the top, and one in the middle, of the door.
Those openings were intended, but are wholly inadequate, for ventilation,
even if no bed were there. For the perfect decarbonization of the blood,
the air in each dormitory, at the lowest proper estimate, will remain suffi-
ciently pure for the space of thirty minutes only, yet the youthful in-
mates are locked in from 8 P. M. till 5 A. M. nine hours, with no other
ventilation than what I have described. Their work-shops cannot be
said to be much better supplied with air. The effects of this privation
are plainly marked upon the countenances, and general physical deve-
lopement, of the children.
The general arrangement of the cells in the City Prison is but little
if any better. Besides the small window near the ceiling on one side,
air is admitted only through Jive auger holes in the door on the opposite
side, and these latter are of no service at night, when the inner door is
closed.
We now naturally come, in the course of this inquiry, to two impor-
tant questions, preparatory to the suggestion Iintend to make, of a re-
medy for these evils.
1st. What is the effect of this degraded and filthy manner of life upon
the health of the individuals, and the duration of their lives?
2d. What is its influence upon their morals, their self-respect, and ap-
preciation of virtue ?
The answers to these queries must have an important bearing upon
the moral obligations, the pecuniary expenses, and the order and charac-
ter of the City Government. If it can be shown that much sickness and
//
12 SANITARY CONDITION OF THE
many premature deaths are results of these residences, it will be evident
that the care of the sick, and the support of the widows and orphans,
must add greatly to the expenses of the city ; and if it can be proved that
degraded habits, bad associations, and immoral practises (though the re-
sults only of circumstances, and not of education) are their consequences,
it will be equally apparent, there will thus be continued, a class in the
community more difficult to govern, more disposed to robbery, mobs,
and other lawless acts, and less accessible to the influences of religious
and moral instruction.
With regard to the first question, an argument can hardly be necessa-
ry. Almost every one can recall to mind, some proof of the effects of
nauseous odors, of the inhalation of foul air, or of sleeping in a small
confined apartment, upon his own health and feelings. These effects
may have been only temporary, but they will serve to show that a pro-
longed continuance of them, must, in reason, produce permanently bad
results upon the mental and corporeal powers. If the inhaled air (one
great source of the life, health, and vigor of the animal structure) is
deteriorated in quality, or diminished in quantity, below the standards
necessary for a perfect decarbonization of the blood in the lungs, the
blood necessarily becomes burdened with impurities, and fails to impart
to the system the qualities demanded by nature for the due maintenance
of health and strength. Every city resident who takes a stroll into the
country, can testify to the difference between the atmospheres of the
two situations : — the contrast of our out-door (to say nothing of the
in-door) atmosphere, loaded with the animal and vegetable exhalations
of our streets, yards, sinks, and cellars — and the air of the mountains,
rivers, and grassy plains, needs no epicurean lungs to detect it. The
superior corporeal activity, and the mental exhilaration imparted by it,
are the prima facie proofs of its superiority. Compare the pale face of
the city belle, or matron, after the long confinement of the winter and
spring, with the same countenance in the fall, upon her return from a
few weeks tour to the Springs and Niagara, and observe whether
the return of the long absent rose upon the cheek, is not accompanied
with a greater elasticity of frame, and a happier and stronger tone of
mind.
Descend a few steps further, from the airy and well-lighted chamber
and parlor, to the confined apartments of the pent-up court, and the
damp, secluded cellar ; draw a contrast between the gay inhabitant of
the former, and the attenuated tenant of the latter, and we may then
judge of the influences of the air, which they respectively respire.
Observe, further, the vast difference in the development of frame,
healthiness of countenance, and power of endurance, between the chil-
dren of the farmer, and the offspring of the city resident.
A highly respected friend, a distinguished advocate, informed me,
lately, that some of his children had not had a day's illness during the
two years they had been at school in the country, while the others, re-
siding at home, though in a comparatively salubrious position in the city,
cost him from twenty to thirty dollars each, per annum, for medicine
and medical attendance.
/
LABORING POPULATION OF NEW YORK- 13
The following facts show, by figures, the sad condition in which a
very large number of our people may be said, barely to exist.
As a great part of the population of these places are destitute of the
means of paying for medical assistance, the duty of ministering to them
in hours of sickness, falls upon the Dispensary Physicians. I find,
upon examining the records of ttieir labors, the reports of the three
medical charities, for the year ending March, 1844, there were pre-
scribed for at the offices, and the homes of the poor, at the
Northern Dispensary, 13,317 Patients,
Eastern " 17,107 "
New York " 23,853 "
Total, 54,2S2
From this number a deduction is to be made of those vaccinated, being
4505. In visiting the sick poor at their homes, however, it happens
very frequently that some are prescribed for, whose names are ne-
glected to be entered, so that it is perfectly safe to estimate the number
of sick persons who received aid from these charities, to be over 50,000
in one year. In the corresponding year there were admitted into the
Alms House Hospital 2332 patients, and into the City Hospital, about
1000, exclusive of seamen, making a total of over 53,000, without
enumerating the sick poor attended by private charity.
This is truly an appalling statement. Those unacquainted with the
number and character of the poor, would scarcely believe so great a
number actually existed in this city, destitute of means, and there
might arise an inclination to suspect an exaggeration of the statements,
were not the names and residences entered at length on the registers.
Does it not become the duty of the magistrate and the philanthropist'
upon the presentation of such a statement as this, of the waste and
havoc of the life, health, and strength of the people, to institute an in-
quiry into the causes of so great an amount of sickness, and to use
every possible means to alleviate them ?
Another fact developed by these reports is conclusive as to the influ-
ence of the causes to which I have alluded, of this great amount of
sickness.
If the habitation of damp, dark cellars, and of narrow alleys and
courts, and the breathing of a vitiated atmosphere, are rightly asserted
to be promotive of disease, then those most subject to these causes
should be sick in the greatest numbers. Now the male part of this
class breathe a totally different air through the day, at their labors in
the streets, along the rivers, or upon buildings, and only at night are
they subject to the worse atmosphere. Thus more than half their
hours are passed under more healthful circumstances. Even the boys
who spend several hours at play, or even in a partially ventilated
school-house, follow an improved regimen in this particular. On the
other hand, the females, both night and day, inhale the polluted atmos-
phere of the dwellings, and are more continually under all the other
bad influences of their unfortunate situations.
Do the official results correspond with these premises ?
14 SANITARY CONDITION OF THE
It will be seen upon examining the Dispensary returns, that in some
years the proportion of females to males, prescribed for at the Dispen-
saries, has been as 12 to lOi — in others, 12 to 81, and in one in-
stance as 19 to 11. This comparison is rendered more striking when
we take into account the greater amount of intemperance among the
males.
The Annual Reports of the City Inspector show that nearly one-half
the deaths by consumption are of the foreign part of the population,
and that more than one-third the whole number of deaths are of foreign-
ers. Such an immense disproportion can only be accounted for on
the supposition that some extraordinary causes of death prevail among
the strangers who come to reside among us. Now it is a pretty well
ascertained fact, that a large majority of the cellar and court popula-
tion of this city consists of persons of foreign birth and their children.
Of the Dispensary patients, about 60 per cent, are natives of other
countries, and if it were possible to ascertain the parentage of the chil-
dren receiving aid from these institutions, we should find a larger pro-
portion than this directly dependent upon foreigners. There is no doubt
that 75 per cent, of them are either immigrants, or the children of such.
Put these facts, then, side by side, and we are confirmed in the con-
clusion that the domiciliary condition of these poor beings, the confined
spaces in which they dwell, the unwholesome air they breathe, and
their filth and degradation, are prolific sources of an immense amount
of distress and sickness, which in their turn, serve, by the loss of time,
of wages, and of strength, to aggravate the miserableness of their con-
dition, to increase the danger to the public health, and the burden of
public and private charity.
f*ft The evils thus resulting are occasionally exhibited in an endemic
form, i. e., some disease of a marked character will break out and
attack a considerable number of persons in the same neighborhood, the
extent of its prevalence depending upon the extent of the cause, or the
facilities for its propagation. Thus a fever may commence in a certain
place inhabited mostly by the destitute and filthy : — if the adjoining
tenements are occupied by the same class of persons, and kept in the
same dirty and ill-ventilated condition, the tenants of the latter will be
very liable to attacks of the same disorder. The disease will often be
observed to pass by houses in a better condition, and re-appear at a
distance, where similar causes prevail.
Frequently, too, the prevailing disorder, though perhaps covering a
large district, will be seen only in certain parts of houses, as the cellars.
Several instances of this have occurred in New York, one of which
was the memorable Banker (now Madison) Street fever of 1820. 562
blacks inhabited the infected district, of whom 119 lived in cellars; of
these 119, 54 were sick of the prevailing fever, and 24 died. Of the
remaining 443, who lived above ground, 101 were sick, and 46 died.
Out of 48 blacks in 10 cellars, 33 were sick, of whom 14 died, while
out of 120 whites, living immediately over their heads, in the same
houses, not one even had the fever. Numerous other instances have
occurred, which have attracted less attention, probably because of their
LABORING POPULATION OF NEW YORK. 15
frequency rendering them less notorious. But there is, as is well known
to the physicians who move among these haunts of wretchedness, a
silent agency continually at work,destroyingannually the health and lives
of hundreds of our fellow-citizens, and entirely within the power of the
city government to control or subdue, but which, by a strange neglect,
appears to have been hitherto allowed to work out destruction unopposed.
I am enabled, by the kindness of some of my medical friends, to pre-
sent a history of some of the endemic diseases which prevail in the
precincts to which I have alluded. The following communications con-
tain the testimony of gentlemen thoroughly acquainted with the char-
acter of these places, and the condition of their inmates, and whose
opinions are entitled to the most weighty consideration.
I will only add to their views, that disorders arising and fostered in
these low places, will sometimes become so virulent as to extend among
and jeopard the lives of better classes of citizens ; while on the occur-
rence of general epidemics, these localities constitute minor streams,
whose poisonous waters, as they mingle with the great river of disease,
give additional impetus to its destructive current.
From John A Swett t M. D. one of the Attending Physicians of the City Hospital.
New York, August 12th, 1844.
Dear Doctor- — The epidemic continued fever, about which we had
some conversation a few days ago, occurred during the summer and
autumn of 1837, at the time I was physician to the N. Y. Dispensary,
and had charge of a district, embracing a part of the 6th, 10th, and 14th
wards, being bounded on the north and south by Walker and Chatham-
streets, and extending east and west, from Allen to Mott-streets. The
first cases occurred, 1 think, in July, and the disease continued to prevail
in the latter part of September, at which time I ceased to observe it,
being myself attacked with the same disease, which confined me until
the cold weather in December, at which time the disease had disappear-
ed in the district.
The epidemic interesting me very much, the cases were carefully
observed, and in many instances full notes were taken of their history.
The number of cases which fell under my observation was probably
about thirty — it is very possible it exceeded this. They resembled
each other very much in their history, and the more so, probably, from
the fact that they were subjected to a very simple and uniform treat-
ment. The organs principally affected were the brain, and those of the
abdomen. Delirium and stupor, with tympanitis, and abdominal tender-
ness, were very commonly noticed, and often in a very marked degree,
although vomiting and diarrhoea were seldom urgent, and always easily
controlled. The tongue always became dry as the disease advanced,
and typhoid symptoms, although not in an aggravated form, usually ap-
peared before the termination. I remember the frequent occurrence of
rose colored spots over the abdomen, and that in some instances, they
were so large and numerous as to constitute one of the most marked
symptoms, resembling rather the eruption of roseola, than the trifling
16 SANITARY CONDITION 07 TH£
eruption we frequently notice in fever. Nearly all the cases recovered*
I do not remember more than one or two that terminated fatally, and
in these no post mortem examination was allowed. The treatment pur-
sued was very simple, and consisted chiefly in attention to cleanliness r
and to ventilation ; the patients being allowed the free use of simple
beverage, with the occasional administration of mild purgatives in some
instances, and small doses of morphine in others ; indeed fresh air, as
far as it could be had, and cold water, were the principal agents to
which I trusted for the restoration of my patients, and I had seldom
reason to regret my reliance on this simple means. The benefit of this
mode of treating these cases appeared to me particularly marked during
the convalescence, which was surprisingly rapid, and almost invariably
commenced on or near the fourteenth day after the attack.
The poor population of this district was principally Irish and German,
whose habits, as you know, are more or less filthy, and who lived crowd-
ed together, with a family in every room in the house, and sometimes
more. 1 did not observe, however, that the disease was decidedly more
prevalent in those parts of the district which were most filthy and
crowded, at least so far as individual houses were concerned, although
if the district be divided into two equal parts by the Bowery, it is a re-
markable fact that all the cases, 1 think without an exception, occurred
to the west of this great thoroughfare, and it is quite certain, also, that
the poor population is more crowded in this western division where the
fever prevailed, than in the eastern where it did not exist at all.
The most striking circumstance that I noticed in this fever was, that
in every instance (save one which I regard as a doubtful case) the
disease existed either in basements, or the first floor of houses that had
neither basements nor cellars under them. This circumstance early attract-
ed my attention, and constant inquiry never enabled me to find any
cases in the upper stories of those houses in which the disease was pre-
vailing in the basement rooms, and yet these upper rooms were as full
of people and as filthy as those helow, and a more or less frequent com-
munication existed between them. As a matter of course these base-
ments were less exposed to ventilation than the rooms above, but this
was not always the case. I remember, in particular, one old wooden
house at the corner of two streets, without cellar or basement, in which
the disease prevailed on the ground floor where the ventilation was ex-
cellent, and where filthy habits were certainly not observed. Indeed,
it has always been my opinion that the cause of this fever was an
emanation from the ground on which the dwellings in which it occur-
red were standing, and the principal reasons for this opinion I have
already stated, viz. the abrupt and complete limitation of the disease
in one direction at least, by the Bowery, and its occurrence only in the
lowest rooms. I remain truly yours,
John A. Swett.
From Stephen Wood, M. D. Physician to the Eastern Dispensary.
211 Madison-street, Sth Mo. 17th, 1844.
Dear Doctor. — Agreeably to thy request, I have drawn up the fol-
LABORING POPULATION OF NEW YORK. 17
lowing sketch of some cases, (which have occurred in my practice as
one of the physicians of the E. Dispensary,) illustrating in some mea-
sure, the influence of locality and mode of life on health and diseases,
which thou art at liberty to use in such manner as thou may think
proper.
Some time during the Autumn of last year I attended at No. 249
Stanton-street, Charles Peterson, aged about forty-five years, of intem-
perate habits. He had Pneumonia, followed by TyP nus symptoms, and
lived but two or three days after my first visiting him. He had been
sick for several days previously, and without medical attendance. At
JNo. 96 Sheriff-street, and in the immediate neighborhood of this case,
and at nearly the same time, I had another of like character, of about the
same age, and of similar habits. This case likewise terminated fatally
in the course of a few days.
In one of these cases the pulse was full and strong, so that I thought
it best to bleed. The bleeding was followed by blisters, &c. ; but it
soon became necessary to resort to stimulants, and other supporting
measures. In the other case bleeding was not practised ; but a blister
was applied to the chest, expectorants, stimulants, &c, administered,
although with but temporary relief.
