SHAPTER CHOLERA IN EXETER WCB 5529h 1849 RISDON LiTh: F: X¦ . rE R. Latitude 50° 40' north . Longitude 3° 41' west. /» face litle oaye t THE HISTORY OF THE CHOLERA IN EXETER IN 1832 BY THOMAS SHAPTER, M.D., « • * PHYSICIAN TO THE DEVON AND EXETER HOSPITAL; THE ST. THOMAS' HOSPITAL, NEAR EXETER, EOR LUNATICS; THE LYING-INCHABITY, &C. &C. LONDON: JOHN CHURCHILL, PRINCES STREET, SOHO. EXETER: ADAM HOLDEN, HIGH STREET. MDCCCXLIX. YVC3 \j CD hJ 111 184^ LONDON: PRINTED BY d. J. PALMER, SAVOY STREET, STRAND, TO WILLIAM KENNAWAY, ESQ. My dear Sir, It gives me much pleasure to dedicate the following pages to you. They may probably call to your recollection many of the events of that period when you, as Mayor of Exeter, rendered great and important services to this your native City. Believe me, My dear Sir, Yours very truly, The Author. PREFACE. Between three and four years since, I purposed drawing up a sketch of the epidemics and diseases of Exeter, and by the information derived from the reports of deaths furnished to the district registrars, had made considerable progress towards this end. Some public duties which devolved upon me, for a time, interfered with my further pursuing my object; and when able to resume it, the re-appearance of the Asiatic Cholera in Western Europe, and even in England itself, naturally directed my attention to that portion of the inquiry which particularly related to this epidemic. In the course of investigating the local history of the disease, many forgotten circumstances were vividly called to my recollection, and perhaps much herein contained will appear new to others who were actively engaged during this period ; for events, even of the deepest interest, frequently become, in the lapse of years, faintly remembered or totally forgotten. Whilst the Cholera prevailed in Exeter, the proceedings of the Board of Health were, day by day, noted down. , .-Unfortunately this official record has been lost, and though the labour of putting together the following pages has, consequently, been much increased, yet, by industriously seeking out every vi document and information in my power relating to the occurrence of the disease, I believe a fair and comprehensive account of this period has been rendered, and that the errors will be found to be rather of commission than of omission ; at the same time, it should be clearly understood that nothing has been here stated, but from the authority chiefly of documents themselves, or from such direct information as could be relied on. If the result do not prove of general interest, it may at any rate form a not unimportant chapter in the history of this city. It will probably appear that some portions of the following pages are redundant and burthensome, such as the resolutions and proceedings of the public bodies, the names of persons, the various handbills which were then issued, &c. : at this early period they may perhaps be so, but, in recording them, I not only looked to give a full and accurate history of the time, but likewise kept in view that future period, when a change of habits and circumstances may give them point and interest. I may state that to reclaim many of the handbills, cost me much seeking and some trouble ; and I believe, in more than one instance, they have been here reprinted from the only copies extant. I cannot but feel that had there been preserved similar documents of the plagues which in old times have passed over Exeter, and of which there are now only a few index notices,* they would form a * The records of the previous plagues of Exeter amount to little more than mere notices of their having existed, a. d. 1233, — "A great plague of pestilence here happened, which continued three years together." 1345, — " The plagues of pestilence reigned here almost three years ;" Bishop Grandisson mentions its having carried off the little community of St. James's Priory below this City ; indeed it raged at this period throughout the diocese of Exeter ; by the episcopal register we learn that at Bodmin, in 1348, the prior was swept off with every member of the community except two ; and that at Witheridge, the rector, William Wyngrave, in consequence of the great scarcity of the population of his parish, had to send his servants with a cart to collect the bodies of the dead, in Templeton, for interment ; in the night a corpse fell from the cart from its being overfilled, which corpse, one William Atteyhene, the next day, went in search of, and brought to Witheridge, and had for his pains one penny. 1360, — "This City was much visited with the pestilence." 1375, — "The plague of pestilence vii record of the greatest interest, nor can it fail to be perceived that that with which we regard the plagues of Athens, Milan, Mar- entered this city, chiefly oocasioned through excessive heat." 1379, — " The city by a great plague was left almost desolate.'' 1389, — "A great number of people here died: the city being infected with the plague." 1479. — " A multitude of people died here by reason of the plague, wherewith the whole city was infected." 1503, — "The plague of pestilence reigned excessively, wherein Robert Newton, 9 May, and John Daneston, 25 August, both of them mayors successively, John Guscott and John Norden, bailiffs, (amongst a multitude of others,) here died," In 1 504, it is recorded, there was " an inquisition taken upon the deceases of sundry freeholders of this city, who died in the last plague, of all such their lands within the said City and liberties thereof as were holden of the maior, bailiffs, and commonalty of the same, as chief lords by socage tenure; and it was likewise found that any of them and every like freeholder, is, and ought in right, to pay for a relief 2s. 6d." 1535, — "Here died a multitude of people through the infection of the plague." (1563, — "The plague of pestilence being in London, no goods brought thence were permitted to be brought hither, and St. Nicolas's fair was for this year discontinued.") 1569, — "The plague reigning here, the chiefest men of the city removed into the country with their families.'' 1585, — "At the assizes held at the castle of Exeter, there were certain prisoners arrayed before Serjeant Flowerdby, (one of the judges of assizes for this western circuit,) when suddenly there arose such a noisome smell from the bar, as that a great number of the people there present were therewith infected, whereof in a very short space thereafter died the judge, Sir John Chichester, Sir Arthur Bassett, and Sir Bernard Drake, Knights, Robert Cary, and Thomas Risdon, Esquires, justices of the peace, and then sitting on the bench, and eleven of the jury impannelled and sworn for the trial of the said prisoners at the bar, and the twelfth man only escaped ; the cause of the sickness was said to be thus : Sir Bernard Drake, having been at sea, took a Portugal ship which had then hovered up and down a long season, insomuch that the merchants and mariners therein by diseases (chiefly occasioned through want of victuals and necessaries) were all worn out. These men he brought into Dartmouth, and caused them to be sent to the gaol near Exeter Castle, with which contagious disease all persons therein were soon infected, (and most of them died,) and no less both city and countrey." 1603, — " The plague being entered into this city, a pest-house (for the better succour of persons infected therewith) was provided near the said city by the special care of the magistrates ; Mawdlin and Lammas Fair (in regard of the said sickness) were not now kept.'' 1624, — "The plague here entered in the month of July, and continued very hot for one year's space, sweeping away many families." 1625. — " The mayor being elected refused to accept the office, (in regard of the contagious sickness here still reigning,) but withdrew himself into the country, whereupon a petition was sent hence to the King, who commanded this mayor to undertake the office on his allegiance, whereunto he readily yielded obedience, and performed it very worthily. A pesthouse in the parish of St. Sidwell was purchased by the city for the benefit of such poor people as were or should be infected with the plague." (1627, 1629, and 1639,— "The city of Sarum and the towns of Cambridge and Taunton being respectively afflicted with the plague during these years, money raised by voluntary contribution was sent hence to aid and assist them." 1664, — "Manyhundred pounds were collected and sent to London and other towns infected with the plague of pestilence towards the better relief of the poor therein, viii seilles, and London, is solely derived from the authentic details which have been preserved of them. I would add one word with regard to the illustrations which, it is hoped, embellish the following pages. The manuscript was in the and a pest-house near this city for the relief of the inhabitants, (in case the plague should happen amongst us,) was purchased and much improved by building." 1636, — In the Consecration Act of the Bartholomew-yard in 1637, the occurrences of the late plague are alluded to. It is somewhat difficult to fix accurately the nature of all the above plagues. It may, however, be assumed that those which occurred previously to 1486 were either malignant fevers or the glandular plague. That of 1346-7-8 was undoubtedly the latter, for its prevalence was not only then very general, but its progress is thus traced from the registers of the 14th century, — • " after it had first broken out in the county of Dorset, whence it advanced through the counties of Devon and Somerset to Bristol, and then reached Gloucester, Oxford, and London. Probably few places escaped — perhaps not any; for the annals of contemporaries report that throughout the land only a tenth part of the inhabitants remained alive." It has been computed that between 1346 and 1350 a fourth part of the inhabitants of the globe were carried off. During the prevalence of this pestilence, which has been emphatically called the black-death of the 14th century, Hecker says that without exaggeration Europe lost 25,000,000 inhabitants. It is also probable that the plague of the following century in 1479 was of the same character, not only from the mode in which it is designated, but from the glandular plague then being recorded as prevailing in Italy and other parts of Europe. The " plague of pestilence," which reigned in 1503, and of whose mortality the effects are rather more particularly recorded, was most probably the " Sudor Anglicanus " or English sweating sickness, as was also that, of 1535, for from 1485 to 1551 there are recorded in England five distinct outbreaks of this devastating disease, the first in 1485, the second in 1506, the third in 1517, the fourth in 1528, the fifth in 1 551. Nevertheless, no decided conclusion can be come to on this point, for though it may be assumed that the sweating sickness prevailed at Exeter in common with other parts of England, yet the dates of these great sicknesses here do not coincide with those of the occurrence of the disease elsewhere in this kingdom—while we do find that both in 1 503, which is three years before the second occurrence of the sweating sickness in London, " the glandular plague and destructive epidemics " prevailed in Germany and France, and that in 1504 the plague prevailed in Spain, and in 1 505 a petechial fever in Italy, while the fourth eruption of the sweating sickness had passed over England six years previously to 1535, the date of one of the great plagues of Exeter. A careful consideration of the accounts rendered to us of the sweating sickness cannot fail to convince, that there exists some affinity between it and the spasmodic Cholera; and it is remarkable, that while the annals of this former disease speak of the previous occurrence of influenza, so has the same order of events been observed preceding the occurrence of the Cholera. It has also been noted above, that during the intervening periods, and even during the prevalence of the sweating sickness, glandular and petechial plagues were not unfrequent ; it is singular and worthy of observation that there has been latterly, i. c. during the months of April, May, and June of the present year, a singular and unusual amount of glandular disease. 7 ix hands of the printer, and the first four sheets were, as I believe it is technically termed " worked off," when my friend, Mr. Oendall, most kindly and liberally placed at my disposal these illustrations of the period ; and as they comprised interesting sketches of old parts of Exeter, my love for the ancient City induced me immediately to suspend the progress of my work, that I might avail myself of this opportunity of recording some of those places and customs which have since passed away : the progress of the last seventeen years in destroying " Old Exeter" is remarkable, and constitutes an eera in its history. To the manner in which these sketches have been rendered by the engraver, Mr. R. Hart, their appearance in the following pages will testify ; I have to thank him for the readiness and kindness with which he has complied with every wish and suggestion I made to him. The map, which forms the frontispiece, has been constructed with great care and attention to particulars, and at the expense of much labour ; for I have not only consulted the official returns, the registers of deaths, and the registers of burials, but personally and diligently sought information from those engaged in the burials themselves : it thus yields an authentic and curious record of the then state of Exeter. The Orders in Council, which were issued at the period to which the following pages refer, will be found in the foot notes. The reason for thus inserting them was by no means to encumber this work with general and extraneous matter, but from their being the moving springs and key to much that then took place ; moreover, singular as it may appear, they are very difficult to be obtained : as the London Gazette, in which they were originally published, however familiar its notices may be to us all, is not a journal usually to be met with by private individuals. These reasons and the light which they throw upon the opinions and X feelings of the time, will I trust be a sufficient apology for their re-publication here. If we compare them with the Orders in Council which have been recently issued, they constitute what may be termed a literary curiosity, of the deepest interest, in the history of this country, when it is borne in mind, that these contrary blasts of dogmatic opinion bear the seal, and carry with them the weight, of official importance. Though I have in the following pages studiously avoided entering upon any discussion of the vexed questions mooted and so peremptorily decided in these documents, I have not hesitated, at the same time, briefly to express my own conclusions upon the subject, and which perhaps I may not be deemed unreasonable in having done : inasmuch, as in another place* I have, at some length, canvassed the general doctrines of contagion, and of epidemic influence. The chapter devoted to the description of the disease itself, its predisposing causes, method of cure, &c, must by no means be taken as a complete and comprehensive view of this very important portion of my inquiry; it is intended to depict solely that which occurred in this City. Nevertheless, from the character of the disease having been so universally the same, it may be found to illustrate those general principles which mark and regulate its course, and therefore may conduce towards arriving at the true nature of the disease, and the treatment, prophylactic and medical, necessary for counteracting its fatal tendencies. To the inquiry which is so frequently and anxiously made, Is there no cure for Cholera ? I would make this reply : There is no specific cure for Cholera ; but, as in fever and other diseases, its various stages require management and treatment according to the phenomena that are developed, and the individual constitutions in which they arise, and that a wise conduct and judicious management of these are * Library of Medicine, Vol. i., pp, 208, 27 1. xi likely, under God's blessing, to be attended with benefit ; while a wild and indiscriminate resort to specifics must inevitably be injurious. Fortunately the delusive hope that formerly carried away the public mind has now much subsided, and the idle seeking for a specific, is abandoned for the more laborious inquiry of a timely management of the symptoms and peculiar conditions of the disease. In the concluding chapter it has been stated that the seasons of plagues and pestilences are epochs of development. Passing by, with reverential acknowledgment, all discussion of the wise purposes of that First Great Cause which rules and governs all existence, the lessons thus taught us, if properly considered and duly attended to, cannot fail to confer the greatest advantages upon the social system, and I would fain hope that this has been the result in Exeter. The requirements of the City, which were so fully and fearfully demonstrated at the period of this pestilence, have been since that time assiduously sought out, anxiously discussed, and materially provided for ; lam not without the most sanguine hope that the consideration which has been th.us devoted to the public health will be advantageously felt, by its less diffused extent, should the disease recur in Exeter. I am the more strengthened in this view from my own experience of the present rarity of fever, which, previously to the improvements referred to, was not unfrequent : the change in this respect has been very remarkable. The importance and inestimable public advantage of sanitary provisions have been so long firmly impressed upon my mind, that on its becoming probable, from the gradual progress of the Asiatic Cholera westward during the years of 1846, 1847, and 1848, its re-appearance here might be anticipated, I did not fail to use that influence with which during a brief period I found xii myself invested, in urging forward and following up those measures to this end which had been previously devised and set in motion by our active and philanthropic fellow-citizen Mr. Daw ; and in order that the pestilence should not steal upon us unprepared, the disadvantages of which have been so fully set forth in the course of the following pages, a " Board of Health," or, I should rather say, a Committee of the Corporation of the Poor, constituted under the provisions of the " Nuisances Removal and Diseases Prevention Act, 1848," are now, and have been for some time, in active, though quiet and unobtrusive operation. Actuated by every wish to provide against the difficulties which may arise, they have been assiduously carrying out such measures, within their sphere and power, as they deemed might tend to the maintenance of the public health and well-being of the inhabitants. I cannot but hope that while the measures thus devised will prove useful in their primary objects, they may likewise assist towards preventing any unnecessary and immoderate expenditure of money : the peculiar condition in which Exeter was placed on the former occasion, by the insufficiencies of the " Cholera Prevention Act," and the surprise and newness of the feelings then excited, doubtless led to this during the short period the disease then prevailed. Though the liberality evinced on that occasion is much to be commended, still it is better that things should be so ordered as to supersede all reliance on eleemosynary aid. It only remains for me to offer my best thanks to many kind friends who have aided me in the present undertaking ; to Dr. Blackall, the Rev. James Eord, Mr. Kennaway, Mr. William Kennaway, Mr. Gidley, Mr. Benison, Mr. Golsworthy, and Mr. Lee, for the kindness with which they have placed at my disposal the various documents they had in their possession, and without which xiii the present work could not have been produced ; to the Rev. Dr. Oliver and Mr. Pitman Jones, who have assisted me in my endeavour to place the following pages in a fitting manner before the public ; and to my more humble friend, William Howard, who has taken great interest in procuring for me much information connected with the occurrence of the disease. The Bamfield, Exeter. 10 July, 1849. CONTENTS. Preface . . . . . . . . ¦: . v — xiii Explanation of the Woodcuts . . .... xxiii — xxviii CHAPTER I. The Constitution and General History of the Board of Health . 1 — 73 Origin of Cholera, 1 ; Cholera in Russia, ib. ; Drs. Russell and Barry sent there, ib. ; Board of Health established, ib. ; Cholera at Hamburgh, 2; existence of Cholera denied, ib. ; Order in Council, 20 Oct., 1832, 3 ; directs quarantine, 6 ; establishment of Local Boards with corresponding medical member, 7 ; separation of sick, purification of houses, and burial-grounds suggested, 8 ; sick to be under observation, " cordon " of troops, 9 ; the Mayor calls a meeting, ib. ; and Local Board of Health established, 10 ; letter from Dr. Seymour, 13 ; report of Committee, 14; appointment of treasurer and secretary, 16; Commissioners of Improvement vote money for sanatory objects, ib. ; general handbill with medical directions, 17; address from the clergy of Exeter, 20; Central Board of Health established, 22 ; Order in Council, 14 Nov., 1831, 23 ; confirms Local Boards now established, and inculcates general directions, 26; Order in Council, 13 Dec, 1831, 26; enjoins general cleanliness, speedy burial, use of flannel, and condemning specifics, recommends rational treatment, 30; Order in Council, 21 Nov. 1831, ib. ; cases to be reported by medical men, 31 ; to the Central Board, 32 ; public meeting of inhabitants, 33 ; flannel belts recommended, 34 ; sanitary state of city discussed, 35 ; Cholera in London, ib. ; Cholera Prevention Act passed, ib. ; Order in Council, 29 Feb. 1832, 36; confirms appointment of Board of Health and enjoins numerical returns by medical men, 37; Order in Council, 6 March, 1832, ib. ; directs providing houses of observation, medical assistants, &c, and compels removal of patients and others, 40; Cholera Prevention Act inapplicable to Exeter, Mr. Gidley's letter and statement thereon, 41 ; correspondence thereon, 42 ; Local Board of Health con- 1 stituted under seal of Privy Council, 46 ; forms for returns of cases prescribed, 47 ; Cholera at Plymouth, 52 ; difficulties experienced from inapplicability of Cholera Prevention Act, 52 ; Order in Council, 19 July, 1832, 53; enjoins the appointment of medical inspectors to lodging houses and the procuring separate burial-grounds, 56 ; and directs how monies are to be raised and expended, 57 ; Cholera in Exeter, 58 ; Order in Council as regards the raising of money inapplicable, 58 ; correspondence thereon, 59 ; meeting of the Corporation of the Poor, ib. ; Local Board of Health appointed for St. Sidwell's, 60 ; Difficulties of the Exeter Board of Health and their application to Privy Council, 62; who issue an Order in Council, 10 Aug. 1832, — which is still inapplicable, 62 ; Blackall, Henry, his letter thereon, 66 ; appointed deputy chairman of Local Board, 66 ; public meeting of inhabitants, Aug. 10, 1832, 67; Cholera fund established and various resolutions agreed to, 69 ; enlargement of Local Board of Health, 72 ; business of Local Board concluded, 73. CHAPTER 11. The Physical Condition of Exeter 74 — 79 Natural position of, 74 ; pavement of streets and mode of sewerage, ib. ; water supply, 75 ; conduit, ib.; water-carriers, 77; deficient drainage. &c, 78. CHAPTER 111. Quarantine . 80 — 83 Local Board of Health enjoins Quarantine, 80 ; the infected ship "Ranger" arrives at Exeter Quay, 81 ; Exeter declared an infected port, ib. ; clean bills of health granted, 82 ; quarantine at workhouse, 83 ; inspection of lodging-houses, ib. CHAPTER IV. The cleansing and purifying the City, fyc 84 — 114 General directions for cleansing the City, 85; Commissioners of Improvement appoint Committee to cover over drains, ib. ; scheme for better scavengering the streets adopted, 88 ; streets watered, 89 ; sewers in various streets commenced, 91 ; water supply, ib. ; wells, ib. ; conduit, 92 ; pumps, ib. ; water-works, 94 ; mode of watering the High Street, 96 ; various negotiations with Mr. Golsworthy for watering the City, 97 ; buckets of water supplied to the poor, 110; Messrs. Rouse and Clark propose water supply from springs in St. Sidwell's, 112; water company established, 113. xvi xvii CHAPTER V. Flannel Belts 115—119 Recommended to be distributed in the various parishes, 115; probable cost, 116; public meeting and circular in reference thereto, ib. ; belts distributed by the Local Board of Health and the Corporation of the Poor, 118. CHAPTER VI. Medical Assistants, Medicines, Nurses, Sfc. .... 120 — 129 Guardians of Poor appoint eight additional medical assistants, 121 ; their arrangements and report, 122; Ward Committee appointed, 123; druggists appointed, 121; station-house procured and supplied with necessaries, ib. ; assistants to beadle appointed, ib. ; blankets supplied from ordnance stores, ib. ; Cholera bed provided, 126; resignation of «ome and appointment of other medical assistants, ib. ; medical men keep watch at Guildhall during the night, 127 ; nurses hired, ib. ; handbill relating thereto, 128 ; rates of remuneration, ib. CHAPTER VII. Cholera Hospital and House for Convalescents .... 130—141 Application for barracks for this purpose, 1 30 ; refused, 131; application for buildings belonging to the City-workhouse, and other premises^ also refused, 133 ; plan for erecting a hospital entertained and abandoned, 134; further application for barracks refused, 136; application for hospitalat the barracks refused, 138 ; Board advertise for premises for a hospital, 139 ; premises procured, but relinquished from popular clamour, ib. ; the receiving-house for friends dying of Cholera provided, 141. CHAPTER VIII. Burial-grounds, Brc. . . 142— -1 76 Crowded state of the Southernhay and Bartholomew burial-grounds, 142; remonstrances against burying in them, 144 ; Bury Meadow voted by guardians of the poor, 145 ; riot at Bury Meadow, ib. ; clergyman refuses to bury except in Bury Meadow, 146 ; Dr. Blackall's letter I xviii thereon, 147; other burial-grounds proposed and objections started, 148; Pester-lane proposed, 149; Cemetery Committee appointed, 150; the Bishop consents to grant license for Bury Meadow, 150; Bury Meadow fenced and enclosed, 152 ; objections raised, ib. ; mode of procuring license stated, 153; guardians of poor formally dedicate Bury Meadow under their seal for the purposes of a burial-ground, 154 ; regulations for burials there promulgated, 155; Bishop grants license under his seal, 156 ; handbill respecting funerals there, 158 ; Committee endeavour to procure other sites for burial-grounds, ib. ; apply to the minister and churchwarden's of St. Sidwell's to assist them, 159 ; parish of St. David hold public meeting to urge the procuring of other burialgrounds, 160 ; report of Cemetery Committee, 163 ; Pester-lane burialground leased to Board of Health, 164; and licensed by the Bishop, 165; number of bodies interred in the different burial-grounds stated, 168 ; proposal to close the ancient burial-grounds, ib. ; portion of Bury Meadow set aside for the burial of Jews, 169 ; tombstones erected at Bury Meadow, 170; Cholera burial-grounds reopened 1833 and 1834, 171; coffins carried underhand objected to, ib.; hearse provided, ib. ; second hearse provided, 172; graves covered with lime, 173; gravediggers and their assistants, 173 ; tolling of church bells discontinued, 174 ; delay in burying the dead provided against, 175 ; measures taken to ensure those dying of Cholera being buried in the Cholera burialgrounds, ib. CHAPTER IX. Fumigations, Destruction of clothing, Bfc 177 — 184 Bodies enveloped in pitched linen, 177 ; fumigations, tar-barrels burnt, &c, 178 ; lime profusely distributed, 179 ; clothes destroyed and purified, ib. ; handbill relating thereto, 180; correspondence with the St. Thomas' Board of Health, 183. CHAPTER X- Food provided for the poor 185 — 195 Provision Committee appointed, 185 ; meat and bread distributed by tickets, ib. ; soup kitchen in St. Mary Arches-street, and St. Sidwell's, established, 186; this charity abused, and its operation suspended, ib.; Report of Provision Committee, 187 ; Relief Board appointed, 191 ; who distribute soup and meat, 192; and establish a minute investigation into the state of the poor, 193. xix CHAPTER XI. Consecration of Bedford Chapel j Assizes j Payment of Wages 196—202 Bedford Chapel consecrated, 196; assizes held, 197; charge of Mr. Justice Patteson, 199; theatre opened, 200; entry in city prison book, ib. ; drunkenness, &c, of lower orders, and handbill on the payment of wages, 201. CHAPTER XII. Correspondence with other Boards . . ... , 203,204 Examples of, 203 ; anonymous letters, with suggestions, 204. CHAPTER XIII. Account of the Asiatic Cholera as it occurred in Exeter . 205 — 234 First cases, and official report of, 205 ; Dr. Blackall's letter thereon, 207 ; official returns of, 208; general account of the symptoms of Cholera, 210; Cholera modified by circumstances, 214; total deaths from Cholera and other causes, 216 ; influence of age, 218 ; of sex, 221 ; of occupation, 222; of climate, ib. ; of locality, 223; re-appearance of Cholera in 1833 and 1834, and cases in 1846, 224; nature of the disease, 225 ; proximate origin, 226 ; mode of propagation, 228 ; period of incubation, 230; predisposing causes, ib. ; treatment, 231; forms required by Central Board on treatment, ib. CHAPTER XIV. Various incidents j abuse of medical men ; day of humiliation, BfC. 235 — 254 .Existence of Cholera denied, 235 ; riots, 236 ; medical men insulted, 237 ; handbills relating thereto, 239; remarkable incidents illustrating the desolation ofthe City, 241 ; increase of profligacy, ib.; effects of anxiety, 242; rapid course of disease, 243; numbers dead at same time, 246; neglect, examples of, ib. ; undertakers and burials, ib. ; Dawlish case and trial at sessions, 250 ; day of humiliation appointed, 252 ; handbill, 253 ; account of, ib. b % XX CHAPTER XV. Public acknowledgment ofthe services ofthe Mayor, medical men,' fyc, and the thanksgiving day ..... 255 264 Return of inhabitants to the City, 255 ; thanks publicly rendered to the Mayor, ib. ; testimonial to medical men proposed, 256 ; handbill relating thereto, ib. ; public meeting pass resolutions towards carrying this proposal into effect, 257 ; committee appointed, 258 ; handbill in consequence of some misunderstanding issued, 259 ; amount of subscription and its application, ib. ; Corporation of Poor vote thanks to the physicians, 260 ; and thanks and remuneration to their own medical and other officers, 262 ; Board of Health vote thanks to their officers, ib. ; day of thanksgiving, 263. CHAPTER XVI. An account of the Cholera in the parish of St. Thomas the Apostle 265 — 275 Board of Health appointed, 265 ; resolutions of Board, 266 ; proceedings of, ib. ; first case of Cholera reported, 268 ; Board of Health officially confirmed, 269 ; medical officers and inspectors appointed, 270 ; application for remission of duties on brandy, ib. ; wrestling match prevented, 271 ; medical and other officers thanked and remunerated, ib. ; treasurer's account, ib.; money raised by vestry, ib.; history of the disease, and official return of cases and deaths, 273 ; report on by medical officers, 274; report considered, 275. CHAPTER XVII. General financial statement, comprising an account of the expenses incurred in consequence of the occurrence of the Cholera . 276 — 286 Contributions towards expenses and procuring flannel, 276 ; circular, ib. ; public meeting, 278 ; Mayor's box, ib. ; list of subscriptions and circular published, ib. ; treasurer's account, 281 ; money expended, 280; in food, ib. ; towards burial-grounds, ib. ; house of reception, ib. ; destroying clothes, 282 ; towards removal of nuisances, ib. ; towards extra graves, 283 ; cost of second hearse, nurses, &c, ib. ; expenses incurred by Corporation of Poor, 284 ; gross amount expended, 285 ; history of Cholera fund completed, ib. CHAPTER XVIII. Conclusion ....... 287—292 Similarity of events in all plagues, 287 ; examples of conspicuous virtues and vices, ib. ; principle of magisterial interference recognised, 288 ; private rather than public aid afforded, ib. ; the separation of the sick from the healthy, ib. ; existence of plagues denied, 289 ; medical men insulted, ib. ; nostrums, 290 ; plagues, epochs of development, 291 ; illustration of in Exeter, ib. xxi EXPLANATION OF THE WOODCUTS. I. pp. 46, 72, and 269. — Seal of the Privy Council. 11. p. 75. — The Conduit in South-street. — This conduit erected in 1799, was situated against the Vicar's College, and, together with other buildings behind, so narrowed the South-street, that in 1834 it was taken down, and replaced in 1836 by a handsome granite obelisk, opposite the eastern entrance to the lower market, and from whence issues an abundant supply of water. 