George Hay

“ The people of both sexes physically differ entirely from the men and women of Edinburgh, who, as a rule, are straight and strong, well-featured and intelligent, and excellent examples of manly and womanly beauty. The principal industry of Glasgow—the building of iron and steel ships—demands a great deal of unskilled or rather of low-grade labor, and the ranks of the laborers are recruited from Ireland. ”

“ It is only employed when the mother is out on an errand; and, though the child's legs, of course, are somewhat constrained by the shawl, the actual time during which that is the case amounts to very little in the twenty-four hours, and is not long enough to produce the deformity. Moreover, not many miles away, at Saltcoats, on the Ayrshire coast, all the women carry their babies in precisely the same manner as in Glasgow, and yet not a single case of rachitis or osteomalacia is to be seen there. ”

“ The writer remembers distinctly the time when large bands of Irishmen used to visit England and Scotland, during the autumn of each year, to be employed on the harvest-field as shearers or reapers. But, owing to the introduction of machinery, that occupation is gone. The harvest only employs men for a few weeks each year; but the building of iron ships is carried on all through the year: the shearers have become riveters, and have remained in Glasgow. ”

“ It is true, however, that the ash of oats contains more lime than the ash of wheat; but then wheat contains quite enough of lime to build up bone-tissue—hence the fact that certain people do not build up sufficient bone-tissue, no matter what their diet may be, is proof that the diseases are due to a tendency in the individuals to waste, and not to assimilate these very phosphates which wheat-flour contains in abundance. ”

“ It follows that, in order to support the body at all, enormous quantities must be eaten. The stomach expands to accommodate the huge bulk of this inefficient food, the body becomes paunchy, and the limbs of children, enfeebled by rachitis, occasioned partly by the miserable food and partly by the unwholesome surroundings, bend under the weight of the trunk, and the deformity already described is the result. ”

“ Many lay the blame for the trouble upon the air. Glasgow air does not appear to be different from other air, and is certainly no worse than that of a dozen other manufacturing cities where no unusual bandy-leggedness exists. Consideration of this point may, then, be dismissed at once.
The writer believes that an adequate explanation for the affliction may be found in the habits of the Irish people. ”

“ The mills in Great Britain are, so far as their hygienic condition is concerned, far better provided for than the mills of any other country in the world; they are looked after by the Government, and regularly visited by a competent and responsible inspector. Mill-workers have, nowadays, an easy, comfortable, and healthful occupation, and really there is nothing in mill-work to deform or injure either the women or their children. ”

“ It is well known that all over the south and west of Ireland thousands of the peasantry live in mud cabins, which are for the most part several feet below the level of the surrounding soil, many of them destitute of windows, doors, and chimneys, the places of which are supplied by simple holes. ”

“ The food of the family consists chiefly or entirely of potatoes, and it is seldom indeed, that any of the members see bread or meat, although occasionally a little fish, in the shape of eels from the adjacent "bog-holes," may find its way to their mouths. ”

“ The average riveter is a mere animal, given to eating, and drinking, and debauchery, and, as a consequence, despite his high wages, he is continually on the ragged edge of poverty, misery, and destitution. ”

“ At this point, again, the law of heredity comes into play, for if the parents, and the children which they bring along with them, are not rachitic, the chances are that the children and children's children born in America, will not be rachitic either. ”

“ A half-ounce of bread, more or less, additional in the diet, would make up for all the difference between a soft and a hard water. The professional opinion may, therefore, be rejected as not pertinent. ”

“ In addition to those here illustrated, examples may be seen of forward or backward, regular or irregular curvature, single or double curvature of one leg, with an outward or inward, regular or irregular, single or double curvature of the other leg. ”

“ It may be objected by American observers that the Irish in America exhibit none of these excruciating deformities. But it must be remembered that few but reasonably able-bodied Irish manage to get to America. Few others can get together the means to pay their passage ”