Both of these men, with their families, were wretchedly poor, living
in cellar rooms, some six feet below the street, dark and damp, with
very scanty ventilation, and ceilings, or rather beams so low, that 1
could not stand erect between them. The apartments at my first visit
were filthy and offensive in the extreme ; yet some improvement became
evident afterwards, as I generally in this class of patients, find it neces-
sary in the first place, to lecture them on the importance of cleanliness.,
ventilation, temperance, &c
I attribute the result of these cases, mainly to the situation, manner
of living, and habits of the subjects. This at least was the conclusion I
recollect I came to at the time ; my attention having being arrested at the
fatality of cases which at first appeared likely to have a successful issue,
as I had often had others of a like nature, terminate well under more
favorable circumstances.
The widow of the patient, at 96 Sheriff-street, died last spring, with
fever of a low form in the same miserable house. Subsequently at this
house a quantity of water was found under the flooring. Lodgers were
taken in there, and on one occasion, I found the owner, a colored
woman, intoxicated.
Since her death, between one and two months ago, I attended a man
of similar habits with the two cases above described, in an upper room
of the same house with the two last, small, dirty, and badly ventilated.
This also was a case of Pneumonia Typhoides, and ended in death.
I have had other cases in these premises at different times, and some
of them have been attended, (indeed I may say most,) with symptoms
indicating a low state of the vital forces, and they have been generally
slow in convalescing.
All these cases occurred in colored persons. The building in which
they were is only occupied by persons of this class ; and most of them
3
18 SAN1TAR1T CONDITION OF THE
appear to be intemperate, and of the very lowest grade — " the ofTscour-
ing of all things."
On the premises, and in the vicinity, are a number of vile grog-shops,
at which these poor creatures obtain the means of their physical suffer-
ings, and intellectual, moral, and religious degradation, and too often, it is
to be feared, their final and lasting ruin.
I rejoice however in stating, that within a few months a visible im-
provement has taken place in these abodes of misery, and in some of
their occupants. This has been effected mainly by the Health Warden
and Street Inspecter of the ward (eleventh.) One of the grogeries
through their interference has been shut up, some of the worst of the
rooms closed, and the inmates sent to Blackwell's Island.
In the course of my practice, I have had many forms of disease ap-
parently caused and kept up by residence in low, dark, damp, and
insufficiently ventilated apartments. Yet I would not exclude the in-
fluence of other sources of the " ills which flesh is heir to," particu-
larly of deficient or improper nourishment and bad nursing ; and fre-
quently no nursing at all, especially among Dispensary patients.
The condition of the dwellings of many of the poor of our city, is a
subject much needing the careful attention of the philanthropist, if not
of our municipal authorities, who, it appears to me, ought to have a
more watchful supervision of the tenements of this portion of our popu-
lation. Respectfully thy Friend,
Stephen Wood.
From B. W. McC ready, M. D. late Physician to tlie City Dispensary, and City Prison.
Wednesday, September 3d, 1S44.
My dear Sir — If I apprehend aright the purport of your queries, you
wish to know of me whether I have met with any cases of infectious
diseases occurring among the poor, which might have been prevented
by proper sanitary regulations. In the summer of '42, a number of
cases of Typhus fever, of a very severe type, occurred in a building in
the rear of No. 49 Elizabeth street, under circumstances which left
no doubt as to its local origin. The front building, a small two story
frame house, was partly occupied by the proprietor, or lessee, of the
building, as a liquor store, and partly sub-let to several Irish families.
A covered alley-way led to the rear building. This was a double frame
house, three stories in height. It stood in the centre of the yard. Ranged
next the fence, where a number of pig styes and stables, which sur-
rounded the yard on three sides. From the quantity of filth, liquid
and otherwise, thus caused, the ground, I suppose, had been rendered
almost impassable, and to remedy this, the yard had been completely
boarded over, so that the earth could nowhere be seen. These boards
were partially decayed, and by a little pressure, even in dry weather, a
thick greenish fluid could be forced up through their crevices. The
central building was inhabited wholly by negroes. In this building
there occurred, in the course of six weeks, nine cases of Typhus fever.
The two first taken, resided on the ground floor, and both died. The
t
LABORING POPULATION OF NEW YORK. 19
others residing on the second and third floors, finally recovered. Two
other cases at least, occurred among those who were temporarily in the
house as nurses, or visitors, but as they were all at their own houses,
these patients did not come under my own observation. The disease
would undoubtedly have spread farther, but the inhabitants took the
alarm, and the house for a time was deserted. At my solicitation the
Alderman of the ward visited the building, the number of pigs about the
establishment was reduced to that allowed by law, and chloride of lime,
white-washing, &c, liberally, and assiduously employed.
I had three cases of Typhus in a back cellar, in the rear, I think, of
16 Marion Street, though it may have been 12 or 14. The cellar was
ten or twelve feet under ground, the first floor of the house being a lit-
tle elevated above the level of the yard, and dimly lighted (not venti-
lated) by one small window. It either had no communication what-
ever with the front cellar, or the communication was completely
blocked up. A child was in the first place seized by the disease, then
its mother, then a lodger who lived with them. They all recovered,
but how, it would be hard to tell. No one appeared to come near
them, save the visitor from the almshouse, and myself.
That Typhus fever, generated in the first place under particular cir-
cumstances, may become highly contagious, is now, I believe, the
general opinion of the best informed of the profession. A very strik-
ing illustration of this occurred in my practice. A young Irish woman
who had come to this country with her husband and child, was
taken with Typhus at the house of her father, just after she had been
landed from an emigrant ship. The family, at that time, resided in
Madison Street. She had a very severe attack, and came near dying.
Next, her father, who had been many years in this country, was seized.
Then the child. The family now removed from Madison Street to
Elizabeth Street. The greatest care was taken to preserve proper
ventilation, cleanliness, &c. In despite of this, the disease sucessively
attacked two younger brothers, the mother, two grown sisters, and an
elder brother. I was in attendance in the family from Christmas, at
which time I found the young woman who was first attacked, almost
in articulo mortis, till May, when the disease, after having successively
visited every member of the family, finally disappeared.
Yours, sincerely,
B. W. McCready.
* Among the diseases most frequently resulting from an imperfection
in the means of life, is scrofula, in its Protean forms. Dr. Watson, of
London, the latest authority in the Practice of Medicine, in speaking of
the general causes of this disease, enumerates as the most prominent,
" Insufficient nutriment, exposure to wet and cold, impurity of atmos-
phere, want of natural exercise, and mental disquietude. To estimate
the separate effect of each of these causes, may be difficult, but their
combined influence is unquestionable." After a considerable expe-
rience in Dispensary and Hospital practice, I hesitate not to declare,
and believe 1 shall be supported in the opinion by my colleagues in
If
20 SANITARY CONDITION OF THE
the institutions with which I have heen and am now connected, that
this disease is the great scourge of the pauper population. It exhibits
itself in the skin, in the eyes, the viscera of the abdomen and of the
chest, in the muscles, and in the bones ; in fact, every organ of the body,
which is dependent for its healthy condition upon a sound state of the
blood, (and there is no exception,) may and does give evidence, differ-
ing in each case, of the influence of this degeneration, and the great
prevalence of its producing causes.
The question will very naturally arise in the reader's mind, whether
much of the ills to which the poor are heir, is not produced by the ne-
cessarily restricted quantity, and impure quality, of their food. . To this
I reply, that food in the varied imperfections of quality and amount, un-
questionably constitutes one of the most frequent and powerful of the
causes of human diseases generally. It is under some of the circum-
stances of animal organization, no less important to the maintenance of
life and sound health, than air, with, however, this great and essential
difference, viz. that an individual may exist several days without any
additional food, but not three minutes without air. Further, if he is
deprived of but one of the ingredients of the atmosphere, oxygen, in-
stant death is the consequence.
I believe, however, it will be found, in a vast majority of cases,
where food is properly accounted a cause of illness, this is produced by
too great a quantity being eaten, or by an alteration of its properties bj'
the refinements of cookery, and the addition of stimulating condiments.
Plethora, and its long train of ills, are the results of over feeding, and
over stimulation, but these are not the diseases of the poor. Among
them we rather find, Cachexia,* Scrofula, and all the consequences of
debility and vitiation, which are far more attributable to an imperfec-
tion and paucity in the necessaries of life, more especiall} 7 of air, cloth-
ing, and cleanliness. Dyspepsia, almost wholly the effect of improper
dieting, is scarcely ever found in Dispensary practice, while no disease
is more common with the wealthier classes. All the ills for which the
poor seek advice, whether peculiar to them or not, are aggravated, and
altered in character, not by the food they eat, so much as by the air
they breathe, and their other depraved physical circumstances of life.
The sin of intemperance in eating cannot be laid at the doors of the
cellars, and the entrances of the alleys and courts, while that of intem-
perance in drinking, though a dreadful addition to the horrors of his
already too degraded physical and moral condition, is, with the ignorant
and poverty-stricken troglodyte, a venial fault, in comparison with
the pampered luxuriousness and equally injurious and intemperate,
though more refined indulgences of his wealthier and more respon-
sible neighbor. //
I conclude this part of my subject, by calling attention to a few
facts, illustrating the relative duration of life, of different classes of
population; premising that, in consequence of the imperfection of our
means in obtaining the statistics of vitality and mortality of our own
* A bad habit of body, known by a depraved or vitiated state of the solids and fluids.
LABORING POPULATION OF NEW YORK. 21
population, it will be necessary to go abroad for some of tbe facts which
bear upon this important inquiry.
It is ascertained that in civilized communities, one-fourth part of all
the human race who are born, die before attaining their first year;
more than one-third before arriving at five years of age, and before the
age of twenty, one half the human race, it is supposed, cease to exist.
On referring to the last two annual reports of the mortality of this
city, I observe that of the persons who have died, about the same pro-
portion as is above stated, of all who are born, that is, about one-
fourth died in the first year, about one-third before five years, but more
than one half before twenty years of age.
No facts could speak in louder tones of the injurious operations of
the circumstances of civilized life. That one-half should die before
arriving fairly upon the broad platform of strength, usefulness, and hope
in the world, is the significant finger pointing with unerring certainty
to the sins of ignorance, and abuse of the bountiful and unfailing means
of life and comfort lavished upon us by Providence, which lie at our
doors. Can this ignorance of the laws of health be excused, or can
this abuse of Heaven's bounties be defended ? There can be no justifi-
cation for either in the eye of the Creator and Giver of all things.
The savages who live in the caves of the earth, because they have nei-
ther the knowledge, nor means, to build houses, are pardonable; yet their
natural instincts teach them the uses and necessity of fresh air and exer-
cise. Yet we, who claim to be intelligent and civilized, who are taught
the minutest particulars of nature's laws, suffer our numbers and strength,
the bones, and sinews, and hearts of our people, to waste and die away
in narrow and gloomy caverns of our own construction, with a rapidity
surpassing that of the combined torrents of pestilence and war. Our
sin is the greater that we permit these things in the midst of the light
of science, and under the inspiring dictates of a religion, whose most
prominent features are charity and love.
In the celebrated report of the Sanitary Condition of the Laboring
Population of Great Britain, Mr. Chadwick gives the following, among
other instances, of the comparative chances of life, in different classes
of the community.
Truro.
No. of Deaths. Aver, age of Dec'd.
33 Professional persons, or gentry and their families, 40 years.
L38 Persons engaged in trade, or similarly circumstanced, and
their families, 33 "
117 Laborers, Artisans, and their families, 28 "
Bolton Union (manufacturing district.)
103 Gentlemen, professional persons, and tfieir families, 34 "
381 Tradesmen, and their families, 23 "
2232 Mechanics, servants, laborers, and their families, IS "
Bethnal Green (manufacturing, chiefly domestic.)
L01 < lentlemen, and persons engaged in Professions, and
their families, I") "
273 Tradesmen and their families, 20 "
1258 Mechanics, servants, laborers, and their families, 16 "
22 SANITARY CONDITION OF THE
In Liverpool, a commercial, and not a manufacturing town, where,
according to the report of Dr. Duncan, 40,000 people live in cellars,
and where one in twenty-five of the population are annually attacked
with fever, the mean chances of life appear to be still lower, than in
Manchester, Leeds, or among the silk weavers of Bethnal Green. In
size and character Liverpool is somewhat allied to New Yoak, hence
its.vital statistics are more particularly interesting to us. as more likely
to approach ours in similarity.
Liverpool, 1840.
No. of Deaths. Aver, age of Dec'd.
137 Gentry, Professional persons, &c. 35 years.
1738 Tradesmen, and their families, 22 "
5597 Laborers, Mechanics, Servants, &c. 15
The following shows the difference in the average duration of life,
between the inhabitants of a manufacturing and of an agricultural place,
and it will be observed that the laborers of the latter, attain to an age
equal to the professional people, and gentry, of the former.
Average age of Death
in Manchester, in Rutlandshire.
Profession^ persons, and gentry and their families, 3S years. 52 years.
Tradesmen and their families, (Farmers and Graziers
induced with Shopkeepers, in Rutlandshire,) 20 " 41 "
Mechanics, laborers and their families, 17 " 38 "
This comparison exhibits very clearly the advantages of a pure atmo-
sphere, out-door occupation, domiciliary cleanliness, and above ground
residence, Rutlandshire being distinguished for all these, and as a conse-
quence, for a more orderly, steady, and respectable population.
The influence of degraded associations, of habitual neglect of cleanli-
ness, acd prostration of health by impure living, upon the moral habits
of the people, and as impediments to their social and political improve-
ment, is a question with which I propose now to occupy the reader's
attention, for a brief space, in the hope, that if it can be shown that
these are probable causes of misery and crime, there will be found herein
an additional reason for the action of the City government upon the
measures, I, or others may suggest, for the melioration of the condition
of those classes of the community more exposed to their influences.
Let any one ask himself the question, whether his own self-respect,
his carefulness to avoid improprieties of conduct, and to maintain clean-
liness of house and person, are not greatly enhanced by the examples of
those around him. I believe it will not be disputed that the practices of
those with whom we associate, by choice or compulsion, possess a decid-
ed influence over not only our own acts and habits, but over our thoughts
and even our judgments. Circumstances govern our lives, and precepts
for good are feeble, unless accompanied by the strong arm of example.
" Example is better than precept," was the lesson taught us daily in
our school exercises in penmanship. All society regulates the conduct
of its members, and its phases of character are marked by their deport-
LABORING POPULATION OF NEW YORK.
23
ment and opinions. The " outcasts of society" constituting a very
numerous tribe, form societies of their own, and stamp, in a degree, the
character of the community of which they are a part. We have, as
have all large cities, numbers of them with us, but they should be re-
garded, not as such by choice, so much as by compulsion — as the crea-
tures of circumstances beyond their control.
The tide of emigration which now sets so strongly towards our shores,
cannot be turned back. We must receive the poor, the ignorant, and
the oppressed from other lands, and it would be better to consider them
as coming filled with the energy of hope for happier days, and more
useful labors, than they found at home. No one, I presume, seriously
believes they come with bad intentions, and then whose fault is it that
they live here in cellars more filthy than the cabins of Avhose wretch-
edness we hear so much, and for whose existence, half the blame is
thrown upon the government they have left.
