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    P^ ^S CHOLERA

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    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 unmagistcrial 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 , l { 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 vas unchecked by the Mayor , and indeed this kind of thing seemed a characteristic of this local legislature . A dense old gentleman , one Councillor Scholefield , a reformed Weleyan , in whom the growth of reformation must have been checked in an untimely manner , spoke on behalf of the magistrates in ponderous firstliesy secondlies , and thirdlies .. Mr . Francis Hoole , the Mayor , called his opaque friend to order , i > ut in this case he was courteous to a turn . Alderman Golly , who showed

    efficiency above others , and might have defended the Bench , contented himself by the absurd suggestion that the Council had no right to an opinion tin the subject . The feebler benchers rode off on this sad Rosinante . Mr . Magistrate Dunn took occasion to declare His respectful opinion of the 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 thi 3 extraordinary language : — "I accuse the mover of this resolution with want of

    candour and want of truth . " To this kind of language the etiquette of society prescribes but one mode of response . If you are strong , you knock 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 havo becu diversified

    by bowie-kmves . In the days when Sheffield wore fustian jackets , it would have ended in a stand-up fight—but kerseymere nnd West Saxony , timorous of rents and tear ings , are more decorous . Kerseymere and West Saxony are great Moralises ! The motion above-named was complicated and not carried , but as the act of interference with opinion was disowned by the Bench , the practical point was g . iinod . Sheffield is fond of self-governniunt , and its Town Council is the most nctivo and radical in the kingdom . Its more popular members have , indeed , the vice of nil young corporate bodies—the vice of too

    much speaking , But it iloservoa to be recorded that the chief of them manifest one point of discipline , an laudable as it is rare . Few of tlie ebullitions of the wonch wore xetortud . Howovcr despotically the mayor put nny speaker flown , the spoakur submitted , no is our own ofnoer , " said one of the ( 'ounoiUora to the writer . " Wo appoint bin ) , and wo will obey him , right or wrong ; and if wo do not like him we can elect a better when tho time conica . If wo retort , the opponents of self-government will say wo wrangle ; » iTi T , conttiBt « " ><» «« bmit . " This is the apirit which does honour to aolf . govom . nent , and which would have Bared Republloim Franco had it learned

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    this wise lesson . It is a lesson , however , which the Councillors of Sheffield liave 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 power and 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-stilliatis , 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 den'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 Red Republicans ; but there is far less subordination among the higher than among the lower classes . 3 Ir . 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 anarchical 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 the 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 toyn is full of feuds . No party tries to convince—each aims to be at and to damage the other . The whole town is akimbo . Every man has his elbows in his neighbour ' s side , which produces a permanent state of ecstasies and vituperations . This , after 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 Kew World and the petrifaction of tho 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 the most exemplary of English towns . low .

    P^ ^S Cholera

    gow—m narrow streets and lanes , chares , and nxmi tenements , as at Newcastle-upon-Tyne—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 confir . od atmosphere to be breathed and re-breathed , until it is lung-tainted so as to be a po-ison ; 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 , excessii'e fatigue , with long exposure , fear , and that mysterious influence , sympathy , in

    fact , any cause which weakens the vital functions , fits 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 would 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 liveM 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 ot one third the usual numbers to sleep at one time , and strike the tent and totally change the 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 foiil and confined . On board

    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 , wliilst 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 the attics . Swamps , rivers , low elevations , the absence of sowers , tho presence of sewers , no water , impure water , heat , electricity , have each

    been said to propagate , if not to generate , cholera in excess . Stratifications have been blamed , and theories without end have been propounded , none of which are satisfactory , Nor will any theory ever satisfy . Beyond all question of a doubt , a concurrence of circumstances is required to produce cholera . And the prime necessity is Immnn beings . The theorists overlook this condition , and go beating alioufc after causes which are seeo-ndafy , and must bo contingents . Mass human boings , cither in towns or in nrniies , either in winter or summer , heat or cold , d uring tho prevalence of an epidemic atmosphere , and you must have cholera ; not because of this river , that

    stratification , bad water , winter , summer , no sewers , disturbed electric action , animalcules , floating fun . goid , and tlic thousand nnd one other contingent phenomena , but simply because there are human beings capable of receiving the seeds of the disease , and of generating ' it . Dad waiter is a bad thing , but alone it does not produce cholera . Law and damp situations arc unwholesome , but these conditions do not necessarily produce this fatal disease in excess , and so on of ii » y single sut of comlil 3 ons or phenomena . Take tho following formulas us about the nearest guess presont knowledge will enublo us to make on tin is subject :

    First , catch your people , crowd them in a limited nroa—mud , gravel , limestone , sandstone , or granite , —under cauvftB in a bairrcn 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 , as at Liverpool , or in attics ua ut

    Ginsship the same rules should be adopted . Reduce overcrowding , and promote ventilation by all possible means . The disinfecting or deodorising fluids and gases should be provided , and should he judiciously used . The commissariat should not neglect tin ' s . A few scores of gallons of chloride of lime or zinc at Varna might have 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 , nnd under all conditions .

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

    commissioners of sewers -would expend some of their nionoy in erecting vontiLiuing shafts , they would do hi ore good than in constructing Victoria-street severs . The property of gas ia to diffuse equally through tho air . Tho dilution , with equal diffusion , would bo at tho cube of tho elevation ait which it »» delivered : that is , gas delivered < U tho surface of tho street being ( oik >) at im elevation , of ten foot , would be roduced , « t tho distance of Ion foet onoach side , to o : io thousand , or it would bo diluted iw one thousand to one . Do not » wk tl » o commissioners of Bower * to close ventilating grates , but compel thorn to eonatruct ventilating shafts . To do this would bu to save hmun Hfc . MmuK ,

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    September 23 , 1854 . ] THE LEADER . 901

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 23, 1854, page 901, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2057/page/13/