111. p. 76. — Dipping steps under the Battery. — These steps are situated under the portion of the town wall so termed. The stream is one of the mill leats that flow through the lower part of the city. The whole scene is now much changed, the dipping steps are bricked up on each side, and a perpendicular wall rises from the leat ; the houses on the town wall have been removed, by which means a great improvement has been effected, air and light being thus admitted into two of the principal and densely occupied streets of the south-western quarter. IV. p. 77. — The Old Shilhay Bridge. — This being small and inconvenient, was removed in 1833, when the present bridge, which extends over the spot where the cart stands, was erected. The leat here emerges from under the .western end of Old Bridge-street ; the buildings to the left have now been taken down. V. p. 79. — The Bucket, Hoop, Sec, of the Water Carrier. — These implements professionally are now no longer in use. VI. p. 86. — Back Close Lane. — This is a very characteristic sketch of what prevailed in 1832. The town walls in the lower part of the city were much built upon and against, for the houses seen upon their summit have 7 xxiv one or two stories beneath on the inner side. The city was first surrounded with stone walls by King Athelstan, a. d. 926 ; these were utterly demolished within a century by Sweyn (a. d. 1003), but appear to have been restored for several years before the conquest. VII. p. 93. — Pump in the Mint. — The allusion to this cut is at p. 94. The archway forms a part of what was once St. Nicholas' Priory, and opened into that portion of it termed the Hall of St. Nicholas and the prior's quarters. Of this Priory there are considerable remains. VIII. p. 95. — The ancient City Waterworks. — These, which are situated upon a mill leat leaving the river at head-wear, are fully described in a note at p. 94. Between and above the arches, a stone slab has been inserted, on which are inscribed the names of Jonathan Pyrke, Richard Lowbridge, and Ambrose Crowley, the persons who first built the waterworks in the year 1694. In 1835 these waterworks were abandoned, and converted into grist mills. The cliff at the back is of shillet or that loose kind of slate which surrounds Exeter on its northern side, these cliffs slope down here to the leat, and, higher up, to the river. IX. p. 96. — Watering the High-street. — This process is described at p. 97. The houses in the foreground are the remains of old Elizabethan buildings, with their projecting stories, whichhave been modernised by straight windows ; the projecting portion of the Guildhall here seen, and over which is situated the Council Chamber, was built in 1593 ; the Guildhall itself was probably built in 1464; it is a bold and handsome Gothic structure, and measures in the interior 62| feet in length by 25 in breadth, the roof rises to 37 feet 4 inches in height, and is gracefully formed. X. p. 111. — West Gate. — This cut represents that portion of the town walls between which the ancient West Gate stood ; this gate was taken down in 1815. The summits of the walls, as seen in cut VI., are crowded with small tenements, and the houses built against them are here more particularly shown. In the distance is Stepcote Hill, a steep paved way, and St. Mary Steps Church, on the right-hand corner of which is a small vaulted room beneath the church, which was originally occupied as a guard-room or lodge for the porter of the West Gate. This is the centre of that district of the city where dwell the greater number of the poorer people, and in which the large amount of mortality from Cholera took place. XI. p. 125. — St. Mary Arches-street. — Here were situated the Soup- Kitchen and the Station House, that from which the man is emerging is the latter. This cut represents one of the streets in the city, in which the buildings of Queen Anne's and more recent times, mingle with those of Edward VI. and Elizabeth. The church in the distance is that of St. Mary Arches. XII. p. 128. — Houses in the Fore-street.— -These are interesting and exceedingly 25 good specimens of the old English house ; they are still well preserved by the good taste of their owners, and long may they so remain ; they were probably built in the early time of Edward VI. On the summit of the further house is a curious figure of a man on horseback, made of a coarse clay pottery. There is a legend that when Prince Charles halted in his adventurous flight into the west, (Sept. 1651,) after the battle of Worcester, certain diminutive equestrian figures, formed of pottery, were placed on the housetops of every dwelling where he found shelter, in order to denote speed, and give a signal which was well understood by his friends. This can, however, scarcely have been the case here, as he did not upon that occasion proceed further westward than Axminster ; still it is not improbable they had some reference to these times, for they were then placed on buildings in each of the large towns : a few years since a house was pulled down at Tavistock, on the roof of which was a similar figure. There are other records in Exeter of this prince ; his soubriquet of the " Black Boy," given to him by General Monk, and by which he was known amongst his partizans, gives a name to one of the great outlets of the City. XIII. p. 134. — Proposed plan and elevation for a Cholera Hospital. XIV. p. 143. — The Stone bearing the inscription of the dedication of the Bartholomew Yard. — The coats of arms are those of the City, of Bishop Hall, and of the Company of Merchant Adventurers, of which the Mayor was then a member. Those of the City are impaled, gules and sable triple castle argent ; those of Bishop Hall, sable three talbot's heads crazed argent, impaled with those of the see of Exeter, gules a sword erect in pale argent pomelled and hilted or, surmounted by two keys in saltier of the last. The Merchants (by the name of the Governor, Consul, and Society of Merchant Adventurers trading to France) were first incorporated by charter, granted 4th May, 1556; they give azure a castle or standing on the waves of the sea, proper, in chief, two ducal crowns or. These arms were assigned by William Harvey, Clarence King of Arms, 1 July, 1560. XV. p. 14.6. — Goldsmith-street. — These houses are good specimens of the period of Elizabeth and James the First ; those on the right were removed, in 1834, for the purpose of the Upper Market, which now occupies their site. The house, over the doorway of which is the waggon-headed porch, is of the early time of Elizabeth, if not of that of Edward the Sixth, as in 1568 Mrs. Joan Tuckfield bequeathed these premises to the Tailor's Company, who retained it as their hall. The two low gables nearer the church are of rather later date, being Fley's Alms-houses, erected in 1638. The penthouses here are worthy of remark. The Church is that of St. Paul, rebuilt in the reign of William 111. and presents the general characters of buildings of this period, being modifications of Roman or Grecian architecture. XVI. pp. 155 and 261. — The Great Seal of the Corporation of the Poor. — This is a curious specimen of the quaint devices in which our forefathers xxv i delighted, about the period of its date, 1698. The small pedestal on which the candle is standing has upon it a reference to Proverbs, xxxi. 18, " She perceiveth that her merchandise is good, her candle goeth not out by night." XVII. pp. 157 and 166.— The Episcopal Seal of the Bishop of Exeter.— Here the arms of the See of Exeter are impaled with those of Phillpotts, gules quarterly, between a cross argent, a sword erect. XVIII. p. 157. — Plan of the site of Bury Meadow. XIX. p. 167. — Flan of the site of Pester-lane. XX. p. 174. — Bartholomew Yard by Moonlight. — The history of the foundation of this ancient burial-ground has been given at page 142, the toolhouse, or vestry, as it was sometimes called, has now been removed, together with its centre and lower seat. The inscription which was over the centre seat has been inserted in a new portion of wall that occupies the site of the tool-house. XXI. p. 178. — Smy then-street, or the Butcher-row. — This gives a very fair representation of that class of house which was erected previously to, about, and subsequently to the time of Elizabeth, with their gables and penthouses : these penthouses, which are evidently of a much earlier date than those in Goldsmith-street, were adopted to shelter from rain before glass was in common use for shop-windows, and here their original use obtains, as none of these shops have windows fitted. Their effect, though useful in this respect, was to throw the rain into the centre of the street, and there are those now living who speak of this inconvenience being great even in the High-street of the city itself. XXII. p. 181. — Bridge-street and old St. Edmund's Church. — This street is so called from not only communicating with the bridge, but really forming a part of it. The old bridge was built in 1250, on twelve arches, through the active exertions of Walter Gervis, who purchased much land, and bequeathed it for the maintenance of the same (a ferry being here formerly kept). In 1286 this bridge was partly destroyed by high floods, but immediately repaired; it was again injured in 1384, and again in 1411; by the year 1447 it had become decayed, the stone work being foundered, and the wood work worn; in 1537 it was partly washed away, and in 1770 that portion of it spanning the direct channel of the river was taken down, leaving the arches over which Bridge-street passed. On pulling down the houses on the left a few years since (one of which was a noted old iron and general ware shop) these arches were exposed together with the stream of water which runs beneath the street ; some of these arches are pointed, and some circular. Walter Gervis, the founder of the bridge, also erected upon it a chantry chapel of our Lady, in which the founder is said to have been interred; certainly when the chapel was demolished in July, 1833, the skeleton xxvii of a tall man was discovered extended across the entrance door, about eighteen inches below the surface. To the chantry priest fifty shillings salary was paid, charged on Cricklepit mills, and a spot of ground called Milhay. The rental arising from shops, gardens, &c, in and about Exeter towards the maintenance of the bridge, amounted, on the 2nd February, 1401 to £15 lis. 4c.. The original parish church, dedicated to St. Edmund, King of the East Angles, being exposed to inundations in the low grounds, was allowed, on the first erection of the bridge, to be built on the bridge itself; and for this privilege lOs. yearly was paid to the bridge warden. XXIII. p. 183. — The Shilhay and Quay. — The upright frames seen in the foreground are technically termed " racks," and are, or I may say were, used in drying and stretching the woollen goods formerly manufactured in the neighbourhood. The operative part of the woollen trade carried on withis. this city, was entirely confined to the finishing the pieces for use, after they had been spun and wove. From the warehouses within the city the raw materials were distributed into the neighbouring villages, and then returned in the piece. Here the pieces were submitted to a variety of processes, as washing, milling, fulling, dyeing, raising, cutting, hot-pressing, and packing ; they were rack-dried after the four first operations. A few years since these racks abounded in the neighbourhood, but are now nearly all gone, as are those here depicted. XXIV. p. 217.— Chart of Cholera. XXV. p. 238. — The Southernhay Burial-ground. — The date of the conse" cration of this burial-ground is given at p. 142. It is now closed and planted, and a portion of it was thrown into the public road in 1847. The houses are examples of the poorer tenements which within the last hundred years have been built in the suburbs of the city. XXVI. p. 243. — Stepcote Hill. — This represents one of the old thoroughfares of Exeter, and from being immediately opposite to the Westgate, may be looked upon as of some former consideration. It is a steep way, and well exemplifies the mode in which Exeter was anciently paved, (described at p. 74), the gutter in the centre being the surface and only drain. It is probable that this kind of paving was adopted as early as the grant of tolls in 1275. Again in 1466, "Thomas Calwoodley and Richard Clerk, elected citizens hereof to serve in Parliament, procured an act for paving the streets of the said city, which then were full of pits, dangerous and noisome." The houses, which are low, are of the Elizabethan period, some of them, as the one at the right-hand corner, being of that class of timber house then frequently erected. At the upper part of the steps to the right is the entrance to one of those courts of miserable houses which then abounded, and which, with others have been now cleared away. The church on the left is that of St. Mary Steps. xxviii XXVII. p. 246. — Cricklepit Mills. — This represents one of the mill-streams that traverse the lower part of the City ; to the left is an ancient fulling mill. The houses opposite are of the Elizabethan period ; the " architectural improvements " of the present day have metamorphosed them, they have now square plaster fronts and guillotine windows. On the town wall is seen one of the little tenements whose under stories are built against it. XXVIII. p. 251. — Rose and Crown Inn, High Street.— This house was taken down in 1834 ; it was probably built about the time of James 1., and is particularly interesting as illustrating the range and character of the houses in the principal street of the City at that period, and which were then for the most part of wood and stone, with high thatched and sometimes slated roofs, they were huddled together in masses, low pitched, small, and inconvenient, with here and there a house of greater dimensions. It was then the custom for the merchant to live in the midst of his business, so that the affluent and poor were much mixed together. The two neighbouring houses show the modern character of building which, during the reigns of the Georges, has taken the place of them. XXIX. p. 267- — St. Thomas's, from the Exe Bridge. — This view is taken from the bridge that was erected in 1770, and belongs to the Georgian period ; the houses of the foreground are of the usual unmeaning character of this time. Those in the centre were probably built in the time of James 1., and form a picturesque group of the low inconvenient style of building which then prevailed. XXX. p. 292.— The new Church of All Hallows on the Walls.— -This building was designed by J. Hayward, Esq., commenced in 1843, and consecrated by Bishop Phillpotts on the 22nd of September, 1845. It is built in the perpendicular style of architecture of Plymouth lime-stone, with dressings of Bath stone; and consists of a nave7o feet by 21, a chancel 22 by 17, and the lower part of a large tower at the western end. On the north side of the chance* is a vestry, and the foundations are laid for a porch on the south side of the nave, but this useful adjunct, as well as the upper part of the tower, are still incomplete for want of funds. The nave is fitted up with open seats, and the accommodation is for 347 persons. The church is designed for future extension by adding one or two aisles as occasion may require. In the text it is mentioned, that the parish of All-Hallows had been deprived of a church for two hundred years. The records of the destruction of the old church are as follows. The three bells were taken down in 1661, and nine years later were sold for £30 ; the church windows and door were blocked up with cob in 1662, and eleven years later the lead which belonged to the church was disposed of; the Patent book of Bishop Blackall (p. 179,) describes it 15th February 1702, as "unserviceable to the parishioners for these many years ;" in the ninth year of the reign of George 111., an Act passed for taking down this deserted edifice ; on the 2nd May 1770, its tower began to be demolished, and the ruins were cleared away very rapidly. THE CHOLERA IN EXETER, 1832. CHAPTER I. THE CONSTITUTION AND GENERAL HISTORY OF THE BOARD OF HEALTH. The Asiatic or pestilential Cholera, which showed itself in 1817 in the Delta of the Ganges, confined its ravages almost exclusively to the territories of the East Indies, until 1830, when, bursting forth in Eussia, it evinced something like a regular pro- gress in a westerly direction. Its occurrence in St. Petersburgh, during the early part of 1831, forcibly arrested public attention, and the government of this country was induced to send thither Dr. Eussell and Dr. Barry to watch the progress of the disease, and acquaint themselves with its details ; while at home, by an order in council, dated June 21, a " Board of Health" was established.* A.D. 1817. AD. 1831. * Council Office, Whitehall, June 21. His Majesty has been pleased to establish a Board of Health, to pre- pare and digest rules and regulations for the most speedy and effectual mode of guarding against the introduction and spreading of infection, and for purifying any ship or house in case any contagious disorder should B 2 Existence of Cholera denied. As the disease approached that portion of Europe immediately contiguous to the seas which wash our own shores, it became the subject of a somewhat remarkable controversy ; for while all felt that a new and deadly pestilence was about to overwhelm the country with its terrors, fierce and unseemly disputes ensued, as to the very existence of any such disease ; and its occurrence in a severe form, at the neighbouring port of Hamburgh, having induced the Lords of the Privy Council to issue an " order" in relation thereto, a panic arose, and with it a new storm of denial of its existence ; nay more, the absolute occurrence of the disease at Sunderland, and afterwards in the metropolis, did not, for some period at least, serve to dispel this curious phenomenon of human incredulity. The extent to which this extraordinary perversity was carried, may he appreciated by the following extracts from the Medical Journals of the day. " When we last addressed our readers, the metropolis was in a state of panic ; hut like most other instances where exaggerated apprehensions get possession of the mind, the excitement has been followed by a quiescent confidence which bears as little relation to a sound and healthy state, as the commotion to which it has succeeded."* " Another week has passed, and the dispute, the bitter and vehement dispute, still wages on the existence or non-existence of the malignant Cholera in London. Despite the winter's experi- unhappily manifest itself in any part of the United Kingdom, notwithstanding the precautions taken to guard against the introduction thereof, and to communicate the same to all magistrates, medical persons, and others, his Majesty's subjects, who may be desirous, and may apply to be made acquainted therewith. The said Board hold their meetings at the Royal College of Physicians, and is composed of the following persons, viz., Sir Henry Halford, President of the Royal College of Physicians, President. Dr. Holland, Dr. Maton, Dr. Turner, Dr. Warren, Dr. Macmichael, Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians. Sir T. Byam Martin, Comptroller of his Majesty's Navy ; Hon. Edward Stewart, Deputy Chairman of Board of Customs; Sir James Mac Grigor, Director-General of Army Hospitals ; Sir William Burnet, Commissioner of Victualling Office; Sir William Pym, Superintendent General of Quarantine. Dr. Seymour, Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, to be Secretary to the said Board. * Medical Gazette, February 25, 1832. 3 °/ deri? Council, ig 3 °ct- ' ence, the events of Gateshead and Musselburgh, the sad history in short of every quarter of the world which the Cholera has visited, we still hear the outcry that Cholera is a "humbug," and its pretended existence in London, a delusion got up for the destruction of our commercial relations."* The inhabitants of Exeter were not exempted from this remarkable and very curious state of feeling ; as may be learned from the articles published on this subject by the local papers. At one time, the reality of the disease is asserted, and the greatest fears are expressed and apparently entertained ; at another, its existence is denied, and those who venture to assert such a proposition are stigmatised as credulous, if not actuated by sinister motives. One paper, in a leading article consequent on the issuing of the order in Council, speaks of this " Bugbear Cholera," and condemns the issuing of the order (which it does not publish) not only as unnecessary, but as detrimental to the interests of the country. Nevertheless, to complete the inconsistencies of the times, various schemes for its prevention f and cure are plentifully chronicled. In this uncertain and fluctuating state of public feeling, and while the daily reports of the progress of the Cholera in Hamburgh are being eagerly sought for, the order in Council, above referred to, together with "certain rules and regulations ' ° ° proposed by the Board of Health," are forwarded to this city, and the mayor is desired to cause " the same to be posted in the most public places." These documents, independently of the local feeling they excited, and the steps taken immediately on their arrival, are otherwise interesting, from indicating the opinions entertained in some professional and other quarters of the general nature of this, as * The Lancet, February 25, 1832. t The following paragraph record- ing an occurrence taking place at the very same period offers a curious con- trast to the above feeling: — "We trust the magistrates who live near the coasts of this county, will take every means in their power of having the quarantine regulations en~ forced to the letter. An active magistrate in the neighbourhood of Exmouth one day this week discovered a gentleman making his escape from a foreign vessel, which was in the bight. He instantly pursued him and made his crew row him back to his vessel." —(Exeter Gazette, Oct. 29, 1831.) B 2 4 yet, unexperienced disease. An abstract of them is here given, the documents themselves will be found below.* * At the Council Chamber, Whitehall, the 20th day of October, 1831. By a Committee of the Lords of his Majesty's most honourable Privy Council. Their Lordships this day took into consideration certain rules and regulations proposed by the Board of Health, for the purpose of preventing the introduction and spreading of the disease called Cholera morbus in the United Kingdom, together with* an account of the symptoms and treatment of the said disease, and were pleased to order that the same be circulated in all the principal ports, creeks, and other stations of the said United Kingdom, with a view that all persons may be made acquainted therewith, and conform themselves thereto. W. S. Bathurst. The measures of external precaution for preventing the introduction of the Cholera morbus by a rigid quarantine have hitherto been found effectual; but as the disease approaches the neighbouring shores, not only is the necessity of increased vigilance more apparent, but it is also consistent with common prudence that the country should be prepared to meet the possible contingency of so dreadful a calamity. The intention of the following observations, therefore, is to submit to the public such suggestions as ie appears to the Board of Health should be either immediately acted upon, or so far carried into operation, as that, in any case, the country should not be found uninformed as to the best means of providing for its internal protection. 1. To effect the prevention of the introduction of the disorder the most active co-operation, not only of the local authorities along the coast in the measures of the Government, but likewise the exercise of the utmost caution by all the inhabitants of such parts of the country, becomes indispensably necessary. The quarantine regulations established by the Government are sufficient, it is confidently hoped, to prevent the disorder from being communicated through any intercourse with the continent in the regular channel of trade or passage ; but they cannot guard against its introduction by means of the secret and surreptitious intercourse which is known to exist between the coast of England and the opposite shores. By such means this fatal disorder, in spite of all quarantine regulations, and of the utmost vigilance on the part of the Government, might be introduced into the United Kingdom ;'--and it is clear that this danger can only be' obviated by the most strenu- j ous efforts on the part of all persons of any influence, to put a stop to such practices : the utmost exertions should be used to affect this end. The magistrates, the clergjr, and all persons resident on the coast, it is hoped, will endeavour to impress upon the population of their different districts (and particularly of the retired villages along the sea-shore) the danger to which they expose themselves by engaging in illicit intercourse with persons coining from the continent, and should appeal to their fears in warning them of the imminent risk which they incur by holding any communication with smugglers, and others who may evade the ' quarantine regulations. 2. To meet the other objects adverted to in the introduction, namely, to prepare for the possible contingency of the country being visited by this disorder, as well as to assist in its pre-jj vention, it is recommended that ill ', every town and village, commencing with those on the coast, there should J be established a local Board of Health, to consist of the chief an^ other magistrates, the clergyman ol the parish, two or more physicians oi medical practitioners, and three oi more of the principal inhabitants; and one of the medical member! should be appointed to correspond with the Board of Health in London 5 1. After stating that the approach of the disease to neighbouring shores involves increased caution, it recommends that all Every large town should be divided into districts, having a district committee of two or three members, one of whom should be of the medical profession, to watch over its health, and to give the earliest information to the Board of Health in the town, whose instructions they will carry into effect. 3. As the most effectual means of preventing the spreading of any pestilence has always been found to be immediate separation of the sick from the healthy, it is of the utmost importance that the very first cases of Cholera which may appear should be made known as early as possible ; concealment of the sick would not only endanger the safety of the public, but (as success in the treatment of the Cholera has been found mainly to depend on medical assistance having been given in the earliest stage of the disease)would likewise deprive the patient of his best chance of recovery. 4. To carry into effect the separation of the sick from the healthy, it would be very expedient that one or more houses should be kept in view in each town or its neighbourhood, as places to which every case of the disease, as soon as detected, might be removed ; provided the family of the affected person consent to such removal, and in case of refusal, a conspicuous mark (" sick") should be placed in front of the house, to warn persons that it is in quarantine ; and even when persons with the disease shall have been removed, and the house shall have been purified, the word (" caution") should be substituted, as denoting suspicion of the disease, and the inhabitants of such house should not be at liberty to move out or communicate with other persons until, by the authority of the Local Board, the mark shall have been removed. In some towns it may be found possible to appropriate a public hospital to this purpose, or should any barrack exist in the neighbourhood, it might, under the authority of the Commander of the forces, be similarly applied. 5. Wherever it may be allowed to remove the sick from their own habitations to the previously selected and detached buildings, the houses from which they have been so removed, as well as the houses in which they have chosen to remain, should be thoroughly purified in the following manner : — Decayed articles, such as rags, cordage, papers, old clothes, hangings, should be burnt ; filth of every description removed ; clothing and furniture should be submitted to copious effusions of water, and boiled in a strong ley ; drains and privies thoroughly cleansed by streams of water and chloride of lime ; ablution of woodworks should be performed by a strong ley of soap and water; the walls of the house, from the cellar to the garret, should be hot limewashed ; all loose and decayed pieces of plastering should be removed. Free and continued admission of fresh air to all parts of the house and furniture should be enjoined for at least a week. It is impossible to impress too strongly the necessity of extreme cleanliness and free ventilation; they are points of the very greatest importance, whether in the houses of the sick, or generally as a measure of precaution. 6. It is recommended that those who may fall victims to this formidable disease should be buried in a detached ground in the vicinity of the house that may have been selected for the reception of Cholera patients. By this regulation it is intended to confine, as much as possible, every source of infection to one spot ; on the same principle, all persons who, may be employed in the removal of the sick from their own homes, as well as all those who may attend upon Cholera patients in the capacity of nurses, should live apart from the rest of the community. It should be here observed, that the fewer the number of persons employed in these 6 persons should aid in carrying out most strictly the quarantine regulations, and that every persuasion should be used to induce those living near the coast to forego intercourse with smugglers. duties the better, as then the chance of spreading the infection by their means will be diminished. 7. Wherever objections arise to the removal of the sick from the healthy, or other causes exist to render such a step not advisable, the same prospect of success in extinguishing the seeds of the pestilence cannot be expected. Much, however, maybe done, even in these difficult circumstances, by following the same principles of prudence, and by avoiding all unnecessary communication with the public out of doors ; all articles of food, or other necessaries required by the family, should be placed in front of the house, and received by one of the inhabitants of the house, after the person delivering them shall have retired. 8. Until the time during which the contagion of Cholera lies dormant in the human frame has been more accurately ascertained, it will be necessary for the sake of perfect security that convalescents from the disease, and those who have had any communication with them, should be kept under observation for a period of not less than twenty days. The occupiers of each house where the disease may occur, or be supposed to have occurred, are enjoined to report the fact immediately to the local Board of Health in the town where they reside, in order that the professional members of each Board may immediately visit, report, and, if permitted to do so, cause the patient to be removed to the place allotted for the sick. In every town the name and residence of each of the members of the district committee should be fixed on the doors of the church, or other conspicuous place. 9. All intercourse with any infected town and the neighbouring country, must be prevented by the best means within the power of the magistrates, who will have to make regulations for the supply of provisions ; but such regulations are intended only for extreme cases, and the difficulty of carrying such a plan into effect on any extended scale, will undoubtedly be great ; but as a precaution of great importance, it is most essential that it should be an object of consideration, in order to guard against the spreading of infection. 10. Other measures of a more coercive nature may be rendered expedient for the common safety, if unfortunately so fatal a disease should ever show itself in this country in the terrific way in which it has appeared in various parts of Europe ; and it may become necessary to draw troops or a strong body of police around infected places, so as utterly to exclude the inhabitants from all intercourse with the country ; and we feel sure what is demanded for the common safety, will always be acquiesced in with willing submission to the necessity which imposes it. The Board particularly invites attention to a fact confirmed by all the communications received from abroad, viz., that the poor, ill-fed, and unhealthy part of the population, and especially those who have been addicted to drinking spirituous liquors, and indulging in irregular habits, have been the greatest sufferers from this disease, and that the infection has been most virulent, and has spread more rapidly and extensively, in the districts of towns where the streets are narrow, and the population crowded, and where little or no attention has been paid to cleanliness and ventilation. They are aware of the difficulty of removing the evils referred to, but they trust that attention, thus awakened, will insure the most active endeavours of all magistrates, resident clergymen, and persons of influence or authority, to promote their mitigation ; and, as the amount of danger and the necessity of precaution, may become more ap- 7 2. That in every town and village local Boards of Health should be formed, of which " one of the medical members should be appointed to correspond with the Board of Health in London." parent, they will look with increased confidence to the individual exertions of those who may be enabled to employ them beneficially in furtherance of the suggestions above stated. Board of Health, College of Physicians. Oct. 20, 1831. The following are the early symptoms of the disease in its most marked form, as it occurred to the observations of Dr. Russell and Dr. Barry, at St. Petersburg!., corroborated by the accounts from other places, where the disease has prevailed : — Giddiness, sick stomach, nervous agitation, intermittent, slow, or small pulse, cramps beginning at the tops of the fingers and toes, and rapidly approaching the trunk, give the first warning. Vomiting, or purging, or both these evacuations, of a liquid like rice-water, or whey, or barleywater, come on ; the features become sharp and contracted, the eye sinks, the look is expressive of terror or wildness ; the lips, face, neck, hands, and feet, and soon after the thighs, arms, and whole surface, assume a leaden, blue, purple, black, or deep brown tint, according to the complexion of the individual, varying in shade with the intensity of the attack. The fingers and toes are reduced in size, the skin and soft parts covering them are wrinkled, shrivelled, and folded; the nails put on a bluish pearly white; the larger superficial veins are marked by flat lines of a deeper black; the pulse becomes either small as a thread, and scarcely vibrating, or else totally extinct. The skin is deadly cold and often damp ; the tongue always moist, often white and loaded, but flabby and chilled, like a piece of dead flesh. The voice is nearly gone ; the respiration quick, irregular, and imperfectly performed. The patient speaks in a whisper. He struggles for breath, and often lays his hand on his heart to point out the seat of his distress. Sometimes there are rigid spasms of the legs, thighs, and loins. The secretion of the urine is totally suspended; vomitings and purgings, which are far from being the most important or dangerous symptoms, and which, in a great number of cases of the disease, have not been profuse, or have been arrested by medicine early in the attack, succeed. It is evident that the most urgent and peculiar symptom of this disease is the sudden depression of the vital powers ; proved by the diminished action of the heart, the coldness of the surface and extremities, and the stagnant state of the whole circulation. It is important to advert to this fact, as pointing out the instant measures which may safely and beneficially be employed where medical aid cannot be immediately procured. All means tending to restore the circulation and maintain the warmth of the body should be had recourse to without delay. The patients should always immediately be put to bed, wrapt up in hot blankets, and warmth should be sustained by other external applications, such as repeated frictions with flannels and camphorated spirits ; poultices of mustard and linseed (equal parts) to the stomach, particularly where pain and vomiting exist; similar poultices to the feet and legs to restore their warmth. The returning heat of the body may be promoted by bags containing hot salt or bran, applied to different parts of it. For the same purpose of restoring and sustaining the circulation, white wine whey, with spice, hot brandy and water, or sal volatile in the dose of a teaspoonful, in hot water, frequently repeated, or from five to twenty drops of some of the essential oils, as peppermint, cloves, or cajeput, in a wine-glass of water may be administered; with the same view, where the stomach will bear it, warm broth with spice may be em- 8 3. That early information of the occurrence of the disease should be given. 