Let us first cast the beam from our own eye. We are parties to their
degradation, inasmuch as we permit the inhabitation of places, from which
it is not possible improvement in condition or habits can come. We suffer
the sub-landlord to stow them, like cattle, in pens, and to compel them
to swallow poison with every breath. They are allowed, may it
not be said required, to live in dirt, when the reverse, rather, should be
enforced.
This depressed physical condition, and bad moral and social habits
and propensities, to my mind, have an intimate relation to each other —
they stand clearly in the attitudes of cause and effect. For instance,
how often do we find poverty to be the instigator of theft, and immoral
indulgences the results of certain circumstances in life.
Men's passions are kept in check by the restrictions of the society
in which they live. Remove those checks — take from the individuals
the moral atmosphere in which they move, and their evil passions
will rise.
In a family composed of several persons of both sexes, in circum-
stances admitting of their living in separate apartments, the restraints
of the circle of which they are a part, compel an observance of the
separation of: the sexes, and other social proprieties. They grow up
habituated to correct deportment and moral restraints, which accompany
them into all their relations of life. But confine that same family to
one room, compel them to perform all their personal and domestic duties
in view of each other, to sleep, dress, and undress in each other's pre-
sence, and can it be doubted that the nice moral distinctions so neces-
sary to a life of virtue, will be gradually subdued, or overthrown, the
heart be hardened against the teachings of the moralist, and the wave
of lustful passion become of increased power ? Yet this is the condi-
tion of hundreds of families, who would gladly escape the Maelstrom
of morals which threatens to engulf them. And this is undoubtedly
a principal source of the dreadful amount of licentiousness infesting
this city.
As breathing an impure atmosphere will produce a depressed tone of
bodily feeling and positive physical disease, so will a vitiated moral at-
24 SANITARY CONDITION OF THE
mosphere, induce a relaxed state of moral feeling, and positively licen-
tious habits.
Whence issue, in times of riot and tumult, the disturbers of the
peace, but from the cellars and alleys, where they have never been
taught to respect themselves, much less others.
If a family of good disposition be reduced by force of circumstances
to occupy the same premises with numbers of others of a different char-
acter, it will be next to impossible to maintain their former tone of
morals, or domiciliary cleanliness and order, and they must soon lapse
into the same habits and feelings as their neighbors, adding thus their
numbers to those who before swelled the list of the profane and evil
disposed.
I have remarked upon the influence of the impure atmosphere, the
damp and crowded apartments, and other circumstances, upon the health
of the poorer residents of New York : — the following extract from an
able writer* must commend itself, in this connection, to the judgment
of every right thinking man.
" Although it is most true that the calamity of sickness, or even of
death itself, is nothing compared with crime, yet it is also true, that
sickness induces poverty, which is one of the tempters to crime, and
that a deranged condition of the physical system, often urges to vicious
and destructive indulgences by the unnatural appetites which it creates,
and thus ill health becomes the parent of guilt as well as of bodily
pains. It exercises a powerful influence over feelings, temper, and dis-
position, aud through these upon moral character."
It follows, therefore, that a correction of the physical, will tend to
abate the moral, evils of the community.
It is well known there has existed in this city for a series of years,
an organization denominated the City Tract Society, which supports a
number of Tract Missionaries, whose time is devoted to visiting the
abodes of the humble and destitute, wherever the way may open, and
carrying to them the words of moral and religious instruction — endeav-
oring to instil into their minds ideas of self-respect, and self-dependence,
preaching to them temperance and virtue, enticing children to the Sab-
bath and public schools, relieving with what means they may possess,
the physical necessities of the poor, and performing all other deeds
which a mind actuated by benevolence and Christian love may do.
Many of these gentlemen have been a long time engaged in this work,
and probably no body of men possesses more thorough knowledge of
the localities of this city, of the condition of its inhabitants, of the in-
fluence of circumstances upon the tone of morals in all classes, drawn
from actual observation, or of the alterations and additions required in
the police and sanitary codes, for the improvement of the city at large,
and in its various particulars.
To these gentlemen I have applied for their opinions, and such illus-
trations, bearing upon this topic, as their prolonged and valuable expe-
rience may be supposed to have furnished them. I addressed to them
* Hon. Horace Mann.
LABORING POPULATION OF NEW YORK.
25
the following queries — the subjoined responses, selected from among a
number, must carry conviction to the minds of all who read them, that
an effort is demanded of government, benevolence and wealth, to re-
move the impediments now lying in the way of the physical and moral
improvement of the destitute classes of this city.
Queries addressed to the Tract Missionaries.
1st. To what extent does the congregation of different sexes, and 1
various ages of the same family of the poor, in one apartment, influence
their morals, and do they, or do they not, seem to place a lower estimate
on moral character, (though free from actual vice,) than others, a grade
above them in physical condition ? In other words, have you observed
an appreciation of morals and character, graduated according to the
circumstances and condition of life ?
2d. Have you found physical distress to present a bar to your
moral and religious instructions, and do you think relief from their
bodily ailments would enable you to be of greater service to the poor
in your calling ?
3d. Have you observed that personal and domiciliary negligence and
filthiness tend to depress still more the moral sensibility, and make the
poor more reckless of character — and do you believe, that domiciliary
and personal cleanliness, though combined with an equal degree of
poverty, give to the individual or family, more self-respect, more
aptitude to receive instruction, and more happiness ?
4th. If constrained by law to keep themselves, their furniture, clothing
and dwellings, more clean, by frequent use of water and lime, do you
think there would be a greater inclination to improve their associations,
and obtain a better state of moral and social feeling ?
5th. In your opinion would regular domiciliary visits by an officer of
health, empowered to enforce a law to promote the cleanliness of house
and persons, have any influence in raising the tone of feeling among the
poor, as well as relieving sickness and prolonging life ?
6th. Are there not many who would be pleased to be aided and in-
structed in the best mode of improving the condition of their dwellings,
and be glad to receive the visits of such an officer ?
7th. Can you relate any instances bearing on the subject, or applicable
as illustrations to either of the queries ?
From Rev. George Hatt, Missionary of 1st and 2d Wards.
Answer 1st. It is impossible to state to what extent a bad influence
is produced by the congregation of different sexes in one apartment, but
that it tends to debase the mind, and more especially in the female, pre-
vents the development of that sensitive modesty which is her greatest
charm, and her surest protection, I think no one can doubt. Still in
my opinion, it is unfair and incorrect to measure appreciation of charac-
ter by outward circumstances, or condition of life. The many offices
to which the one apartment must be converted, produces a want of neat-
ness, and personal cleanliness. A single fact will show some of the
4
26 SANITARY CONDITION OF THE
evils of the one room system. As a Tract visiter knocked at the door
of a room, he was invited in ; he opened the door and entered, when,
to his astonishment, he found a man entirely naked, sitting with his wife
and children ; the former was washing the shirt which the man had
taken off. This was on a Sabbath day.
Answer 2d. Physical distress often prevents the poor, or indeed any
class, from being benefited by religious instruction. But on the other
hand, it often softens and prepares the mind for its more ready reception ;
I believe the possession of the ability, judiciously to relieve the pressing
wants of the pooi, and to alleviate their bodily ailments, would be of
great service in the attempt to elevate their moral and social condition.
Answer 3d. I should presume that recklessness of character generally
precedes negligence and filthiness — for instance, I have known a man
who had a happy home to become a drunkard ; this vice soon reduced
him from an industrious, cleanly man, to a reckless, loathsome being.
His wife, too, having become discouraged, falls into the snare. Now the
once happy home is a scene of filth and confusion. Go to work with
that family, become instrumental in restoring them to sobriety and in-
dustry, and the change will be as apparent in the second instance as it
was in the first.
As it respects the latter part of this question, I would add, that much,
very much, depends upon the manner in which individuals are brought
up. Some families will with six dollars per week, appear more respecta-
ble, and possess more self-respect than others with ten dollars, with an
equal number in the family. The difficulty in most cases is in the
training. Hence the importance of educating the young.
Answer 4th. In my opinion constraint by law ought to be on the
landlord. No landlord ought to be allowed to let a place which is
known to be unhealthy under a heavy penalty. There are thousands
in this city who are pent up in cellars, with ground for the floor, into
which I would not put a hog, if I wanted him to thrive. Last winter
I visited a place in Washington-street, where in one such hole, thirteen
persons were staying, four adults, and nine children. At times the tide
came in ; it was always damp, and there was a woman sick with
Pleurisy.
Answer 5th. Then in reference to the fifth question, I would say, that
the health officer should be empowered to levy the fine upon landlords
who transgressed the law. The officer should be empowered also to
remove the family into some healthy abode, taking care that the fine be
enough to cover expenses, and that having done so, the unhealthy place
should be locked up, and the key kept by the officer, until a guarantee
be given, that, if possible, the place be rendered habitable.
Answer 6th. I would recommend that the corporation build, and en-
courage the building of houses suitable for the poor, so constructed that
each family may have at least two rooms ; do this, and many of those
evils which now exist will be done away, and the blessing of many who
are now ready to perish, will come upon them.
LABORING POPULATION OF NEW YORK.
27
From J. B. Horton, Missionary of the 1th Ward.
New York August 23d, 1844.
Dr. Griscom. — Dear Sir — Your questions in relation to the demo-
ralizing influences resulting from the unhappy physical condition of a
multitude of families in this city — both as it regards the numbers of all
ages and each sex, jammed into one apartment — that with some miserable
additions to its list of uses reminds us of the poor cobbler's stall in the
song, which " He us'd for kitchen, for parlor, for hall," — and the neg-
ligence of personal and domiciliary cleanliness ; with others concerning
the best means of obviating those evils, iequesting me to give such an-
swers to each and all, as my judgment and experience shall dictate,
with such illustration of facts, as my Missionary labors in this city for
ten years past may have furnished, are before me, and shall receive due
attention.
For I hail with joy any feasible project, or attempt, to meliorate the
natural or moral condition of man, and especially of that class of my
own fellow-citizens, who so far from reposing on beds of roses or down,
seem doomed to endless toil by day — and by night to lie down, perhaps
in a crowded, uncleanly, and unventilated apartment, where before their
slumbers are ended, the air has been so often inhaled, that it would need
but little farther diminution of its vital qualities, to become so foul as to
cause them " to sleep, to wake no more." And I rejoice, sir, that you
have undertaken the task of presenting to the authorities of this city
and the public, such views of the physical and moral condition of our
city, and the appropriate means of improving it in both respects, as will,
1 trust, not only do honor to your head and heart, but lead ultimately
to such sanitary regulations, as shall make this great emporium of the
commerce of the Western world, not only as renowned for natural and
moral purity, as for the amount of her wealth and the extent of her com-
mercial enterprise, but as the exuberant goodness of God in bestowing on
her naturally a pure air, and civilly and artificially the free use of the
Holy Bible and Croton water, has given her the means to be.
1 now proceed to answer the questions propounded. And first, you
inquire, " To what extent does the congregation of different sexes,
and various ages of the same family of the poor, in one apartment, influ-
ence their morals, and do they, or do they not, seem to place a lower
estimate on moral character, than others placed a grade above them in
physical condition ?" As it regards the extent of the evil influence on
morals, arising from such -herding together, of all ages and both sexes,
it is impossible for me to determine, but that it is of most pernicious
tendency, no one who has the slightest acquaintance with poor human
nature, can, for a moment, entertain a doubt. Under such circumstances,
it is impossible from the nature of things to prevent the instinctive mo-
desty of youth from receiving a mortal wound, by a constant familiarity
with scenes and sounds fit only for the greatest privacy — " For (truly)
nature's blush by custom is wiped off."
And thus one of the greatest barriers and defences of chastity, is in
the very morning of life overturned and destroyed ; that jewel of such ines-
timable value, that the means of its preservation is worthy of the most pro-
28 SANITARY CONDITION OF THE
found consideration of the statesman and philanthropist. That the
physical condition of an individual or a family, has a powerful and import-
ant bearing on the moral character, for weal or woe, needs no labor to
prove ; although neither of us has any idea of embracing Fourierism —
the main doctrine of which, I believe, is, that most of the ills of life, as
now experienced in the world, flow not from the moral obliquity of
human nature, but from the wrong, civil, and physical position of men.
" Poverty and riches are both severe temptations," the latter, however,
by far more dangerous, at least to the final and eternal interests of men.
For though abject poverty may lead to brutal degradation, placing fa-
milies even in Christian communities in circumstances as unfavorable
to chastity, and the common decencies of life, as the Sandwich Island-
ers were previous to the introduction of Christianity among them by
American Missionaries — when they slept in their one apartment, men,
women and children, with their hogs, " cheek by jowl !" Yet riches
foster appetites and passions still more hostile to virtue and religion ;
hence it was averred by the Maker and Savior of men, that " it is ea-
sier for a camel to go through a needle's eye than for a rich man to
enter the kingdom of God." Extremes meet — therefore I have made
some of the foregoing observations, to show that every gradation in
the circumstances of an individual or a family, from abject poverty to
" a happy mediocrity," defined exactly in Agur's prayer, " Neither
poverty nor riches," (which even the insensate infidel Tom Paine, had
not the moral hardihood to deny as replete with true wisdom,) will have
a good influence on their morals, but not beyond that point.
I have farther to say in relation to this question, that though I have
not the shadow of a doubt resting on my mind, as to the deteriorating
moral effect of a large family embracing both sexes and all ages, being
pent up in one apartment, where all things must be done in common,
yet I have no striking facts as an illustration in proof to give, but have
a distinct impression that where I have met with families so circum-
stanced, or among the abject poor, their moral sensibilities in some re-
spects were very obtuse, and in nothing that I recollect more often
manifested than the shameful nudities of children.
In regardt o your second question, " Have you found physical distress
to present a bar to your moral and religious instructions, and do you
think their relief from bodily ailments would enable you to be of
greater service to the poor in your calling ?" I answer, that I have of-
ten found persons and families, in such circumstances of distress, from
want of food and raiment, or by excruciating bodily pain, I thought
it would be preposterous and vain to say much to them on the subject
of religion, until their minds and bodies were somewhat relieved and
disenthraled from the absorbing power of want and pain by physical ap-
pliances. And always under such circumstances, 1 have gone to work
to procure food and clothing, or a physician and medicine"! to prepare
the way for moral and religious culture. And happy should 1 be if the
facility for ministering to the poor and suffering were many fold in-
creased, as it regards giving the worthy poor both food and physic ;
thereby increasing our prospect of being useful to them in religious
LABORING POPULATION OF NEW YORK. 29
matters. And I rejoice in the society recently organized in this city, by
a truly intelligent and philanthropic class of our wealthy citizens, for
" the improvement of the condition of the poor," who have already
prepared the way for the Tract Missionary to exert the happiest influ-
ence on hundreds of families.
As proof that physical distress and bodily ailments present a bar to
moral and religious culture, 1 have only to assure you, that the com-
mon answer given to Missionaries by persons in such circumstances,
when asked if they wish to seek religion, or avail themselves of the
means of grace by attending church, or of Sabbath and public school
instruction for their children, is this, " Oh, we are so poor — we have
such trouble to get our daily bread, so destitute of comfortable and de-
cent apparel, that we have no time to think about religion — cannot go
decently to church, nor send our children to Sabbath or public schools."
