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    September 23, 1854.] THE LEADER. 901

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    VENTILATION VERSUS CHOLERA. The question...

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    Sheffield—Its Towjt Council And Its Poli...

    you have suppressed the truth ; " this was said in the midst of the Councillor's speech . The Councillor , however , remained unmoved and undiverted , and persisted in his speech until he had established his point , viz ., that the attempt to refuse a Theatrical license because of certain speculative sentiments avowed in the Theatre , was unmagisterial and intolerant . Mr . Councillor Beal , in a pertinent speech , explained that which needs to be explained to magistrates in many other towns—viz ., that the Law gives

    the Magistracy power to adjudicate upon the civil conduct of Lessees and Publicans , but not to hold inquest upon , or take cognisance of , their religious opinions . This were to place every man ' s conscience at the mercy of the Bench . Mr . Beal reprobated the double want both of courage and liberality in attempting to strike at the opinions of Mr . Barker through the lessee of the theatre . Then followed an Internecine war of words . Councillor Oates said , " that as the mover of the resolution had had an

    opportunity of making a speech , which he could see in print , he had better let the motion drop . " This gross imputation was unchecked by the Mayor , and indeed this kind of thing seemed a characteristic of this local legislature . A dense old gentleman , one Councillor Sciiolefield , a reformed We 4 eyan , in ¦ whom the growth of reformation must have been checked in an untimely manner , spoke on behalf of the magistrates in ponderous firstlies , secondlies , and thirdlies . Mr . Francis Hoole , the Mayor , called his opaque friend to order , but in this case he was courteous to a turn . Alderman Golly , who showed

    efficiency above others , and might have defended the Bench , contented himself toy the absurd suggestion that the Council had no right to an opinion on the subject . The feebler benchers rode off on this sad Rosinante . Mr . Magistrate Dunn took occasion to declare his respectful opinion of . tlie Council , by saying that for himself he did not care what they thought of him . This mutual contempt for each other was the leading and painful demonstration of the debate . The Mayor indulged the Council with a similar opinion , and Mr . Magistrate Dunn gave the lie direct twice to an objecting Councillor , after the

    manner of the back-woods * Parliaments of America . The mover-of the resolution offered , that since it had been professed by the magistrates that Mrs . Scott ' s license had not been refused on religious grounds , he would withdraw the motion , provided the Mayor declared the opinion of the Bench to be that letting the theatre to an heretical lecturer was not a sufficient ground for refusing a license . This was boisterously declined , and on putting the motion the Mayor pleaded his own case , not only with want of dignity , but in this extraordinary language : —' I accuse the mover of this resolution with want of candour and want of trutli . " To tliis kind of

    language the etiquette of society prescribes but one mode of response . If you are strong , you lenock your opponent down—if weak , you . kick him—if a gentleman , you send your card by a friend , and appoint a place of meeting . That an English gentleman—a chief magistrate of a borough sending two members to Parliament—should conduct himself in this United-States style will bo incredible to those who cannot visit Sheffield on a Wednesday . In

    America such a debate would have been diversified by bowic-knives . In the days when Sheffield wore fustian jackets , it would have ended in a stand-up fight—but kerseymere and West Saxony , timorous of rents andtearings , are more decorous . Kerseymere and West Saxony are great Morallsers ! Tho motion above-named waa complicated and not carried , but aa tho act of interference witli opinion was disowned by tho Bench , tho practical point was gained .

    Sheffield is fond of solf-government , nnd its Town Council ia tlio most active and radical in the kingdom . Its more popular members have , indeed , the vice of nil young corporate bodies—tho vice , of too much speaking . But it deserves to be recorded that the chief of them manifest one point of discipline , as laudable as it is rare . Few of tlie ebullitions of tho ASoncu wero retorted . However dospotictilly tho mayor put « ny speaker clown , tho speaker submitted . Ue * a our own officer , " said one of tho councillors to tho writer . "Wo appoint him , nnd wo will obey him , right or wrong ; nnd if wo do not like him we can elect a better when tho time conies . If wo retort , tie opponents of Belf-government w il 1 say wo wrangle s thoroforo , wo contest ami aubmit , " This is tho spirit winch does honour to eelCgovornment , nnd which would hnvo tmved Republican Franco had it lonrncd