4. That in order to the separation of the sick, houses for their reception should be procured, but that in case they should refuse to be removed, " a conspicuous mark (' Sick ') should be " placed in front of the house, to warn persons that it is in qua" rantine ; and even when persons with the disease shall have been "removed, and the house shall have been purified, the word "(' Caution') should be substituted, as denoting suspicion of the " disease ; and the inhabitants of such house should not be at " liberty to move out or communicate with other persons until by " the authority of the local Board the mark shall have been re" moved." 5. That houses, where it has occurred, should be purified, as also the goods, for the effecting of which the means are detailed ; some of these latter are directed to be burnt. General cleanliness is much inculcated. 6. Detached burying- grounds are to be provided, and the " nurses should live apart from the rest of the community." 7. Where removal of the sick from the healthy cannot be effected, all unnecessary communication should be avoided " with "the public out of doors; all articles of food, or other necessa" ries required by the family, should be placed in front of the " house, and received by one of the inhabitants of the house, after " the person delivering them shall have retired." ployed. In very severe cases, or where medical aid is difficult to be obtained, from twenty to forty drops of laudanum may be given in any of the warm drinks previously recommended. These simple means are proposed as resources in the incipient stage of the disease, where medical aid has not yet been obtained. In reference to the further means to be adopted in the treatment of this disease, it is necessary to state that no specific remedy has yet been ascertained ; nor has any plan of cure been sufficiently commended by success, to warrant its express recommendation from authority. The Board has already published a detailed statement of the methods of treatment adopted in India, and of the different opinions entertained as to the use of bleeding, emetics, calomel, opium, &c There is reason to believe that more information on this subject may be obtained from those parts of the continent where the disease is now prevailing ; but even should it be otherwise, the greatest confidence may be reposed in the intelligence and zeal which the medical practitioners of this country will employ in establishing an appropriate method of cure. Henry Halford, President of the Board. 9 23 oct., Meeting of mayor, magistrates, an(J phy sl. cians-27 Oct., iB3i. 8. Convalescents, and those who have had any communication with the sick, should be kept " under observation" at least twenty days ; and the reporting of the occurrence of the disease enjoined. 9. All intercourse with any infected town is to be prevented. 10. And if necessary, " troops, or a strong body of police," may be used for this purpose. The order then goes on to state that the dissipated, ill- fed, and badly lodged, are its principal victims, and that ill- drained, ill-ventilated places are its chief seats, and recommends attention to those subjects. To this is appended a very graphic description of the disease, with some short suggestions on its medical management. Such was the nature of the document affixed on the 23rd of October, 1831, in the most public places throughout the city. When we consider that the opinions thus advanced originated in the suggestions of medical men holding high and conspicuous situations, and were published with the authority of government, the effect which was produced upon the public mind may well be conceived. The historic horrors of the ancient plague were recalled to memory, and all became busied in the gloomy anticipations of the future. By the solicitation of the Mayor, a meeting of the magistrates and physicians of the city took place at the Guildhall on the X J * *. 27th, at which, after the above document had been read, the fol, . -. , following resolutions were adopted. " 1. That in the opinion of this meeting a Board of Health should be immediately appointed in this city, pursuant to the recommendation enclosed therein. " 2. That the city should subsequently be divided into districts, corresponding with the quarters or wards of this city and county. " 3. That the physicians, now present, be desired to consult the other members of their profession as to the arrangements necessary to be made on this subject, and to request the attendance of a deputation from their body at the next meeting. 10 1 Nov., 1831 M eeting of the public bodies. " 4. That the Mayor do desire the corporation of the poor to depute a committee of their body to attend such meeting. " 5. That the Mayor do also request the commissioners of the improvement rate will appoint a committee for the same purpose. " 6. That the Key. Dr. Carwithen be informed that the company of the clergy, or a deputation from their body, would be desirable. " 7. That such meeting be held at the Guildhall, on Tuesday next, the Ist of November, at J 2 o'clock. " {Signed) Wm. Kennaway, Mayor." In another copy of the minutes, there is also this resolution : " Besolved, that in the opinion of this meeting, it would be desirable as soon as possible to procure a place for the removal of the sick in case the disease should unfortunately appear in this city, and that for this purpose the Mayor be requested to apply to thei Commander in-Chief for the use of the Cavalry Barracks." On the 29th meetings of the Corporation of the Poor, the Commissioners of Improvement, and the medical men, were held, and they severally deputed various members from their respective bodies to attend the meeting appointed for the Ist of November, and at which the Board of Health was to be formally constituted. The following is the contemporaneous account of the proceedings of this meeting.*" A highly respectable and numerous meeting of the magistrates, a deputation from the medical gentlemen, the Corporation of the Poor, the Commissioners of Improvement, and other gentlemen, was held on Tuesday, (1 Nov., 1831,) to consider the steps necessary to be taken in this city, in compliance with the order in council, issued by the Government for the prevention of thei Cholera morbus. The Bight Worshipful the Mayor having taken the chair, the Lord Bishop offered every assistance in hil power, and strongly recommended a previous arrangement of a * Exeter Gazette, 5 November, 1831. 11 preventive character, more especially cleanliness. The meeting was addressed by many of the gentlemen present, and the following resolutions were, after a long and interesting discussion, adopted. 1. That a Board of Health be forthwith established in this city, in pursuance of the directions of the Privy Council. 2. That the Board do consist of the Bight Worshipful the Mayor, and Magistrates ; the Lord Bishop, and one other member of the Chapter ; the following medical gentlemen, Dr. Blackall and Dr. Miller, Mr. Luscombe, Mr. Barnes, Mr. Johnson, and Mr. Kingdon ; the medical officers of the poor, Mr. Stabback, Mr. Tucker, and Mr. Delegarde, with three members of the Corporation of the Poor ; three members of the Commissioners of Improvement, and a Clergyman from each quarter ; that five do form a quorum, and that two of that number be of the medical profession. 3. That the Dean and Chapter, the Commissioners of Improvement, the Corporation of the Poor, and the parochial clergy of the four quarters, be requested to select, from their respective bodies, members to form the Board of Health, agreeably to the preceding resolution, with as little delay as possible. 4. That as many local committees in this city be formed, as the general Board of Health shall think necessary. 5. That in the event of the appearance of the Cholera in this city and county, a public subscription be set on foot, for the purpose of providing, for the use of the poor population of this city and county, the articles of lime, soap, fumigating substances, coals, blankets, and other necessaries, which shall be placed at the disposal of the Board of Health, to be applied by them in the sanitary measures which may be thought necessary. 6. That a recommendation be sent to the guardians of the poor, requesting them to take such measures for the increase of their medical assistants, as they shall deem proper in the event of any appearance of the Cholera morbus, and to assist in promoting cleanliness by every means in their power. 7. That this meeting having full confidence in the attention of the Commissioners of Improvement to the important duties of L< 12 their trust, do still request their especial care, during the present crisis, in enforcing all regulations within their power for increased cleanliness, in making all necessary repairs in the public pumps, tanks, sewers, and open drains, and in devising such additional means as shall seem to them most expedient. 8. That it be recommended to the Board of Health to encourage communications from local districts in this neighbourhood. Resolved unanimously upon the motion of the Lord Bishop, 9. That the best thanks of this meeting be given to the Mayor for his readiness in calling the meeting, and for his able conduct in the chair. In compliance with the requirements of the above meeting, the Commissioners of Improvement, on the Ist of November, appointed as the three members to represent them at the Board of Health, Mr. Kingdon, Mr. Luke, and Mr. C. R. Sanders ; and the Corporation of the Poor appointed the governor, the chairman of the committee of nine, and Mr. Pearce. This latter body at the same time resolved that the governor should call a meeting . whenever he might think right to appoint additional medical officers, and that if the Board of Health should desire assistance for cleansing the streets, &c, of the city, the inmates residing in the house, and those employed in the brickfield, should be placed at their disposal. On the next day, (2 Nov.,) a very full meeting of the members of the medical profession took place, at which the following resolutions were agreed to. 1. That the medical gentlemen named as members of the Board of Health, enjoy their confidence. 2. That a committee of four physicians, and four surgeons,* be formed for the purpose of communicating between the Board of Health and the medical profession at large, in order to co-operate in the measures which may be adopted on the present occasion. It will be observed that the Order in Council required one of the medical members of the local Board, should be appointed to correspond with the Board of Health in London ; this was * The gentlemen forming this committee were, Dr. Pennell, Dr. Barham, Dr. Macgowan, Dr. Hennis, Mr.James, Mr. Pridham, Mr.Amory, Mr. Ottley. 13 corresponding member appointed. complied with at a meeting of the Board of Health, held On the 3rd of November, when it was resolved, — That Dr. Blackall do correspond with the Board of Health in London, and report the formation of the Board established in this city. In compliance with the above resolution, Dr. Blackall immediately notified to the London Board, the formation of a Board of Health in this city, and at the same time sought such information and directions as he deemed might be useful under the circum- stances. To this the following reply was received. Board of Health, College of Physicians, 7 November, 1831. Sir, I have had the honour of receiving your letter, and have laid it before the Board of Health, who desire me to return you their thanks for the communication, and to assure you they view with great satisfaction the prompt manner in which the recommendation of the Board, acting under the authority of the Lords of his Majesty's most Honourable Privy Council, have been carried into effect. In answer to your question relative to remedies, and to the epidemic influenza, which has been reported occasionally to have preceded epidemic cholera in India, I must refer you to a work just issued from the press, under the authority ofthe Lords of His Majesty's most Honourable Privy Council, containing all the letters of Drs. Barry and Russell, and a large portion of the dispatches relative to Cholera from His Majesty's ministers abroad, to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. The accounts received to-day from Sunderland unhapily announce six new cases and two deaths. I have the honour to be, &c, Edward J. Seymour, M. D. To Dr. Blackall, &c, &c, Exeter. It was also resolved at the above meeting, held on the 3rd of November, that Dr. Miller, Mr. Blackall, Mr. E. R. Sanders, Mr. Kingdon, and Mr. Tucker, be requested to consider the circular received from the Home Office, and report at the next meeting the proper measures to be adopted : also, that the Mayor be requested 14 Report of Committee, 5 Nov., 1831 to thank the meeting of the Medical Profession assembled at the Guildhall on the 2nd inst., for their communication, and to express the readiness of this Board to receive such reports as they may think proper from time to time to make. The Committee, appointed to consider the circular, met* on the sth of November, and drew up the following comprehensive and excellent report. That it be recommended to the Board to express to the collector of the Customs their confidence in his strictly enforcing the quarantine regulations, and at the same time to request that he will immediately acquaint the Board on the arrival of any suspected vessel, or with any other event occurring within the port which might in his opinion tend to the introduction of the disease. That the Board having already divided the city into districts, it be recommended that the following gentlemen be requested to act as assistants to the Board of Health, for their respective districts, [the names of these gentlemen will subsequently be mentioned,^ with the addition of the parochial clergy in their respective districts, and of such medical gentlemen as, agreeably to some arrangement among themselves, may be willing to undertake the duty in each district, and that the names of the clergy and medical gentleman so appointed be reported to the Board. That all medical practitioners, and all other persons within this city, be most earnestly requested to give instant communicetion of any case of Cholera occurring in the course of their practice, or in their families, to one or more of the persons comprising this district Board. That the district Board do forthwith make all necessary inquiries concerning, and immediately carry into execution, any rules or regulations which may have emanated from the general Board, giving information to the general Board of the fact, and communicating with that Board as occasion requires. That this Board should resolve, that as cleanliness is extremely desirable, and is most likely, under the blessing of Providence, to prevent the fatal effects of this disorder, a request be made to the Mayor and Chamber, to take care that the greatest quantity of water possible be conveyed to the conduit, and that all pumps and wells under their management should be forthwith repaired. * The members of the committee don, Mr. R. R. Sanders, and Mr. present, were Dr. Miller, Mr. King- Blackall. 15 That the Commissioners under the Improvement Act be also requested to attend to this subject, by re-opening old wells and making new ones, and by introducing the greatest quantity of water which the present means of supplying the city with water may permit. That the Commissioners be also desired to increase the number of scavengers, and by daily cleansing the streets, especially the smaller streets, courts, and alleys of the lower part of the town, render the accumulation of filth and dirt impossible. That it be recommended to the Corporation of the Poor, that their officers, in administering relief to the poor, should be instructed to impress on them the necessity of cleanliness in their persons and rooms, and pointing out to them the danger they run in neglecting this salutary advice, and that the same be reiterated to them at every review court. That the Corporation be also respectfully invited seriously to take into their consideration the propriety of employing some of the poor immediately in white-washing and cleaning the houses and apartments of the poor, which might thus be effected at an expense, trifling when compared with the great advantage which must result from such experiment. That an address be printed and circulated agreeably to, and in consonance with, the Order in Council. In this, the obligation the proprietors of houses, in which the poor reside, lie under to cleanse their houses, to open windows now closed, to permit casements, which now only admit light, to admit air, to re-open wells which have been closed, and in short to do every thing in their power to effect the object in view, should be most earnestly and seriously enforced. That such address do also contain a strong remonstrance to the poor themselves, to attend as much as possible to cleanliness. That such address should contain directions, how persons, any part of whose family have been attacked with this disorder, should immediately act. That the medical gentlemen be requested to draw up such statement. That it appears to this committee highly desirable that the general Board should take into their immediate consideration the place where the sick are to be removed, and whether they shall be then attended by the same medical persons who attended them previously to their removal, or by persons specially and solely appointed for that purpose ; and the propriety of appointing certain places where medicine may be procured, and on what terms such medicines should be given out. Lastly, the committee beg leave to suggest that as some expense 16 Treasurer and Secretary appointed. 10 Nov., 1831 Bistrict Committees. must unavoidably be incurred, under any circumstances, and, should unfortunately the disorder really appear, a very considerable one, immediate steps should be taken to promote a general subscription. The above is copied from the rough minutes of the report in the hand-writing of Mr. R. R. Sanders and corrected here and there by Mr. Blackall : its suggestions are very judicious and comprehensive, and at the meeting of the Board of Health, on the 7th of November, were unanimously adopted, and directions given for their being immediately carried into effect. The business of the Board was much increasing, and assuming a systematic form ; it therefore became absolutely necessary to appoint a treasurer and secretary, and the Board was fortunate in being able to prevail on Mr. Blackall to accept the former office, and Mr. Gidley the latter ; — two gentlemen peculiarly fitted for accurately and ably performing the duties required of them. Doubtless a feeling of activity now prevailed, as intelligence had reached the city, that cases of Cholera, of which previously there had only been vague and contradictory rumours, had most decidedly occurred at Sunderland. While the Board of Health was thus evincing a very laudable desire to meet every difficulty that might arise, the other public bodies of the city were likewise aiding and assisting in the good work, — at an adjourned meeting of the Commissioners of Improvement, on the 9th of November, .61000 were voted for " covering in and making such drains as may be absolutely necessary for the protection of the health of the inhabitants, as also for procuring water, and for cleansing the streets." On the 10th of November the Board of Health again met to receive the report of the district committees, on the state of the houses in their respective districts : and appointed a committee of their body to examine these reports, and report thereon, " with power, meanwhile, to authorise the immediate performance of such works as they shall deem necessary." The Board, with the assistance of its medical members, drew up and decided on publishing the following handbill, which was largely circulated on the 12th of November. 17 To the Inhabitants of Exeter. A Board of Health has just been established in this city, agreeably to the orders of the Lords of his Majesty's most honourable Privy Council, to prevent the spreading of the Cholera morbus which has already extended through a great part of Europe ; and its members feel it to be one of their first duties to distribute among the inhabitants, the directions with which they have been furnished for the prevention of the disease, and also for the use of some remedies which may be adopted, before medical aid can be procured. It has been stated on the best authority, that in'this Cholera, as in contagious and epidemic disorders generally, the complaint acquires more virulence, and extends more rapidly, where the people are irregular in their habits, and inattentive to cleanliness and ventilation. It is therefore at present, particularly incumbent on every one to be more than commonly careful in these respects ; to permit no accumulation of filth, in or about his house ; and cheerfully to comply with the rules to be established by the police. It is likewise strongly recommended, that, besides what is to be done by the Corporation of the Poor, the landlords of those, whose circumstances are very limited, should promote these desirable objects by taking care that the walls, &c, are well white-washed, that the pumps are in proper repair, and that every obstruction to light and air is removed by opening, as much as possible, windows that are blocked up ; in which respect, there appears to be room for improvement in the lower part of the city. Attention to all the points above enumerated is more important than may be at first imagined ; and it is earnestly requested from the public, as the chief means which every one has in his power in his own neighbourhood, to mitigate, and perhaps even put a stop to, this severe visitation. If the judicious quarantine regulations established by the Government prove ineffectual, and the disease appear amongst us, it is recommended by his Majesty's proclamation, that the sick should be immediately separated from the healthy. For this purpose, local Boards are appointed in the four quarters of the city, the members of which will consider it their duty to ascertain the cases of this Cholera which may appear in their district, and provide for their speedy separation, or, if thought advisable and consented to, removal. It is likewise earnestly requested, that all persons will give to the members of the District Board, the earliest information of any cases which come to their knowledge. The removal contemplated, when the stage of the disease permitted, would be to some well situated and well appointed house, where everything that humanity and medical exertion could c 18 effect, would he applied for the recovery of the patient ; the separation — that, where a removal could not be arranged, promiscuous intercourse with neighbours and friends should be cut off under certain regulations to be established according to the emergency of the case. All regulations of this kind, however, though executed in the kindest manner, must, no doubt, be very distressing, and can only be proposed, or consented to, for the common good. By the humane provisions of the Corporation of the Poor, medical assistance will be afforded to those who cannot obtain it for themselves. Such, however, is the rapidity of the disease, and the violence of its accession, that it often becomes of vital importance to manage judiciously and actively the first moments of the illness, particularly if it be in the night, previously to obtaining professional assistance. Subjoined, therefore, is a short statement of the symptoms, and of the plan to be pursued, — should such an emergency occur, — as it has been furnished by medical authorities. The present occasion, certainly, cannot but be productive of some anxiety : there are however considerations which lessen it. It appears that on the continent of Europe, however heavily the disease may have fallen on individuals, it has not so greatly increased the actual mortality ofthe whole population, as was at first represented. It should be recollected also that in many parts, war and its attendant evils, have greatly aggravated tbe extent and virulence of this calamity ; whilst in the state of our own comparatively fortunate country, — insular in its position, — at peace with its neighbours — and blest in a high degree with the arts, resources, and energies of civilized life — there appear on the other hand to be several mitigating circumstances, which may reasonably be expected to operate in our favour. In any event, it is confidently hoped, that the citizens of Exeter will show the steadiness which has been habitual to them in all trying moments; and when it is stated to them that the welfare of a large population may depend on the conduct of individuals, it cannot be stated in vain. (Signed) W. Kennaway, Chairman. Cautions and Directions respecting the Cholera Morbus. A very accurate and minute description of this disease, in its most marked form, has been given by the Board of Health in London. B appears right to recapitulate its leading features. They are at first, giddiness, sick stomach, very weak pulse, and cramps passing from the extremities to the trunk. These are speedily succeeded by vomiting, 19 or purging, or both, more or less copious, of a watery fluid of a pale whitish colour ; but its most alarming characteristic, — and one* which greatly calls for domestic means of relief, —is a very remarkable coldness and shrinking of the surface, with a bluish colour of the skin, anxiety, spasms, every sign of great exhaustion, and depression of the vital powers. It is therefore recommended by the members of the Board of Health in London, — who no doubt speak from communication with those who have seen and treated the complaint, — that, in the first instance every means should be resorted to of restoring warmth and circulation to the surface by the external use of heat and stimulants, as well as the internal exhibition of similar remedies. For this purpose it is directed by them to place the patient in bed between hot blankets ; to apply repeated frictions with flannels and camphorated spirits, and poultices (consisting of equal parts of flour of mustard and linseed meal) to the stomach and extremities ; also bags containing hot salt, or bran ; to administer internally white-wine whey, with spice ; hot brandy and water ; a tea spoonful of sal volatile in hot water, frequently repeated ; or from five to twenty drops of some essential oil, as peppermint, cloves, or cajeput ; and in very severe cases, where medical aid is difficult to be procured, from twenty to forty drops of laudanum. As a principal object appears to be, in these moments of exhaustion, to restore circulation to the surface, it might be advisable in some instances to increase the strength of the poultices by the addition of oil of turpentine. A tin case, filled with hot water, or a bladder more than half filled in the same manner and wrapped in flannel, applied to the stomach, is also a great restorative to the circulation ; as is the use of the warm air bath, which may be procured with little expense, and acts very speedily and powerfully with no disturbance to the position of the patient. Repeated frictions with warm oil and laudanum have been found of great efficacy in relieving the cramps, &c. Of the internal remedies it is only necessary to remark further, that where diluted liquors are rejected, it is proper to give undiluted brandy in small quantities, and the laudanum very little diluted ; or wine of opium, (half a tea-spoonful) in the same manner, or by itself. An ordinary discretion is sufficient, generally, for the commencement of these means of relief ; but of their continuance and of the application of other powerful remedies, a professional person alone can judge. There should therefore be no delay in sending c 2 20 for medical assistance, which it is hoped, under the blessing of God, may prove effectual. The following is a list of the District Committees. EAST. Mr. James Jones Tanner, Mr. Samuel Kingdon, Jun., Mr. William Hooper. MEDICAL OFFICERS. Dr. Lucas, Mr. Coldridge. WEST. Mr. Robert Cornish, Jun., Mr. Robert Dymond, Mr. James Golsworthy. MEDICAL OFFICERS. Dr. Macgowan, Mr. Ottley. NORTH. Mr. Hugh Gumming, Mr. John Clench, Jun., Mr. Fredk. Franklin. MEDICAL OFFICERS. Dr. Pennell, Mr. Bennett. SOUTH. Mr. C. Brake, Mr. E. Woolmer, Mr. J. B. Sanders. MEDICAL OFFICERS. Dr. Hennis, Mr. Pridham. And the Clergy of the respective parishes in each district The following most excellent address was also widely circulated at this time. It was drawn up, in compliance with the request of the Bishop, by the Rev. James Ford.* CHOLERA MORBUS. Address from the Clergy of the city of Exeter. We, the Clergy of this city, who are entrusted by God with the care of your most important, your eternal interests, solemnly come forward on this trying occasion to offer you our best advice. We trust that the attention which you have hitherto given us, will not be withholden from us now ; we hope that many, before thoughtless and irreligious, will now " consider their ways." It is indeed a time for serious reflection ; and while, through the kind care of the medical faculty, you have so many useful hints and directions for your temporal safety, you would be wrong, you would be inexcusable, in not listening to us, who " watch for your souls, as * Mr. Ford had previously printed and circulated amongst the poor a small and most useful tract, entitled " Friendly and Serious Hints to the Poor, on the expected approach of the Plague, called the Cholera Morbus, to this country." 