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specimen of the tone in which the subject has been treated , we give the following extract from an article in the first-named periodical : — _ It is an incontestable fact , that since the ^ sixteenth century nations which have fed ( se nourissent ) upon the Bible have , in spite of the varieties of sects , beenifund ? - inentally religious ; while in nations where the Bible is not read , whatever has been lost by Catholicism has been equally lost bv Christianity , and gained by atheism , mater ialism , and a ' brutal indifference to the interests of the soul . This has been the state of things with the enlightened classes ; and this was it which more particularly hurried oFrance of the eighteenth century into such deplorable
ur errors . And does not this evil of irreligion extend itself to the people ? If the relative numbers of the Catholics and- Protestants in each of our provinces were ascertained , who will venture to affirm that of the Catholics a large proportion—tha majority , perhaps—is not prac ^ tically indifferent to one or the other form of worship ? The question which arises then , is this : Shall we allow religious belief to become totally extinguished in the midst of a population absorbed in material labour and corrupted by misery ? Ought these souls , unfortunately so ^ depraved , to be abandoned to the temptations of an abject materialism ? Do they not rather offer a moral field whereon all Christian communities should be invited to
exercise their zeal ? Is it not better that the Christian spark should communicate a portion of its priority and strength to these desolate regions , even at the risk of sowing Protestantism there ? It will be seen that we do not appeal to passions—that we address ourselves to the sentiment of ' the good mother in the judgment of Solomon , who , rather than struggle for the severed limbs of her child , abandoned it living to her rival . Ashamed of being caught in the masquerading garb of a servant of the Holy Officei Louis Napoleon has compelled the over-zealous prefet of the Sartlie to issue a circular , in-which , it is condescendingly stated , that as works of Prof . estant divinity , including the Protestant " version of the Scriptures , have a general moral tendency , and do not stir revolutionary questions , his Majesty , the moral ruler of France , will graciously permit them to be sold as formerly bv . ¦ ¦ the colporteurs .
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disea . se in the army . We can hardly imagine a more important subject , in the present state of European affairs , than the sanitary condition of our army . The lamentable sacrifice of life from disease in the Crimea , and the scarcely less formidable ravages in India , for Russians and Sepoys are nothing to fever and phthisis ., have thoroughly aroused all classes , including the Government , to a sense of the necessity of a searching inquiry and thorough reformation in relation to the treatment of the soldier . The lloval Commissioners appointed to examine
sioners jumped , for they were led to it by no apparent sound reasoning on substantial data , was an erroneous one , and that the causes of consumption in the army rnust be looked for in another direction than overcrowding in ^ barracks . Mr , Nelson confirms the received opinion that the zymotic , or fever diseases , arise from overcrowding , but finds that consumption does not , except in certain degrees that do not come within the case of the soldier . ' - ,.,. Now , if this be the fact , it is of the very highest importance that , previous to legislating on the matter , Mr . Neison , or some other equally compet hl
tent statician , should be empowered to horougy investigate the subject . It would not only save a large amount of otherwise misdirected money , but also save many valuable lives , and preserve a class of men valuable to and deserving of the earnest attention of the Government and the nation . Mi ' . Neison seems carefully to abstain in his paper from giving any opinion of the causes of the alarming preponderance of phthisis . He only shows that it does not arise from overcrowdingv Having got to this fact , true Baconian as he is , he does not speculate on the cause , but gains some clue by testing the mortality in difthat the
ferent regiments , and thus elicits the fact JFoot Guards suffer the most . It then remains to be seen whether there is anything peculiar in the life , dress , or exercise of this particular regiment ; but it is not for us to anticipate the deductions of a strictly scientific and philosophic inquiry ; and we therefore only call the attention of all interested in the matter to a careful perusal of Mr . Neison ' s paper ; and at the same time urge on the Government the necessity of paying every attention to the important results of the investigation . We seem to be approaching a true diagnosis of the evil , and when that is once attained , the remedy will be easily found and as readily applied .