In answer to your third question, viz. " Have you observed that
personal and domiciliary negligence and filthiness tend to depress still
more the moral sensibilities, and make the poor still more reckless of
character ; and do you believe that domiciliary and personal cleanliness,
though combined with equal poverty, give the individual or family
more self-respect, more aptitude to receive instruction, and more hap-
piness ?" I reply, that I have observed those families and persons
who live habitually in squalid filth, negligent of personal and domicili-
ary cleanliness, like wicked men and seducers, wax morally Avorse and
worse. And were it proper, I should like to introduce you to two
such families, who are now prominently before my mind, for whom I
have long labored, but apparently in vain, as it regards their moral re-
formation, while on the other hand I could introduce you to those who,
though equally poor, yet careful about their persons and places, have
received instruction gladly, and as we trust with lasting profit — and
none can doubt for a moment that the latter class are by far more hap-
py ; though through a perverted taste, it may be possible for a savage
"to glory in the deepest jet."
Your fourth and fifth questions involve so nearly the same thing — a
mere requisition of my opinion, " Whether the interference of municipal
authority — constraining by law, and law officers — the dirty and negli-
gent, to take better care of their persons, furniture, and apartments,
would subserve any valuable purpose, or raise a better tone of moral
and social feeling ?" — for brevity's sake, I shall consider and answer them
as one, by saying that I can see no good reason why a State and City
that have legislated so immensely, and sacrificed so much public and pri-
vate property to establish and execute Quarantine Laws, (many of them
of more than doubtful utility,) to prevent the importation of Yellow
Fever, Cholera, and the Plague, into our populous city, should by any
means judge it absurd or unnecessary, to enact a few laws, and appoint
a few officers to inspect certain persons and places within the city,
(with power to remove) where and by whom all those infectious and
contagious maladies may be manufactured, and of such a quality, too, as
to be perhaps more dangerous than those of foreign growth.
In regard to your 6th question, " Whether there are not many families
30 SANITARY CONDITION OF THE
that would like to be aided and instructed in the best mode of improving
the condition of their dwellings, and would be glad to receive the visits
of such an officer ?" I answer, that the feeling with which such
an officer would be received, must materially depend on the ability
and tact with which he would discharge a duty so delicate — for deli-
cate indeed it must be to interfere with the private concerns of
any individual, however poor he may be — that claims to be one of
the independent citizens of the United States — one of the sovereign
people ! However, I do not believe, though the task should be arduous,
but that some such regulations might be introduced into our city, with
the happiest results. Yet I should perfectly despair of the success of
any such sanitary measures if adopted, should those who have the
power of appointing the necessary officers, manifest the same reckless
indifference to their talents and attainments in medical skill and science,
as we have sometimes heretofore had the misfortune to see manifested
in the appointment of health officers.
I have now gone through with your questions, dear sir, and answered
them according to my best ability, and the limited time allotted me ; but
not perhaps in a way that will be satisfactory to yourself, or available
for the public good. You will, however, I have no doubt, in your kind-
ness, take " the will (in this instance) to serve," for the deed.
But before I close this already long communication, I beg leave to
suggest to you one thing to be brought forward in some part of your
work, viz. to show the far greater propriety and necessity of having an
Inspector General, with plenty of sub-officers, who shall determine
where, and what kind, of a house shall be built for a human being, or a
family to inhabit ; and how much room — and how many rooms, shall be
rented to families consisting of so many persons, and such sexes, than
an inspector general and his posse, to examine dead beef and pork, flour,
tobacco, &c, that nobody is forced to buy or use if bad, while the
poor are literally forced by poverty and griping landlords, to live in dens
and holes, where immorality and death are speedily engendered. Yet
still farther and above all, do, my dear sir, bring out most prominently
the absolute futility of any sanitary measures, for the health, or morals
of this city as a whole, until that curse of all curses most direful, that
most prolific source of poverty, crime, disease, and death, " Intoxica-
ting drink," be considered and treated legislatively and judiciously as
a most dangerous, deleterious, and deadly poison, and those who make
and sell the same as a beverage for gain, as unworthy, not only of the
name of Christian but of man, and should henceforth be ranked with
fiends — and those who drink it as such — as maniacs, and fools, and
treated accordingly. With much respect, yours,
J. B. Horton.
From Samuel Russell, Jr., Missionary of the 8th Ward.
New York, Aug. 26th, 1814.
Dr. Griscom — Dear Sir — Whether the sentiment of the great
Teacher, " The poor ye have always," is the mere record of an impor-
tant fact or a. prediction, I shall not stop to inquire ; one thing, however,
LABORING POPULATION OF NEW YORK. 31
is certain, it ever has been, and is now, a sentiment of truth ; and a true
disciple of that teacher, will rejoice in any efforts of others, and con-
tribute his own, for the well-being of that large class of the commu-
nity.
Having been engaged for several years in labors for the benefit of the
poor, the following opinions have been formed, and are submitted in reply
to your series of questions ; hoping that they may, in some humble
measure, subserve the best interests of that class whose servant 1 am,
and hope to be, during the remainder of my life.
1st. The instances are many, in which one or more families, of from
three to seven or more members, of all ages, and both sexes, are con-
gregated in a single, and often contracted apartment. Here they eat,
drink, sleep, wash, dress and undress, without the possibility of that
privacy which an innate modesty imperatively demands ; in sickness
or health it is the same. What is the consequence ? The sense of
shame, that greatest, surest safeguard to virtue, except the grace of God,
is gradually blunted, ruined, and finally destroyed. Now scenes are
witnessed and participated in, with a countenance of brass, the very
thouyht of which, once would have filled the sensitive heart of modesty
with pain, and covered its cheek with burning blushes. The mind
of one thus brought in daily and nightly contact with such scenes,
must become greatly debased, and its fall before the assaults of vice
rendered almost certain.
In reply to the latter part of the question, allow me to say that neither
extreme of society is favourable to the highest appreciation of morality.
The rich man who delights in sinful indulgence, and retains his position
in society by his gold, places really no higher estimate upon virtue for
its own sake, than the veriest wretch, who in the eye of day, wallows
in the very mire of moral pollution. From such a one, to him who
retains his place among his fellows by his virtues, there is, doubtless, a
regular gradation in the appreciation of morals and character.
2d. Physical distress often introduces me to the acquaintance of fa-
milies, when if they were in other circumstances, access to them might
not be obtained ; yet before any moral or spiritual instruction will be
regarded, the wants and ailments of body must first be cared for.
Before the formation of the " Society for the improvement of the
condition of the poor," my usefulness was greatly curtailed from the
impossibility of ministering to the physical wants of the poor ; now it is
otherwise, thanks to the noble men comprising that society.
3d. This question, I answer unhesitatingly, in the affirmative.
4th. The law of kindness in the heart, and the words of sympathy
upon the lips, afford the surest avenue to the confidence of the poor,
and will succeed when legal coercion will utterly fail. Use the former
when you can, the latter when you must.
5th. The success or failure of such visitation would depend very
much, if not entirely, upon the character of the officer, and his man-
ner of performing such visitation. If possessed of a kind and affable
manner, and if a desire for the comfort and permanent good of the poor
were discernible in all his deportment, he would hardly be regarded as
32 SANITARY CONDITION OF THE
an officer of law, but as a friend to be confided in, and his instructions
appreciated and followed — if otherwise, he would be looked upon with
mistrust, and probably resisted.
6th. This question I answer in the affirmative, provided the officer
possess the qualifications named in the reply to the fifth query; and
also provided the expense be borne by the landlord, or the public — ■
otherwise, in the negative.
7th. A multiplicity of cases bearing on this whole subject have led
me to the conclusion to which I have come, and expressed above ; but
no particular one now occurs to my mind, of sufficient interest, to war-
rant being repeated here.
The published reports of the " City Tract Society," in numerous
instances, show what means have resulted in the elevation of the poor,
and to those documents I would beg leave respectfully to refer you.
Yours, &c Samuel Russell, Jr.
Missionary, 8th Ward.
From Jno. H. Bulcn, Missionary of the 13th Ward.
New York, August 20th, 1844.
Dear Sir — The subject of your recent note, making certain inqui-
ries, is one of no ordinary interest to any one who is endeavoring, in a
sphere however circumscribed, or by means however humble, to be in-
strumental in elevating the moral condition of man.
The intimate relation of the moral to the physical condition, may
not be so easily and precisely denned, as practically understood ; and per-
haps your end will be as fully attained by eliciting the results of expe-
rience, as by any fine wrought, philosophical disquisition of that rela-
tion. I am truly glad you have taken the subject in hand. I have
long wished that some one, able to make his voice heard by the com-
munity, would speak out in language to be understood. Should you
succeed in awakening an interest in the community, which shall result
in the domiciliary renovation at which you aim, you will need no re-
ward but the rich consciousness of having rendered valuable aid to the
philanthropic enterprises of the day.
Nearly ten years' constant intercourse with the poor of this city, has
fully convinced me that no greater obstacle is presented to their moral
elevation, than that want of self-respect, and recklessness of character,
induced by associations almost impossible to avoid, under existing ar-
rangements, when very much reduced in pecuniary circumstances.
Suppose a respectable mechanic or merchant reduced by unavoidable
misfortune to penury. He must leave his comfortable home. Accus-
tomed to fulfil his promises, the least possible promise for rent will,
in his opinion, be the best arrangement for the present; and, however
the hearts of those accustomed to domiciliary cleanliness and comfort,
may sicken as they enter where twenty or more families are domiciled
on the same lot, with passage and yard conveniences common to all,
yet they will make a virtue of necessity — it is a shelter — its walls en-
circle all now dear to their hearts— and most prized of all, perhaps,
because it hides them from their acquaintances of more prosperous
LABORING POPULATION OF NEW YORK. 33
days. They, of course, purify their narrow home, and, as far as may
be, make it comfortable. When weary nature must have rest, their
one room, which has served both as kitchen and parlor, must also be
their place of retirement.
What modesty would recently have shrunk from, must now be sub-
mitted to, and once submitted to, is ever after less and less painful.
Then commences a deterioration of moral perception. It is impossible
for one, of so many families, to keep the places common to all, clean
and orderly ; and what is habitually witnessed in the halls and the
apartments of neighbors, will soon be permitted, for the present, in
their own, especially as none accustomed to other appearances will pro-
bably be their visitors.
This downward course is so rapid, and the result so certain, that few
will fail to discern the cause. Yet as the influence of this physical and
mental condition upon the moral susceptibilities, may not be so appa-
rent, there may be a necessity for saying, in answer to your first in-
quiry — that I have observed a depreciation of susceptibility of moral
and religious teachings, towards either extreme of society ; but as the
poor are more accessible, my opportunities have been almost exclu-
sively confined to that extreme. With this explanation, I answer, un-
hesitatingly, that I have observed, with, perhaps, no more than the
usual exceptions to a general rule, a graduation of appreciation of mo-
rals and character, according to physical condition. And in answer to
your second, that I have often found an obtuseness of perception induced
by physical condition, an insuperable bar to moral and religious instruc-
tion. And to your third — that I have no doubt that domiciliary and
personal cleanliness would increase self-respect, and an aptitude to
receive moral and religious instruction, while their negligence would
diminish them.
To your fourth and fifth inquiries, I may be allowed to answer, that
compulsory measures in relation to domiciliary arrangements are ordi-
narily, peculiarly unwelcome, especially to the poor, who are usually
jealous over what they conceive to be their now too circumscribed
rights. And yet so little of the responsibility of the accumulated im-
purities of their crowded habitations rests on a single family, that I
think I may say in answer to your sixth inquiry, that the majority of
them would be glad to receive official aid and instruction. There are,
probably, but very few who do not think they would be glad to live
more cleanly, if their neighbors would render it possible by doing so
too. Any improvement, although constrained, would undoubtedly in-
crease their relf-respect, and, of course, their happiness, and facilitate
the efforts of those who are endeavoring to advance their spiritual
interests.
Most of the cases of which I have kept any record, would rather
illustrate the influence of improved morals on physical condition. And
yet there is no doubt of their reciprocal influence. Not unfrequently,
the commencement of the elevating process is the relief of some physi-
cal distress, such as feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, or healing
the sick, by the use of such means as the benevolent supply ; always-
5
34 SANITARY CONDITION OF THE
endeavoring to keep before the mind those great truths on which we
rely, through the efficient agency of the Spirit, for moral renovation.
As an illustration of the depreciating process alluded to in your first
inquiry, I recollect a case in point, although not recorded. An intimate
friend of mine was acquainted with a young lady, about thirty years
ago, then moving in good society, with moral susceptibilities, and a re-
fined, discriminating sense of propriety, somewhat above mediocrity.
At about the age of twenty-two, she married, as was thought, respec-
tably. A few years proved that the husband's morals and habits were
not such as to secure respect or independence ; and they gradually
sunk, and my friend lost sight of them.
About six years since, a child was brought by a Tract visitor, from a
filthy cellar, and put into the Sabbath school class of my friend, who,
upon learning the name of the child, visited the mother, and found her to
be the same person known years ago as a young lady of refinement.
She had now lost all ambition ; her husband was a worthless inebriate ;
her children, with countenances of promise, were, like their mother,
completely at home in their most miserable apartment, rendered ex-
ceedingly so by neglect. Her moral susceptibilities were as entirely
changed as her physical condition. Religious truth seemed to make no
impression upon her mind — her heart seemed callous. Speak of her
early life, and the fountain of feeling seemed to break up, and the tears
would flow. A deep impression rests upon my mind, that lost as she
was, if she could have been placed in circumstances of comfort and
cleanliness approximating to those of her youth, the probabilities would
have been in favor of her moral renovation. As this was beyond my
reach, attention was turned to more hopeful cases, alas ! in too many
instances to meet the same disappointment from the same cause, and
she was again lost sight of. Truly, yours,
J. H. BuLEN.
From Rev. Isaac Orchard, Missionary of the 15th Ward.
Bedford Street, August 20th, 1844.
Dr. Griscom, — Dear Sir — In relation to the questions you have
proposed, I would group together the 1st, 2d, and 3d, as relating to a
prevalent evil, and the 4th, 5th, and 6th, as relating to a proposed
remedy ; and this I do the more readily, because the points suggested
under the former class, appear to me to be almost self-evident, and the
remarks I may make upon the latter class, may be more conveniently
made upon the three questions collectively, than singly.
1st, 2d, and 3d. The extent, concerning which the first question in-
quires, is, I fear, very great, and frequently leads to actual evil. To the
points suggested in these questions, I would give an affirmative answer,
regarding them all as general rules, liable to some exception. Thus a
person of coarse mind and manners may be found associating with the
refined and polite, or a refined and polite person with the ill-behaved
and uncouth ; but it is not there we would seek for them. Apply-
ing whatever experience I have obtained on this subject, I am induced
to regard it as a general law of our nature, that minds and manners
LABORING POPULATION OF NEW YORK. 35
should take an impress from those with which they associate ; and this
is painfnlly evident in many cases, where we observe those who have
fallen from opulence, fashion, and high standing, into poverty. Sup-
pose a lady, accustomed to luxury and elegant society, so reduced that
she has to earn her living by labor, and necessarily to mingle amongst
the poor. You may see traces of her former condition, yet they will
be but little more than traces. Compelled to bring her mind to her
circumstances, to associate with, and perhaps receive instruction from,
persons whom she once would have avoided, she must either be soli-
tary in her manners, or despised as seeking pre-eminence, or she must
come down to the standard of those around her, aud the last of these
will be, in most cases, preferred, although it will involve a great dimi-
nution of self-respect. When independent in fortune, that person felt
independent in mind, and abhorred any thing mean — but when reduced
to dependence upon another for bread, or even for labor, and seeing
that the most obsequious obtain the most smiles, then the cravings of
want will humble the high spirit, and self-interest will induce that per-
son to submit to the meanness of obsequiousness, although subjecting
herself, at the same time, to the most painful feelings and self-reproach.