    this wise lesson . It is a lesson , however , which the Councillors of Sheffield have not yet thoroughly by heart , it must be admitted . For the advocacy of theoretical rights which have so long occupied the heads and diverted the energies of the people , Sheffield has substituted the attainment of local powerand influence . The radicals get votes—appoint radical councillors—cliques are exploded—local rights are not merely agitated , they are assumed . The effectiveness of the new over the old mode in evident from the opinion formed by competent judges—the old governing Stand-stilliaus , who say , " We don ' t mind chartism , we can frustrate that when it does not frustrate itself ; but radicals coming and seating themselves by our side at councils and boards , with equal power and active willwe don ' t like this . "

    Sheffield reminds you of what Lord Dudley Stuart said of the Red Monarchies , viz ., that we had more to fear from them than from the Bed Republicans ; but there is far less subordination among the higher than among tlie lower classes . Mr . Hadfield , the member , found himself insulted at the late Cutlers ' feast by the Parker-Whigs . The present writer is not one who would have voted for Mr . Hadfield- ^ but even the democratic principle dictates that he should be treated with deference when elected . Whiggism should not be more an archical than Democracy . The present Mayor refused to accept the invitation of the Master Cutler a -week ago , to the Cutlers ' Feast , because invited as " Francis Hoole , Esquire , " and not as the Mayor of Sheffield .. Yet his punctilious Worship presides over tlie Town Council in a far lower tone than that taken by the President of any Working Man ' s Assembly .

    The art of Cutlery is far more advanced in Sheffield than the art of Manners . The town is full of feuds . No party tries to convince—each aims to be at and to damage the other . Tlie whole town is akimbo . Every man has his elbows in his neighbour ' s side , which produces a permanent state of ecstasies and vituperations . This , aft « r all , is not so bad . It implies life , activity , pluck . It is transition—but it will lead to something . As one said who had witnessed the strife of the New World and the petrifaction of the Old , " I prefer any ebullition to the corruption of apathy and despotism . " When Sheffield adds good taste to good sense , and good feeling to public spirit , it may be tbe most exemplary of English towns . Iotf .

    September 23, 1854.] The Leader. 901

    September 23 , 1854 . ] THE LEADER . 901

    Ventilation Versus Cholera. The Question...

    VENTILATION VERSUS CHOLERA . The question of ventilation , in connexion with cholera , does not appear to have been sufficiently considered . Cholera is said " not to obey any uniform law ; " and is spoken of as a " mysterious disease , " breaking out in one country amidst the heats of summer , whilst in another country it rages with greatest violence in mid-winter . In some towns the largest mortality is in crowded cellar dwellings ; in other towns , in rooms above the ground-floor , and greatest in t 3 ie attics . Swamps , rivers , low elevations , t he absence of sowers , the presence of sewers , no water , impure water , heat , electricity , have each been said to propagate , if not to generate , cholera in excess . Stratifications liave been blamed , and theories without end have been propounded , none of which are sntisfactory . Nor will any theory ever satisfy . Beyond all question of a doubt , a concurrence of circumstances js required to produce cholera . And the prime necessity is human beings . The theorists overlook this condition , and go beating about after causes which arc secondary , and must bo contingents . Mass human beings , cither in towns or iu armies , either in winter or summer , heat or cold , during the prevalence of an epidemic atmosphere , and you must have cholera ; aiot because of this river , that

    stratification , bad water , winter , summer , no sewers , disturbed electric action , animalcules , floating fun . goiil , and the thousand s » nd one other contingent phenomena , but simply becauso thoro are human beings capable of receiving the seeds of the disease , and of generating it . Bad water ia ft tad thing , but alono it does not produce cholera . Xo-w and dump situations are unwholesome , but theso conditions do not necessarily produco this fatal disease in excess , auid so on of any single sot of conditions or phenomena . Tuko tho following formula ) as aibout the nearest guess present knowledge will cnnlrio us to make on tuie subject :