into the condition of the army in their recent report Lave given a great deal of valuable information on the subject . They collected a mass of diversified evidence , and they have elicited facts which will enable those capable of making correct inductions to point out the reforms and improvements that are necessary . We are spared the necessity of detailing these , as we have been enabled to lay before our readers a very full report of Mr . Neison ' s paper on the " Phthisis in . the Army . " The purport of this remarkably able paper is to take up the facts where the Royal Commissioners left them , and to carry on the induction -which they seem to have
abandoned at the first stage . It wt \ s indisputably proved that n great proportion of the deaths from disease in the army arises from phthisis or consumption . Having arrived at this remarkable , and wo believe wq may say unexpected , fact , the commissioners abandoned further statistics , and sought for a sola ( . ion of the causes rather after the common manner of speculation than of rigid scientific inquiry . Throe opinions , and they were nothing more , were indulged in , and the causes were stated to bo cither intemperance , exposure to the weather , or overcrowding in the residences or barraoks . The last came to bo
gonorally adopted , and it was declared as the opinion to be statod in the report ; and thus confidently { mt forth and powerfully recommended , it is probable hat the Legislature will proceed to logislato upon it , »^ WJ » Q » : o .. thewpt'aoWcal' ^ efr ~ sto p ^ investigator took up the matter , and sot himself diligently to test by numerous and vurioua data whether consumption was a disorder generated by ovororowding . The result is shown m the oonolusivo paper road at Loods . before the British Association , and whioli wo reprint entire . After a oaronu poruaal of it , wo think thero oan bo no doubt tliftt tho oouolusiou to wJiioh tho Royal Commis-
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PHTHISIS IN THE ARMY . An examination of the influence of overcroioding and density of population in producing phthisis and diseases of the respiratory organs , applied to the solution of some questions discussed in . the recent Report on the Sanitary Condition of the Army , as read by 3 fr . G . F . Neison , at the British Association , at Leeds , on Thursday , 23 rd of August . . The Royal Commission appointed to . inquire into the sanitary condition of the British army , the state of the hospitals , &c , published early in the present year , a very elaborate and most valuable report , the result of an exceedingly comprehensive amount of varied and diversified evidence taken before them , As is already well known to the public through the medium of th © press , a frightful rate of mortality takes place in the ranks of the army while stationed in the United Kingdom ; but I shall here seek to engage your attention by only a brief recapitulation of the general results . Abstract A .
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¦ NTo . 4 , 4 , 4 ,. September 25 , 1858 /] THE LEADER . 1 QQ 3
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Deaths which would have happened according to the ' mortality in Actual number of deaths England Owt-doo , ^ ft ™ " 8 J ^ J ?» L DiSL . ^ NoJS No- J 2 L No . ^ Household Cavnlry = 134 122 ~ 1 < U » 5 40 . 6 76 77 . 9 Dragoon Guards I I aiftl Dragoons = 705 512 37-fl 4 Q 8 . 73 , 7 , . 32 J . . 119 , 3 Foot Guards * = * 820 303 lO&tt 314 I ' d . 1 240 2 JS 3 . 3 Infantry of tho Lino = 282 !> 1472 U 1 . 8 1208133 . 6 U 58 104 . 7
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These results are certainly very remarkable , and afford a succinct view of the relation in which the different results stand to each other * In tho War-office Report itself a comparison is instituted between the actual mortality of the army and that which prevails in twenty-. four largo towns of England and Wales ; but such a comparison is obviously at fault , for , as I have olsowhore fully shown , tho gross mortality , not only of tho whole kingdom , but of individual towns ami districts , is greatly increased by tho inclusion of tho destitute , tho dissolute , and the inteinnorato , a ^ wo ^ as . ^ byj ^ e ,,, ^ resinTcTrTrf"nmiry ~ porson ^ and trades of nn unusually unhealthy character . Even in tho rural districts of this country it will bo seen , on referring to pp . 63-59 of " Contributions "to Vital Statistics , " that the mortality of tho sixteen trades referred to in pago 03 of that work is greatly in oxcess of the residue of tho eamo districts . Tho military aro certainly A'oo from tho noxious influoncos poouliar to many trad . es and occupations . They do not bullbr from destitution , nor can they be