It is evidently very difficult, almost impossible, for persons in general
to avoid the influence of physical condition upon mind. Thus it is
with those who have sunk from an elevated position, and it will be the
same with those who have sunk from an humble position to one still
lower. Perhaps the majority of charity seeking persons amongst us,
may be of this class ; they were never rich, but perhaps were quite
above want ; now they have sunk in circumstances from some cause,
and the associates with whom they mingle are of a lower grade than
in former days. This they do not know how to avoid, for these are
now their neighbors. To keep on good terms with them, they mingle
in their company, unite in their sentiments, and associate in their vices.
To some passer-by, it appears strange that in the block standing
south of the Catholic Cathedral, and other places contiguous, there are
so many oin-shops ; and they ask where are the customers to support
these shops ? They cannot be in the neighboring houses, for there also
customers are wanted — the bottles are exhibited in house after house,
and I have known two such shops in one house ; — whence came the
customers ? Now this is a question that the licensing power might
have asked before they granted their license to sell, and there would
have been nothing ultra in it, however ultra might have been the ques-
tion, whether or not such sale should be licensed at all ? But in the
multiplicity of cases, it is evident the good fathers of the city forgot to
ask the question. Is it possible that a Catholic Cathedral, like a thea-
tre, can be the attractor of a circle of gin-shops 1 No ! no ! to suppose
that these shops are sustained by the worshippers at St. Patrick's,
when going to, or returning from church, would be very unkind, and
perhaps very unjust ; for I have discovered that those houses contain,
to a considerable extent, their own customers. It is unquestionably
true, that when persons sink into poverty, they do not like to be
scowled upon— they feel it even more than in better days — yet people
36 SANITARY CONDITION OF THE
will scowl upon them ; their old friends and acquaintances will avoid
them, lest they should want something. Landlords will be more par-
ticular than ever as to their rent, and when they have got it, not be
respectful, and scarcely civil. Some benevolent person calls to iuquire
as to a poor family needing aid — the landlord says nothing that will
help them, and the room appears (in the estimation of some short-
sighted philanthropists) too good for a family receiving charity, and
besides there are several articles of decent furniture — the visitor is
dissatisfied, and leaves, but leaves no aid behind. The broken down
spirit is prostrated — hope is blasted — in a little while the few decent
articles are gone that food may be obtained, and the poor, dispirited
castaways seek a refuge where all, being poor, will sympathize with
each other, and where the landlord, even if he charge higher rent than
they gave before, will speak soothingly, and though he advise them
to drown their cares in whiskey, will be very faithful in giving them
an excellent character to all inquirers. Lodgings for such persons, on
such terms, may be found in the houses I have described. These
houses contain, I say, to a large extent, their own customers ; for they
are the pauper's rendezvous, and offer lodgings to beggars of every grade.
They seem to be always open for new comers, and in some way or
other they can accommodate them. There are various neighborhoods
of this kind in this city, and I have called your attention to the one
named, that I may give you an illustration of the remarks I have made.
In one of these houses, in a garret, with sloping roof and low ceiling,
one small, broken window, no bedstead, nor other bedding than a few
bundles of rags upon the floor, I have found three families of men,
women, and children : there they lived, and there they all slept. Now,
if a woman accustomed to humble life, or decent poverty, be con-
strained to remove to such a place, what must be the effect on her
mind, her morals, and her habits ? At first, she will recoil from un-
dressing in the presence of a strange man, but soon she will do it
without a blush. Is she a wife ? There are other wives and their
husbands in the room, without even a curtain to hide the most private
transactions. That which transpires cannot be unobserved, though
seeking the darkest recess, and soon it will be imitated without secrecy
and without scruple. Children, too, will see them, and think, and
imitate — and thus become depraved in their thoughts, desires, and
practices. Can any one doubt that there must be rapid declension in
morals, in both parents and children ? or that a bar is here opposed to
moral or religious instruction ? or that this state of things was conse-
quent on the circumstances and condition of life ? Beside this, persons
living thus, are almost necessarily drunkards, whether men or women.
Drunkenness, probably, reduced them to this state, but if it did not,
the landlord would hardly allow them to remain in the house, or their
fellow lodgers, in the room, unless they became such. If questioned
upon this subject, they are accustomed to reply that they do drink, but
not too much ; yet the question, what quantity is too much, is one
upon which their opinion and mine would not ao-ree. When the
visitors from the City Tract Society, with whom I am accustomed to
LABORING POPULATION OF NEW YORK. 37
act, succeed in awakening in the minds of such persons a sense of their
degradation, their first care is to cut them off from the society that
misery loves. If, then, they can be induced to break off' from their de-
based habits and associations, and to keep themselves and the clothes
they give them, clean — and especially, if they can be induced to work,
then some hope is entertained that they will listen with attention to
religious instruction ; but not till then.
4th, 5th, and 6th. As to the remedy proposed for these evils, I think
there can be no doubt that if the love of cleanliness could be instilled
into their minds by moral means, all the good you suggest would result
from it, and real good would result if cleanliness were secured by any
means ; but I think it very problematical whether this could be obtained
by coercion. Unless the will assents, there must be constant evasion,
and but little will be accomplished. There is that in the nature of
man which will induce him to respect advice, if it be given with evi-
dent kindness, respect, and disinterestedness, but to reject real benefits
if they be forced upon him against his will. The poorer classes often
imagine that they possess rights which they do not, and no persons are
more jealous of what they deem their rights than these persons are, or
more ready to resent and oppose any infringement of them. I hold it
to be a sound principle that no one has a right to do wrong ; but many
would dispute this, or if they admitted it, the question would arise,
what is wrong ? I regard it as wrong for any family, by neglect of
cleanliness, to surround itself with a fetid atmosphere ; but there are
multitudes of the poor, or rather that class of the poor particularly in-
terested, who imagine they have a right to do as they please in this
matter, and that it would be a wrong that should be resisted, if any
one interfered with this right. It seems therefore necessary, as a pre-
liminary measure, to correct the judgment, for it is not that which a
man ought to believe, but that which he does believe, that regulates his
conduct. If this be not done, will he not regard what you propose,
as a high-handed measure of the rich for the oppression of the poor?
And if the poor man's shanty be visited more frequently than the rich
man's mansion, will he not regard the law as partial and unjust, and
probably as unconstitutional ? And if this estimation of the law prevail,
can it be carried into effect 1 It requires something more than legisla-
tion to convince the judgment, and no legislation, though based upon the
soundest principles, will be generally respected, if it be opposed to popu-
lar error. I can imagine that there are many who would be glad to
receive the visits of a health officer, if he were gentle, kind, and un-
officious — if he had the confidence of the family, and if he caused all clean-
ing and improvement to be done without expense or inconvenience to
the tenant — but not else. I have been accustomed to visit the poor
during the last forty years, and experience convinces me that if a
wealthy individual, when bestowing a gift, find fault with the dirtiness
of a place, he must do it with gentleness, and with due regard to feelings,
and with no assumption of superiority, or he will exclude from the
mind all sense of gratitude for the gift bestowed. Or if the person com-
municating kindness be known as the almoner of others, everything
3S SANITARY CONDITION OF THE
like scolding, and bluster, and importance, will be still more offensive ;
and though regard for the yet ungiven dollar that he holds between his
fingers, may preserve the peace until he leaves the room, then will
there be a bursting forth of pent-up indignation ; and though at his
future visits he may be received with civility, it will be the civility of
hypocrisy. How then can we expect that the official intrusion, without
a peace-offering, of a public officer into the place which, however poor,
the poor man calls his castle, will be received with favor 1 He may,
indeed, be clothed with legal authority to enter the place, and there to
look into holes and corners, enforce the scrubbing of the floor, the liming
of the walls, and the cleansing of the furniture, and oblige the woman
to wash herself and her children, comb their hair, and scour their clothes ;
and all this may be important to the welfare of the family, and the
health of the neighborhood — but it will be more likely to cause a
breach of the peace, than to be regarded as a kindness.
There is a power somewhat similar in England, given to the gover-
nors of the poor ; but in that country, under monarchial government,
rights are often proportioned to property ; laws are made to benefit or
coerce distinct classes, and strength is given to the government by cloth-
ing it with vast powers to be used whenever discreet — that is, in cases
of urgency. So with the law ; the spirit of Englishmen would not sub-
mit to the every day enforcement of the power it gives, and therefore
it is not to be found in every day life, but in the Statute book, ready
for use in case of pestilence, or other apparent necessity. Then such a
law would be really valuable. They have it in reserve for such a sea-
son, and it might be well if we had a similar law to be used under simi-
lar circumstances ; for then, the judgment of every one showing its
importance and necessity, it would be enforced without difficulty. Of
this we have an illustration in the operation of quarantine laws. The
great plague of London, caused by the arrival in the port of an infected
cargo of hides, and various other cases, have impressed on the minds
of men the horror of a plague, and the great danger of its being so in-
troduced into a city or nation. Hence, every one sees and feels the
necessity of a ship being inspected ; yet that inspection is not hailed
with pleasure, but submitted to as a necessary evil. Such, at least, I
have found to be the case; and I was one of about 160 persons who
terminated a tedious and almost suffocating voyage at this port, while
cholera was raging both here and in Europe. The same acquiescence
in domestic inspection could be secured, I presume, only in the same
way — that is, by the judgment being convinced that the measure is just
and necessary. But how is the judgment of men to be so convinced,
and especially in a season of general health ? Not by the enactment
of a new law giving new powers ; but by moral means. If we had an
awful pestilence, and all the physicians united in declaring its cause to
have been the filthiness of the dwellings of the poor, it would no doubt
produce an impression — though perhaps even then conviction would not
be produced unless dicta were sustained by demonstration.
Yours, very truly, Isaac Orchard,
Sec. of (!. T. Societyj and Missionary of 15th Ward.
LABORING POPULATION OF NEW YORK. 39
There is one other aspect in which the relations of the state or com-
munity, to its citizens, are to be viewed, which cannot be omitted here,
without doing both parties injustice, especially as in this connexion, the
relation is very intimate, as well as important. I refer to the depen-
dence of the community upon the labors of its members, for its prosperi-
ty, support, and advancement. The influence exerted by a single indi-
vidual upon the character and capacity of a government, is well marked
and freely acknowledged, when men of commanding intellect step out
from the common ranks. No one, for example, can measure the degree
of influence exerted upon the character of this country, or of mankind,
by Washington, Franklin, or Fulton, or upon the prosperity of this state
by the genius of Dewitt Clinton. And so on downwards through the
various gradations, and the ever varying abilities, physical and mental,
of the masses of individuals, to the most insignificant, it is impossible
not to see that each one possesses more or less influence upon the con-
dition of the community, and by his peculiar labors, adds to it, or saves
for it. How many conflagrations have been prevented by the devotion
to his calling of the sooty and despised chimney sweep ? while thou-
sands of dollars have been rescued from filth and nothingness, by the
industry of the degraded Chiffonier.*
Now, a great part of the wealth of the community consists in its
physical labor. " Labor is wealth." The manufacturer, the artisan,
the builder, all, depend upon the skill and strength of those employed
to do their work. Who then will say that labor of the most insignificant
kind should not be protected, improved, and facilitated, that the laborer
of the smallest capacity should not be strengthened to the utmost, by
careful training and education ? It very often happens that almost the
minutest muscles of the human body (those of the hands and fingers)
are those which perform the most important and delicate work ; so do
we frequently find the most essential part of a magnificent structure, as
of an engine, or a building, requires the labor of the poorest and roughest
operative. Sound vigorous health is an essential pre-requisite to the
proper performance of all labor.
The following passage, from an author before quoted,| written for an
analogous subject, is so directly applicable, so appropriate to my pur-
pose, and so forcible, that no apology will be required for its length.
" This subject has merits which should command the attention of the
statesman and political economist. All investments to preserve or in-
crease the public health, would be reimbursed many fold, in an increased
capacity for production. One of the most important items in a nation's
wealth, consists in the healthfulness and vigor, enjoyed by its people.
All agriculturists and manufacturers must feel the force of this remark
in regard to their own workmen ; and they would feel it still more, if
* As an instance of the perseverance and frugality of this class of operatives, I
was lately informed of one who, by his dirty trade, has amassed $400, which he was
about investing in Western lands. Hundreds of these people derive a good support
from the business in this city.
-f Hon. Horace Mann. — Sixth Annual Report of the Board of Education of Massa-
chusetts.
40 SANITARY/ CONDITION 07 THE
they were obliged at their own expense to support those workmen
during all periods of sickness or incapacity to labor ; and this is the
relation in which the state stands to its citizens. It has been said
by some writers on political economy, that from one-seventh to one-
eighth of all the wealth of a country originates in the labor of each
year. Hence, if any nation or community should cease from production
for seven or eight years, the whole of its wealth, — houses, lands,
goods, money — would be consumed. What a forcible idea of the
value of labor, is presented by this fact ! Yet, what a sick workman
or operative would be to a capitalist who was obliged to maintain him,
a sick citizen is to the republic. Every sick man, every man rendered
unserviceable by general debility, or specific ailment, must be subtract-
ed from a nation's available resources. He not only adds nothing to the
common stock, but he draws his subsistence in some form — and often,
too, a very expensive subsistence — from the storehouse which the in-
dustry of others has filled. Omitting all considerations of personal and
domestic suffering, of the extinction of intellectual power, and of those
moral aberrations which originate in physical derangement and disease —
and considering the rare under the mere aspect of a money making
power — in this respect it is clear that the health and strength of one
community, if set in opposition to the debility and infirmity of another,
would be sufficient not only to determine the balance of trade, but to
settle all other points of relative superiority. Let such information be
diffused through the public, as all the children in our schools might
easily acquire, and a single generation would not pass away, without
the transfer of immense sums to the other side of the profit and loss ac-
count in the national leger. Of course, I do not mean that all diseases
could be abolished at once, even by a universal diffusion of a knowledge
of their causes ; or that the era foretold by the prophet would be usher-
ed in, when " the child shall die a hundred years old," and when there
shall be no " old man that hath not filled his days." The violation of
those beautiful and benign laws which the Creator has inwrought into
our system, has been too heinous, and too long persevered in by the
race, to be expiated or atoned for in a single age. Disease and debility
transmitted through a long line of ancestors, have acquired a momentum
by the length of the descent, which cannot at once be overcome. But
I do mean, if this subject were generally understood, that such a change
would be wrought in a single generation, that a broad and deep current
of wealth would be made to change its direction ; and instead of millions
annually flowing outward from the common treasury, to defray the
various expenditures of sickness, that treasury would be replenished by
an equal number of millions, coined from the mint and from the ore,
of labor-loving health. Yet amid all our pecuniary speculations, this
grand financial operation, of substituting health and strength for sick-
ness and debility — that is, immense gains for immense expenditures —
has been unheard of.