21 hey that must give account." When the mortal body returns to the dust of the earth, the immortal spirit " returns unto the God who gave I t." May not this great and awful change be soon coming upon you ? It is your wisdom to stand prepared. While we trust that there are many among you, who, in accordance with their baptismal faith and vow, are living, by God's grace, a sober, righteous, and godly life, and who therefore are always prepared to meet their heavenly Father, we think it our bounden duty to call to repentance those among our people, who have " forsaken the guide of their youth, and forgotten the covenant of their God." We fear lest the expected calamity should fall upon our city, and find such persons in a state quite unprepared to meet it. As ministers of the gospel of peace, we therefore implore them to seek for themselves that pardon of sin and that everlasting life, which Christ promises to all, who " truly repent, and unfeignedly believe his holy Gospel." Let them " seek the Lord while He is to be found, and call upon Him while He is near ;" for if they pray to Him in humility, in sorrow for the past, and in sincere purpose of heart to serve Him for the future, He will in no wise cast them out. We wish to lead the attention of such persons to a religious truth which is always instructive, but particularly so now. Observe on this occasion how obedience to God's commands brings a present reward, and how sin is its own punishment. Who are most likely to fall victims to this fatal disorder? — Persons addicted to drinking spirituous liquors, and to indulgence in irregular and sensual habits ! What houses are most exposed to this infection I—Those1 — Those where cleanliness, both in the houses themselves, and in the persons of the occupiers, are least attended to ! Surely, then, if every higher motive fail, the consideration of present interest should determine you to keep your body in soberness, temperance, and chastity. It has been observed that a calm and even temper, such as arises from a right trust in God, renders those who are blessed with it less liable to take infection. But can they, who live in sin, and are distracted by various bad passions, have any such composure of mind, or any peace with God 1 So true it is, that " Godliness is profitable unto all things, having the promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come." Act then on this conviction. " Fear God and keep his commandments ;" and thus secure to yourselves and your families health and contentment in this life, and, through the unmerited grace of God, eternal happiness in the life to come. We trust, dear brethren, that you will accept from us in good part these brief admonitions. We pray God to prepare you for any trials and afflictions, which He may be pleased to bring upon you ; and to 22 12 Nov, 1831 Central Board of Health. make this and every other visitation of his conducive to your happiness and salvation. Exeter, 12th November, 1831. It may now be said that the local Board of Health for this city was fully launched, and practically engaged in fulfilling its useful and benevolent functions. Its proceedings extended over many succeeding months, and necessarily occupied much attention. To follow these out in the order of their adoption, would form but a dry detail of dated minutes, and give then only a disjointed and confused view of the labours of the Board. The more intelligible, and interesting, mode will be to arrange its proceedings, under such specific heads, as will combine a comprehensive and consecutive view of the principal matters entertained. Of these the chief will be a consideration of the position and powers of the Board itself, and the difficulties with which it had to contend ; the then state of the city ; the means taken towards the prevention of the disease ; the means provided against its occurrence; some account of the disease as it occurred; the monies raised and expended in consequence ; with such summary and remarks as may seem appropriate. In order fully to understand the position of the local Board, and the various inducements to action by which it was influenced, occasional reference must be made to the orders and documents transmitted for its guidance, from time to time, by the Lords of the Privy Council. The order of the 20th of October, before referred to, had, immediately on its being issued, caused much general discussion throughout the country, and for many considerations, great dissatisfaction was expressed with its provisions, so much so, as very shortly to lead to an entire alteration in the constitution and construction of the London Board of Health. Accordingly we find that on the 1 2th of November, a new Board was appointed under the title of the " Central Board of Health," and composed of Colonel Rowan, of the Police Department, Sir Wm. Pym, Dr. Russell, Dr. Barry, and the Hon. Edward Stewart, Secretary — " Who will devote their whole time to the details, and 7 23 14 Nov. 1831. Order in Council. take upon themselves the entire executive department, while the members of the original Board are to constitute a committee of reserve for the guidance of the Privy Council, with regard to medical questions, on such occasions as their advice may be deemed requisite." By this we observe that Sir Henry Halford, as President, and Dr. Seymour as Secretary, are entirely superseded, and the members generally only retained by courtesy. The first act of the new Board, from whom much was expected as comprising Dr. Russell and Dr. Barry, who, just returned from their mission to St. Petersburg, were regarded as experienced in the disease, was to issue the Order in Council of the 14th of November. This document, recognizing the existing Boards of Health, first addressed itself to suggestions for the supervision of sub -districts, and the matters, connected therewith, to be attended to, with * Council Office, Whitehall, 14th Nov. 1831. Sir, The Central Board of Health hay- ing maturely weighed all the information which has been transmitted to them relative to the progress of the Asiatic Spasmodic Cholera in various parts of Europe, but more particularly guided by the conclusions on this head to which Drs. Russell and Barry have arrived after a five months' careful and laborious observation of the character of that disease in those parts of Russia which they have visited, beg leave to suggest for your consideration the following sanitary hints : — I. — AS TO PRECAUTIONARY MEASURES. In order to ensure the adoption and realize the benefit of any system of sanitary arrangements in a large community, the first essential point is to divide that community into subordinate sections, and to form district Boards of Health, each to consist, if possible, of a resident clergyman, and a number of substantial householders, and of one medical man at least. These Boards should be charged with the following duties in their respective districts : — Ist, To appoint inspectors. Each inspector to visit daily, and to inquire carefully after the health, means of subsistence, cleanliness, and comforts of the inmates of, say, (100 houses more or less,) according to local circumstances. 2ndly, To receive and examine the reports of these inspectors, which should be made up to a given hour on each day. 3rdly, To endeavour to remedy, by every means which individual and public charitable exertion can supply, such deficiency as may be found to exist in their respective districts in the following primary elements of public health, viz., the food of the poor, clothing, bedding, ventillation, space, cleanliness, outlets for domestic filth, habits of temperance, prevention of panic. 4thly, To report to their principal Boards respectively on the above heads, as well as on the actual state of health of their districts. The subordinate divisions of each district ought to be numbered or lettered, and each district named : the names of the members of each Board, of the medical men attached to each, 24 a requirement of their being reported to the Central Board in London. It then goes on to suggest, that in case of the occur- and of the visiting inspectors employed, should be placarded in conspicuous places. Principal Boards of cities, towns, or parishes, to report directly to the Central board in London : — Ist, On the actual state of health of their whole population, 2ndly, On the precautionary measures already carried into effect. 3rdly, On the measures contemplated. 4thly, On suspected sources, if any there be, from whence this particular disease might possibly spring. With regard to precautions as to intercourse with suspected or really infected persons or places, the Board are confident that good sense and good feeling will not only point out, but morally establish, as far as may be practicable, the necessity of avoiding such communication as may endanger the lives of thousands. But they strongly deprecate all measures of" coercion for this purpose, which, when tried upon the continent, invariably have been productive of evil. The best inducements to a prompt acknowledgment of the disease having entered a family, as well as to an early and voluntary separation of the sick from the healthy, will always be found in the readiness and efficiency with which public charitable institutions attend to the objects noticed in S. 3. " It is with much satisfaction that the Board feel themselves authorized to declare, and it will no doubt be highly consolatory to the public to learn, that under proper observances of cleanliness and ventilation, the disease seldom spreads to families, and rarely passes to those about the sick, under such favourable circumstances, unless they happen to be particularly predisposed. " It will not therefore be necessary, where there is space, and where due attention is paid to cleanliness and purity of air, to separate members of families actually affected by the disease,nor to insulate individual houses, unless in cases of crowded, filthy, badly ventilated habitations, and other contingencies which involve the health and safety of all." It having been proved, by ample experience, to more than one city in Europe, that the fitting up and furnishing of hospitals for the reception of the poorer classes supposed likely to be attacked by the disease, at a period too long before its actual breaking out, has been productive of great waste of means, by the spoiling of various articles, and the consequent want of wholesome accommodation when most required, the central Board would recommend that proper and sufficient house-room only be secured and prepared in the first instance, and that the charitable he called upon only to pledge themselves to furnish at a given notice such articles of bedding, furniture, &c, or the value of them, as they would have at once contributed. By this means the deterioration of perishable articles will be avoided, and should the district entirely escape, the contribution will be saved. The situation which the Board would recommend for temporary Cholera hospitals, would be those most detached, insulated, and thoroughly exposed to free and open air; the description of house, such as would admit of the most perfect ventilation and cleanliness, and the largest space around the sick. The Board would recommend, when a family is reported to be in an unhealthy state by the sub-inspector, and the disease confirmed to be Cholera by a medical member of the district Board, that the head of such family, if unable to afford proper accommodation at home, be advised to send the sick person forthwith to the temporary hospital, and that the other members of the family be supplied with such additional means and comforts as their state may require to enable them to resist the influence of 25 fence of the disease, the good sense of the community will see the necessity for the avoidance of more communication with the sick than is necessary, but strongly deprecates any coercive separation of the infected : especially as experience has shown the disease does not spread in families where precautionary measures of cleanliness, &c, have been adopted. It condemns the erection and fitting up of hospitals, as expensive, wasteful, and, may be, useless, and suggests that in their place detached roomy airy the infected atmosphere in which they live. II. — MEDICAL AND DIETETIC PRECAUTIONS. These will be found of considerable importance, from their contributing to prevent or diminish the susceptibility to infection which individuals may possess at the moment the disease breaks out. No sudden or extensive alteration should be made in the usual modes of living. All changes of food, to be useful, indeed, not to be absolutely prejudicial, should tend to render it drier, more nutritive and concentrated ; moderately costive bowels, the almost invariable consequence of a dry, invigorating diet, will be found more conducive to exemption from Cholera than an opposite habit. Whenever aperients may become indispensable, those of a warm aromatic kind in moderate doses, or domestic means, should alone be resorted to. What is generally understood by salts, viz. Glauber's salts and Epsom salts, as well as other cold purgatives, should not be taken in any quantities, nor on any account without the express prescription of a medical man. The medical members of the Board beg to state, in the most decided manner, that no specific preventive against Cholera is known to exist, and that the drugs hitherto offered with this pretension, in countries where the greatest ravages have been caused by this disease, not only did not possess the negative virtue of doing no harm, but were found to be absolutely injurious. The true preventives are a healthy body, and a cheerful, unruffled mind. Looseness of bowels should be immediately checked, and anything like periodical chills or cold perspirations should be met by quinine in suitable doses ; but habitual drugging, at all times improper, is to be deprecated in the strongest terms when epidemic disease is apprehended. The Board have been anxious to lay before the public, as early as possible, the above precautionary outlines, which they trust will tend, to~ gether with the suggestions emanating from tbe wisdom and observation of your and other local Boards, if not to exempt the whole population of these realms from the scourge of spasmodic Cholera, at least to enable them to meet it, in the event of its appearing amongst them, with physical and moral constitution the least likely to suffer from its virulence. The central Board will avail themselves of the earliest opportunity to transmit to you any further sanitary suggestions which may occur to them on the subject of precautionary measures, as well as an outline of instructions now in preparation for communities supposed to be actually attacked. I have the honour to be, Sir, Your most obedient Servant, E. Stewart, Chairman. To the Chairman of the Board of Health at Exeter. 26 13 Dec 1831 Order in Council. houses be prepared. To this is appended some brief medical and dietetical precautions, enunciating strongly at the same time, that "no specific preventive against Cholera is known to exist." The above order, evidently issued to modify and alter the directions of the order of the 20th October, though recognising the same principles of the propagation of the disease, enjoined means much less stringent and distressing to the public mind for its prevention and management, and was therefore well adapted to abate the panic and alarm which had been excited. On the 13th of December, the Central Board of Health issued another circular* to the local Boards, and which we shall notice * Central Board of Health, Council office, Whitehall, 13./. Dec. 1831. Sir, Agreeably to the intimation given by this Board in the concluding paragraph of their circular, dated 14th ult., I have the honor to transmit the subjoined " sanitary instructions for communities supposed to be actually attacked by spasmodic Cholera,'' with some observations on the nature and treatment of the disease, drawn up by Drs. Russell and Barry. Every individual being deeply interested in the preservation of the public health, it is the bounden duty of all to endeavour to arrest the spread of disease at its very commencement. In order to attain this important object — Ist. The most efficient arrangements should be made by the local Boards of health, and other authorities, to obtain the earliest and most correct intelligence of every suspicious case which may occur within their jurisdiction. 2nd. All unnecessary communication should be prevented, as far as possible, between the infected and the healthy. 3rd. As space, cleanliness, and pure air are of the most vital consequence, both to the recovery of the sick person and to the safety of those about him, the patient labouring under spasmodic Cholera should either he placed in a separate, wellventilated apartment of his own house, if it afford such accommodation, and be attended by as few persons as the circumstances of his case will admit, or be induced to submit to an immediate removal to such building as may have been provided for the reception of persons whose circumstances will not afford the advantages at home, of space, air, and separation from the healthy. 4th. When an individual shall have been attacked with this disease, and placed under the most favourable conditions, as already pointed out, both for the recovery of his own, and the safety of the public health ;- — the room or apartment where he may have been attacked, and from which he may have been removed, should be purified by scrubbing, lime-washing, free ventilation and fumigation by heated sulphuric acid and common salt, with black oxyde of manganese, or the same acid with nitre ; or, when these materials cannot he obtained, by strong vinegar thrown upon heated bricks. The bed, bedding, and clothes should be immersed in water, washed with soap, and afterwards fumigated as above. sth. To correct all offensive smells, chloride of lime may be applied ; but great caution is recommended in the use of this material, its fumes continued for any length of time having been found highly prejudicial to health, more particularly in delicate persons. 27 here, though, as regards date, rather anticipating its position. It was entitled, " Sanitary instructions for communities supposed to be attacked by spasmodic Cholera." 6th. A number of steady men, proportionate to the district in which they are to act, should be appointed to lime-wash and purify, as ordered above, under the direction of medical authority, such apartments as may be pointed out by the inspectors of the local Board. 7th. Those who die of this disease should be buried as soon as possible, wrapped in cotton or linen cloth saturated with pitch, or coal tar, and be carried to the grave by the fewest possible number of persons. The funeral service to be performed in the open air. Bth. It is of the utmost importance to the public health that an improved diet, and flannel clothing, at least flannel belts and woollen stockings, should be given to the poor. No person should ever allow himself to sit down and get cool, with wet feet : indeed the most particular attention should be paid to keeping the feet dry and warm. Repletion and indigestion should he guarded against ; all raw vegetables, acescent, unwholesome food and drink avoided. Temperance should be most rigidly observed in every thing. In short, no means should be neglected which may tend to preserve individual health. The neglect of any or all of these cautions would not of themselves produce the specific disease called Spasmodic Cholera ; but such neglect would most assuredly dispose the individual living in an infected atmosphere to be attacked by this disease, when most probably he might otherwise have escaped. The most effectual means by which this disease may be prevented from extending, is to enable the poor, who are generally the first attacked, to oppose to its influence, as far as practicable, those ameliorations in diet, clothing, and lodging which public and private charity will, it is hoped, not fail to produce. Observations on the Nature and Treatment of the Disease, drawn up by Drs. Russell and Barry, Of the two great classes of functions performed by the organs of which man is composed, one only is attacked in this disease. The operations of the senses and of the intelligence are either left untouched, or are affected but in a secondary manner. Those functions, on the contrary, by which existence as a living being is preserved ; those complicated powers, by means of which we are for ever appropriating and converting into a part of ourselves portions of the matter around us ; are all and at once deranged by the attack of this terrible malady. Nutrition is annihilated ; respiration becomes difficult, irregular, and inefficient ; the involuntary muscles no longer perform their task ; the voluntary are drawn into contractions by other powers than the will; the blood ceases to circulate ; its physical properties are altered; its serous portion is suddenly thrown out upon the intestinal mucous surface of the body; the secretions are all arrested ; and animal heat is no longer produced. Under such rapidly destructive, and almost universal derangement of function, the most energetic efforts should be directed to reproduce what the disease has rendered nature unable to keep up ; viz. : — Ist, Fluidity, heat, and motion in the blood. 2nd, Regulated action in the voluntary and involuntary muscles. Lastly, but above every other consideration, renewed energy in the nervous centre, the source of all vitality and function. No remedy at all approaching to the nature of a specific has been as **~i*~vj&j*«r $£&& . . fcl_*v. * _3 28 It enjoins the avoidance of unnecessary communications, the necessity for ventilation and cleanliness, fumigations, and the yet discovered for this disease. In fact, no one mode of cure can be usefully employed under all the circumstances of any disease. The grades of intensity, and the grouping of the symptoms with which spasmodic Cholera makes its attacks, vary with the conditions of the subject ; its treatment, therefore, must vary with these grades and conditions. The leading preliminary symptoms generally are, either diarrhoea, spasms, apoplectic vertigo with nausea, imperfect vomiting, or various combinations of these symptoms. When the diarrhoea affords time for distinct treatment, it ought to be arrested at once by the most prompt and efficient measures ; — by opium in moderate doses ; astringents; local bleeding by leeches, if the subject be plethoric; by cordials and sulphate of quinine, if there be cold sweats ; by confining the patient strictly to bed, and keeping up heat ; by diet; by emetics. Should spasms be the first and leading symptom, sub-nitrate of bismuth, cupping along the course of the spine, cordial, and antispasmodic medicines, opium, frictions, and dry warmth are indicated. But when the patient is suddenly seized with vertigo, nausea, coldness, loss of pulse, blueness of the skin, shrinking of the features and extremities, with more or less watery discharges and cramps ; constituting an aggravated case of the worst type ; whether this state shall have come on without warning, or shall have supervened upon either, or both of the preliminary sets of symptoms already mentioned, time must not be wasted upon inert measures. Such a patient will inevitably perish, and within a very few hours, if the paralysed vital functions be not quickly restored. Let him then be immediately placed between warm blankets ; and should no medical person be at hand, let two table-spoonfuls of common kitchen salt, dissolved in six ounces of warm water, be given immediately, and at once, if he be an adult. Let dry and steady heat be applied along the course of the spine, and to the pit of the stomach, (if no other means be at hand,) by a succession of heated plates or platters. Let the upper and lower extremities be sur. rounded with bags of heated bran, corn, ashes, or sand, and assiduously rubbed with a warm hand, and a little oil or grease to protect the skin. Energetic, complete vomiting will probably be produced by the salt; and perhaps bilious purging, with tenesmus. Should a medical man be on the spot, a moderate bleeding, if it can be obtained, would be desirable, previously to, or immediately after, the administration of the salt, or of any other emetic which may be preferred, The extensively deranged action of those organs, whose nerves are chiefly derived from, or connected with, the spinal marrow ; the anatomical characters found about that great source of vitality after death, in many cases of this disease; together with the success stated by Dr. Lange, chief physician at Cronstadt, to have attended the practice mentioned below, founded upon these views, in twelve out of fourteen aggravated cases, fully justify the following recommendation. In cases such as those just described, let the actual cautery he freely applied to one or two, or more places on either side of the spine, as if for the purpose of forming goodsized issues. Should the heated iron have produced any excitement of the nervous power, and the salt-emetic have caused any portion of the bile to flow through its proper duct, a great step will have been accomplished towards recovery from the stage of collapse. Cordials and opiates judiciously administered ; sinapisms ana other external stimulants ; mercurials, with mild aromatic aperients, which the intelligence and activity ° British medical practitioners will 29 purifying of used linen, &c. The speedy burial of the dead "enveloped in cotton or linen cloth saturated with pitch or coal tar, and the performance of the funeral service in the open air." It further speaks of the importance of good food and clothing, and especially recommends flannel belts and woollen stockings. It concludes with a series of observations on the nature and treatment of the disease, drawn up by Dr. Russell and Dr. Barry ; which, taking as their basis that "no remedy at all approaching to the nature of a specific, has been as yet discovered," enters into a pathological discussion on the disease itself, and the changes effected thereby in the animal economy, describes the more prominent evidences of an alteration from healthy action, and, finally, on a consideration of all these, proposes what may be not fail to adapt to the actual circumstances of each case, will conduct the patient safely to the stage of reaction. The organs, during the collapse of this disease, probably owing to deficient vitality, often give no indication of having been acted upon by repeated doses of certain powerful medicines, which under other circumstances would have produced the most pronounced effects. It is therefore suggested, that this temporary insensibility of the system should not inculcate the administration of such repeated quantities as could, by accumulation, when the organs begin to recover their vitality, give rise to unfavourable results. Thirst being a most distressing symptom of this disease, the quality and the temperature of the drink should perhaps be left to the choice of the patient : but the quantity taken at a time should not exceed four ounces, and should be acidulated with nitrous acid, if the patient will bear it. Should the disease prove extensively and rapidly epidemic in a large community, it would be prudent to establish stations at convenient distances from each other, where medical assistance and medicines might be procured without the risk of disappointment or delay. The details of these arrangements are left to the wisdom of local Boards of Health. _ As the symptoms of the consecutive stage of feverish re-action in Cholera differ but little, if at all, from those of ordinary typhus, except perhaps in the greater rapidity with which they but too often run to a fatal termination ; and as this kind of fever is treated in no part of the world with more success than in England, the entire management of this stage of the disease is left to the zeal and science of the profession at large. Attentive nursing, and assiduous, well-directed, rubbing, are of the utmost importance; a strictly horizontal position, however, must be maintained until the heart shall have, partly at least, recovered its action. An erect or even semi-erect position, during the collapse, has been often observed to produce instant death. Warm baths therefore, for this and other reasons, are worse than useless ; evaporating fluids, and indeed all moisture applied to the skin, seem to be contra-indicated for obvious reasons. Hot air baths, so contrived as to be applicable in a recumbent posture, and admitting access to the patient for the purpose of friction, may be of use. I have the honour to be, Sir, Your most obedient servant, E. Stewart, Chairman. To the Chairman of the Board of Health, Exeter. 30 termed, as opposed to an empirical, a rational mode of treatment of the disease. To revert to the constitution of the local Board of Health, we may observe that though general directions for its formation had been issued by the Order in Council of the 19th of Oct., and subsequently by that of the 14th of Nov., yet no specific powers bad been conferred upon it ; so that, it was to a certain extent a body to which certain directions had been given, but with no authority for carrying them out. On the 21st of November, 1831, however, another proclamation* of the Lords of the Privy Council is received, which, after reciting * At the Council Chamber, Whitehall, the 21st day of November, 1831, by the Lords of his Majesty's most honourable Privy Council. Whereas by an Act of Parliament, passed in the sixth year of the reign of his late Majesty King George the Fourth, intituled " An Act to repeal the several Laws relating to the Performance of Quarantine, and to make other Provisions in lieu thereof," it is amongst other things enacted, " that it shall and may be lawful for the Lords and others of his Majesty's Privy Council, or any two or more of them, to make such order as they shall see necessary and expedient upon any unforeseen emergency, or in any particular case or cases, with respect to any vessel arriving and having any infectious disease or distemper on board, or on board of which any infectious disease or distemper may have appeared in the course of the voyage, or arriving under any other alarming or suspicious circumstances as to infection, although such vessels shall not have come from any place from which his Majesty, his heirs and successors, by and with the advice of his Privy Council, may have adjudged and declared it probable that the plague or any such infectious disease or distemper, may be brought ; and also with respect to the persons, goods, wares, and merchandize, and other articles as aforesaid, on board the same; and in case of any infectious disease or distemper appearing or breaking out in the United Kingdom, or the islands of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sarke, and Man, to make such orders and give such directions, in order to cut off all communication between any persons infected with any such disease or distemper and the rest of his Majesty's subjects as shall appear to the said Lords or others of his Majesty's Privy Council, or any two or more of them, to be necessary and expedient for that purpose :" And whereas the infectious disease or distemper called the " Spasmodic Cholera " hath appeared and broken out within the United Kingdom ; and whereas, in order to cut off all communication between any persons infected with the said disease or distemper and the rest of his Majesty's subjects, it doth appear to the Lords and others of his Majesty's Privy Council necessary and expedient that Boards of Health, to be constituted as herein-after mentioned, should be established within such cities, towns, and other places within the United Kingdom as may be affected with or as may be in danger of becoming affected with, the said disease, and that proper measures be taken for securing the communication to such Medical Boards of authentic intelligence respecting the actual state of the public health within any such city, town, or place, and the condition of all persons therein labouring under the said disease, or any other disease highly dangerous to the health of his Majesty's subjects. Now, therefore, it is hereby ordered by the lords and others of his 31 21 Dec. 1831. Returns to be made to Central Board. the powers of the Act passed in the 6th year of George IV. " To repeal the several laws relating to the performance of quarantine, and to make other provisions in lieu thereof," goes on to state, that " the spasmodic Cholera has appeared within the United Kingdom ; that it is necessary to cut off communication with infected persons ; that local Boards of Health should be established, and that medical men are to report cases which may occur either of this, or any other dangerous disease, to such local Boards." This, though directing medical men to make returns to the local Boards, does not direct to whom the local Boards are afterwards to forward them. In order to ascertain this point, Dr. Blackall, on the 21st of December, writes to the central Board of Health, stating the proceedings of the Board of Health at Exeter, ' ° r ° and requesting information as to whom returns are to be made. On the 24th, Mr. Maclean, the secretary to the central Board, informs him, " that all communications on this subject should be " sent to this Board directed to ' The Clerk of tbe Council in Wait- Majesty's Privy Council, in pursuance and exercise of the powers so vested in them as aforesaid by the said Act of Parliament, and in pursuance of any other powers enabling them in that behalf, that Boards of Health shall forthwith be established in every city, town, or place within the United Kingdom to which an order for that purpose shall be transmitted by the Lords and others of his Majesty's Privy Council, such order being certi- fed by the signature of one of the clerks in ordinary of the Privy Coun- cilj and that such Boards shall be constituted in such manner, and shall proceed in the execution of the duties committed to them in such form and according to such regula- tions, as shall be directed and pre- scribed by any order so to be issued and certified as aforesaid : and it is further ordered, that every practi- tioner of medicine within every city, town, or place in which every such Board shall be so constituted, shall and is hereby commanded and re- quired to make to such Board a daily report, under his hand, con- taining a full, true, and particular account of the condition of every person attended by such medical practitioner who may be affected with the said disease, or with any other disease highly dangerous to the health of his Majesty's subjects ; and all medical practitioners who shall neglect or omit to make any such return by the time, or at the place, or in the manner or form so to be required, or who shall in any such return wilfully make any false statement, are hereby warned and admonished that the several penalties consequent upon any such disobedience to the provisions of the before-mentioned Act of Parliament will forthwith be enforced against them; and all mayors, magistrates, justices of the peace, and others his Majesty's officers, civil and military, and subjects whomsoever, are hereby commanded to be aiding and assisting, to the utmost of their several abilities, in enforcing prompt obedience to this present order, and in punishing by all lawful ways and means any neglect or violation thereof. C. C. Greville. 32 13 Dee. 1831 Local Board not legally constituted. "ing/ with the words ' Central Board of Health' in the corner." In the prosecution of its duties the local Board was now employed in considering the various means necessary for the prevention of the disease, and having ascertained, from the reports of the district committees, that the collections of filth, the keeping of animals, the deficiency of conveniencies for personal wants, &c., within the city, were of a most alarming character, and beyond all previous anticipation, it anxiously sought a prompt mitigation of these evils. Difficulty was, however, here experienced, as the Board was considered not to have been legally constituted, inasmuch as no order for that purpose had been " transmitted by the "Lords and others of his Majesty's Privy Council, such order " being certified by the signature of one of the clerks in ordinary "of the Privy Council," — a condition which appeared to be required by the proclamation of the 21st of November. Representations to this effect were made by the Mayor to the Privy Council on tbe 13th of December, who further desires " on the part of the inhabitants of the city that such an order may be transmitted as soon as convenient for the purpose of a legal Board being established in this city." In reply to which the secretary of the Board of Health transmits, on the 15th, the printed circular* issued by them on the 29th of November last, and from which it is apparent, that the local Boards of other places had found themselves, from the terms in which the various Orders in Council * Extract of a Letter from the Clerk of the Council in reply to Communications from Boards of Health requesting Information as to the Reappointment under the orders in Council of 21st November, 1831, for the purpose of obtaining accurate Returns of Disease, and for the Removal of Nuisances. "I am directed to acquaint you " that the Lords of his Majesty's " most honourable Privy Council do " not think it necessary that a new " Board of Health should be ap" pointed with the powers mentioned "in the orders of 21st November, "1831, except in the event of the " Cholera breaking out in your town, " or in the immediate neighbourhood; " or in the event of some other case of " great urgency occurring, the cir" cumstances of which will be taken "into consideration upon the same " being specially represented to their " Lordships." " The order of the 21st of Novem" ber was not intended to cancel the " Boards of Health then in existence, " nor to prevent the formation of any " others that might have been con" templated in consequence of the " order of the 20th October ; and "their Lordships are of opinion, that " such Boards of Health may be very " beneficially employed in discharg" ing the duties marked out in the " circular of the Central Board of " Health of the 14th November, " 1831." 