Report on the establishment of public abattoirs / by Charles A. Cameron.

  • Cameron, Charles A.
Date:
1867
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report on the establishment of public abattoirs / by Charles A. Cameron. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    5,000 inhabitants in 1861, the rate would be reduced to 1 in every 70*3, or 14‘2 per 1,000 of the population. The number of deaths registered in the city of Dublin during the same period equalled a ratio of 1 in every 36*6, or 27*3 per 1,000 of the population. These returns exhibit the startling fact that the average duration of human life is just twice as long in the country as in Dublin. There may be errors in the returns from the rural districts—such as the occa- sional neglect to register deaths—but making every allowance for such omissions, it is quite evident that country people live much longer, and presumably enjoy better health, than the citizens of Dublin. This high mortality in towns as compared with the country is not the result of any marked difference in the quality of the food used by the urban and rural populations ; it is due chiefly to the following causes. 1. Imperfect sewerage ; 2. Vitiated air—the result of deficient ventilation and of great density of popu- lation ; 3. Partial exclusion of direct sunlight; 4. Impure water; 5. Noxious gases, vapors, and other volatile matters emitted from gas-works, manu- factories, bone boiling places, tan-yards, slaughter- houses, &c., A great proportion of the deaths occurring in cities belong to the class of diseases termed zymotic. These disorders are not the results of natural delicacy of con- stitution, but are preventible by hygienic means. The object of public hygiene, so far as towns are con-