    First , catch your people , crowd them in n limited area—mud , gravel , limestone , sandstone , or grnnito , —under canvas in a barren country , or in quarters in villages and towns—in a city on tho banks of a river , or midland and on a plain—in ground floors and cellars , us at Livorpool , or ixv attics aa at

    Glasgow—m narrow streets and lanes , chares , and room tenements , as at Newcastle-upon-T yne—or on board ship , mercantile or naval , in the middle of the ocean —the food of cholera is provided in the people . To develop the disease , overcrowd , cause the confined atmosphere to be breathed and re-breathed , until it is lung-tainted so as to be a poison ; then , as your subjects may be more or less fitted from other causes to receive and develop the disease , so will it rage , mildly or virulently . Bad food , bad water , intemperance , depraved and sensual indulgence of any kind , overfeeding , excessive fatigue , with long exposure , fear , and that mysterious influence , sympathy , in

    fact , any cause which weakens the vital functions , fi ts the patient to receive and to develop cholera . To give returns of the numbers of deaths in proportion to elevation , without giving the area covered and the character and habits of the relative populations , only misleads . Remove the inhabitants on either side of the Thames " below the 10 feet level , " and carry their dwellings ( small rooms and crowded houses ) to the top of Highgate , the results woujld be little if at all modified . It is of the utmost importance this fact should not "be lost sight of . Cholera is true to no single set of phenomena , but if a catalogue of the conditions necessary to its production were drawn out , it would commence :

    1 . Human beings , in mass . 2 . An epidemic atmosphere . 3 . Overcrowding without ventilation . The theorist may now arrange all the minor causes to his fancy . Examine the seats of cholera from Land ' s End to John o'Groats , and disease will ever be found most rife amidst masses of people of depraved habits , living in small rooms without adequate ventilation . Neither low-level , nor elevation — no sewers , imperfect sewers , no water , bad water , not even good water—appeared to have much to do with the disease ; it seemed to pick out the worst livers from the worst places .

    Having attempted to show how cholera is propagated , it may be useful to show how it may be lessened , if not prevented . Where practicable , thin the population ; in an army separate the tents ; but , above all , place fewer men under each tent . Only allow half or one third the usual numbers to sleep aft one time , and strike the tent and totally change Ihe atmosphere with each change or relief of occupants . Better and safer to expose the men to the inconvenience and inclemencies of the weather than to air foul and confined . On boaTd

    ship the same rul « s should be adopted . Reduce overcrowding , and promote ventilation by all possible means . The disinfecting or deodorising fluids and gases should be provided , and should be judiciously used . The commissariat should not neglect thia . A few scores of gallons of chloride of lime or zinc at Varna might hare saved hundreds of lives . The motto should be—ventilation , ventilation , ventilation . Any means which will furnish pure air , or promote change of air should be adopted at all times , at all seasons , in all places , and under all conditions .

    There have been many complaints as to the sewers in the . metropolis—tho large foul sewers of depositand many suggestions have been given as to trapping them . This would be the most fatal mistake which could be made . ] f one gully-hole or ventilating grate gives out foul gas do not stop it ; but , if possible , innko more . Decomposition is not stopped , nor is foul gas destroyed , by trapping gully-gratea and closing ventilating shafts . Sulphuretted hydrogen gas , being lighter than common air , rises out at tho weakest point : prevent its escape into the streets and it will bo forced into tho houses . Surely it ia bettor externally than , internally ? If tho commissioners of sowers would expend some of their monoy

    in erocting vcntuuling shafts , they would do nioro good than in constructing Victoria-street sowera . Tho property of gas is to dittuse equally through the air . The dilution , with equal diflusion , would bo at tho cubo of the elevation at which it is dolivcrpil : that is , gas delivered at tlie surface of tho street : being ( one ) ut an elevation of ten foot , would bo reduced , at tho distwnco of ten feet on each side , to ono thousand , or it would bo diluted as ono thousand to ono . Do not itsk tho coininisaionors <> f sowers to oloso ventilntintf RratoH , but compol them to construct ventilating n ! wifla . To do this would be to save lunttu lifo . Jiimw ..

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 23, 1854, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_23091854/page/13/