33 15Dtc.,1831. Public Meeting. had been drawn up, not being sufficiently clear and explicit, and the powers conferred by them distinctly defined, in the same difficulty as was experienced in Exeter. It has been stated that the Board of Health was formed at the instance of the Mayor, in compliance with the order in Council, of the 20th of October, and was composed of such members as the requirements of the moment suggested to be the most eligible. Neither the appointment of the Board, nor its proceedings had, therefore, in any way come under the public consideration of the citizens at large. It was thought right that this should be done : accordingly, on the 15th of December a public meeting of the inhabitants was held, at which the past and contemplated proceedings of the board were detailed. The following are the minutes of this meeting as published in a handbill at the time. Exeter. At a meeting of the inhabitants of this City and County, held at the Guildhall, the 15th December, 1831, the Right Worshipful the Mayor in the chair : The Board of Health having stated their establishment, and the measures that had been, and were intended to be, taken, in order (under the blessing of Providence) to prevent the spreading of the Cholera Morbus in this City, as well as the expenses that had been hitherto, and were proposed to be, incurred for this purpose, — Resolved, that it appears highly desirable to this meeting, that the sum of five hundred pounds should be placed at the disposal of the Board of Health. That a subscription be immediately entered into for this purpose. That the ministers and churchwardens of the several parishes, in Exeter, be requested to collect subscriptions from door to door, within their respective parishes, and pay the same into one of the banks of this City, to the account of the treasurer of the Board of Health. That all the banks be requested to receive subscriptions in aid of this fund, and account for the same to the treasurer. That this meeting views with great satisfaction, the cordial co-operation that has existed between the Board of Health, and the Corporation of the Poor of this city, and the Commissioners of the Improvement Act relative to the measures suggested for preserving the health of the City. D 34 That the thanks of this meeting are eminently due to the physicians, and other medical practitioners of this City, for their able advice and assistance on the present occasion. And also to the clergy for their address to the public, and the valuable assistance they have afforded. That this meeting confidently relies on the continued exertions of the Board of Health, and the other Bodies above enumerated, to effect the important objects in view : and requests the Board of Health will, from time to time, make public any information that may reach them, or any resolutions or recommendations which future circumstances may render advisable. That it be recommended to the churchwardens of the several parishes in Exeter to hold vestry meetings, for the purpose of subdividing their respective parishes, where necessary, so as effectually to ascertain the state of the poor residents, and the existing circumstances within their respective parishes, which call for the interference of the Board of Health ; and to assist the Board in carrying into effect such remedies as shall be found necessary, and that the reports of such vestry meetings be transmitted to the Board of Health from time to time. That the thanks of this meeting be presented to the Right Worshipful the Mayor, for convening the present meeting, and for his conduct in the chair. At this meeting Mr. Blackall, as treasurer of the Cholera fund, briefly related the circumstances which had hitherto taken place, and having referred to some small expenses that had been incurred, went on to state, it had been strongly recommended to give flannel belts to the poor, which, worn constantly round their waists, had been found by experience to be a great preventive. The Corporation of the Poor had consented to give belts to those under their immediate care ; besides these, however, it was ascertained there were nearly 5000 persons within this city desirous of receiving them : reckoning each belt at one shilling, the cost would be _£250. On the whole he believed the Board had already, or would shortly make itself answerable for nearly £350 ; and that, in the event of the malady coming amongst us, the expense of separating the healthy from the sick would be considerable, and therefore he thought every exertion should be made to increase the subscription list. The meeting was subsequently addressed by many influential citizens, as to the sanitary state of the City ; the good effected by 35 i3Feb.,isB2. Cholera in London. 28 Fet>.,iB32. the Board of Health ; its legal inadequacy to effect all the good required, especially as regarded the abatement of private nuisances ; the necessity for the division of the City into smaller districts for the purpose of more intimate supervision, &c, &c. On this meeting generally, the following observations were made by a local paper. " We beg leave to call the attention of our readers to the proceedings at the Guildhall on Thursday. The conduct of those gentlemen, who have so ardently laboured for the public safety, is, we conceive, above all praise ; their exertions have been unremitting, not only to induce a salutary improvement in the crowded and filthy purlieus'of our City, and to introduce cleanliness, ventilation, and comfort into hovels, that might otherwise prove the fruitful sources or hot-beds of pestilence, but they have, to our knowledge, held out the hand of charitable succour to the needy and the destitute. The disgusting (and, in any case, dangerous) accumulations of filth, that the Board of Health has caused to be removed from the midst of a dense population ; the information that has been obtained, of the real condition of our poor, calling imperatively for ameliorating means of more than a temporary nature ; the scenes of squalid wretchedness which have been brought under the notice of the proper authorities, are such ? that, independently of all the alarm of contagion, we deem the formation of this Board called for, and likely to confer upon the City paramount benefits. They now come forward and appeal to public benevolence for the means of affording flannel to the poor. This appeal should be liberally responded to ; it is deemed a preservative against contagion, and under any circumstances is certainly a comfort in the inclemency of winter." During January and February of 1832, the disease had been . making progress m the North of England, and on the 13th of February, its appearance in London was officially announced. An Act of Parliament was passed rapidly through both Houses, and on the 28th received the Royal assent, enabling the Lords of the Privy Council to make orders for the prevention of Cholera, and that any expenses which may be incurred in consequence of carrying out such orders should be " defrayed out of the d 2 36 " rates for the relief of the poor of the parish, township, or extra " parochial place, maintaining its own poor." In pursuance of this act, an order* in council was issued on the * At the Council Chamber, White- hall, the 29th day of February, 1532. By the Lords of his Majesty's most Honourable Privy Council. Whereas by an Act, passed in the second year of the reign of his present Majesty, intituled " An Act for the prevention, as far as may be possible, of the disease, called the Cholera, or spasmodic, or Indian Cholera, in England," it is, amongst other things, enacted, that it shall and may be lawful for the Lords and others of his Majesty's most Honourable Privy Council, or any two or more of them (of whom the Lord President of the Council, or one of his Majesty's principal Secretaries of State for the time being, shall always be one,) by any order or orders to be by them from time to time made, to establish, and again, from time to time, by any such order or orders, to revoke, renew, alter, and vary all such rules and regulations, or to substitute any such new rules and regulations, as to them may appear necessary or expedient, for the prevention, as far as may be possible, of the said disease, called the Cholera, or spasmodic, or Indian Cholera, in England or Wales, or any part thereof, or for the relief of any persons suffering under, or likely to be affected by, the said disease : and whereas the said disease hath extended to different parts of Great Britain : and whereas it doth appear to the Lords and others of his Majesty's most honourable Privy Council (of whom the Lord President of the Council is one), necessary and expedient, in order to prevent the spread of the said disease, that all Boards of Health established within cities, towns, and districts of England and Wales, and constituted by any order or orders of his Majesty's Privy Council, shall remain and continue in the execution of their respective duties as at present constituted ; it is, therefore, ordered by the Lords and others of his Majesty's Privy Council (of whom the Lord President of the Council is one), in pursuance and exercise of the powers vested in them by the before recited Act, and of all other powers enabling them in that behalf, that all Boards of Health heretofore established in any city, town, or district of England or Wales; and constituted, appointed, or confirmed by any order or orders of his Majesty's Privy Council, certified under the hand of one of the clerks in ordinary of the Privy Council, shall remain and continue as at present constituted; and that all such Boards of Health shall proceed in the execution of the duties to be committed to them, in such form, and according to such regulations, as shall be directed and prescribed by any order of his Majesty's Privy Council, so certified as aforesaid. And it is further ordered, that every practitioner of medicine within every city, town, or district, in which every such Board of Health is or shall be constituted by order of the Lords and others of his Majesty's Privy Council, shall, and he is hereby required and commanded to make to such Board a daily report under his hand, containing a numerical account of all new cases, deaths, and recoveries ef every person attended by such medical practitioner, who may be affected with the said disease, or with any other disease anywise resembling tbe same. And all medical practitioners who shall neglect or omit to make any such return, at the time or in the manner or form required by the Board of Health of the city, town, or district in which they reside, or in which the patient they attend resides, or who shall, in such return, wilfully make any false statement, are hereby warned and admonished, that the penalties and punishments consequent upon any such disobedience to this order, and to the provisions of the before-mentioned Act of Parlwment, will forthwith be enforced against them. C C. Grevillb ¦37 29 Feb. 1832. Order in Council. 29th of February, confirming the appointment of all those Boards of Health which had been previously constituted and empowered by the Privy Council, and requiring them to proceed in the execution of the duties which may be committed to them. It also required that " every practitioner in medicine," where any such Board of Health is constituted, shall make to it a daily report, " containing a numerical account of all new cases, deaths, " and recoveries of every person attended by such medical practi" tioner, who may be affected with the said disease, or with any " other disease anywise resembling the same." On the 6th of March another order* is issued which provides * At the Council Chamber, Whitehull, the 6th day of March, 1832. By the Lords of his Majesty's most Honourable Privy Council. Whereas by an Act, passed in the second year of the reign of his present Majesty, intituled "An Act for- the prevention, as far as may be possible, of the disease, called the Cholera, or spasmodic, or Indian Cholera, in England," it is, amongst other things, enacted, that it shall and may he lawful for the Lords and others of his Majesty's most Honourable Privy Council, or any two or more of them (of whom the Lord President of the Council, or one of his Majesty's principal Secretaries of State for the time being, shall always be one), by any order or orders to be by them from time to time made, to establish, and again, from time to time, by any such order or orders, to revoke, renew, alter, or vary all such new rules and regulations as to them may appear necessary or expedient for the prevention, as far as may be possible, of the spreading of the said disease, called the Cholera, or spasmodic, or Indian Cholera, in England or Wales, or any part thereof, or for the relief of any persons suffering under, or likely to he affected by, the said disease : And whereas it is further enacted by the said act, that all and every the expenses which may be reasonably or properly incurred, in carrying into effect any order of the Lords of his Majesty's most Honourable Privy Council, made as aforesaid, shall, under and by virtue of an order in writing of one justice of the peace, dwelling in or near the parish or division (and which said order any such justice is hereby empowered and directed to make), commanding the churchwardens, overseers, or guardians of the poor, for the time being, to pay a certain sufficient sum of money for such purpose, to be defrayed out of the rates for the relief of the poor of the parish, township, or extra parochial place maintaining its own poor, in which the same shall be incurred, and, in other extra parochial places, out of the poors' rate of the parish nearest adjoining : And whereas the said disease hath extended to different parts of Great Britain, and other parts thereof may be affected by the same : And whereas it doth appear to the Lords and others of his Majesty's most Honourable Privy Council (of whom the Lord President of the Council is one), necessary and expedient, in order to promote, under certain restrictions, the separation of persons infected, or likely to be infected, with the said disease, from other classes of his Majesty's subjects, and to provide accommodation for the reception and relief of persons suffering under, or likely to be affected by, the said disease, that all select vestries, or, where there are no select vestries established, all rated inhabitants of parishes, townships, ecclesiastical divisions, or any other places whatsoever maintaining their own poor, in vestry assembled, in cities, 38 (i March, 1832. Order in Council. that all Boards of Health shall, with consent of vestries, erect or provide temporary hospitals ; " houses of observation for the " reception of persons not at the time affected with the said dis- towns, and districts of England and Wales now affected with, or which may be in immediate danger of being affected with, the said disease, should be permitted and suffered, where they think fit so to do, to invest and entrust their respective Boards of Health, established for such parishes or places, and constituted by an order of the Lords and others of his Majesty's most Honourable Privy Council, with sufficient powers and authority to provide temporary hospitals, with all necessary articles for the reception and cure of persons affected with the said disease, and also houses of observation for the reception of persons whom it may be necessary or proper to remove from communication with infected persons ; it is, therefore, ordered by the Lords and others of his Majesty's most honourable Privy Council (of whom the Lord President of the Council is one), in pursuance and exercise of the powers vested in them by the before recited Act, and of all other powers enabling them in that behalf, that every Board of Health which now is, or hereafter shall be, constituted by virtue of any order or orders of his Majesty's Privy Council, certified under the hand of one of the clerks in ordinary of the Privy Council, shall and may, by their chaivman or secretary, apply to, request and desire the acting parish officers, or district churchwardens for the time being of the parish, township, ecclesiastical division, district, or place, for which Boards of Health are appointed, to convene a meeting of the select vestry of such parish or place, or in parishes and places where no select vestry is established, to convene a meeting of the inhabitants in parish vestry, which said meetings in select, or in parish vestries, the said parish officers, or district churchwardens, are hereby directed and commanded to call and convene as early as can conveniently be done, after the publicationof the usual not ices of the time and place of holding the same; and at such meetings respectively, every such Board of Health shall and may submit to such select or parish vestries proposals for their permission and consent that such Boards of Health should be empowered and enabled to contract for, engage, and hire, and by themselves, their servants, or others, to possess, hold, and occupy any messuage, house, or other suitable building, and to erect any temporary buildings upon land belonging to the parish, or where there is no land belonging to the parish, conveniently situate for the site of such buildings, to contract for the use and occupation of land for such purpose of erecting temporary buildings thereon and to establish all and every such messuages, houses, buildings, and temporary erections, so hired or constructed as aforesaid as Cholera hospitals, or as houses of observation, for the reception of persons not at the time affected with the said decease, but whom it may be necessary or proper to remove from communication with infected persons ; also to procure and purchase a sufficient and necessary supply of beds, food, clothing, fuel, and medicine, and to engage medical assistance and nurses, and other necessary attendants ; and if such select vestries or parish vestries shall consent and agree, by a majority of the votes of the members or inhabitants then present, taken in the usual and ordinary manner of voting at such select or parish vestries, that it is salutary and expedient to confer such authority and powers upon the Board of Health appointed for such parish or place, then it shall and may be lawful for such Boards of Health, and they are hereby empowered and authorised to undertake, enter upon, do and perform all the acts, deeds, matters, and things required of them in the execution of such their trusts, under the authority and by virtue of this order of the Lords and 39 " case, but whom it may be necessary or proper to remove from " communication with infected persons ; also to procure and pur- others of the Privy Council (of whom the Lord President of the Council is one), with power to remove and convey, or cause to be conveyed, to any suchCholerahospital, so established as aforesaid, any person infected with the said disease, and consenting to be removed from his or her habitation, and to place in any such house of observation as aforesaid, any person or persons whom, in the opinion of two medical practitioners, signified by a certificate in writing under their hands, it maybe necessary or proper to remove from communication with infected persons, or from confined and crowded situations : but if such select vestries, or parish vestries, shall not agree and determine, by a majority of the votes of the members or inhabitants then present, taken in the usual and ordinary manner of voting at such vestries, that it is salutary and expedient to confer such powers upon the Boards of Health appointed for such parishes or places respectively, then it is ordered and enjoined, that no such authority or powers shall be claimed or exercised by any Board of Health in any parish or place, except when such and any other authority and powers shall, upon due consideration of the premises, be conferred and given to any such Boards of Health by any order or orders to be made by the Lords and others of his Majesty's most Honourable Privy Council, certified% % Tinder the hand of one of the clerks in Ordinary of the Privy Council : And for the discharge and payment of all such expenses not exceeding an ascertained and specified amount, to be in every case fixed, and declared by such select or parish vestries, and which shall be reasonably and properly incurred by any Board of Health, so constituted and empowered as aforesaid, in the execution of their trust, and in carrying into effect this order of the Lords and others of the Privy Council, it shall be lawful for all such Boards of Health, and they are hereby authorised and directed to make application, by their chairman or secretary, to some justice of the peace living in or near the parish or division, to make an order in writing upon the parish officers, or district churchwardens of the parish or place, commanding them to pay a certain specified sum of money for such purpose out of the rates levied, or next thereafter to be levied, for the relief of the poor of such parish or place, which order every suchjustice of the peace (all previous accounts of any such Board of Health having been regularly kept, verified, and allowed in the manner hereinafter directed before any second or further order is made) is hereby required and enjoined to make in pursuance and exercise of the power vested in him by the before recited Act : And it is hereby further ordered, that the secretary or clerk of all such Boards of Health, so constituted and empowered as aforesaid, shall and do keep a full, true, and complete account in writing, fairly entered in a book to be kept for that purpose, of all sums of money by such Board received, laid out, and expended, and also of all goods, chattels, furniture, apparel, and other necessaries purchased by such Boards for the use of any Cholera hospital or house of observation, such account to be examined and signed at the end of every week by the chairman of such Board ; and the said book shall be carefully preserved by such secretary or clerk, and such secretary or clerk shall, and he is hereby ordered and commanded to permit any member of the select vestry, or any inhabitant assessed to the poors' rate of the said parish or place, to inspect such book upon application in writing to the chairman of such Board of Health, at any reasonable time, within fourteen days before the general or quarter sessions ; and it is hereby further ordered and commanded, that such account, so signed as aforesaid, shall be verified on oath by the said secretary or clerk before the justices of the peace, at the next general or quarter sessions assembled ; and it shall be lawful for such justices in sessions, and they 40 " chase a sufficient and necessary supply of beds, food, clothing, " fuel, and medicine, and to engage medical assistance, and " nurses, and other necessary attendants." This being done, it shall then be lawful for the Board of Health to carry out the trust reposed in them, " with power to remove and convey, or " cause to be conveyed, to any such Cholera hospital, so esta<( Wished as aforesaid, any person infected with the said disease, " and consenting to be removed from his or her habitation ; and " to place in any such house of observation as aforesaid, any " person or persons whom, in the opinion of two medical practi" tioners, signified by a certificate in writing under their hands, it " may be necessary or proper to remove from communication with " infected persons, or from confined and crowded situations." It will be observed that, in the above, a most extraordinary distinction is made between those really diseased and those only suspected of so being ; giving the former the privilege of refusing to be removed to a hospital, while, should the Board of Health so direct it, the latter may be compelled to remove to the house of observation. are hereby required and directed to signify their allowance and approbation of any such account under their hands at the foot of such account ; and in case the said justices are not satisfied to allow and approve such account, then they may, and they are hereby authorized and empowered, if they shall so think fit for any grave reasons, to examine into the matter of every such account, and to administer an oath, or affirmation, to such secretary, or to any member of the Board of Health, or to any person contracting or dealing with, or supplying labour or materials to such Board of Health, and to specify at the foot of such account, every such charge or payment, and its amount, as to them the said justices shall appear exorbitant, unreasonable, and improper; and in case such secretary or clerk of any such Board of Health, so constituted and empowered as aforesaid, shall refuse, or neglect to keep, or to verify such accounts before the justices in sessions, by oath as aforesaid, or shall wilfully make any false entry therein, or give any false account thereof, such secretary or clerk is hereby warned and admonished that the penalties and punishments consequent upon any disobedience to this order, and to the provisions of the before recited Act, will forthwith be enforced against him. And the Lords and others of his Majesty's most Honourable Privy Council (of whom the Lord President of the Council is one) do hereby declare, that for all acts, deeds, matters, and things, which may be necessarily, reasonably, and properly done by any such select vestry, parish vestry, Board of Health, constituted and empowered in the manner aforesaid, and by any such justice of the peace, justices in sessions, overseers, churchwardens, district churchwardens, guardians of the poor, and others of his Majesty's subjects, in execution and furtherance of the present order of the Lords and others in council, or of any order so to be made by any such justice of the peace as aforesaid, this order shall be their full and sufcient warrant. C. C. Grevili-E. 41 6 March, 1832. Embarrass- Board of Health. statement of ties of the The Board of Health in Exeter now found itself in consider- able difficulty, from its appearing that in one very important par- ticular the provisions of the " Cholera Prevention Act" failed in respect to them, in consequence of the money raised for the relief of the poor by parochial assessments being received and dispensed by a Corporation, under local Acts of Parliament passed specifically for this purpose. On the 6th of March, Mr. Gidley, the secretary to the Board of Health, enclosed to Mr. Buck, one of the members of Parliament for Exeter, the following letter and statement, in which the whole question is fully set forth. Exeter, 6th March, 1832. Dear Sir, I am directed by the Board of Health at Exeter, to which I have the honor to be the secretary, to inclose some observations relative to the difficulties which it is apprehended may arise in applying the provisions of the recent Act of Parliament for the prevention of Cholera to the City of Exeter, and to request you will have the goodness to consult with Mr. Buller, and lay them before Lord Althorp, who conducted the Bill in the House of Commons. Yours, &c. John Gidley. Lewis Wm. Buck, Esq., M. P. Statement Unclosed. The Board of Health established at Exeter have taken into their consideration the Act of Parliament recently passed for the prevention, as far as may be possible, of the disease called the Cholera, or spasmodic, or Indian Cholera in England. Fully admitting the necessity and propriety of the powers vested in the Lords of his Majesty's most Honourable Privy Council by that Act, and sincerely desiring that its operation may be as beneficial as possible, the Board of Health at Exeter feel it their duty to state the difficulties which in their judgment will arise in the application of the provisions of the Act to the City of Exeter. The Bth section directs that the expenses of carrying into effect any order of the Privy Council shall (by virtue of an order of one justice of the peace commanding the churchwardens, overseers, or guardians of the poor to pay a sufficient sum of money for such purposes) be defrayed out of the rates for the relief of the poor of the parish, township, or extra-parochial place maintaining its own poor, in which the same shall be so incurred. 42 The City and County of Exeter contains nineteen parishes and three precincts, which by virtue of certain local Acts of Parliament are so far consolidated that no parish maintains its own poor. Each has, however, its separate churchwardens and overseers, and the money raised for the relief of the poor by parochial assessments is received by a corporation, which maintains the poor of the whole city and county without reference to the amount of the rate raised within the several parishes to which the poor may respectively belong ; and it is well known that, from the poverty of some of the parishes in which the Cholera is most likely to prevail, the sums raised within them are inadequate to the maintenance of their own poor, which, no doubt, was the original cause of the consolidation above mentioned. But assuming the difficulty of applying the Act to the City of Exeter (in which no parish maintains its own poor) to be got over, still the great difficulty would remain, there being no power in the Act of Parliament to tax adjoining parishes, (except in respect of an extraparochial place), the expense must necessarily fall upon that parish alone within which it is incurred, and it is apprehended, in the event of the interference of the Privy Council becoming necessary, either that orders must be issued to every parish and precinct in Exeter, or that being addressed to a single parish for so large and populous a district, the expense will exceed the means of its inhabitants and the orders become impracticable. It has been considered whether the word "township " might not be deemed to have a meaning sufficiently extensive to comprise the city, but it seems clear that it must be taken in its ordinary sense, and cannot receive so large a construction. Although the above observations are suggested with reference to' Exeter, yet they apply also to many other cities and large towns which administer the poor laws under local Acts of Parliament similar to those which govern the Corporation of the Poor at Exeter. Mr. Buck, on the Bth of March, duly laid the matter before the Central Board of Health, but they having taken no notice of it, on the 15th Mr. Gidley himself applied, and on the 19th, in reply, the secretary merely states that he is directed to refer him to the Orders in Council of the 29th of February and the 6th of March (vide ante, pp. 36, 37). On this the Mayor placed himself in communication with the City Members, and both Mr. Buck and Mr. Buller, on the 23rd, write, that the Central Board of Health having disregarded their representations, they had had an interview with Lord Althorp, who commissioned them to say 43 he would give the subject his earliest consideration. On the next day (the 24th) the following communication was received. Central Board of Health, Council Office, Whitehall, 24th March, 1532. Sir, The Central Board of Health having had under consideration your letter to Mr. Buck of the 6th instant, enclosing some observations respecting the difficulties apprehended in applying some of tbe provisions of the Cholera Prevention Act to the city of Exeter, I am directed to refer you to the Order in Council relating to the city and county of the city of Norwich, which appeared in last night's Gazette, and to request that, if in Exeter, the consolidation of the parishes and incorporation of the guardians of the poor are affected in a similar way by local Acts, you will have the goodness to transmit a copy of such Acts to this Board. I am, &c W. Maclean, Secretary. John Gidley, Esq. To this communication Mr. Gidley made tbe following reply. Exeter, 9th April, 1832. Sir, I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 24th ult., and have carefully perused the Order in Council relating to the city and county of. the city of Norwich to which you referred me. I have not seen the Norwich Act, but from the recital of it in the Order in Council, it does not appear to me to be very similar to the Exeter local acts, a copy of which I have procured, and transmit herewith. As the Cholera Prevention Act is framed, I do not consider that the Privy Council can make any orders under it relative to the Exeter Corporation of the Poor, which can be carried into effect in this City. The principal ground of my opinion is this, that the largest place spoken of in the Act is a parish, and the orders of magistrates are to be made upon the churchwardens, overseers, or guardians of the poor of the parish, &c, within which the expense shall be incurred. Now it is perfectly clear that a statute which treats of things or persons of an inferior degree, cannot by any general words be extended to those of a superior degree ; and a parish being the most considerable place named in the Act, cannot be extended to a district comprising many parishes. It is extremely important, as regards Exeter, that the law, under which the Corporation of the Poor may be called upon to act, be free from any doubts whatever, for no expense can be incurred by that body 44 but upon the personal responsibility of the treasurer for the time being, as the local acts, after providing, that his accounts shall be audited and allowed in a certain manner, allows to every rated inhabitant of the city and county a power of appealing to the quarter sessions against any item in the account which may not be strictly legal expenditure ; and this power of appeal, which has sometimes been acted upon, renders the treasurer very cautious in the discharge of the duties of his burtbensome and responsible office. I am, &c. John Gidley. W. Maclean, Esq. It will be seen by the following, received on the 18th inst., that the view taken of this matter by Mr. Gidley was, after some days' consideration, adopted by the Central Board. Central Board of Health, Council Office, Whitehall. Hth April, 1832. Sir, With reference to your letter of the 9th instant, I am directed to state to you that the Central Board of Health have perused the Exeter Acts, and concur in opinion with you, that the Lords of the Council cannot make any order under the Cholera Prevention Act which would strictly meet the case of the Exeter Corporation of the Poor. It will therefore be necessary that the local Board should secure the concurrence of the rated inhabitants with regard to their proceedings under the order of the 6th of March last. The Lords of the Council can however by a special order (as in the Norwich case) direct the application for powers and expenses to be made to the governor, deputy-governor, assistants, and guardians of the poor of the City and County of Exeter, in lieu of sending them to select and parish vestries. I am, &c, Wm. Maclean, Secretary. John Gidley, Esq., Secretary of Board of Health, Exeter. We shall here pause for a moment from the anticipated difficulties and inconveniences likely to be thus experienced by the Board of Health in Exeter, briefly to observe, that as the Cholera was prevailing in many parts of the kingdom, it was now thought necessary that the Board should be legally constituted, 45 which hitherto had not been done, in order that it might the more efficiently carry out its wishes, irrespective of the mode in which tbe funds for so doing were to be raised. We therefore find that, on the 9th of April, the Mayor wrote to the Central Board in reference to this subject. On the 12th the Secretary replied that he is directed, by the Lords of the Council, to request the names of the gentlemen, composing the present Board at Exeter, may be submitted for their Lordships' approval. It will be recollected that the Board of Health was constituted, at the meeting at tbe Guildhall, (vide ante, p. 11,) on the Ist of Nov. 1831 ; it was now, however, thought right somewhat to modify it, and the following letter to the Mayor was written by Mr. Gidley. Exeter, 17 th April, 1832. Dear Sir, I send you herewith the draft of a list of the Exeter Board of Health, which I have framed from the second resolution of the printed paper which accompanies this, and from the proceedings of the Board I think it requires some alteration, upon Which I hope to see you on Thursday. None of the physicians are properly members of the Board, except those whose names have a cross set against them, but they have all been very punctual in attending, and I feel there will be an awkwardness in omitting any of their names ; perhaps also the names of the district surgeons should be inserted. I am, &c. John Gidley. To the Right Worshipful the Mayor. In accordance with the above suggestions, a list of names was forwarded to the central Board of Health, and on the 25th the Board for Exeter was legally constituted under tbe seal of the Privy Council, and signed by " one of his Majesty's principal Secretaries of State." The following is a copy of the official document, and the letter which accompanied it. Central Board of Health. Council Office, Whitehall, 23rd April, 1832. Sir, I am directed to transmit to you the enclosed order of the Lords of 46 the Council, appointing a Board of Health at Exeter, in conformity with the list of names transmitted in your letter of the 19th inst. I am, Sir, Your most obedient servant, W. Maclean, Secretary. Wm. Kennaway, Esq., Mayor of Exeter At the Council Chamber, Whitehall, the 23rd April, 1832. By the Lords of his Majesty's most Honorable Privy Council. It is this day ordered by their Lordships, that a Board of Health be constituted at Exeter, consisting of the following members, viz.