Benson Baker

“ Thousands in this metropolis, through the neglect of the laws of health, live in the twilight of disease, rather than in the noon-day brightness of health.
I have endeavoured to show that fresh air is a necessary of life just as much as food. I have indicated its importance in relation to health and how imperatively necessary it was in sickness to aid the body to overcome disease. If overcrowding in small dwellings and its consequent ill effects upon health, morality, and industry be a necessary social evil, it is evidently our duty to lessen that evil, if we cannot altogether remove it. ”

“ No society can surely be flourishing and happy of which the far greater part of the members are poor and miserable. It is but equity—besides that they who feed, clothe, and lodge, the whole body of the people should have such a share, as to be themselves tolerably well fed, clothed, and lodged. The liberal reward of labour, as it is the effect of increasing wealth, so it is the cause of increasing population. To complain of it is to lament over the necessary effect and cause of the greatest public prosperity. ”

“ The blessing of health is not valued till it is lost. Let the mysterious hand of disease touch us, and we throb with painful anguish. Then do we long most earnestly for our valued health and strength; we resolve that once well again we will adopt such regulations and precautions as shall ensure a continuance of the invaluable blessings of health: such is the reasoning of the sick and afflicted. ”

“ If the poor could be accommodated with healthy dwellings they might reasonably be expected to better their condition; but what man can wage a successful war against disease and poverty combined? Unhealthy dwellings not only keep them poor, but foster a reckless indifference as to how things go with them. This apathetic condition is the worst that can befall either the individual or society. Idleness, dirt, poverty, disease, and crime are intimate companions, though not inseparable. ”

“ It would be well if we all took a deeper interest in the welfare of each other, if we felt that any disease, epidemic, or misfortune, that affects any member of the community, must by the common law of relationship, affect us; the man who wilfully breaks the laws of health, not only injures himself and his next of kin, but he injures society, of which he is a member, by depriving society of the creative wealth of labour ”

“ Think, reader, of such a home as this in the day of sickness, in the hour of nature’s woe, in the gloomy night of death. Picture children of tender years becoming familiar with these scenes, and can it reasonably be expected that they should grow up healthy either in mind or body. I could not but allude to the number of occupants in one small apartment, as it bears directly on the amount of air supplied to each one, and the necessity for free ventilation; overcrowding also tends very materially to demoralise the rising generation. In a word, it degenerates both body and mind. ”

“ Further, every effort ought to be made to instruct the poor in the knowledge of the laws of health. Let it be clearly shown to them that dirt, disease, and poverty, are intimate companions, and that if they would escape from the bitter experience of poverty, they must each sweep before their own doors; then a future, gilded with the promise of a joyous hope, shall open up before their view. Dirt with all its disgusting associations shall be supplanted by cleanliness with all its cheering comforts ”

“ The ventilation was so bad, that the recovery of my little patients was doubtful, and the deterioration of the health of their parents certain. In cases of this kind how important it is for every one to know, that by excluding the breath of heaven, we are extinguishing the breath of life. It is of the highest importance that we should have fresh air in health, but it is imperatively necessary in disease. Then more than ever does nature feel the necessity for fresh air. A lowered vitality like a fire that is dying out, requires a larger supply of atmospheric air, but alas! ”

“ If there were a more plentiful supply of water, there would not be the excuse for such a neglect of washing and cleansing the dwellings of the poor. Personal cleanliness and the washing out of rooms, &c., is the duty of the tenant quite as much as paying the rent. It would be well if cleanliness were made a condition of tenancy,—if the rent collector insisted on the cleanliness of the rooms with the same firmness that he insists on the punctual payment of the rent, yea, rather allow a week’s rent to stand over than a dirty room to go unwashed. ”

“ I conceive that whatever tends to smooth the rugged surface of life, and to soften its harsher features, and to multiply the sources of human health and enjoyment, must be held worthy of notice; and in so far as it tends to improve the condition of the poor, and foster in them provident and careful habits, just so far ought it to receive our generous sympathy and support. ”

“ The combinations into which water enters in the animal and vegetable kingdoms are as various and as beautiful as the magic forms of the kaleidoscope. Neither animals nor plants can live without water. It is, therefore, a necessary of life. On the purity of water, in a great measure, our health depends. Various are the sources of water, and equally various the degrees of the purity or impurity of water: for this reason—that water is the great solvent in nature. ”

“ It is in vain to call upon landlords to build houses properly drained and ventilated if those who take them are ignorant and indifferent to the value of fresh air and good drainage. Dirt is allowed to begrime the walls, so as to render it difficult to tell what the original colour was; in a word, many of the rooms in George-street, Charles-street, Little Bell-street, Little Church-street, East-cottages, and many others in my district, are so neglected by the tenants as to become neither more nor less than fever nests. ”

“ Poverty in all its intensified bitterness, when associated with disease shall give place to a comfortable competency. This and much more may justly be expected, if we sow aright the seeds of the science of life, and teach men the laws which govern their health and life. The proper study of mankind is man; a more comprehensive principle has seldom been enunciated. ”

“ Every man this day must do his duty. These are stirring words, and they call us to action, for a deadlier foe now threatens the happiness of our sea-girt island than that which Nelson fought. Cholera, an unseen foe, is nevertheless a real one. Many a hero that has braved a hundred fights has blanched before this deadlier foe. ”

“ These clouds were not alone created for the poet or the painter, nor to give scenic beauty to the landscape; but to supply the wants of the flowers of the valley, the beasts of the forest, and to be a source of health, power, and wealth to man. ”

