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REVIEWS.
THE SANITARY CONDITION OF THE LABORING POPULATION OF NEW YORK. With suggestions for its improvement. A discourse (with additions) delivered on the 30th December, 1844, at the Repository of the American Institute. By 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. York; Harper & Brothers, 82 Cliff street. 1845.
IF any evidence were needed to prove the utter incapacity of the men into whose hands the government of this great city has fallen, to discharge the duties of their fearfully responsible station, the following extract from the preface of this important pamphlet would furnish it.
“The subject matter of the following pages was originally addressed, in the form of a letter, to the Chief Magistrate of the city. Its preparation 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 munic pal 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 following 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.”
We do not intend to cast any peculiar blame on the Native American party, as the politicians are called who have the welfare of our citizens in their hands at present, because we believe that either of the other two parties who strove for the management of our municipal affairs would have acted in the same manner. In truth, our politicians have yet to learn their alphabet in the art of government; but the misfortune of it is, that their instructors, the people, are wofully deficient in this kind of knowledge themselves. The happiness of the people seems never to be thought of in municipal legislatures. The exact objects aimed at by our Common Council it would be difficult to ascertain. The spending of a good deal of money, and the best way of getting it from the people, seem to be the only definite notions of government that in the most favorable situations; what it must be then, in any of our boards of aldermen have had during the past twenty years. The present party in power regard the reading of some particular books in the district schools as the greet point to be settled by them; and while the people are literally dying in consequence of inhaling the unhealthy miasma of filthy streets, the party that has the power to purge the atmosphere, and make the city a desirable residence, wastes all its energies in forcing a certain part of the children under their charge to take their first lessons in reading out of particular books which are repugnant to the feelings of their parents. It matters not a whit to a denizen of our streets what the city fathers have done or are doing, so long as the thoroughfares and byways are nearly impassable for filth. If it were an object to the citizens of this great metropolis, to tax themselves at the enormous rate which they were compelled to do for the sake of pure water, it is quite as much of an object to them to tax themselves for the sake of pure air; and we have no doubt that taxation would be submitted [column 2:] to as cheerfully in one case as in the other. Clean streets would keep many a family in New York that now is compelled to seek for a healthier home in Brooklyn, or Jersey City, or Staten Island. Gentlemen who have moved over upon Long Island, after living many years in the city, find that they make a very great saving in their doctor's bills.
Dr. Griscom says; “A highly respectable friend, a distinguished advocate, informed rue 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, residing at home, though in a comparatively salubrious position in the city, cost him from twenty to thirty dollars each, for medicine and medical attendance.”
And yet in spite of this experience on the part of this distinguished advocate, he will continue to reside in the city, when he might by a very trifling sacrifice live in the country. and preserve his own and his children's health. We know several distinguished advocates whose families live ten or twelve miles from the City Hall, who contrive to be pretty constant in their attendance at the courts. There is very little more inconvenience, for a lawyer, in living on Staten Island, than in living in Chelsea or Union Square; while the increased vigor which they derive from daily crossing the water and breathing the pure air of the country, enables them to accomplish quite as much labor as the time lost in travelling to and from their office would do. It is an unaccountable delusion that keeps men confined in the city when business will allow of a residence in the country. Setting aside all the enjoyments of a rural home, the cheapness of it should induce a prudent man to prefer it. A tolerably respectable house in town costs from four hundred to eight hundred dollars per annum. Within ten of twelve miles of the Battery, a comfortable country house with an orchard, garden, and so forth, may be had at from one to two hundred dollars; an extra hundred dollars will cover all the expenses of travel, while the gain in health would be worth a sum which can be estimated in dollars and cents. Dr. Griscom very clearly proves that a city residence cannot be healthy, even the least favorable, the following appalling statement will show.
“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. It 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 tails 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 testily to the difference between the two 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 lace 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 [page 114:] 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 children of the farmer, and offspring of the city resident.
“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 their labors, the reports of the three medical charities for the year ending March, 1844, there were prescribed for at the offices, and the homes of the poor, at the
Northern Dispensary, 13,317 Patients,
Eastern 17,107 “
New York “23,858 “
Total, 54,282
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 neglected 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 th- sick poor attended by private charity.”
[To be continued.]
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Notes:
This review was specifically rejected as being by Poe by W. D. Hull.
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[S:0 - BJ, 1845] - Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore - Works - Criticism - Literary (Briggs ?, 1845)