— Wm. Kennaway, Esq., Mayor. Aldermen and Justices of the Peace. Geo. Westlake, Esq. R. Phillips, Esq. Wm. Lee, Esq. J, Hart, Esq. H. Blackall, Esq. R. R. Sanders, Esq. J. Harris, Esq. The Right Rev. Henry, Lord Bishop of the Diocese. The Rev. Geo. Martin, Chancellor of the Diocese. The Rev. Dr. J. Bull, Canon Residentiary. Physicians. Dr. J. Blackall. Dr. P. Miller. Dr. F. Granger. Dr. R. L. Pennell. Dr. T. F. Barham. Dr. P. Hennis. Dr. E. Macgowan. Dr. R. H. Lucas. Surgeons. and Apothecaries. S. Luscombe, Esq. S. Barnes, Esq. B. W. Johnson, Esq. J. 11. Stabback, Esq. W. P. Kingdon, Esq. John Tucker, Esq. P. C. Delagarde, Esq. 47 The Rev. J. M. Collyns. The Rev. J. S. Tozer. The Rev. R. 11. Tripp. The Rev. J. F. Turner. Commissioners of the Exeter Im- provement Act. S. Kingdon, Esq. R. Cornish, Esq. J. Pearse, Esq. Of the Corporation of the Poor for the time being. The Governor, Members of the Common Council. Wm. Crockett, Esq. Deputy-Governor, and Treasurer. P. Measor, Esq. And the said Board are to proceed in the execution of the duties required of them accordingly. Wm. L. Bathtjrst. At the same time " the particular attention " of the Board is directed to the last clause of the order of the 29th of Feb., (vide ante, p. 36,) " by which they will find that the duty of calling " upon the medical practitioners of their district for returns of all " cases of Cholera, or any disease anywise resembling Cholera, and " of appointing the time, place, manner and form of making such " returns, is imposed upon the local Boards of Health ; which " the central Board have to request no time may be lost in carry" ing into effect." The following circular, with the copies of the forms prescribed, accompanied the above. Central Board of Health, Council Office, Whitehall, 20th March, 1832, Sir, It being desirable on many accounts that regular and correct information should be obtained as to the progress of Cholera, and that a uniform system, as far as practicable, should be adopted in reporting cases of that disease, I am desired to transmit to you the enclosed Forms of Returns, (Nos. 1 to 5,) with the view of their being brought before your Board. No. 1 is the form proposed to be used by medical practitioners for their daily numerical returns to their respective local boards. (See Form No. 1, p. 49.) 48 No. 2 is a confidential daily nominal return of new cases and deaths on the back of No. 1, by which local Boards of Health will be enabled to apply, with due precision and despatch, such sanitary measures as they may judge necessary in each case. (See Form No. 2, p. 49.) No. 3 is the form of daily numerical return to be furnished to the central Board of Health by the secretaries of local boards. (See Form No. 3, p. 50.) No. 4 is a form of confidential return (intended to serve also as a register) to be furnished monthly, or whenever called on, by medical practitioners, to their respective Boards. (See Form No. 4, p. 50.) No. 5. The general statistic return of all cases of Cholera that may have occurred in any town, parish, or district, during one visitation, will be called for by the Central Board of Health, and be expected to be sent in by local Boards, at the termination of the disease. This return is to be made up from the particulars contained in Nos. 1 , 2, and 4, and is intended to afford to the central board the necessary data for a general report to his Majesty's Government upon the progress of Cholera in the British empire. (See Form No. 5, p. 51.) I am further desired to call your attention to the following extract of a circular addressed by this board, with the Form No. 4, to tbe local Boards of Health in the north of England, dated 7th January, 1832 :— " I am to add, that the necessity of keeping a correct register, and " the importance to the interests of humanity and of medical science " that permanent sources of information as to the history and progress " of Cholera in this country should be established as soon as possible, " will, it is hoped, induce all medical men to lend their aid to so useful *.f an undertaking, and one so indispensable to tbe acquiring correct " notions of the nature and treatment of this formidable disease." You will please to acknowledge the receipt of this communication and of the accompanying forms of returns. I have the honor to be, Sir, Your most obedient humble servant, W. Maclean, Secretary. To the Chairman of the Board of Health at ExetSr. 49 FORM No. 1. Daily Numerical Return of the Cholera Cases under the Care of the undersigned in the Parish of 183 . Remaining Remaining date, at New Cases. Dead. Recovered. this Day last Report. at 10 o'clock. I ____ From the commencement of the Disease, under my Care. No. of Cases. No. of Deaths. (Signature) FORM No. 2. Confidential Daily Return of New Cases and Deaths, to be furnished by Medical Practitioners to their respective Local Boards of Health. NEW CASES. Name. Age. Residence. Date of Seizure. Remarks. DEATHS. DATE OP DEATH. When there are Objections to Publicity, Initials may be given without Residence, hut with all other Particulars. E 50 FORM No. 3. CHOLERA. — Daily Numerical Report of Cases for the Parish To be furnished to the Central Board of Health. __ — — - Remaining Remaining date. at New Cases. Dead. Recovered. this Day last Report. at From the commencement of the Disease, on the 19th July, 1832. Cases. Died. FORM No. 4. Monthly Confidential Return or Register of Cholera Cases, which Medical Practitioners are invited to Jceep, and furnish to their respective Local Boards of Health whenever called on. For the Information of the Lords of His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council. Parish or District — (Date) From to 183 General Re- Employment marks on preof Patient ; or monitory of Parent or Previous Treated Symptoms, Name Resi- Husband, in Health Date of Date of Date Treated in Pa- Treatment, No. and Sex. Age. dence. the Case of and Seizure. Reco- of mHos- tient's Appearance unemployed Habits. very. Death, pital. Dwell- after Death, Children or ing. and apparent Females. Origin, in any of the above Cases. 1 Where there are Objections to Publicity, Initials may be given without Residence, but with all other Particulars. (Signed) 51 E 2 FORM No. 5. Statistic Return of all cases of Spasmodic Cholera which have occurred in the under-mentioned Townships, Parishes, or Districts during the late prevalence of that disease. Attacked since the com- Died since the commence- Population accord- n f meneement. Total ment. Total Treated in hospi- Treated in pa- Name of ing to census of Date of ate ° re ' number number tals. tients' dwellings.' Township, 1831. first re- , c 0, V . eerfy f ° r . j attacked " died of Parish, or ported r e '°Lr Adults. of all Adults. all _ages District. case. repoi.ea ages,and andboth eaSe * Children. bottt Children. sexes - Males. Females. Males. Females. sexes> Males. Females. Dead - Recovered Dead. Recovered No. 5, continued. Classes of persons attacked. Greatest Greatest Average Average ___ Number of number of number of number of number of ~~ —— " "~~ ' ' ~ ~ families in cases re- deaths re- hours be- days between Receiving paro- Labouring Persons in easy Personal atten- 0 „*, s „„_Tv™fha AT^i.oi mo „ which two ported on ported on tween attack attack and c hial allowance. classes. circumstances, dants on the sick. employ . c ? Dy tne men. or more many one day, any one day, and death in death in the sick. dividuals with the date with the date cold stage, fever stage. : " — have been of that day. of that day. Attacked. Dead. Attacked. Dead. Attacked. Dead. Attacked. Dead. Attacked. Dead. Attacked. Dead. attacked - , _ _ 1 — ¦. ¦ ¦ N. B. — It is expected that a short Report will be subjoined to the above, noticing the state of the public health as to man and animals ; of the weather and winds immediately before and during the Disease ; the localities and floors of houses attacked ; the premonitory symptoms in the different classes, ages, and sexes ; the treatment ; post-mortem appearances ; and any remarkable circumstance connected with the origin and progress of the Disease which may have been omitted in this Paper. 52 13 July, 1832. Cholera at Plymouth. 17 July : 1832. Board seeks powers. The Cholera, which now prevailed in many parts of England, on the 13th of July, made its appearance in the neighbouring town of Plymouth. The necessity for the abatement of nuisances, and for doing everything to prevent the aggravation of the horrors and extent of the disease, which all felt was near at hand, became most obvious and pressing ; but here the difficulties experienced by the Board, from the inefficiency of the Act of Parliament as regarded Exeter, again obtruded themselves. It was therefore suggested, that the Board, passing by the Act itself,: should carry out their wishes under the powers of the Order in Council of the 21st of November of the previous year, (p. 30.) Consequently the Mayor forwarded to the Privy Council the following letter. Exeter, \7 July, 1832. My Lords, As the chairman of the Board of Health established in this city, I am desired to request your Lordships will be pleased to direct that your Lordships' order of the 21st of November last relating to the removal of nuisances shall extend and apply to the city and county of the city of Exeter ; which, according to the last clause of that order, appears to be necessary to enable the Exeter Board of Health to put that order in force. The [Cholera having made its appearance at Plymouth, the Board established in this city is anxious to possess all legal powers which may enable it the better to preserve the health of this district. I have, &c. Wm. Kennaway, Mayor. To the Lords of the Privy Council. To this the following reply was received, showing that, in respect to the removal of nuisances, difficulty had generally been experienced ; and this, too, at a time when the pestilence was walking abroad throughout the breadth of the land. Central Board of Health, Council Office, Whitehall, 19 July, 1832. Sir, Your letter of the 1 7th inst. to the Lords of the Council having been laid before the Board, I am directed to acquaint you that the Order of the 21st of November, therein referred to, is not considered to have been in force since the passing of the Cholera Prevention Act, but that the Lords of the Council have now before them the draft of an order 53 20 July 1832. relative to tbe removal of nuisances, which, when approved of, will be published and forwarded to the various Boards of Health in the usual manner. I am, &c. Wm. Maclean, Secretary. The Mayor of Exeter. On the following day (20 July, 1832) the Order in Council,* * At the Council- Chamber, White- hall, the 19th day of July 1832, by the Lords of his Majesty's most honourable Privy Council. Whereas by an act, passed in the second year of the reign of his present Majesty, intituled "An act for " the prevention, as far as may be " possible, of the disease, called the " Cholera, or spasmodic, or Indian " Cholera, in England," it is, amongst other things, enacted, that it shall and may be lawful for the Lords and others of his Majesty's most honourable Privy Council, or any two or more of them (of whom the Lord President of the Council, or one of his Majesty's principal Secretary of State for the time being, shall always be one), by any order or orders to be by them from time to time made, to establish, and again, from time to time, by any such order or orders, to revoke, renew, alter, or vary all such rules and regulations, or to substitute any such new rules and regulations, as to them may appear necessary or expedient, for the prevention, as far as may be possible, of the spreading of the said disease, called the Cholera, or spasmodic, or Indian Cholera, in England or Wales, or any part thereof, or for the relief of any persons suffering under, or likely to be affected by, the said disease : And whereas it is further enacted by the said act, that all and every the expenses which may be reasonably and properly incurred, in carrying into effect any order of the Lords of his Majesty's most honourable Privy Council, made as aforesaid, shall, under and by virtue of an order in writing of some justice of the peace, dwelling in or near the parish or division (and which said order any such justice is thereby empowered and directed to make), commanding the churchwardens, overseers, or guardians of the poor, for the time being, to pay a certain sufficient sum of money for such purpose, tobe defrayed out of the rates for the relief of the poor of the parish, township, or extra parochial place maintaining its own poor, in which the same shall be incurred, and, in other extra parochial places, out of the poors' rate of the parish next adjoining : And whereas the said disease hath extended to many parts of Great Britain, and other parts thereof may be affected by the same : And whereas by an order, made on the sixth day of March last past, by the Lords of the Privy Council, it was, amongst other things, ordered and directed, that every Board of Health, constituted by an order of the Privy Council, for cities, towns, districts, or divisions of England and Wales, should and might apply to the select or parish vestry of every parish or place, for authority and powers to carry into effect the purposes of the act before recited, and the measures of precaution in the said order described : And whereas for the prevention of the spread of the said disease, and for the relief of persons suffering under the same, and for the encouragement and promotion of the safe and speedy interment of persons dying of the said disease, the Lords and others of his Majesty's Privy Council (of whom the Lord President of the Council is one), do deem it expedient and necessary, that further powers should be granted to all Boards of Health properly constituted by an order of the Lords in Council, and 54 Order in Council. above alluded to was published, and is worthy of particular attention, from its enjoining two very important measures in connexion that certain nuisances and offensive and dangerous matters, having a tendency to promote infection, and which are likely to be prejudicial to the public health, should be abated and removed : It is therefore ordered by the Lords and others of his Majesty's Privy Council (of whom the Lord President of the Council is one), in pursuance and exercise of the powers vested in them by the before recited Act, and of all other powers enabling them in that behalf, that every Board of Health which now is, or hereafter shall be constituted, by virtue of any order or orders of his Majesty's Privy Council, certified under the hand of one of the Clerks in Ordinary of the Privy Council, shall and may, by their chairman or secretary, apply to the acting parish officers, or district churchwardens for the time being, of the parish, township, ecclesiastical division, district, or place, for which such Boards of Health are appointed, to convene a meeting of the select vestry of such parish or place, or in parishes where no select vestry is established, to convene a meeting of the inhabitants in parish vestry, which said meetings in select or parish vestries the said parish officers or district churchwardens, are hereby directed and commanded to convene, after three days' full notice of the time and place of holding the same : and at such meetings respectively, every such Board of Health shall and may submit to such, select or parish vestries, proposals for their permission and consent that such Board of Health should be invested with all or any of the powers following, (to wit) ; that such Boards should be enabled to expend and lay out a certain sum of money, of a fixed and declared amount (of the intended application and disposal of which money, a plan and estimate shall be at the same time submitted or tendered to the said vestry), for the purposes of furnishing medicines and medical assistance, nurses, and other necessary attendants to the sick poor at their own habitations, in all those cases where persons afflicted with the said disease cannot be conveniently removed to Cholera hospitals ; and further, of supplying medicines at different dispensary stations; together with the necessary incidental expenses of every such Board of Health ; also for the purpose of cleansing and whitewashing any house or habitation in which there exist dangerous impurities, and of removing, taking, and carrying away any corrupt, offensive, and dangerous matter within, or contiguous to, any house or habitation : also to effect the removal of any offal or filth from any slaughter-house in any city, town, or populous district ; also to engage medical inspectors to visit and report upon the sanitary state of health of all lodging-houses kept for the reception of vagrants; also for the purposes of opening and scouring any such drains or watercourses, and of closing and covering any such open drains, ditches, and cesspools, as, being likely to be prejudicial to the public health, such parishes may be willing and desirous of undertaking to cleanse or cover, themselves defraying the expenses thereof out of the parish funds ; also to purchase, inclose, and fence lands for buryinggrounds and cemeteries ; also to pay the funeral expenses of persons dying of the said disease ; and if such select or parish vestries shall consent and agree by a majority of the votes of the members or inhabitants then present, taken in the usual and ordinary manner of voting at such select or parish vestries, that it is salutary and expedient to confer all or any of such authority and powers upon the Board of Health appointed for such parish or place, that it shall and may be lawful for such Boards of Health, and they are hereby invested with authority and power, under and by virtue of this order of the Lords of the Privy Council (of whom the Lord President of the Council is one), to cxc- 55 Burial Grounds, &c with this subject, viz. the appointment of Medical Inspectors of the lodging-houses of vagrants and the procuring of special places cute every one of such respective powers as shall be so conferred upon them as aforesaid, (to wit) ; upon receiving a certificate in writing, signed by two medical practitioners, of the existence of any offensive impurities, dangerous to the public health, within any house, or within twenty yards of any house or habitation, by themselves, their servants, or others of the King's subjects, to enter any dwelling-house, hut, or cabin in any street, lane, court, alley, gateway, passage, or place to any city, town, division, or district, and at some seasonable time (regard being always had to the convenience of the inmates thereof), to wash, scour, cleanse, whitewash, and fumigate the same, and to empty and clean out the cellars thereof, and to clear, cleanse, and purify all the sink-holes thereof, and also to remove all swine out of any dwelling-house, hut, or cabin to any adjoining hogstye, when and as soon as such sufficient styes shall have been provided for the reception of the same at the expense of the parish : and with power to enter upon the lands or grounds of any person or persons, bodies politic, corporate, or collegiate, and to remove, take, and carry away all decayed fruits, vegetables, and garden-stuff, all putrid fish, and any other corrupt or offensive and dangerous matter or thing, placed, deposited, or kept within twenty yards of any house or habitation ; also to give notice to the owner or occupier of any slaughter-house in any city, town, or populous district, to remove, take and carry away any refuse, offal, garbage, filth, or sweepings of such slaughter-house, and to effectually wash and cleanse the same ; and if such filth shall not be removed, or shall not be commenced or set about to be removed, within one hour after such notice, then with full power and authority to enter every such slaughter-house, and to remove, take and carry away all such offal, and all other rubbish and filth whatsoever : also with authority to appoint one or more such medical inspectors as aforesaid, to visit all lodging-houses used and kept for the reception of trampers and vagrants, once daily, at some seasonable hour, and to inquire into and report upon the condition of the same, and the state of health of the persons congregated therein, and the number of persons who have died of the said disease ; and all such medical inspectors, so appointed as aforesaid, are hereby authorized and empowered to enter every such house for the purposes aforesaid, at the time and in the manner hereinbefore mentioned : and with further powers for the said Boards of Health to open, cleanse, and scour any such drains, ditches, water-courses, soughs, gutters, and cesspools, and to close and cover any such open drains, ditches, and cesspools, as a majority of the said vestries shall agree to be offensive and dangerous, and to require such cleansing or covering respectively, and to have the consent of such vestry, or of a majority thereof, to the undertaking and engaging to cleanse and cover the same at the parish expense; the entire expense of the opening and cleansing, or of the closing and covering, of any such drain, ditch, or pool respectively, in no case exceeding fifty pounds for the complete accomplishment of the same; provided always, that nothing in this order contained shall be taken or held to extend to any drains, ditches, water-courses, soughs, gutters, and cesspools being within the jurisdictions of the commissioners of sewers, or of trustees, or others, having authority over the making or management of sewers ; provided also, that the owner of the soil shall in every such case agree and consent to the scouring and cleansing, or closing, and covering of the same : and with full permissionand authorityfor every such Board of Health to purchase, inclose, and fence suitable lands for burial-grounds and cemeteries, to be used by all parishes in any city or town which shall agree to contribute 56 of buriaf for those dying of Cholera. After reciting that all expenses are, in conformity with a previous order, to be defrayed a rateable proportion to the providing of such burying-grounds for Cholera patients ; provided always, that no lands used for any such interment shall be afterwards applied to any profane use, for the space of ten years then next ensuing : and when and so soon as any such Boards of Health, so authorized and empowered as aforesaid, shall have procured any such burying-grounds, without the walls, limits, or bounds of any city or town, but within a reasonable and convenient distance of the same, and shall have made all the necessary provisions and arrangements for the interment of bodies therein, then in every such case the Lords of his Majesty's most honourable Privy Council (of whom the Lord President of the Council is one), do hereby strictly forbid, prohibit, and interdict the interment of any person whomsoever, certified by a medical practitioner, to have died of the said disease of spasmodic, or Indian Cholera, within thesaid city, in any church,churchyard, chapel, chapel-yard, cemetery, vault, burying-ground, or other place whatever used for the reception of dead bodies within the walls, limits, and bounds thereof, unless for any good and sufficient reasons which shall be made to appear to the satisfaction of the said Board of Health, such Board shall determine that the regulation can be safely dispensed with in any particular excepted case, when it is further directed that the express grounds of such particular exception shall be truly and at length stated and entered in the minutes of the proceedings of such Board of Health, and a copy of such entry shall forthwith be transmitted to the Clerk in ordinary of the Privy Council, for the information of their Lordships ; and the Lords of the Privy Council do further command and order that the interment of all persons certified by any medical practitioner to have died of the said disease of spasmodic or Indian Cholera, shall take place within the space of twenty-four hours from the time of the death of every such person, and all the relations and nearest friends of every person so dying, and all other his Majesty's subjects having controul over the disposal of the respective bodies, are hereby strongly enjoined, ordered, and directed to enforce the performance of this provision, under the pain of incurring the penalties denounced in the before recited Act, against all persons guilty of disobedience to the orders of their Lordships in Council : and every such Board of Health is hereby empowered and allowed to discharge the funeral expenses of all persons dying of the said disease within the jurisdiction of the said Board, whose relations or friends shall procure the interment of the body within the before limited time of twenty-four hours after the decease of such persons, and according to the directions of the said Board of Health; also with full power and authority for every such Board of Health to burn and destroy, or cause to be burnt and destroyed, such clothes, bedding, or any other articles belonging to, or used by the deceased, in his or her lifetime, as the said Board shall deem necessary to be destroyed, paying the value thereof to their legal representatives, to be charged upon the poors' rate of the parish in which such person died : but if such select or parish vestries shall not agree and determine by a majority of the votes of the members or inhabitants then present, taken in the usual and ordinary manner of voting at such vestries, that it is salutary and expedient to confer all or any of such powers upon the Boards of Health appointed for such parishes or places respectively, or if such owners of the soil as aforesaid shall not consent to the opening and scouring, or the closing and covering of drains and ditches, and pools, at the expense of the parish as aforesaid, then it is ordered and enjoined that no such authority or powers, and no part of such powers as shad 57 out of the poor-rates, it directs the Boards by their chairman, or secretary, to apply to the Vestries, who, within three clays, shall entertain any of the following proposals ; that the Boards he enabled to lay out money (of which an estimate shall be tendered) for furnishing medicine, medical attendance, and nurses, to the sick poor; for supplying medicine at dispensary stations, together with the incidental expenses of the Boards; for cleansing and whitewashing houses, removing dangerous impurities, and for effecting the removal of filth, or offal, from slaughter-houses in populous districts; for engaging medical officers to report on the sanitary condition of lodging-houses for vagrants ; for the purposes of opening and scouring such drains or watercourses, and of cover- ing such open drains or cesspools, as such parishes may desire to cleanse or cover, themselves defraying the expenses thereof out be refused or withheld by such vestries, shall be claimed or exercised by any Board of Health in any parish or place, except when such, or any other authority and powers shall, upon due consideration of the premises, be conferred and given to any such Boards of Health by any order or orders to be made by the Lords and others of his Majesty's most honourable Privy Council, certified under the hand of one of the clerks in ordinary of the Privy Council. And for defraying all and every the expenses which may be necessarily incurred in carrying into effect this order of the Lords of the Privy Council, it shall be lawful for all such Boards of Health, and they are hereby authorized and directed, to make application, by their chairman or secretary, to some justice of the peace, living in or near to the parish or division, to make an order, in writing, upon the parish officers, guardians of the poor, or district churchwardens of the parish or place, commanding them to pay a certain specified sum of money for such purpose, out of the rates levied, or next thereafter to be levied, for the relief of the poor of such parish or place ; which order every such justice of the peace is hereby required and enjoined to make, in pursuance and exercise of the power vested in him by the beforerecited Act ; and the said parish officers, guardians of the poor, or district churchwardens, are hereby ordered and commanded to pay such money, in obedience to the order of such justice, in the manner therein directed, or they will incur the penalties and punishments consequent upon disobedience to such before-recited Act, and to the present order; and all police and peace-officers, all constables and headboroughs, and all others his Majesty's subjects, are hereby required to be aiding and assisting in the execution of this order. And the Lords and others of his Majesty's Privy Council (of whom the Lord President of the Council is one) do hereby declare, that for all acts, deeds, matters, and things, which may be necessarily and properly done by any such justices of the peace, Boards of Health, medical practitioners, overseers, churchwardens, district churchwardens, guardians of the poor, inspectors, peace officers, constables, headboroughs, and others of his Majesty's subjects, in execution and furtherance of this present order, this order shall be their full and sufficient warrant. C. C. Greville. 