" In the army and navy, where the expediency of giving battle has been
discussed in a council of war ; or afterwards when the causes of defeat
have been explained by the vanquished, the state of the sick list has
LABORING POPULATION OF NEW YORK.
41
been made the subject of inquiry. The historian, too, in his account
of campaigns, recognizes health and sickness as among the grand
causes of success or disaster. But the manly health and vigor of a
people engaged in the arts of peace — as among the most essential items
in a nation's valuation, as a capital ready for profitable investment, in
any industrial enterprise, and therefore as a prolific source of public
revenue, as well as of private wealth, have been overlooked by states-
men and law-givers, in all their schemes for national aggrandizement.
" The pecuniary merits of this subject may be presented under another
aspect. Children at different ages, and under different circumstances,
may be regarded as representing investments of different sums of money.
These investments consist in the amount which has been expended for
their nursing, rearing, clothes, board, education, and so forth, and in the
value of the time of others which has been appropriated to them.
Though differing exceedingly in regard to different persons, yet, in this
country, the aggregate expense with its accruing interest, of the great
majority at the age of twenty, or twenty-one years, can hardly be esti-
mated at less than from five hundred to a thousand dollars, after deduct-
ing the value of all the services performed. Now if half mankind die
by the time they arrive at this age, or before it, and half these come to
their untimely end, through the ignorance of their parents or them-
selves, (and 1 may add through the inattention of government to their
condition,) what an amazing price does our ignorance (and inatten-
tion) cost us ? With what reckless prodigality do we continue to
cherish it ! What spendthrifts we are, not only of the purest source
of affection and.domestic happiness, but of wealth !"
Such being the condition of a great part of the population of this city,
such the physical, and such the moral evils, which flow in a continu-
ally deepening and widening stream of misery, pollution, and death, it
remains for me now to point out, in conclusion of the plan with which
I commenced this paper, the means by which the sources of the current
may be dried up.
To secure the community against invasion by disease from abroad,
we have aw r ell organized and efficient " Cordon Sanitaire." This con-
sists of the Health Officer, residing at the Quarantine station, and the
Resident Physician and Health Commissioner, residing in the city.
These together form a board known as Health Commissioners, and in
conjunction with the Board of Health, (composed of the Mayor, Alder-
men, and Assistant Aldermen,) constitute the external Health Police.
No vessel can reach the city without an inspection by the Health Offi-
cer, who has full power to determine whether she has on board any
material, or comes from a port in such a state of health, as might pro-
duce disease in the city after arriving at our wharves. Should he dis-
cover o-ood cause to suspect her to be in a condition dangerous to the
public health, he is empowered to detain her at the Quarantine, a length
of time sufficient to overcome all danger therefrom. The law is impe-
rative, unless the Board of Health, for good and sufficient reasons, choose
to permit the vessel to approach the city. The Health Officer has full
control over the persons of the officers, crews, and passengers of vessels
6
42 SANITARY CONDITION OF THE
suspected of infection, and over the cargo, and all the properties of the
vessel and passengers. Certain articles may be destroyed by him, and
he may order bedding and clothing to be purified and washed, before
being brought up to the city.
These officers are all appointed by the Governor of the State. The
city authorities have no voice in their selection, though the Resident
Physician is to a certain extent, subject to the direction of the Board
of Health. The onl}' medical duty prescribed for him by the law, is
to " visit all sick persons reported to the Mayor, or to the Board, or
Commissioners, of Health, and perform such other duties as the Board
of Health shall enjoin." " The Health Commissioner, under the di-
rection of the Board of Health, shall assist the Resident Physician in
the discharge of his official duties."
These officers, it will thus be seen, belong exclusively to the external,
and not to the internal Health Police of the city, except so far, or at
such times, as the Board of Health may direct. With the investigation
and removal of causes of disease, and the suppression of epidemics gene-
rated, and existing within the city, they have nothing to do, unless
ordered specifically by the Board of Health. Under present circum-
stances, the Board having no municipal officer upon whose knowledge
and judgment in such matters they could depend, the state officers,
would undoubtedly have plenty to do, should occasion for extra services
unfortunately arise.
This I repeat is our external Health Police ; and it will be generally
conceded to be well arranged, ample, and efficient. All the incumbents
are medical men, and care has generally been taken to appoint those in
good standing in the profession, and possessing sufficient age and ex-
perience. This is the more commendable, as nearly all the duties of
some of the officers are merely financial, yet the incumbents may be, in
the event of an epidemic, called upon to exercise their professional judg-
ment and skill.
It cannot be denied that from within the confines of the city, more
serious danger is to be apprehended than from without. In the pent
up courts, the crowded tenements, the narrow streets and alleys, the
damp dark cellars, in the destitution, filth, and misery of a large part of
our population, are the germs of disease, which will readily account for
a large proportion of the weekly average of nearly 200 deaths, announ-
ced in the bills of mortality.
In geographical position, in climatic placement, and in geological struc-
ture, no site perhaps could be selected for all the purposes of a great city,
of a more salubrious character, than Manhattan Island. And yet whence
this great mortality ? It is not from without — disease is forbidden to
approach our wharves. It can only be then, from within, the people
meet with such abundant destruction. Many of the immediate causes
of this I have endeavored to point out. The remedy and preventive,
are next to be considered, and I will now invite attention to our Internal
Health Police. This consists of an officer entitled City Inspector, an
Assistant City Inspector, an Assistant to the Board of Health, and eigh-
teen Health Wardens. For 15 or 20 years past, it has been deemed
LABORING POPULATION OF NEW YORK. 43
important that the City Inspector, (who stands in the relation of a head
to this corps of officials,) should possess medical attainments and quali-
fications, inasmuch as many of his duties prescribed by ordinance, and
many others not prescribed, are of a character requiring that kind of
knowledge for their performance. In the last appointment, however, to
this office, this principle was repudiated for reasons not very clearly set
forth ; it might have been considered as an oversight, had not an oppor-
tunity been given for a revision of the. act, by the presentation of a
memorial on the subject, by a very large number of medical practi-
tioners, which set forth in a clear light, the true nature of the office, and
the necessity of a medical education in its incumbent, and which memo-
rial was not only responded to favorably, but its principles denied in the
report of a committee appointed to consider the subject. The propriety
of the appointment was insisted upon, and the sentiment was expressed,
that not only is a medical, or even a literary education in the officer,
unnecessary, but that without it, in the language of the report, " he is
likely to prove equally, if not more, capable and efficient." I have no
wish to criticise this remarkable exposition of a principle which must
strike every one who observes it, as entirely out of character with the
present advanced state of intelligence. I will, however, endeavor in the
proper place, to show that a medical education is essential to the proper
discharge of the duties of an officer of health, of whatever grade, and of
this one especially, and that the greatest care should be exercised in
selecting those best qualified for this duty. The Assistant City Inspec-
tor, and Assistant of the Board of Health, need not possess medical quali-
fications, as their duties are more strictly clerical ; yet such an educa-
tion would often be useful, as they sometimes are obliged to act in the
absence of the chief officer.
Nor has it ever been deemed necessary that the Health Wardens
should be medically qualified. Indeed, had it been, medical men could
not readily have been obtained for the duty, as conjoined therewith, is
an office whose duties are of a totally different character, and entirely
irrelevant to the habits and educational capabilities of a physician. I
allude to the office of Dock Master, and lately, the office of Street In-
spector has been added to it, in some of the wards.
Being one of the poorest offices in the gift of the Common Council,
the post of Health Warden has rarely been sought for, or filled, by
any other than the most ignorant and incompetent amono- the office-
seekers. Its salary being the smallest of all, the most shameful collu-
sions have been, and are daily, practised, for the purpose of increasing
the emoluments, whereby a large amount of money is irregularly and
improperly taken from the pockets of citizens.* Another serious ob-
jection to the present arrangement is, that during the prevalence of
* By the City Inspector, in IS 12, a fraud was detected, which, had it proved suc-
cessful, would have swindled householders of a large amount of money. It con-
sisted of the printing of two hundred forged notices to empty sinks, which some
night scavenger had ordered, and which would have yielded: him from ten to thirty
dollars each. This was but one operation, and there is reason to believe that such
acts are frequently committed, with the connivance of the Health Wardens.
44 SANITARY CONDITION OF THE
epidemic or contagious diseases, in large numbers or single cases, the
timid apprehensions of non-professional men, often wholly unfit them
for the duties of officers of Health. They fear to approach a sick per-
son, or even to enter a house where the disorder is said to exist, and
they are more likely to increase, than allay, popular excitement. Some
other equally injudicious matters, in this connection, might be stated,
but these facts alone must be sufficient to convince any one of the utter
inefficiency of the present system as a Health Police. Not one of all
the officers in that important "branch of the City Government, is now oc-
cupied by a medically educated man.
Allusion has been already made to a plan of a Health Police sug-
gested nearly two years ago. There are three prominent principles
upon which an organization for this purpose should be based.
In the first place, the incumbents should be men whose education,
habits of investigation, and powers of judgment, would enable them
to determine what constitutes a nuisance, and how far any particular
matter is calculated to derange the healthy state of the atmosphere,—
in short, they should possess a good knowledge of the doctrine of mi-
asmata of all kinds, and their influence upon health.
2d. They should be men whose daily occupations, and, if possible,
their personal interests, would aid them in the discovery and suppres-
sion or removal, of the causes of disease : whose general intelligence,
and regard for the welfare of the city, and especially of its poorer in-
habitants, would induce and urge them to give a regular and thorough
examination of all suspected and doubtful places.
3d. They should possess the qualifications lor reporting, when re-
quired, to the superior authorities, the sanitary condition of the various
sections of the city ; — for recommending such measures as prudence
and enlightened judgment may dictate, and the practical skill requisite
for the application of preventive measures, such as vaccination and the
like.
All these principles and aims would be answered by the adoption of
the following plan of organization. I propose first, to abolish the
office of Health Warden, (of whom there are usually eighteen ;) to
divide the city in twelve districts, to each of which to appoint a re-
spectable physician, to be entitled Health Inspector. These twelve,
with the City Inspector and his office assistants, to constitute the
"Health Police of the City of New Yoik," the City Inspector, (also a
respectable physician,) to be its head.
1 need not enlarge here upon the benefits derivable from a reduction
of the number of officers.
To obtain the advantages of the 2d principle, that is, to engage the
personal and private interest of the proposed Health Inspector, (wherein
we would have the best surety for the faithful performance of his du-
ties,) I propose to make the boundaries of the Health districts identical
with those of the present Dispensary districts, and to unite the offices
of Health Inspector and Dispensary Physician, in the same individual.
The duties of the Dispensary Physician carry him in the very track
of the nuisances which should be corrected, and while administering:
LABORING POPULATION OF NEW YORK. 45
the relief of his patients, he would, as Health Inspector, cast about
for the source of the evil, and apply the remedy. By the performance
of his duty in one capacity, his labors in the other, would be mate-
rially lessened.
How great a proportion of the Rheumatisms, the Fevers, the In-
flammations, the Pulmonary and other disorders, of all kinds, are at-
tributable to the damp cellars, the filthy tenements, the foul yards,
courts, and alleys, in which the poor are crowded, can be known only
to the Dispensary Physician, who spends much of his time amid these
wretched scenes, where he is now powerless for any preventive action
that may occur to him.
But all are aware, for bitter experience has shown, that it is in those
places the Cholera, Yellow Fever, Small Pox, Scarlet Fever, Measles,
Typus Fever, and all other contagious and infectious disorders, are par-
ticularly abundant and malignant.
It has been customary upon the breaking out of an epidemic, for the
public authorities to use great exertions and spend much money in
cleansing and purifying these pestilential spots, in order to arrest the
extension of the disease. Their previous neglect, or a false economy,
has repeatedly sown a wide-spread desolation, which such preventive
measures, as are now suggested, would to much extent have saved.
In addition to the duties now performed by the Health Wardens,
the Health Inspectors should be required,
1st. To see that all persons are vaccinated, and for this purpose, to
visit all houses, especially among the destitute, once a year ; to be con-
stantly prepared, and to offer their services, to perform the operation
gratuitously, and to urge it upon all who may require it.
2d. To be subject to the requisition of the Mayor, or any Alderman,
or Assistant, to perform any professional duty they may justly require ;
the Health Inspector, in whose district may be a Watch House or Po-
lice Office, to perform all the medical and surgical duties that may be
required at those places, at the call of any officer attached thereto ; and
to do all other things that may be required by the City Inspector.
The performance of the duties of this last section by a municipal
officer, it will be at once seen, will relieve the Common Council of all
the annoyance attendant upon the examination, and- passage or rejec-
tion, of the numerous small bills now frequently laid before them.
It is evident that under such an arrangement as this, the duties of
the Dispensary Physician would be performed with a greater degree of
cheerfulness and care. The stimulus of a better remuneration, with-
out the addition of any other duty than such as would tend to reduce
the amount of his professional labors, and of a character not merely
not incongruous with, but really in aid of, those labors, the duties of
both offices requiring generally but a little more time than is now given
to one, there could be obtained for the joint office, men of such char-
acter and age, as would not only prove a blessing to the poor, but a
^reat assistance to the higher authorities, and give a profound satisfac-
ion, and feeling of every possible security, to the whole community.
Not the least among the advantages derivable from the proposed
46 SANITARY CONDITION OF THE
combination, is this, that this corps of professional men, (selected as
they are, and doubtless ever will be, by the trustees of the Dispensa-
ries, as those best qualified, without the slightest reference to political
opinion,) being ex officio Health Inspectors, though commissioned as
such by another power, (the Board of Health,) if found competent,
the Department would be at once raised above the corrupting atmos-
phere of partizanship, and we should then no more hear of public du-
ties neglected for fear of making a politicel enemy, or through favor to
a political friend : a practice too prevalent in this Department under its
present organization.
In the protection of public health, as well as in private practice,
party zeal should be entirely repudiated : it is incompatible with sound
judgment and efficient action.
If any one Department, either of government or of private occupa-
tion, (and the remark has as much weight in one case as in the other,)
should, more than another, be above the influence of political favoritism,
and be sustained upon its intrinsic merits, it is that which has the care
of the lives and health of the community, or of individuals.
From what has been related respecting the effects of the habitations
of the poor, upon their health, lives, and morals, the evils are attribu-
table to three things, viz., 1st, the living in damp, dark, underground,
and other ill-ventilated apartments. 2d. The diity and injured condi-
tion of the floors, walls, yards, and other parts of the premises.
3d. The crowding too many persons in single rooms of inadequate
size and accommodations. To correct the first two of these evils,
there appears but one way, and that is to place all the dwellings of the
city under the inspection of competent officers, who shall have power
to enforce a law of domiciliary cleanliness. For this purpose, those
places known or suspected to be kept usually in improper condition,
should be visited periodically, say once in one, two, or three months.
The law should be so arranged as to make the cleansing bear upon the
owner or lessee, and not upon the tenant directly, who is generally so
poor, as to be unable to perform the necessary purgation and rectifica-
tion of the premises.
The provisions of such a law should be similar to these.