“ I hope the above is simple and intelligible, and that I have shown that it is impossible to enjoy life if we allow our skin to be clogged with dirt. We have seen the vital importance of fresh air and pure water. Yet, as Dr. Lankester so suggestively remarks in his address upon public health at the last Social Science Congress, “As the animal organism cannot live in air and water, but requires the varied compounds of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen for its existence, the whole question of the relation of the elements used as food becomes the subject of our inquiries. ”

“ The labouring man, above all others, should rise in the morning refreshed by nature’s sweet restorer—balmy sleep. But, by neglecting ventilation, it is not so. Drowsiness, sickness, headache, and languor are his lot; and in order to bring himself up to the mark, he is obliged to have recourse to artificial stimulants. Scavengers are necessary to maintain the comfort and cleanliness of our streets, so oxygen is necessary to maintain the health and comfort of our bodies. By depriving our bodies of pure air, we deprive them of the power to throw off infectious diseases. ”

“ It is the cry of the weary and worn; their thin blood flows feebly, and their life is ebbing fast as they cry, “Oh, for one short hour to breathe the breath of the cowslip sweet and to feel as I used to feel.” ”

“ With improved health, cleanliness, and comfort we should obtain improved industry and prosperity; and this would not be confined exclusively to the poor, but its influence would be felt through every grade of society. ”

“ Man in all his relations is too vast a subject for us to contemplate, therefore we purpose the consideration of man in his social relations, in so far as these relations bear upon the health of the individual or the community of which we form a part. ”

“ If not supplied the candle will go on burning for a while, giving out less light and less heat; but when the oxygen is exhausted, the candle will die out. Thus it is with man. The candle, when deprived of pure air, gave evidence of less light, so to man under the same conditions would give evidence of less life. A lower vitality is equivalent to a closer approach to death. Day is opposed to night. Life to death. But even as between day and night there is twilight, so in our experience there is the twilight of disease. ”

“ The air which surrounds us on every side, though invisible, is not inactive. To the casual observer its existence might be doubted if it did not manifest itself in the gentle breezes which bear the faded leaves of the widowed trees to their resting place ”

“ Rain water, when collected in the country, is doubtless the purest and best adapted for ordinary household purposes, but in London and large cities it contains many impurities; when collected in our tubs or cisterns, it is impregnated with all the dust, dirt, and smoke that hangs more or less like a funeral pall over smoky cities; the air contains more or less sulphurous acid, and the carbon that escapes from our chimneys and is deposited on the tops of our houses, hence the sooty taste that soft or rain water has. ”

“ Not those who are practically acquainted with the dwellings of the poor. For those who are not, I shall in general terms indicate some of the features of the homes in my district. It is not my object to raise the veil of poverty to satisfy idle curiosity, or to awaken a morbid philanthropy. ”

“ The logic of the indifferent poor amounts to this: that those who work must pay for those that don’t; and hence arises one of the great difficulties in dealing with and relieving the poor. There are many limited companies formed to carry out various commercial enterprises; but if a limited company could be formed to erect suitable dwellings for the poor, at such a rental as they now pay, it would confer an unspeakable benefit on the poor, benefit society generally, and pay the really patriotic shareholders an equitable percentage. ”

“ I reply that the deserving poor, the earnest, striving poor, have the greatest possible objection to go to the house. They would rather die in want and wretchedness than become an inmate of the house. ”

“ The freshest air and the purest water will be no protection from disease and death, unless the human system is supplied in its food with the elements necessary for the play of those chemical forces which result in life. Not only must there be food supplying the materials of combustion and nutrition, but each tissue is built up and constituted its own peculiar way. The blood must be supplied with chloride of sodium and iron, the bones with phosphate, carbonate, and fluate of lime ”

“ The very worst have some good in them, and by appealing to that good in a kindly, honest spirit we may arouse that laudable ambition of self-respect and self-help, which will do more to improve the sanitary and social condition of the needy poor than could be accomplished by extraneous help, if it did not secure the hearty sympathy and co-operation of the poor. ”

“ Society is like the body; one member cannot be affected without the whole body suffering. It is not only right, but profitable to make the dwellings of the poor healthy, and to surround them by all the protection that preventive measures can do. Sickness is one of the worst calamities that can befall the poor labouring man. ”

“ The practical deduction is, that if we would maintain the health of a parish and prevent cholera, diarrhœa, typhus, or any other epidemic, p. 20we must improve our sanitary condition. Pure water lies at the foundation of all sanitary improvements. Let it be well known that impure water is to be dreaded, and the fear of an epidemic may prove a healthy stimulus to increased activity and cleanliness in connection with a subject of such vital importance. Whether cholera visits us or not, we shall be all the better for having paid proper attention to our sanitary arrangements. ”

“ Cleanliness is very desirable in health, but it is imperatively necessary in disease, both the room and the patient should be kept thoroughly clean. Both body and bed linen should be frequently changed, and as soon as the soiled linen is removed it should be placed in water and p. 29thoroughly washed, and not rolled up and kept till the regular washing day. There is a great objection to change the linen of patients suffering from fever for fear they should catch cold, this is an ignorant prejudice. Fever patients do not take cold if ordinary care be employed. ”

“ A few brief observations on the control and prevention of infections diseases, such as small-pox, measles, scarlet fever, typhus fever, typhoid fever, cholera, &c.
The above-mentioned diseases are capable of being transmitted from those who are infected to those who are not. It is at once cheering and obligatory to know that the spread of these infectious diseases depends upon certain specific conditions, and that these conditions are primarily within the control of man. ”