58 19 July 1883. Recent order map plicable. Council again appealed to 28 July 1832. Negotiations with Corporation of Poor of the parish funds'; also for purchasing, enclosing, and fencing lands for burial-grounds and cemeteries, and for paying the funeral expenses of persons dying of Cholera. On the 19 th of July, the pestilence had broken out within this City. The recent order was found to be as inapplicable to Exeter as those which had been previously issued, inasmuch as the Board had no "vestry nor select vestry" to apply to, which could grant powers, or upon whom orders for money could be made. The question, as may well be supposed, seriously occupied the attention of the Board, which now sat daily. On the 21st they resolved again to appeal both to the Lords of the Council and to the Central Board of Health, and the better to ensure attention to their representations, these were forwarded through Mr. Buck, the senior City Member. The following letter shows that nothing was] omitted on his part. Cowes, 24 Julij. My dear Sir, I received your letter at this place on my road into Devon, and instantly forwarded it to Lord Melbourne, claiming his acquiescence, having before called the attention of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, as also the Board of Health, to the defect in the Act of Parliament. I most deeply lament the purport of your letter, and feel convinced the steps you have adopted are the most likely to curtail the evils arising from so destructive a malady. Yours, &c. Lewis W. Buck. The Bight Worshipful the Mayor of Exeter. On the 25th, the Secretary of the Central Board of Health intimated that the difficulties of the Exeter Board were under consideration. Various communications, in reference to these questions, had been for some time passing between the Board of Health and the Governors of the Corporation of the Poor. It was now, however* thought advisable that Mr. Gidley, as Secretary to the Board) should, on its behalf, personally confer with them. Accord" 59 corporation make independent provision. ingly he attended a meeting of the Corporation on the 28th of July. After stating that the Act of Parliament, from not extending to a consolidation of parishes governed by a Corporation as was the case in Exeter, failed in procuring the powers necessary to be vested in the Board of Health, for preserving the public health pursuant to the Order in Council of the 20th of July, he requested the Corporation would allow " all sums which shall be expended by parishes under the authority of the Board of Health, for which proper vouchers shall be produced, to be accepted as so much money on account of the quotas payable by the respective parishes, so that all sums expended for the prevention of Cholera may be re-assessed on the whole city, and not fall solely on the parishes within which such expenditure shall take place." The Corporation of the Poor having, however, no power to vote these monies without the sanction of the " Commissioners for controlling the expenditure of the Corporation of the Poor of the City of Exeter," (a body appointed under their own Act of Parliament,) immediately summoned a meeting of these Commissioners, in order to state to them the necessity of advancing monies for this purpose. The Commissioners, on the Ist of August, passed resolutions to the effect, that as the Order in Council required every Board of Health applying for an advance of money to state the amount to be raised, and also to furnish an estimate of the expenses under each separate head, they could not, without such information, authorize the expenditure of any monies by the Board of Health. They further approved of the steps adopted by the Corporation, who, as it appeared to them, were taking every necessary precaution for preventing Cholera. The Corporation of the Poor, t-» i tt i i • • in communicating the above to the Board of Health, intimated that " they would take into consideration the amount of any expenses incurred by the Board, submitted to them, but cannot pledge themselves to the payment of any unspecified sums for general purposes;" at the same time they stated, they had provided medical attendants, nurses, medicines, clothing, food, &c, and they are of " opinion that everything may thus be obtained that the Board of Health can want." We have in the above, the first indication that, besides the 7 60 1 Aug. 1832. St. Sidwell's Board of Health Board of Health, the Corporation of the Poor were actively engaged in providing against the necessities of the times, while it offers evidence of something like a feeling of jealousy existing between these two bodies, and a departure from that unanimity of action which had characterized their first intercourse, and was, under the pressing exigencies of this melancholy period, so desirable to have been maintained. Some excuse, however, may be found in the difficulties attending the anomalous position in which both bodies found themselves. The Corporation of the Poor, with ample means and opportunity for procuring medical assistance, .and such other necessaries as might be required, had none of those extraordinary and requisite powers vested in them, and which had been thought right, not only to confer upon, but to demand at the hands of, the Boards of Health, and to whom, accordingly, all official communications were addressed. We may here pause for a moment, to speak of another difficulty which threatened. The Parish of St. Sidwell,* the most populous in the City, and one of those consolidated under the act of the Corporation of the Poor for the purposes of assessment, assumed to itself the privilege of forming a Board of Health, separate and distinct from that of Exeter. At a vestry meeting held on the 2nd of August, 1832, it was resolved, " that, as there appears to be much doubt whether the Exeter Board of Health can apply the powers of the Orders in Council in regard to Cholera to the City and county of the City at large, on account of the incorporation of the several parishes in regard to the poor rate, it is desirable to obtain the appointment of a separate Board for this parish, for the purpose of removing nuisances therein, and to pro-; vide a burial place for persons dying of Cholera, belonging to this parish only ; and in other respects, to act in concert with the Exeter Board of Health, and with the Corporation of the Poor." In pursuance of the above resolution, the Bey. B. H. Tripp, incumbent of the parish of St. Sid well, wrote to the Lords in Council, who immediately appointed the Board of Health as * At this time the population of St. Sidwell's amounted to 6602 persons. 61 follows ; the minister, the churchwardens, the overseers, the Commissioners of Improvement for the parish, Dr. Macgowan, Messrs. Besley, Ralph Barnes, John Hayman, Josiah Bogers, Richard Webber, George Bradford, James Baker, William Branscombe, G. Shears, H. Hooper, and J. H. Rowe. The following letter intimating its formation was at the same time forwarded to the Board of Health at Exeter. Central Board of Health, Council Office, 4 August, 1832. Sir, In reference to a letter from the Rev. Mr. Tripp, of tbe 2nd inst., enclosing certain resolutions of a meeting of the parish of St. Sidwell, Exeter, praying that a separate Board of Health may be constituted for that parish, tbe Exeter Board of Health being unable to apply the powers of the Orders in Council to the city and county of the city at large, on account of the incorporation of the several parishes, in regard to the poor rates ; I am directed to inform you that the Lords of the Council have complied with the request, considering that the present Board for the city of Exeter may thus in part be relieved from their difficulties. I am, &c, Wm. Maclean, Secretary. John Gidley, Esq., Secretary to the Board of Health, Exeter The St. Sidwell's Board of Health soon found themselves in the same difficulty that had been experienced by the Board of Health in Exeter, as they possessed no powers of raising money, for the purposes required, separately from the Corporation of the Poor. The proceedings of its Board were therefore very limited, and did not extend beyond whitewashing a few houses, removing some pigs, erecting styes for them elsewhere, &c. The cost of doing these things amounted to _526 13s. 6d., and was ultimately paid by the Exeter Board of Health. It will, however, appear from what subsequently occurred that the appointment of this parish Board was not viewed favourably by the Board for Exeter, and the question of soliciting the revocation of its appointment was seriously entertained. It was however 62 4 Aug. 1832. ofßoard es council 6 ' piled to. 10 Aug. 1832. council! finally arranged that this step should not be taken unless its proceedings should in any way prove inconvenient or afford substantial ground for so doing. In this view the Privy Council coincided. Difficulties now increased, the disease was generally prevailing throughout the city; the deaths were numerous, and the Board of Health found themselves paralysed at all points. The Mayor (on the 4th of August) again wrote to the Lords in Council, while Mr. Gidley proceeded to London, and there personally urged the completion of some prompt measure which might meet the difficulties that embarrassed the operations of the Board. He submitted, amongst other matters, for their Lordships' consideration, that the difficulty of procuring a separate or Cholera burying-ground, (the necessity for which had now become sopainfully obvious, as to be a source of urgent solicitude throughout the City,) together with the deficiency of power in the Board, under the existing relations between it and the Corporation of the Poor, towards the removal of nuisances in private houses or private premises, should be met by " an order" made direct upon the Corporation of the Poor. To this the Privy Council objected, as " they have not only abstained from giving authorities to other bodies than the Boards of Health, lest they might clash with them, but that they really do not recognise any other bodies." The result of the above negotiations was, that, on the 10th of August, an Order in Council,* specially referring to Exeter, At the Council Chamber, Whitehall, the Bth day of August, 1832. RvtheLnrdsofhiq Maiestv's most hon ble Pnvv p ¦¦. J Whereas by an Act, passed in the second year of the reign of his pre- sent Majesty, intituled "An Act " for the prevention, as far as may " be possible, of the disease called " the Cholera, or spasmodic, or In- " dian Cholera in England," it is, amongst other things enacted, that it shall and may be lawful for the Lords and others of his Majesty's most honoura°le Privy Council, or any tWO or more of them (of whom the Lord President of the Council, or one of his Majesty's principal Secretaries of State for the time being, shall always be one), by any order or orders to be by them from time to time made, to establish, and again, from time to time, by any such order or orders, to revoke, renew, alter, or vary all such rules and regulations, or to substitute any such 63 w 7 as issued, which, after reciting the position of this City in its relations to the Corporation of the Poor, gave authority to the new rules and regulations as to them may appear necessary or expedient, for the prevention, as far as may be possible, of the spreading of the said disease, called the Cholera, or spasmodic, or Indian Cholera, in England or Wales, or any part thereof, or for the relief of any persons suffering under, or likely to be affected by, the said disease. And whereas it is further enacted by the said Act, that all and every the expenses which may be reasonably or properly incurred, in carrying into effect any order of the Lords of his Majesty's most honourable Privy Council, made as aforesaid, shall under and by virtue of an order in writing of one justice of the peace, dwelling in or near the parish or division, (and which said order any such justice is thereby empowered and directed to make,) commanding the churchwardens, overseers, or guardians of the poor, for the time being, to pay a certain sufficient sum of money for such purpose, to be defrayed out of the rates for the relief of the poor of the parish, township, or extra parochial place maintaining its own poor, in which the same shall be incurred, and, in other extra parochial places, out of the poors' rate of the parish nearest adjoining. And whereas the said disease hath extended to different parts of Great Britain, and the city of Exeter hath been, and now is, affected by the same : And whereas by two several orders in Council, made on the sixth day of March, and the nineteenth day of July last past, by the Lords and others of his Majesty's Privy Council, (of whom the Lord President of the Council was one,) it was, amongst other things, ordered and directed that every Board of Health, constituted by an order of the Lords of the Privy Council for cities, towns, districts, or divisions of England and Wales, should and might apply to the select or parish vestry of every parish or place within such city, town, district, or division, for authority and powers to carry into effect the purposes of the Act before recited, and the measures of precaution in the said orders described, and to provide a sufficient sum of money for the discharge of the necessary expenses thereof, of which the amount should be declared, and fixed by the said vestries : And whereas by several Acts of Parliament, made in the ninth and tenth years of the reign of his late Majesty King William the Third, the thirty-first year of the reign of his late Majesty King George the Second, and the fourteenth, twentyfifth, and twenty-eighth years of the reign of his late Majesty King George the Third, " for erecting hospitals " and workhouses within the city and " county of the city of Exon, for the " better employing and maintaining " the poor there," a Corporation, consisting of the Mayor and Aldermen of the said city for the time being, and of forty other persons to be chosen out of the honestest and discreetest inhabitants of the said city and county, as is thereby directed, and of such other charitable persons as should be elected and constituted guardians of the poor of the said city and county, in the manner therein expressed, was created and established to continue for ever, as a body politic, and corporate, to be called by the name of the " Governor, " Deputy Governor, Assistants, and " Guardians of the Poor of the city ** and county of Exon," to have the care of and to provide for the maintenance of the poor of the said city and county ; and by various provisions in the said Acts contained, certain of the guardians and assistants of the said Corporation were empowered to cause a certified sum of money to be raised and levied by a general taxation of inhabitants and occupiers for the purposes therein mentioned, and to ascertain and declare what sum and sums of money should be raised and levied upon each parish 64 Board of Health to request courts of the Corporation to be held, at which the Board might " submit proposals, accounts, and estimates, and apply for the necessary powers and authorities, and for a certain sum of money to defray the reasonable expenses;" and the Corporation of the Poor were authorised and empowered, " if they think proper so to do/ to comply with the above applications. The various interviews Mr. Gidley had with the authorities in London, in reference to this subject, and the mode in which he conducted and precinct within the said city and county respectively, and to authorise and require the churchwardens and overseers of the poor of each parish and precinct to assess the same respectively : And whereas it doth appear to the Lords and others of his Majesty's most honourable Privy Council (of whom the Lord President of the Council is one) fit and expedient, in order to carry into effect the purposes of the before-recited Act, and of the orders of their Lordships hereinbefore mentioned, in the most convenient manner within the said city and county of the city of Exeter, that the Board of Health for such city and county should be empowered and authorised to apply for all the necessary powers and expenses to the governors, assistants, and guardians of the poor for such city and county, in lieu and stead of applying to the vestries of the several parishes and townships therein : It is therefore ordered by the Lords and others of his Majesty's most honourable Privy Council (of whom the Lord President of the Council is one) that the Board of Health constituted for the said city and county of the city of Exeter, shall and may apply to the clerk of the said Corporation to convene a general meeting of the said governors, assistants, and guardians of the poor for the said city and county ; (which court the said clerk is hereby commanded and directed forthwith to convene ;) and the said Board of Health, by their chairman or secretary, shall and may submit proposals, accounts, and estimates to such court, and apply for the necessary powers and authorities, and for a certain sum of money to defray the reasonable expenses, delivering their proposals to such governors, assistants, and guardians of the poor of the said city and county, in the place and stead of making any such application to the vestries of the several incorporated parishes, as in the before-recited orders mentioned ; and the said governors, assistants, and guardians of the poor for the said city and county shall and may, and they are hereby authorised and empowered (if they think proper so to do) to confer upon the Board of Health of the said city all or any of the powers and authorities mentioned in the said orders of their Lordships ; and the said governors, assistants, and guardians of the poor for the said city and county are further ordered and directed to ascertain and fix the amount of the sum to be allowed for carrying into effect the purpose of the before-recited Act, and of the orders of their Lordships founded thereon, in the place and stead of the vestries in the before-recited orders mentioned, and to use and exercise all other the functions and powers given by such orders of their Lordships to select or parish vestries : And for all acts, deeds, matters, and things, properly done by such governors, assistants, and guardians of the poor of the said city and county, and the officers thereof, and by such Board of Health and others of his Majesty's subjects, in execution and furtherance of this present order, this order shall be their full and sufficient warrant. C. C. Geeville. 65 the business confided to him are detailed in the following letter he wrote at that time to the Mayor. London, 10th August, 1832. My Dear Sir, I waited on Mr. Phillips the Under Secretary of State at tbe Home Office, this morning, who referred me to the Council Office, stating that all business relative to the Cholera was entirely conducted there. I accordingly went to the Council Office, and had a long interview with Mr. Dwarris, the Counsel to the Central Board, to whom I represented very fully the difficulties under which we laboured. I also left with him copies of the resolution sending me here, of the application made to the Corporation of the Poor to allow tbe sums paid by the parishes in executing any orders of the Board of Health as part of their quotas, of the answer of the Corporation, of the proposals submitted to the Corporation for powers, and of my letter accompanying tbe proposals, and of the resolutions of the Corporation and Commissioners upon the proposals ; also suggestions as to the means of relief which may be afforded us, which papers Mr. Dwarris will peruse, and I am to see him upon them to-morrow. He says that tbe Council will be ready to help us in any way in their power ; but admits that tbe defective state of the law, (which I am sorry to find bis Majesty's Government do not mean to amend,) throws great impediments in their way. An order is made and will appear to-night in the Gazette, authorising the Exeter Board of Health to apply to the Corporation of tbe Poor for powers, as in the case of Chester ; but I fear this will lead to nothing, and so Mr. Dwarris thinks. The Council will not allow the Board of Health established in St. Sidwell's to continue, if its existence is at all likely to interfere with the Board previously constituted for Exeter. I hope to write to you again to-morrow, and am, My dear sir, &c, John Gidley. To Wm. Kennaway, Esq., Chairman to tbe Exeter Board of Health. The above anticipation of the inefficiency of this Order in Council was fully realised, and the relations of the Board of Health and the Corporation of the Poor continued much as they did before. The following letter, written a few days later, by Mr. Blackall, in reply to a request for the abatement of a private F 66 Inefficiency of the Orders in Council exemplified. 10 Aug. 1832 Deputy Chairman appointed. nuisance, clearly sets forth the exact position of the Board of Health with regard to these matters. " In the absence of the Mayor, I have received your letter, which shall be laid before the Board, but I will not flatter you that we possess any authority whatever to get rid of the nuisance you complain of. There is a mistaken idea gone abroad of the power of the Board in this respect. Before it can proceed to remove or abate any nuisance whatsoever, a report in writing must be made to it stating the nature of the nuisance, the mode of removing it, and an estimate of the expense attending such removal. This must be laid by the Board before the Corporation of the Poor, with a request to know whether they will advance the necessary funds. If they then refuse, the Board has a power to remove the nuisance, either paying the expense out of their own funds, or by an application to the Privy Council obtaining an order on the Corporation to advance the money. Now, you must be well aware, that the removal of the nuisance you complain of cannot be effected by this means. There, therefore, remains no other remedy but the common law of the land and proceeding by an indictment against * * * * for a nuisance. In regard to smaller nuisances the Board have exerted and will continue to exert a power which, in the strict letter of the law, perhaps, they may not possess. I must beg, however, you will consider this, as giving my own private opinions and views ; for, as I may be wrong, I must not compromise the Board of Health." Erom the commencement of the disease on the 19th of July, the Board sat (with the exception of Sundays) daily at the Guildhall. The numerous duties thus imposed upon the Chairman, in addition to those incidental to the office of Mayor, and which became at this period especially heavy, were more than he could conveniently, or satisfactorily to himself, fulfil. He, therefore, on the 1 Oth of August proffered to the Board of Health his resignation of the chairmanship. The Board valued his services too highly to comply with his wishes in this respect; their refusal to accept his resignation was, however, made agreeable to him by the appointment of Mr. Blackall as Deputy Chairman, and who for the future took upon himself the chief labours of this office- It being somewhat inconvenient to hold the meetings of the Board at the Guildhall, Mr. Blackall suggested and offered for this purpose 67 the school-room of the Episcopal Charity Schools in Paul Street, the children of which had been dispersed in consequence of many of them having been attacked with Cholera. During this period, the working population experienced great distress, from the partial suspension of work, and the general absence from the city of the more wealthy inhabitants, independently of that necessarily resulting from the infliction of the disease. The improbability of procuring pecuniary assistance from the Corporation of the Poor becoming daily more evident, awakened the feelings of such of the wealthier inhabitants, as were at their posts, and in conjunction with the Board of Health, induced them to look to other sources for the necessary means. Early in August, a requisition being largely signed, was forwarded to the Mayor. The following is a copy of the handbill containing it, with the Mayor's ready answer to its prayer. Exeter. To the Right Worshipful the Mayor. Sir, We, the undersigned, request that you will be pleased to call a meeting of the inhabitants of this city and its vicinity, at your earliest convenience, to take into consideration what steps can be adopted to provide an additional supply of nutritious food for the poor, during the prevalence of the present awful disease. Joseph Sparkes. C. R. Richardson. H. U. Janson. Richard Thomas. John Sawer. William Lee. R. H. Tripp. James Jones Tanner. Edward Caryer Clay. John Clench, sen. John Gove. W. H. Langworthy. S. Brunskill. H. Stoneman. John Pickard. John S. Gard. Edmund Pye. R. Dewdney. Samuel Barnes. John C. Irvine. James Rew. Matthew Vicars. John Molland. Charles Brutton. Sydney Hayne. John Clench, jun. J. Rogers. W. S. Tucker. S. Lilly crop. Thomas R. Baker. William Maunder, jun. T. G. Beedle. E. Butland. J. Sharland. W. Gould. Kellow J. Pye. Richard Holwell. George Bradford. Thomas Burch. James Ridge. Goldsworthy Tucker. L. Larkworthy T. Shapter, M. D. Thomas Howe. W. Copp. H. Ellis. Jacob Bricknell. James Norcombe. F 2 68 10 August, 1832. Public Meeting, R. Phillips. J. L. Penny. William Rowe. W. Presswell, Jun. John S. Dewdney. Pasmore and Savery. Thomas Westren. Charles Force. W. P. and H. Luke. William Curson. John Warren. R. Paul and Son. George Martin. Thomas Lewellin. George Wippell. Charles Coldridge. William Arden. Joseph Sheppard. John D. Osborn. W. Roberts. E. B. Force. J. C. Wilcocks, jun. Thomas Balle. Richard Arming. William Mortimer. Henry Cross. J. L. Knight. William Warren. John Brown. J. Davies. Robert Spark. George Cole. Charles Upham. G. Sharland. Pitman Jones. Thomas Pitts. James Paddon. R. H. Dewdney. James Levander. Charles Milford. J. Fisher Turner. J. C. Wilcocks. Arthur Abbott. Charles R. Sanders. Edward Woolmer. Henry Collins. Ralph Sanders. John Harris. R. C. Campion. W. S. Dewdney. George B. Eaton. G. C. Holroyd. Samuel T. Coldridge. F. G. Bond, R.N. S. Luscombe. J. B. Nurse. John Gidley. W. P. Kingdon. J. B Sanders. John Morrish. R. R. Saunders. Wm. Carwithen, D.D. W. J. Froom. W. G. Passmore. T. Squier. M. Cohen. R. Jefferson. John Stanbury. J. Hoare. J. W. Timewell. John Tucker. William Wills. William Dickes. W. C. Pollard. Thomas Morrish. T. P. Smith. James Golsworthy. J. L. Tozer. E. C Harington. James Pearse. W. M. Clapp. Guildhall, Exeter, Aug. 9, 1832. In compliance with the above requisition, and also at the request of the Board of Health, I hereby appoint a meeting of the inhabitants of Exeter and its vicinity, to be holden at the Guildhall to-morrow, (Friday) morning, at 10 o'clock precisely, for the consideration of the subject of the said requisition, and of other measures which will, at the said meeting, be suggested by the Board of Health. Wm. Kennaway, Mayor. This meeting was largely attended, and, as might be supposed, the state of the city was discussed and the wants and claims of the poor energetically and benevolently exposed. The following notice of the proceedings of this meeting was immediately and very widely circulated. CITY OF EXETER Guildhall, Exeter, 10th August, 1832. At a general meeting of the inhabitants of Exeter and its vicinity, held in compliance with a requisition to the Mayor, and at the request of 69 the Board of Health, for the purpose of providing nutritious food for the poor, and for adopting other measures suggested by the Board of Health, the Right Worshipful Wm. Kennaway, Esq., Mayor, in the chair ; the following resolutions were moved, seconded, and unani- mously agreed to : — 1 . That it is very desirable that a supply of nutritious food be immediately provided for the families of the sick and destitute poor. 2. That it is essentially necessary that a burial ground, or grounds, be provided for the reception of all persons dying of Cholera. 3. That a receiving house, or houses, be erected or obtained for the separation of the disinfected, from the infected portions of the families of the poor. 4. That temporary accommodation be provided for such infected persons as can conveniently and with the consent of their friends be removed — an object rendered essentially necessary by the vast increase of Cholera patients, and the utter inability of tbe medical men to attend them sufficiently at their own houses. 5. That in order to carry into immediate effect the foregoing measures, a fund be forthwith raised by bona fide subscriptions, with a further subscription by personal guarantee for specific sums, to be called for in such proportions to the relative subscriptions as the necessities of the case may require. 6. That the owners and occupiers of houses and lands in this city and neighbourhood adapted for hospitals, receiving houses, and burial grounds, be earnestly invited to make tenders of the same to the Board of Health, stating on what terms they may be willing to part with them for either of these purposes. 7. That an application be made to the Ordnance Board for the loan of camp equipage, now at Plymouth. 8. That this meeting consider it desirable that the following gentlemen should be added to the Board of Health, and that the Lords of the Privy Council be applied to for an order to that effect : — Rev. Wm. Scoresby, The High Sheriff of Exeter for the time being, Mr. John Dinham Osborne, Mr. James Golsworthy, Mr. William Lee, Mr. Robert Dymond, Mark Kennaway, Esq. Rev. Matthew Vicars, Rev. William Buckley Fox, Rev. Henry Acton, Rev. George Oliver, Rev. John Mason, Rev. John Bristow, Mr. Edward Huish Adams, Mr. James Jones Tanner, Mr. George H. Julian, Mr. William Hooper, 70 11 Aug. 1832, Members appointed to ward committee. 9. That the best and most grateful acknowledgments of tnis meeting be offered to the medical practitioners, for their laudable and unremitting exertions on the present distressing visitation. 10. That the treasurer of the Board of Health, and the bankers in Exeter, be requested to receive subscriptions in aid of the benevolent objects of this meeting. 1 1 . That the subscriptions, when collected, be at the absolute disposal of the Board of Health. 12. That the above resolutions be advertised and published in the usual manner. William Kennaway, Mayor. That the thanks of the meeting be given to the Right Worshipful the Mayor, for his conduct in the chair, and for his great services on the present occasion. The Board of Health now exerted themselves to carry out the various suggestions embodied in the above resolutions, and in order to do this, committees were appointed for the several objects thereby contemplated. The proceedings of these committees comprise a considerable amount of the details of the future proceedings of the Board, and will necessarily occupy much space in the following pages, while describing the various steps taken towards procuring the separate burial grounds, the hospitals, the supplying the poor with nutritious food, &c. The Board was otherwise much engaged in making up the daily report of cases, and attending to such other matters as the circumstances of the day suggested ; they were, in fact, anxiously and assiduously endeavouring to do that amount of good, which their limited means permitted. On the day succeeding the meeting of the inhabitants, the Board of Health appointed two of their members to assist a committee of the Corporation of the Poor, termed the Ward committee, and whose useful labours will presently be fully referred to. On the same day the following resolution of this committee is met with. " The chairman having produced a resolution of the Board of Health passed this day, stating that Mr. Dymond and Mr. Tanner had been appointed a deputation from the Board of Health to 71 15 Aug, 1832. Enlargement of Board of Health. the Ward committee, to assist them in the discharge of their duties, and Mr. Dymond and Mr. Tanner having attended this committee in pursuance thereof, it was recommended ; — that the governor be requested to call an early special court to take the said communication from the Board of Health into consideration, and that a copy of this resolution be sent to the chairman of the Board of Health." On the 16th of August, at a special court, the report of the Ward committee and their proceedings having been read and considered, it was unanimously resolved, Exeter, Nov. 1831 To Mr. — The Commissioners of Improvement having been called upon by the Board of Health to take steps for preventing the accumulation of soil or other offensive matter, near any of the public streets or ways of the City, have ascertained that, is injurious and offensive to the public, and they require you immediately to abate the nuisance, the Commissioners being determined, in tbe event of any delay, in complying with this request, to institute a prosecution against you. I am Sir, Your obedient servant. From this period the Commissioners followed up various measures for providing a supply of water, putting in sewers, increasing the scavengering and otherwise cleansing the City. The list of nuisances furnished to them by the Board of Health, as well as numerous others by private individuals, was referred to their surveyor, to report which amongst them could be remedied by the Commissioners themselves; with regard to the others they appealed to the powers of the Board of Health. By the 30th of June, 1832, the prevalence of the Cholera in many parts of the kingdom, and its approach in this direction, excited increased attention to these measures. Notwithstanding all that had been done, we find the following resolution of the Board of Health forwarded to the Commissioners. | That the particular attention of the Commissioners of Improvement 88 13 Aug. 1832' Committee's Report. be called to the absolute necessity which exists f or watering and cleansing the back lanes of this City, and removing every kind of nuisance therefrom, during the present hot weather, with a view to the prevention of disease ; and this Board cannot avoid remarking on the insufficient manner in which the scavengers perform their duty." On this there was an immediate order for more scavengers to be employed. On the 9th of July, the question was fully entertained, when it was resolved, that the present system of cleansing the City he referred to the consideration of a Committee, and that they do report what other system they would recommend to be substituted for the better effecting of this purpose. On the 19th, this Committee, together with that appointed, on the 9th of November previously, for sewering and cleansing, met, and after much consideration, drew up the following report. " In pursuance of the resolutions of the last meeting, the Committee has to report, that it appears to them, that by the present system of cleansing the streets and public avenues of the City, the contractors for the soil pay an annual rent to the commissioners in respect of the soil collected by them, amounting to £63. Your committee think the streets will never be kept in a proper and wholesome condition under the present system, every inducement having been held out to the contractors to make the cleanliness of the streets an object of their consideration, but without effect. The contractors look at the business as a matter of profit, and never remove any dirt where the quantity to be collected is insufficient to remunerate them for the labour to be bestowed, however requisite such labour may be in producing a clean and wholesome state of the public streets. The Committee therefore is unanimously of opinion, that the object of the Commissioners, and the primary object of the Act of Parliament, can never be accomplished under the present system. The Committee therefore recommends the Commissioners to entirely abandon the letting tbe soil, and to provide a proper establishment for the purpose of cleansing the streets of the City, and they submit that such establishment should be on the following scale. 