1st. Every dwelling, or house, or room, court, alley, or yard, or
other place used as a dwelling in the City of New York, shall be sub-
ject at any time, between sunrise and sunset, to the inspection of the
Health Inspector in whose district it may be situated. If in opinion
of said officer, it shall be deemed unfit for the purposes of a residence,
by reason of dampness, darkness, dirt, filthiness, too low ceiling, ill-
ventilation, being under ground, or any other good cause, he shall im-
mediately report the same to the City Inspector, who shall, upon being
satisfied that such report is true, serve a notice to that effect upon the
owner, agent, or lessee, stating the reason therefor, and directing the
same to be put in proper order and condition, within a specified time ;
said room, house, or premises, to be outlawed, and forbidden to be oc-
cupied as a dwelling, until said order is complied with to the satisfac-
tion of the Health Inspector.
LABORING POPULATION OF NEW YORK. 47
2d. Should any room, cellar, dwelling, or premises, be found by the
Health Inspector to be in a condition dangerous to the public health,
by reason of emanations from the soil, or other places, or from any
other cause, said officer shall report the same to the City Inspector,
who shall upon being satisfied of its correctness, notify the owner,
agent, or lessee thereof, directing him to cleanse and purify said place
or premises, within a reasonable time; in default of a compliance with
such order, it shall be the duty of the Health Inspector to cause such
place to be purified and cleansed forthwith, and all the costs to be as-
sessed upon the property so cleansed, and in addition thereto, a fine of
fifty dollars.
3d. Should any owner, lessee, or other person feel aggrieved by the
action of the Health Inspector or City Inspector, appeal may be made
to the Mayor, or Board of Health, (sufficient time being allowed for
the purpose,) who may reverse or confirm the decision of the City
Inspector.
The power possessed by the City Inspector, or his assistants, is al-
ready sufficient for the general purposes of this proposition, such as
entering and inspecting any premises, yard or dwelling, &c But the
essential points require some addition to the law, and I believe they
are all embraced in the above proposed provision.
Can there be a doubt that such sanitary provisions, if well and dis-
creetly carried out, would have the happiest effect upon the condition
of large numbers of the poor of this city, and that they would prevent
much of the devastation of health and life now made among them, by
the manner in which they are compelled to pass their days by the neg-
ligent and unfeeling landlord ?
The effect of such a law upon the habits of the tenant would not be
direct, — his personal condition can only be reached by the moral law, —
but the landlord, under this compulsory process, urged by the fear of
having his premises out-lawed would, in letting them, stipulate with
his tenants to keep them clean, to whitewash the walls and ceilings,
wash the floors, remove the collections of dirt and garbage, and keep
the yards and cellars in good order. And knowing that the health offi-
cer will pay them frequent visits, armed with the power of the law,
it is altogether reasonable to suppose that the tenants themselve would
be stimulated to maintain a better appearance of persons and domicils —
that many would feel a pride in a good and cleanly aspect — that the
smothered feelings of self-respect, love of praise, and desire for the
comforts of cleanliness, would, in hundreds of bosoms, be re-awakened
into life and energy.
Much of the good effect which might flow from the application of
such a law, would depend upon the character and manner of the indi-
viduals appointed to enforce it. The exhibition of a regard for their
health and comforts, a manner combining firmness, kindness, and pa-
tience, a disposition to instruct in the manner, as well as to require the
act, giving an assurance while making the visit of inspection, that it is
wholly for their advantage, would satisfy the tenants that their health,
comfort, and protection, against the neglect of the landlord, were the
48 SANITARY CONDITION OF THE
chief objects of the law, and cause the visits of the inspector to be re-
ceived with interest and pleasure. No person is more likely to be re-
ceived with kindness, and welcomed as afriend,than he who comes to
relieve suffering, or restore health. The plan I have suggested of uni-
ting the offices of Dispensary Physician and Health Inspector in one
individual, will effectually accomplish the object in view, in every par-
ticular.
The enforcement of a law to compel domiciliary cleanliness, may at
first sight, appear to some as impracticable, to others as unconstitutional,
(on the ground that a man's house is his castle, and his occupation of
it cannot be interfered with without his consent,) and some may sup-
pose it oppressive, as interfering with the rights of citizens to live as
many in a room, in such manner as, and in whatever room they choose.
An examination of this subject will expose the erroneousness of such
views, and show that an inspection of dwellings will be as justifiable as
the inspection of articles of food, or clothing, or of steamboat boilers.
We permit, without objecting, the examination of our houses by the
fire wardens, to see that all is safe against fire. No one objects to the
law limiting the number of passengers in a vessel crossing the ocean,
and the confiscation of the vessel for its violation ; and the public voice
would demand, in loud tones, the razing of a house in danger of falling
upon the passers by. Chimneys are required by law to be swept every
month, and if they take fire, a fine is imposed though no damage results.
Cispools and sinks are now required to be emptied when the contents
attain to a certain depth, under heavy penalty. Unsound beef, hides,
skins, fish, or any putrid, or unsound or unwholesome substance, may be
forthwith cast into the river by the officer. The fire law prevents the
erection of wooden buildings within certain limits, and prescribes the
mode in which brick buildings shall be built. All these instances, and
many others that might be mentioned, may be said to infringe on the
rights of citizens, with as much propriety as the amendments here sug-
gested. Nay, further, with regard to nuisances, the statute expressly
declares the right of the Common Council to fill up any lots, yards, or
cellars which may endanger by their condition, the public health, and
the same reason why a vessel without a clean bill of health, may not
lie at our wharves, will apply to the dwellings in the city. Every
house should be required to have a clean bill of health, or like the ships,
be placed under the control of the proper officers.
To raise from the depressed and poor, the heavy necessity of living
crowded in single rooms, the source as I have endeavored to show of
great moral, as well as physical, evils, much aid cannot, I fear, be found
in any legal enactment. If a family are so numerous as to require
separate rooms, and so poor as to be unable to procure them, no law on
the subject could be enforced, which would effectually prevent the evil.
The remedy lies with the humane and philanthropic capitalists, by
whom houses might be erected with all the comforts and conveniences
of separate chambers, &c, which would yield a fair interest on their
value, and make thousands of people happy. Here is a direction in
which a fortune might be applied, which would produce an amount of
LABORING POPULATION OF NEW YORK. 49
happiness to the possessor, of good to the recipient, and benefit to the
community, equal, I have no doubt, to all that could be possibly obtained
by a new line of Atlantic steamers, though ever so successful.
This subject has two points of consideration of especial value with
regard to the temperance reformation. An improvement in the condi-
tion of the home of the laborer, will remove one of the temptations to
his frequent visits to the more comfortable and inviting grog shops,
while the substitution of a more invigorating and stimulating atmosphere,
will relieve in a considerable degree, the desire for artificial stimulus.
(( Atmospheric air is to the animal system, a powerful stimulant as well
as nutrient substance. In sufficient purity and copiousness, it imparts
a sustaining and vivifying power unequalled by any other substance.
Its vitalizing operations present one instance of the wonderful adapta-
tions of natural things to each other, but it is singularly striking, because
of the immediate and incessant dependence of animals upon it, for life
and strength. Air, when pure, gives a freshness and vigor, a tone to
the nervous and muscular parts of the system, productive of the highest
degree of mental and physical enjoyment. Without the tone thus im-
parted, the functions of the system become relaxed, and in addition, the
animal spirits and feelings become depressed and uneasy. To relieve
this condition, nature instinctively seeks some stimulating means.
Many feed on mental excitement — the stimulus of business with some,
with others of society, with some of hope and expectation, keep alive
the energies. But the farmer feeds his nervous and general strength
on fresh air and wholesome labor. Artificial stimulus is not required
by him, he does not feel its want, and has comparatively little relish for
it. But the dwellers in the cellars, courts, and ill-ventilated garrets,
depressed and prostrated by the want of the stimulus given by nature,
unable to enjoy the feelings guaranteed by an unfailing abundance of
oxygen, instinctively feel the want of a substitute ; they find it in alco-
hol. The allurements held out by those dens of destruction, abounding
on all sides, add temptation to instinct, and the child of ignorance and
misfortune terminates his senses, and often his life, the victim of licen-
tiousness and unnatural debauchery.
First take the drunkaid from the cellar, give him the stimulus of a
pure atmosphere, relieve the demands of nature in this particular, and
the work of reformation is half done, and will then go on with increased
vigor ; but as long as he is deprived of the sustaining power offered by
nature, his artificial appetite will be less easily appeased.
The community is guilty of the double offence of cutting off from the
destitute part of its members a proper supply of air, in other words, of
exciting an appetite for a vile and destructive substitute, and then of
presenting to them at almost every corner, opportunities for indulgence
in the poison.
Very few members of the medical profession ever find a seat in the
public council chamber. Legislative and executive bodies must, there-
fore, be dependent, in their ignorance of the subject, upon the know-
ledge and experience of the lay members of the profession, to enable them
to make the proper laws, and exercise the proper authority for the pro-
7
//
50 SANITARY CONDITION OF THE
tection of their constituents against the encroachments of disease. Is
it not then, clearly the duty of the appointing powers, to fill the offices
having the control and direction of sanitary matters, with men of the
largest experience and most cultivated capacity in medical science,
having regard to the important consideration that a man may be a good
prescribing physician, without the kind of knowledge or the taste re-
quisite for the due discharge of public duties of this character. This
is a peculiar branch of the science, (though strictly medical,) and as
distinct as the practice of surgery.
The judgment which should be exercised in seeking medical advisers
for ourselves or our families, is equally, if not more imperative, when
the protection of the 300,000 members of the community is concerned.
The necessity for a medical education in an Officer of Health, may
be shown by instancing some of the practical duties which must be per-
formed by him, whether a chief or subordinate. The question " what con-
stitutes a nuisance?" is one which now divides the scientific world. On
either side are ranged the most acute and philosophic minds. Experi-
ment upon experiment has been tried, the light of science and research
has been profusely expended, in the endeavor finally and satisfactorily
to settle this question, so important to the health and happiness of
man. On the one hand, the public health is to be protected at what-
ever cost, and on the other, private property must not unnecessarily be
destroyed. Can it be supposed that a decision of this frequently intri-
cate question by an officer who has little or no knowledge of chemis-
try, nor physiology, nor the laws of miasma, nor any other science
bearing on it, will be satisfactory to the public, or to the holder of the
property destroyed by his order ? And is it reasonable to suppose that
in such hands the public weal can be secure against the influence of
disease — generating nuisances ? Such an officer should always be able to
assign the most conclusive and satisfactory reasons for his acts. The
severest acumen, and most rigid search, are frequently, for a time, at
fault in detecting the source of a wide-spreading pestilence — this city
has repeatedly been visited by endemic diseases, and has greatly suf-
fered in reputation and interest in consequence of a want of energetic
and capable officers early to detect and remove the latent cause of the
disorder ; and where learning and experience have sometimes been
baflied in the discovery, or right estimate, of the sources of general
sickness, it is folly to suppose that ignorance and inexperience,
though associated with moral worth, can infuse confidence in the com-
munity, or give to it safety or credit.
The nature of the products of decomposition must, therefore, be
thoroughly understood, before a correct conclusion can be arrived at,
for upon them it depends, whether the decaying matters are capable of
generating disease in the human frame. And here we find the nicest
distinctions necessary. For example, putrefying vegetable matter, in
general, is believed to be a prolific source of disease, but there is a
wide difference between different vegetables ; some are almost innocu-
ous, while others are exceedingly baneful. Some, while decaying,
give forth gases of the most offensive and deleterious character, and
LABORING POPULATION OF NEW YORK. 51
from others in the like state, little will be observed. The difference
between " decay" and " putrefaction, " the two destroying processes
which animal and vegetable matters undergo, and which are wide asun-
der in their nature and effects, should be well understood and never
forgotten.
The following communication from my friend and colleague, Dr. R.
K. Hoffman, exhibits in a striking light the vigilance and discrimi-
nation necessary on the part of those who have the care of the health
of large numbers of persons.
From R. K. Hoffman, M. D., late Surgeon U. S. Navy.
22 Warren Street, August 30th, IS 14.
My dear sir, — Your note of the 26th inst. reminds me of our con-
versation at the Hospital, in which I mentioned the occurrence of fever
on ship board, from the decomposition of vegetable matter.
On referring to my Journal for the particulars you ask for, I find
other causes combined, which alone may be considered sufficient to have
originated and propagated the fever ; but I will state the circumstances
from which you will make your own deductions.
In the summer of 18 It, the U. S. sloop of war Ontario, com-
manded by Capt. James Biddle, was fitted out in this port for a voyage
to the Pacific Ocean. On the 24th of June, she left the Navy Yard
and anchored in the North River, off* the Battery. The crew, consist-
ing of 175, continued for a time as healthy as usual for a new crew in
port.
Being destined to convey Mr. Rodney and Judge Prevost, as Com-
missioners to Buenos Ayres and Chili, a large supply of cabin stores,
including the ordinary vegetables, was received on board, and stowed
in rooms constructed for the purpose, on the berth deck, between the
hatchways, obstructing ventilation, and encroaching on the space
allotted to the men to sleep, while that under the top gallant forecastle
was redolent of its new occupants — poultry and pigs. The season
was rainy, sultry, and damp; and the state of the weather compelled
the crew to sleep below, where the exhalations from decaying vegeta-
bles, especially in a calm night, rendered the air almost insufferably
hot, and peculiarly offensive.
Such was the condition of the ship, when at the latter part of July,
during the calm, sultry, rainy weather, a sudden increase of disease
took place ; it commenced with a sense of great debility, particularly
of the limbs, aversion to all exertion, pains in the head, loins, and
bones, anxiety and nausea — the skin generally moist and hot, tongue
loaded with a yellow coat, bowels rather loose. In some it assumed
a Typhoid character in its progress, while its more ordinary type
was that of bilious remittent. There was a daily succession of cases,
and from the 20th of July to the 15th of August, the average number
was thirty.
Captain Biddle did not concur in opinion, with the surgeon, that lo-
cal causes had the principal agency in producing the disease, but seeing
no prospect of realizing the expectation of getting to sea, obtained from
52 SANITARY CONDITION OF THE
Colonel Haidman, the commanding officer, a spacious and airy building
on the south side of Governor's Island, to which at the date above men-
tioned, the sick were removed. On the 17th there were three new
cases ; on the 18th, two ; on the 19th, none ; on the 20th, two ; on
that evening the wind came from the north, the air was cool, and three
more sickened, preceded by a chill. These cases were transferred in
succession to the hospital on the Island. With the change in the wea-
ther, which continued comfortably cool, with fresh breezes, the fever
gradually disappeared, no new cases occurring after the 24th.
I would add that in the course of the voyage, when all on board were
healthy, the first Lieutenant, who occupied the forward state room,
sickened with symptoms of fever. On searching for the cause, some
rotten potatoes were found in a locker adjoining his room, from which it
was separated only by a board partition.
The state of health in the city was good during that season.
None of the men died. I am, sir, yours truly,
Richard K. Hoffman.