classed as a body with the notoriously intemperate Every just comparisdnmust , therefore , be made witl some such classes as those forming the two last sec tions of the preceding abstract , but if the comparison be made with the general mortality of England anc Wales ( for the male sex ) , it will be ; ; found that tht infantry of the line are subject to an increased ratio of mortality of no less than 91 . 752 per cent . If the out-door occupations be made the standard of comparison , there is an excesss amounting to ... ... ... 133 , 620 per cent . And in respect to labourers in the rural districts , the excesss is no less than ... ... 194 . 658 per cenfc . being nearly three times the rate of mortality in this branch of the service that is found to take place amongst labourers in the rural districts at the corresponding ages . ' ¦ ¦ ' ,-. ' In Appendix IiXXI . of the Beport of the Commissioners , as well as in the body of the Beport itself , it is shown that among various classes exposed to severe night duty in the open air , such as the Metropolitan Police Force , and the railway employes , and also as otherwise since established in the London Fire Brigade , the rate of mortality is somewhat les » than that for the country generally at the corresponding ages . In the same Appendix it is also conchtr sively shown , as admitted in the report of the commissioners , that the high rate of mortality in the army cannot be accounted for by the prevalence of intemperance . It further appears in the same Ap ~ pendix that whatever may be the primary cause of the greatly augmented mortality in the army , the immediate cause of it is the prevalence of consumption to an extent entirely unprecedented , and quite unknown in connexion with any other series of observations in the whole range Of vital statistics ; and without a corresponding increase from other causes , taking all branches of the army , the deaths from disease of the respiratory organs form about sixty per cent , of the deaths from a& causes . The following abstract , however , places the results in a very distinct light . . Abstract B .
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The Commissioners finding that the enormousmortality from consumption was the great scourge of the army , and that it -was as impossible to account for its prevalence from any of the causes already described , have , as most readers of the newspaper press are no doubt fully aware , attributed it mainly to overcrowding of the barracks . In my examination before the Commission , and in the papers submitted by me , and forming the Appendix already quoted from , the effect of variousemployments on healthy the influence of different forms of physical exercises , and the manner in wliicb intemperate and irregular habits show themselves in the immediate cause of death ; are very fully discussed . None of the questions , however , submitted , for my . consideration by the Commission involved , I regret to say , the consideration of the influence of over-crowding or bad ventilation on the development ; of diseases of the lungs , or I should have been glad at'the time to have submitted the hypothesis towhatever statistical tests were available . - Nor hasany other witness , nor the Commissioners themselves ^ supplied any facts or numerical , evidence leading to the conclusion at which they have arrived in their Report , that over-crowding in ill-conditioned barracksis the main cause of the great destruction of life by inducing phthisis in the army . From the deserved importance attached by the public to tho deliberation of the Commission , it is in every way most necessary that such means as are available should be employed to test the practical value of the empirical opinions on which the over-r crowding hypothesis is founded . The still imperfect returns made by the Registrar-General , however , prevent thia from being done * in tha $ complete manner which is desirable , but they contain much j £ ^ li ( iJtile ^ v 4 dencQ «^^^^ considerable amount of labour , be brought to bear on tho question . Having devoted the necessary tinie for that purpose , I now beg to submit to this aectiou the result * at ' which I have arrived . . , That i \ sufficiently broad basis might bo taken on which to found or establish a reliable teat , I have takon tho returns of tho mortality tor the whole off England jyid Wales , and th « various districts thereof , for tho seven years is-td-M .
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_ Number of Deaths from Inseasesof the Bespiratory Organs . : Englarid& Av * « i " Diff . Wales . Actual . per Cent . Household Cavalry 62 . 870 79 4-25 . 656 . Dragoon Guards , &c . 251 . 112 400 + 59 . 291 Infentry 760 . 005 1641 -f- 115 . 902 Foot Guards 203 . 560 555 + 172 . 647 Total 1 , 277 . 547 2675 -f- 109 . 387
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 25, 1858, page 1003, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2261/page/19/
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