The subject of sewerage is destined to be one, which of necessity must
ere long occupy the attention of the people and the government, and
upon which an intelligent and judicious officer of health may throw much
light. It will, I am satisfied, be found not only the most economical, but
the only mode, in which the immense mass of filth daily generated in this
large city, can be effectually removed. In some foreign cities, under-
ground sewerage on a regular uniform plan throughout, the sewers con-
structed on the most scientific and substantial plans, has been carried
out in the completest manner, with the most decidedly beneficial results
upon the general health and comfort. We are annually giving proofs
of our belief in their necessity, by the construction of single sewers in
various places, as they are demanded by circumstances, but it is done
without reference to any uniform plan, and it is feared that thus much
confusion and great additional expense, will fall upon the treasury when
ever it shall be deemed proper to project and carry out over the whole
city a complete and uniform system ; and I believe, " to this complex-
ion must we come at last." One thing especially brings this conviction ;
since the introduction of the Croton, the rain water cisterns being use-
less, the bottoms of them have in many instances been taken out, and
they have been converted into cispools, into which the refuse matter of
the houses is thrown. Great trouble is thus saved to families and do-
mestics, but it needs no prophetic vision to perceive, that an immense
mass of offensive material, will thus be soon collected, its decomposi-
tion polluting the air, in the immediate precincts of our chambers and
sitting rooms, and generating an amount of miasmatic effluvia, incalcu-
lably great and injurious. Discharge all the contents of our sinks and
cispools, through sewers into the rivers, and we will avoid two of the
most powerful causes of sickness and early death.
The great quantity of water from the sky, the hydrants , the un-
used wells, &c, now accumulating beneath the surface, must
find its way into many basements and cellars, rendering them
LABORING POPULATION OF NEW YORK. 53
very damp and unhealthy, and for which sewers constitute the only
remedy.
Another mooted sanitary question, is the influence of grave-yards,
vaults, and other burial-places, in large cities, upon the health of the
inhabitants. Some acute men are now endeavoring to maintain that
no specific bad results have ever been, or can be, justly attributed to
them, while others, among whom is Chadwick, regard them as highly
objectionable, and on this side appears the most direct and positive evi-
dence. In this city are some places of interment, which, whatever
may be said of iheir effects on health, are certainly crowded and offen-
sive to a high degree ; their condition and influence, as certainly, de-
mand an intelligent and careful investigation.
While writing this communication, there applied to me for medical ad-
vice, a young man, who had gone, in good health, into a vault of a
church in a densely populated part of the city, to see the coffin contain-
ing the remains of a relative ; he had been in but a few moments when
the effluvia was so offensive and powerful, as almost entirely to over-
come him. He immediately retired, returned home, and when I saw
him, three hours after, he was laboring under a considerable degree of
fever, and other disordered symptoms, which he said had all come on
since his visit to the vault. He thinks the vault must have contained
not less than 200 bodies. The place has before been complained of, and it
is difficult to avoid the belief that more or less injury must be inflicted
by it on the health of the neighborhood.
Not the least important of the results which should be obtained from
the appointment of an officer to superintend the affairs of public health,
is that of keeping a constant watch upon the progress of diseases, draw-
ing the proper inferences obtainable from a careful inspection of the
mortality returns, and giving them to the public in a suitable form and
manner. Living as we are in constant subjection to attacks of bodily
disease, induced by the circumstances of life, the lances of death held
constantly " in rest," by a thousand unseen hands, waiting only the
stirring of the breeze to thrust them at our unconscious frames, such an
officer should be as a sentinel upon the tower, watching with an intel-
ligent and never closing eye, the manoeuvres of the wily enemy, and
with a ready pen, alert to send the alarm to every quarter, and
prepare the city for a defence against his approaches. The inhabitants
may be, some, reckless of danger, and careless of life, others may affect to
despise the warnings of the watchman, and scoff at the " Philosophy of
Diseases," but it is no less the duty of the faithful magistrate and officer,
to see that at all points the constituency are guarded, with whatever
of science and virtue they can find.
There is in this city but one officer in the receipt of the certificates of
d ea th — the only source of knowledge of the diseases which prevail.
He is the City Inspector. It is by law made his duty to publish every
Tuesday, a list of the deaths occurring during the preceding week, and
in January, " to publish the whole number of deaths which shall have
occurred in the city of New York during the preceding year, with the
sexes, ages and diseases of the persons so dying." This is the letter of
54 SANITARY CONDITION OF THE
the law, and any boy, who has the quantum sufficit of reading, writing,
and arithmetic, with a fair proportion of patience, may make out the
tables in the unscientifically alphabetical mode in which it has usually
been done. But of what use is this ? we learn by it that 9,000 or 10,000
deaths, occur annually ; we are informed of the diseases which cause
the deaths, (if the arangement is worthy of dependence, which it is not
always,) but of the causes of the diseases we are told nothing. To de-
rive the proper and full advantage from the returns of mortality, we
must look beyond the mere name of the diseases, and ascertain the sources
of those diseases. Now .' the reports are useful for little more than to
satisfy ordinary curiosity, or to enable the preacher " to point a moral "
— but if properly analyzed, and their whole bearing and influence ex-
posed and elucidated, they would become valuable aids to the private
physician, and to the public officer of health, in studying the liabilities of
New York, and the influences of its climate, position, temperature, and
other circumstances in producing diseases.
If I may be allowed to illustrate this point, by referring to a result of
my own study of some of the Annual Reports, I will recall attention to
the discovery, that in this city there is less consumption among the na-
tive residents, than in Boston or Philadelphia. This is proved by a cal-
culation, the corectness of which may be tried at any time, which
has not yet been questioned, and which turns the tables completely,
as they were before set down, by those who would make New York a
comparative Golgotha.
This officer should study the influences of seasons, localities, and
many other circumstances, on the aspects of disease, and he should keep
a record of the Barometric, Thermometric, Hygrometric, and Pluvial
changes. An improvement in the certificate of death, is also much
needed ; a more clear designation of medical terms, inquiries into the
condition and physical circumstances of the decedent, the length of his
residence in this country, if a foreigner, and the influence of the change of
climate upon the cause of death, and many other points, are necessary
to obtain correct and specific conclusions, respecting the diseases of New
York ; while a thorough knowledge of the wants of science, and of what
has been done abroad, in countries where the subject has constituted the
labor of the lives of the most gifted individuals, is highly desirable.
All this knowledge can only be obtained, and the improvements properly
urged and applied, by an individual of good medical education, and one
who has a taste, and willingness for the work. A capable Health Offi-
cer would be well employed, and it should be made his interest, to de-
vote his time and talents to the dissemination of sound precepts con-
cerning the preservation of health and life, among the people, to whom
knowledge on these subjects is now almost inaccessible. To a vast
number, for whom instruction as to the best method of regulating their
internal and external domiciliary, and their personal arrangements, is
most desirable, it could be given in such forms as would certainly arrest
attention and be productive of incalculable benefits. The circumstances
of life, which have influence in producing disease, are endless in num-
ber, and yet the sufferers, in too many instances, are wholly ignorant of
LABORING POPULATION OF NEW YORK. 55
their power, or even of their existence. This is true to a great extent
of the rich and educated, as every physician knows, but it is emphati-
cally the case with the destitute and ignorant, to whom the laws of
health and life, are a sealed book.
These labors I regard as answering to the spirit of the law, and, in
nearly the words of an able writer on poverty and crime, " The wisest
civil regulations that can be devised, will avail but little for the ad-
vancement of society, if the officers who execute them, look not beyond
the letter of their commissions, and fail to communicate what they
learn of the causes, the remedy, and the prevention of diseases."
To this subject the language of an inspired penman may be literally
applied ; — " the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life."
A. sanitary police, composed of such individuals as are herein suggest-
ed, would constitute an efficient corps of Health Missionaries. Their
time would be principally devoted to the purpose of teaching the poor
the rules which should regulate their household operations ; and the
value of fresh air, ventilation, cleanliness, temperance, &c, would form
constant themes for them. The circulation of Tracts on Health, dis-
tributed with the same freedom as religious tracts now are, by hands
equally interested in the comforts and condition of the poor, would form
a powerful addition to their means of usefulness. The Dispensary Phy-
sician wields for these purposes, a power possessed by no other class of
men.
To the habits of life of many of the laboring classes, to their confine-
ment in small apartments, and to their ignorance of the laws of life and
health, by which especially, even their contracted arrangements are un-
necessarily kept in a bad condition, we are to look for no inconsiderable
amount of the injury which they sustain. The moisture, filth, and
confined atmosphere of the courts and alleys, are also prolific
sources of disease; in the occupations of many lurks the enemj'. But
if we restrict our attention to them, we shall overlook a very large pro-
portion of the causes of mortality, and with all our efforts to improve
the sanitary condition of our city, we should fail in some of the most
essential points. A well regulated and efficient Health Police might
do much towards correcting the existing evils, but to carry the desired
reform to the utmost limit, and with a greater permanency, measures
which no police can carry out, are necessary. And as these evils are
not confined to the laboring and destitute part of our population, but
afflict also the wealthier portion, a more healthy state of public opinion
is absolutely necessary, to effect the desired results.
This can best, if not only, be done, by making Physiology, as applied
to the laws of life, and the prevention of diseases, a subject of study in
all our private, public, and common schools. The children who attend
these, especially the latter, are the individuals by and with whom, the
important change of opinion and habit, is to be wrought, if at all. It is
needless to say to an ignorant adult, apparently free from sickness, that
he lives, works and sleeps, in too confined an atmosphere — he will an-
swer that he is well enough, a change would be irksome, and cost money,
and he will not believe what you say, for he cannot be easily made to
56 SANITARY CONDITION OF THE
understand the importance, or even the right use, of air. But bring up
his child in a knowledge of the value and necessity of pure fresh air, by
teaching him the relations which it bears to the blood, the digestion and
other functions— teach him never to fear it, that it is his immediate and
incessant source of life and health, give him a knowledge of the disea-
ses and dangers to which its absence will subject him, and think you
he would not avoid its impurities, as he would poison or the pestilence 1
In his school-room, his sitting-room, his chamber or his work-shop, he
would seek for a pure clear atmosphere, as when thirsty he would seek
the cool water, as the weary " hart panteth after the water brook."
"Ventilate, Ventilate," would be his natural demand, in tones of earn-
estness proportioned to the necessity which his expansive lungs, and
ever freshened feelings, would readily discover. The humble tenement
of the laborer, would" then, though but a single room, be no longer shut
night and day, unvisited by the refreshing air of heaven ; the work-
shop would then no longer be a close receptacle of foul effluvia of hu-
man and other origin, and our churches, public rooms, and lecture halls,
be no more unventilated. (En passant, what a strange inconsistency
is it, in the refined and polished, to object to sip a mouthful of water
from the same glass as an other, in which there could be no possible
contamination, and yet swallow over and over again, the breath of
others shut up in the same apartment, and which has passed through
hundreds of lungs, perhaps diseased, and over teeth in every stage of
decay.)
So with their food and drink, their exercise, personal cleanliness,
and all other things pertaining to health and longevity ; when once in-
structed in the principles which should be observed with regard to
them, how great would be the difference in the habits of life. If it
is admitted that many of the improprieties of life are due to an igno-
rance of its laws, then a knowledge of those laws would cause a dimi-
nution of the improprieties.
And I submit, whether a more powerful aid of temperance can be
found, than instilling into the youthful mind a knowledge of the struc-
ture and functions of his system, and the poisonous results of alcohol
upon them.
The general introduction of this subject as a branch of school learn-
ing, would, I hesitate not to say, have a greater meliorating influence
upon the human condition, than any other. Already has it been intro-
duced into many private schools, and given delight to both teachers
and pupils. The abundance of material, and the facilities for its illus-
tration, put it on a par with Chemistry and Natural Philosophy, in at-
tractive interest, while for real usefulness to the concerns of life, it is
far in advance of Astronomy, and many other studies, now generally
taught, and for which it might be advantageously substituted, should
any change be necessary. The operations of a living machine must
necessarily possess a degree of interest to the student and observer be-
yond those of inanimate bodies, and when once the study of the animal
machine is divested of its ancient and unnatural feelings of supersti-
LABORING POPULATION OF NEW YORK. 57
tion, and of its exclusive and unnecessary confinement to the physi-
cian, (which I think are rapidly disappearing,) it will be found to yield
a degree of entertainment, as well as usefulness, unsurpassed.
Now where are the advantages of this study most needed ? among
what classes of the community are its precepts and laws, its vital and
saving influences, its checks and guards against disease and danger,
most required ? Is it among those who live in high-ceiled rooms, who
have plenty of time and means to go abroad and seek fresh air in the
country, who can afford to live on the choicest delicacies, and dress in
the most comfortable manner, who have no fear of want, and are not
compelled to study the most economical mode of living ? or to seek
out, from a very limited field, the best they can do for themselves ?
No ! indeed, such need comparatively little aid. They may turn night
into day, and dissipate their time and strength in debauchery and folly,
but they are not compelled to reside in cellars, and chambers ill venti-
tilated, or to associate with filth, in foul air. They are to be reached
only by moral teaching. But those whom penury subjects to the ne-
cessity of living in the cheapest rooms, who must submit to the hardest
extortions, or live in the street, and whose gross ignorance prevents
them improving their condition as much as they might, had they a
knowledge of the true mode — these constitute a large class for whom
humanity demands that we should employ every means in our power
for bettering their physical, as well as their moral, condition. Of what
use is science, if it cannot be applied to the practical purposes of life,
or employed to improve the character and condition of our fellow crea-
tures. It can no longer be shut up in monkish cells, nor yet will I be-
lieve that its absence in an Officer of Health, will, by the community,
be regarded as a qualification for office.
These pages have become extended to a number entirely unexpected
at the commencement, yet no allusion has been made to many matters
of sanitary value, which cannot be omitted in the consideration of the
general subject, without leaving it in a state of incompleteness. The
present condition and wished for improvement of the destitute part of our
population, have been my specific objects of attention. An extract
from the latest (English) work upon the subject of ventilation, recently
put into my hands, places this whole subject in its true light. " The
" dwellings of the extremely poor present scenes of misery, desolation,
" and woe, which it is afflicting to witness, where the sensibilities are
" not hardened against the sufferings of humanity. They must be seen
" to be understood, and to draw out that amount of individual sympa-
" thy, which they imperiously demand, in a civilized and christian com-
" munity. The station of this country in arts, literature, and science,
" is acknowledged throughout the globe, as well as its naval, military
" and commercial power ; and, latterly, its exertions against the slave-
" trade have given a noble example in the cause of humanity, and
" soften the recollections of former times. But the regeneration of its
" own population, or rather the placing of them in that condition which
" the progress of religion and philanthropy demands, is perhaps a task
5S SANITARY CONDITION, &C.
" of more moral grandeur, and of still more difficult execution than
" any which it has attempted."
To this I will only add, in conclusion, (what has been before briefly
referred to,) that respecting the Laws of Health and Life, it may be
said, though the remark may seem so extraordinary as apparently to
amount to a libel on human nature, on no other subject connected with
the interests, happiness, or longevity of man, is the darkness of igno-
rance so profound and so universal.
hmtmwm
^•"-^Br-^**
mm
THE
SANITARY CONDITION
THE LABORING POPULATION
NEW YORK.
WITH SUGGESTIONS FOE ITS IMPROVEMENT
A DISCOURSE
(WITH ADDITIONS^
DELIVERED ON THE 30TH DECEMBER, 1844, AT THE REPOSITORY OF THE
AMERICAN INSTITUTE.
BT
JOHN H. GRISCOM, M. D.
^ FELLOW OF THE COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS ; PHYSICIAN OF THE
NEW YORK HOSPITAL ; LATE PHYSICIAN OF THE CITY AND
EASTERN DISPENSARIES..
HARPER & BROTHERS, 82 CLIFF-STREET.
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