89 Outlay. _fi s. 6 Carts at £\5 ... 90 0 6 Sets of wheel harness . 24 0 3 Do. fore-harness . . 13 10 8 Horses at .£3O each .240 0 Total outlay _£36 7 10 £ s Interest, wear and tear, &c 20 0 Do 5 0 Do 3 0 Do 30 0 12 men at 12s. per week 360 0 Keep of horses s£3o per annum each . . . 240 0 Wear and tear, brooms, shovels, tools, blacksmith's bills 50 0 A foreman to superintend the scavengers and drawing materials from Haldon and the whole establishment. Against this expenditure, the Commissioners should take credit, as it appears to the Committee, in the following sums. Usual cart hire . . Produce of soil . . 200 Men's labour after scavengering is done. . . .50 .... . 550 0 The Committee submits that, if it shall hereafter appear necessary to enlarge the establishment, and the contemplated expense should be thereby increased, still there cannot be any sound objection made to the application of whatever part of the Commissioners' funds may be found necessary for the cleansing of all the streets and avenues of the City, in such an efficient manner, as to afford general satisfaction to the inhabitants of the town. On the 13 th of August, the Commissioners resolved, "that the above report be received, approved, and adopted." In the meantime some deaths from Cholera had occurred (19 July) within the City, and on the alarm consequent upon this, various steps towards cleansing the streets, &c, were immediately devised both by the Board of Health and the Committee of the Commissioners ; these latter urgently sought the assistance of Mr. 90 !treeteto Bbc8 be re ' c ' 13 Aug. 1832. Sewering, Oolsworthy, the lessee of the waterworks. On the 21st of July, in complying with his terms for watering the lower parts of the City, the Committee " impress upon him the necessity of commencing this evening^ even if it be accomplished at an extra expense, and at any period of the night ; the Board of Health having directed an additional number of persons to sweep and cleanse the streets this evening, and the inhabitants of several parishes having petitioned the Commissioners to this effect, con- stitutes a strong additional reason for urging Mr. Golsworthy's particular attention to this point." The extent to which the Board of Health entered into these arrangements may be appreciated from their employing constantly twelve men as scavengers, and that the cost of this item during the next few weeks amounted to 62/. 17s. 4,d.* while the Committee, in order to follow out these objects, procured three more carts, and engaged extra men. They otherwise occupied themselves in covering such drains as were peculiarly ill situated, and in conjunction with the Board of Health, used their best efforts to put down the private nuisances, piggeries, &c. Both bodies, however, found themselves much embarrassed by the deficiencies of their several powers, those of the Board of Health being, from the circumstances before detailed, legally questionable, while those of the Commissioners were too dilatory to meet the urgency of the occasion. Letters implying these difficulties frequently passed between the two bodies. The necessities of the City as regarded sewering had become so obvious, that on the 13th of August the Commissioners resolved on devoting _62,000 to this purpose, and on the 23rd a communication was made to the Board of Health, " stating that the Commissioners had made arrangements for making common-sewers in the principal streets and thoroughfares of the City, and are desirous of ascertaining, previously to the commencement of any such works, whether the Board of Health considers there exists any objection to their immediate execution, it being the object of this body to protect and promote the health of the inhabitants ot Tools and barrows, 21. 18s. 10"' Nineteen dozen brooms, 4.. 10s. * The above amount is thus made up : —Scavengers' wages, 55Z. Bs. 6d. 91 Water supply Wells the City." This communication was made in the accompanying letter : — Exeter, 23rd Aug. 1832. My dear Sir, The Commissioners have been applied to by tbe inhabitants of St. Sidwell's and St. David's Hill, and other large thoroughfares of the City, immediately to put common-sewers in these streets, but before doing so they are anxious to obtain the opinion of the Board of Health as to the propriety of carrying out such a work during the prevalence of the Cholera, and with this view have come to the resolution of which I send you a copy. Yours, &c. Mark Kennaway. John Gidley, Esq. At this time many smaller sewers were in progress. On the 10th of September the Commissioners resolved that such others should be immediately made as the Board of Health might deem necessary, and on the 22nd, at an adjourned meeting, it was reported, "that the sewers in Guinea-street and Idle-lane were completed, and that as the medical gentlemen of the Board of Health had signified that certain sewers might be immediately commenced without endangering the salubrity of the City, it was ordered that common-sewers should be made in the following streets, viz., Milklane, Georges- lane, Johns-bow, the lane by the Sun Inn leading into Guinea-street, St. Davids-hill, St. Sidwell's-street, Longbrookstreet, Bedford-street, north side of Bedford- circus, Bampfyldestreet, Castle-street, Theatre-street, St. Pancras-street, and so much of North-street as may be necessary to take the two last sewers. 1 ' During the whole of this period another important subject occupied the attention both of the Board of Health and Commissioners of Improvement, and to which we shall now refer, viz., cc the public supply of water." The sources which were chiefly looked to for this purpose were the repairing and re-opening of old wells, the purchasing for the public use favourably situated private wells, the sinking of new ones, . and the urging to the 92 Conduit. Pumps, &c. utmost extent the supply afforded by tbe Conduit and the Waterworks. Towards this object the Board of Health early drew up a series of resolutions, amongst which are the following :— " That the worshipful the Mayor and Chamber be respectfully requested to ascertain the quantity of water that is delivered at their public conduit, and if it can be increased." " That the same request be made to the Dean and Chapter respecting their supply in the Precinct of the Close." " That the Commissioners of Improvement be requested to repair, without any delay, the public pumps that are unfit for use; that they do open several wells in Paris-street, and other places, and place pumps in those wells, and that they sink additional wells in the different quarters of the City, more especially in the lower parts, as the wants of the inhabitants may demand, and which are known to be great." The Board of Health also drew attention to the pump in Quaylane, which had been recently removed from opposite the Valiant Soldier Inn, in Magdalen-street, being out of repair; and to the entire closing of the old wells on St. Davids -hill, Paris-street, and one beyond Paris-street known as " Gattey's Well.'" The Chapter immediately directed that their pump in the Cathedral yard should be opened to the public during certain hours of the day, and that the one in Palace-street, which had been useless during the previous year, should be repaired ; this latter pump was considered capable of supplying eight or nine hundred people daily, and, from its position, chiefly those residing in Ooombe-street and the back lanes. The Commissioners of Improvement, in compliance with the wishes of the Board of Health, besides entering into negociations (9th Nov., 1831) with Mr. Golsworthy, and of which mention will be made presently, concluded arrangements (on the 11th) with Mrs. Patch, whereby a private well belonging to her, and situated in St. Olave's-square, was made a public one ; called for a report as to what wells were formerly open and are now closed ; what others can be made available to the public, and in what situations new ones should be sunk. The sub-committee appointed for this purpose reported there was a well in Southstreet 93 in repair and use ; one near the Guildhall, which was covered over ; one in Paris street, filled in : one in Magdalenstreet, filled in ; and a conduit in Paul-street, which it was desirable the surveyor should inspect, and report the supply likely to be obtained therefrom. They also reported, that although they considered the opening and repairing of old wells and pumps, at this particular juncture, desirable to the public, they were of opinion it was not within tbe province of the Commissioners to excavate any new wells. On the 19th of July, 1832, (the day on which the Cholera occurred,) the following minute is met with. " That the clerk do inform the churchwardens of Trinity that this body are of opinion the pump lately destroyed in Magdalen- street should be opened, and made available to the public as heretofore, and that without loss of time : and on the 23rd of August it was resolved, that the necessary steps be taken to open all the ancient public wells which are conveniently situated for supplying water for watering the streets, and cleansing the public sewers of the City." 94 9 Nov. 1831 In the meantime the Board of Health were pursuing the same object, and on the 24th of July appointed a committee for this purpose, who re-erected the pump in Magdalen-street, and placed in thorough repair that at the bottom of the Fore-street-hill ; an ancient well in the Mint-lane was also re-opened and a pump fixed there.* These proved highly serviceable. Little else, however, was done, and the question of wells and pumps was finally concluded on the 20th of September by the Commissioners calling for a report on the " probable expense of sinking wells and fitting up pumps, to be presented next January, when the new Act f comes into power." The Commissioners, however, regarded the water-works J * The circumstances attending this well are rather curious ; a female of the name of Lawler, who resided in a house in Mint-lane, was cutting wood in a corner near the door of her house, when an aged inhabitant of the name of Bennett cautioned her that beneath where she was standing was a deep well which had been covered over a great many years. This she mentioned in the present season; examination was made, and the old man's recollection proved correct; a fine well built up with stones was discovered, a pump was put to it, and which now remains in use. This well belonged to the Priory of St. Nicholas. f The present Commissioners of Improvement Act. The establishment of the Water Company eventually superseded all considerations to this end. X These water-works were established by the Chamber of Exeter, under act of Parliament, in 1694, and by them were let out on lease for a period of 200 years. In 1808, when the unexpired lease of about 80 years was bought, from the then lessee, Mr. Rous, by Mr. James Golsworthy, they were worked by a large stream-wheel, in a leat immediately above and contiguous to the city. The water derived from this source was neither very pure nor sufficient and certain in quantity, while the works were quite incapable of distributing it to the higher parts of the city ; in fact, water was with difficulty raised as high as the reservoir at the back of the Guildhall. The pipes, which were of wood (then in common use throughout England) and liable to constant leakage, were but scantily laid, and such was the inadequacy of the works, that the usual deficient supply was occasionally entirely interfered with, on the occurrence of floods, for five or six days, and during droughts, for periods of even three months ; these stoppages were far from infrequent. Mr. Golsworthy immediately applied his ingenious mind to their improvement, and this he effected by means of much assiduity and the outlay of capital. It is but due to this gentleman to state, that he was the first who seriously thought of the practicability of iron pipes for the conveyance of water, and that, in spite of persuasion to the contrary by the directors of some of the London companies, he pursued his purpose, and in 1811 proceeded to Chesterfield, where he had some cast, of about six feet in length, and fitting together by funnel-shaped joints. The success attending their adoption convinced those who had previously argued against their use, and in four years afterwards they were employed for the conveyance of water by the directors of the New River Company in London. Though, by the in- 10 95 Exeter Waterworks situated on the engine stream at the bottom of Exe-lane, and - . which were leased by the Chamber of Exeter to Mr. James Golscreased power of the engine, and by the saving from the leakage attend- ing the use of iron instead of wooden pipes, a much more copious supply of water was insured, it was still quite inadequate to the use of the city. At the same time it would appear that a large and wholesome supply of water is a luxury which has only been properly appreciated within the last few years, for the late proprietor of these water-works assures me, that shortly after he became the lessee in 1808, but one individual in Bedford-circus, (then a new and fashionable row of houses,) would consent to take it in; and that sub- sequently, in 1815, on the pipes being extended to the hospital, for which the sum of £152 was paid besides £10 for the annual supply of water, it was provided in the agreement, that as individuals, residing in the course traversed by the main on its way from the reservoir, would probably avail themselves of the supply thus afforded, the proprietor of the works, for every family above the number of ten so taking it in, should refund to the hospital the sum of £7; at the expiration of the agreement in 1833, though the pipes passed through the most wealthy district of the city, this number had not been exceeded, 96 worthy, as the chief source whence the City could be supplied with water. With this view lengthened negociations took place between these parties. The Commissioners first applied to Mr. Golsworthy (9 Nov. 1831) "to ascertain what he would charge for watering the south and south-west parts of the City ; " and subsequently (on the 1 1th) their clerk was desired to make arrangements with him for watering the streets of the City generally during the next three months. On the following day it was reported that the High-street was watered, for _£'24, daily during the summer months ; that to do this the engine was employed about an hour a-day ; that Mr Golsworthy was ready to supply the Commissioners with water for those parts of the City over which they may desire it to be " thrown," after the same rate, upon a calculation of the number of hours the water was used; hut that he could not pledge himself to continue any such supply above a fortnight. On this it was immediately resolved, that the 97 Mode of watering streets. Negotiations Golsworthy. courts and streets inhabited by the poorer classes should be watered under the direction of the surveyor, who was to employ the / l J assistant-messenger to see that the object the Committee had in view was as far as possible accomplished. We shall pause here for a moment to describe the mode in which the water was " thrown" over the streets. The water being turned on from the fire-plug, ran down the gutters in a full stream, and, being dammed up at short distances by coils of straw and tarpauling, was collected in considerable quantities. Men with large wooden shovels then threw it plentifully over the neighbouring surface. This mode was not only most effectual as a means of watering the streets, but was most useful in cleansing the gutters. The whole scene, when this was doing, was most striking and picturesque ; three or four powerful men, jack-booted, or naked as to their arms and legs, took possession of the street, and stream after stream of water flowed from their well-plied shovels. Mr. Golsworthy, on the 4th of November, in order to prevent mistakes, addressed the Commissioners in writing on the subject of the above negociations. It should appear from what is here stated, there must have been some general feeling that he was withholding from the public, on personal considerations, the more ample supply which his works were capable of affording. Fully to comprehend this letter, it is not only right that this should be understood, but it should likewise be stated, there was no reservoir but the very inadequate one over the back prisons of the Guildhall, so that, in general terms it may be said, the water was pumped direct from the engine-stream to the consumer. Mr. Golsworthy, therefore, after assuring the Commissioners that no pecuniary considerations nor selfish motives should operate in preventing him from giving them the full benefit of his machinery and establishment at a period when an evil threatened, goes on to state, lin the first place, the supply of water to the streets does not depend on me ; it will cease, as a matter of course, the instant the service-pipes are open to my customers ; and on the contrary, all my customers above the fire-plug which discharges the water into the streets will fail in their supply while that plug remains open. My engine is capable of discharging ten times the n 98 quantity of water which it now forces into the City, but the pipes are so disposed as to be applicable solely to the supply of my customers except by night. This fact will, I hope, remove from your minds the impression that I have the power, and want only the will, to furnish the required supply, which, though I sincerely hope it may not be required, I am strongly impressed with the idea will be found wanting at a time when it will be most needed ; for it must not be forgotten that a deficiency of water in the dwellings of the inhabitants must be found equally injurious, if not more so, than the want of water in the streets. I wish the public to have the advantage of both at one and the same time, which, under the present disposition of the pipes, is impossible. To effect that object, an additional number of pipes must be laid; I have before said that by night the whole of the water is at the service of the public. Perhaps, after the above explanation, you may be satisfied that my machinery, under the present arrangement, is incapable of doing all that you might have expected or may require. If you are not so satisfied, I invite you to send an experienced engineer ; let him examine the works thoroughly, let him report to you what in his opinion may be necessary for your purposes alone, independently and exclusively of all advantage to me, and I hereby engage that provided such alterations shall not actually interfere with my income, nor invade my private property, I will throw no obstacle in the way of any alterations which he may recommend, but, on the contrary, will encourage and assist them by every means within my power and ability." To this the Clerk to the Commissioners, on the same day, forwarded the following reply. Sir, I am instructed by the Commissioners to acknowledge the receipt of your favour of this day's date, and to thank you on behalf of the public for the consideration and sacrifice of your own conveniency, which you are so good as to express yourself ready to afford and make to the common interest of your fellow-citizens. The Commissioners have M ferred your letter to the Committee appointed to consider the best meansof providing against the general calamity to which it refers, and the Commissioners trust that Committee may be enabled speedily to. effect 99 28 Nov. 1831, Mr. Golsworthy gratuitously supplies water. some arrangement with you for the supply of water for a period which may allay all anxiety with the public on this head. Yours, &c, Mark Kennaway. James Golsworthy, Esq. On the 15th a Sub-committee was appointed for the purpose of arranging some plan for watering the streets of the City ; Mr. Golsworthy then stated that every moment of time in which his engine was not employed in supplying his own customers, its whole force should be at the service of the public, and that he considered it might be so employed, three hundred days out of the three hundred and sixty-five, from four in the afternoon until the following morning. No permanent arrangement was, however, entered into, hut Mr. Golsworthy, willing to accommodate the wishes of the Committee, promised that, while apprehension of Cholera existed, he would supply water for the streets, so far as his pipes would permit, upon the terms previously mentioned. Of this offer the Committee immediately availed themselves, and it was then resolved, " that Mr. Golsworthy be requested to turn the water to-morrow into Milk-lane and Mary Arches-street." In order the better to avail themselves of the supply of water now at their disposal, the Committee, besides directing the putting in of more mains, ordered their surveyor immediately " to make such alterations in the level of the gutters in Idle and second Back-lanes, as might be necessary to carry this water by a sufficient fall through the courts and streets in the south and south-west parts of the City ;V and subsequently he was instructed " to take immediate steps for watering those parts of the City in which the pipes were capable of supplying a sufficient quantity of water, and also to ascertain the cost of laying down mains in Bampfylde and Gandy-streets." It appears, however, that the above supply was furnished by Mr. Golsworthy free of charge ; for at a meeting of the Commissioners on the 28th of November, another letter was received from him, in which, besides making some new proposals towards a perma- ... nent arrangement, having for its basis the same terms as those on which he supplied the Gaol and Bridewell, and the subscribers for h 2 100 commission- ers contemplate powers pariiament. euan.lB32. Fresh propo- sais. watering the streets, he renewed his offer, gratuitously to continue the supply for watering the lower parts of the City, in the following terms : — " I first offered you gratuitously a supply of water for a fortnight, to meet the exigency arising from Cholera. That time having expired, but the danger not having subsided, I beg to extend my offer until Lady-day next, without any remuneration, should that cause so long continue." It was immediately resolved, " that the best thanks of this body be given to Mr. Golsworthy for his very liberal offer, and that the same be accepted." This resolution, together with an intimation that all consideration of "the permanent supply" was for the present postponed, was communicated to him by letter on the following day by the clerk to the Commissioners. At this time the Commissioners were much occupied in the preparation of a new Act of Parliament; and amongst other pro- v j si onSj they proposed asking for powers to erect waterworks. On the 9th of January this intention was somewhat modified, and a Committee was appointed to arrange terms with Mr. Golsworthy for the supply of the City, upon condition that the Com- missioners withdrew from their act all powers touching the supply of water. This Committee met on the 16th, and primarily resolved, " that it be recommended to abandon the application to parliament for powers to supply water for the use of the inhabitants, and that such application be confined to powers for providing water for watering the streets and cleansing the sewers of the City, and that any treaty with Mr. Golswwthy should be upon this basis." In consonance with these views Mr. Golsworthy was requested to make proposals to the Committee, it being premised that he would be required to provide tanks and pipes at his own expense, and for which a rent would be paid. . Mr. Golsworthy, who had always regarded the proposal of the * . 1 Commissioners to erect waterworks as a great injustice, on the 21st remonstrated against it, and, after referring to the previous correspondence, observed that it was impossible for him to make any proposals until he was informed more definitely what they would require, at the same time he offered to supply water for the streets 101 Tank in St, Sidwell's. and sewers, to any reservoir the Commissioners might form at the head of St. Sidwell's, or for any public conduits in various specified parts of the City, but stipulates that the quantity of water required should be clearly stated. He further assured the Commissioners this supply could be afforded in a shorter time, more economically, and with purer water, " than by any worksthey might themselves erect, so that the pressing exigency of the times, now that a calamitous disease was dreaded, would be early and efficiently met." The Committee, after duly considering the above, resolved, I that the only satisfactory method of supplying a sufficient quantity of water for watering the streets and cleansing the sewers, is by the formation of a tank of sufficient size in St. Sidwell's ;" and it was further resolved to " have an interview with Mr. Golsworthy, to elicit from him information as to the quantity of water required, and the length of time necessary to supply it." In the meantime (Jan. 23rd) the following memorandum was submitted to the Committee. " Mr. Golsworthy will bind himself and his executors to agree to a clause in the proposed act, empowering one engineer to be appointed by himself, one by the Commissioners, and for those two to call in a third if required, for the following purpose, namely, to define what quantity of water will be required to supply the City, how" that quantity shall be ascertained, and what rent shall be paid for it to Mr. Golsworthy during the remainder of his term, and so in proportion for a greater quantity if required. That Mr. Golsworthy will, at his own expense, convey the water to the tank, and the Commissioners shall pay the expenses of the tank. That should the water.be at any distant time discontinued for tbe uses aforesaid, that the Commissioners shall, in a defined time, pay Mr. Golsworthy the expenses that he has incurred in purchasing and laying down the pipes, which pipes shall be in such case bis property. If this proposition should be agreed to by the Commissioners, Mr. Golsworthy will of course expect the like protection in the new bill as he has in the present bill." In the letter which accompanied this proposal, Mr. Golsworthy said, " you do not appear to have considered tbe wants of the poor to be supplied by conduits, or the more pressing necessity for the dreaded approach of Cholera. On these points I assure 102 30 Jan. 1832. Proposals abandoned. you I am most anxious to meet your views, both with regard to the immediate wants of the City, and the permanent comfort and health of the inhabitants. I am ready to supply the poor with water for a trifling indemnity, the conduits being placed in such poorer districts of the City where the water would be wanted, and where they would but little affect my existing rights, and I believe that object could be effected without any difficulty." On the 24th the surveyor was desired " to obtain Mr. Golsworthy's estimate as to the quantity of water required for the above purposes, as well as for supplying public conduits for the use of the poor only, and the expense attending it ; also the sum he would expect annually for the supply of certain quantities, say in the proportion of 1,200 hogsheads per week, or of any degree of increase beyond that quantity the additional remuneration he would expect, and the smallest quantity he would be disposed to furnish without calling on the Commissioners to pay the interest on the first cost of the pipes." On this Mr. Golsworthy proposed that the 1,200 hogsheads should be supplied from tanks constructed and worked similarly to those at the County Prisons, at the price of _£3 15s. 6d. per week, the tanks to be found by the Commissioners, and not to be formed beyond Peerless-place in St. Sidwell's ; that the Commissioners should not supply individuals with water, nor establish conduits in any but the poorer parts of the City ; that if the Commissioners decided on taking any less quantity than 1,200 hogsheads per week, he should require _£5 per cent, per annum on the expense incurred in laying down the necessary pipes ; and concluded by stating, that if a larger quantity be wanted it should be supplied at the same rate, and suggested for this and other reasons the tanks should be constructed on a much larger scale than for the above quantity. The terms thus proposed, the Committee reported to be " such as in their judgment preclude the Commissioners from effecting any treaty upon them," and on the 30th the Commissioners themselves adopted the same view. It appears, however, that after a short period they came to tbe resolution that the above plan 103 l B,*6^}, BB*: ^Xcom^' Appointed, Negotiations r present <>f had not been sufficiently considered, and, therefore, on the 28th of February, resolved to rescind all their former orders relating to the subject, and a specific Committee was appointed to reconsider the matter. This Committee, regarding the expense of the tank in St Sidwell's the great objection to the former proposal, desired to ascertain, Ist, if the tank could be reduced from 1,200 to 600 hogsheads ; and 2nd, what would be the cost if it were formed near the Guildhall, and the deposit of water were not to exceed six feet. On the 10th of March, Mr. Golsworthy consented to the proposed tank in St. Sidwell's being formed of any dimensions that might be deemed desirable, provided that he was discharged from all responsibility respecting a sufficient supply of water, but which responsibility he was willing to take upon himself if the tank were of sufficient size to hold 1,200 hogsheads. He also consented that a constant stream of water should flow down the streets upon the surface, provided the Commissioners agreed to pay a penalty on any persons dipping it. To these terms the Committee agreed, and it was decided, if legal and formal arrangements should be entered into for carrying them out, that the necessity for going to parliament would be thereby superseded. Whilst these negotiations were pending, Lady-day had arrived, and the gratuitous supply of water for the streets ceased ; and it does not appear to have been otherwise provided for during the following three months. The Committee, induced by the existence of Cholera in the immediate neighbourhood, and, as before stated, by representations from the Board of Health, directed, on the 30th of June, their surveyor to make arrangements for watering and cleansing the streets ; and further instructed him "to order a water-cart from London, and to borrow one from Mr. Ward, the coachmaker, for immediate use, and to make the best arrange- ' . "fo ments he can with Mr. Golsworthy, or otherwise, for obtaining a supply of water for such cart, to water therewith the streets Mr. Golsworthy's main will not enable him to carry the water into." In pursuance of these resolutions the surveyor forwarded the following letter to Mr. Golsworthy. 104 30 June, 1832. Dear Sir, I am instructed by the Committee of the Commissioners appointed for cleansing and sewering, to apply to you to ascertain at what cost you will water, from this time to Michaelmas next, such parts of the City as you watered in the spring of the year gratuitously, in the same manner as it was then done — say for South-street, Rock's lane, and the Back-lanes, which can be supplied from the fire-plug at the head of South-street every evening at four o'clock, (or five o'clock if more convenient to you,) one hour's supply ; for Goldsmith-street, Pauls-street, and North-street, immediately afterwards, half an hour's supply. The Committee are particularly desirous of commencing this evening, and on their part, if you would close, I will undertake to pay you for the supply for a few days, (till the Committee can meet again,) in the same proportion as the inhabitants of Fore-street would pay for a like supply for the same purpose, and you could then have two or three days to consider of the terms on which you would furnish what is requisite. They have also directed me to ask you on what terms you would furnish water from the cisterns at the Baths and the Guildhall, or from your pipes, for such parts of the City as cannot be supplied direct from your pipes, such water to be conveyed over the streets requiring it, in carts made for the purpose, the same as those used in London. Yours. &c, Sam. T. Coldridge. On the sth of July it was reported by the surveyor that the lower parts of the city had been watered once during the day ; but that Mr. Golsworthy, referring the question of remuneration to the Commissioners themselves, declined naming the sum to be paid for this. Their Clerk having written for a definite answer, Mr. Golsworthy, on the 9th, replied, that the gratuitous supply during the spring months had very much inconvenienced him, and, as this had been fully stated to the Commissioners, he regretted they had not pursued some arrangements whereby these difficulties might have been overcome. He was, however, perfectly willing "to meet the necessities of the inhabitants in the fear of Cholera," and assured the Committee that much might be done temporally under proper arrangements, but that the only time he could undertake to water the streets was late in the evening, i.e., before ten o'clock, and then only for a short duration ; that if done under his own directions, he would 105 undertake to supply the water for the space of three months at the rate of five shillings per hour ; but that he feared the supplying water-carts, as proposed by Mr. Coldridge, would be impracticable, without laying down more pipes and increasing the size of the reservoir. Ten days after this, (19 July,) the weather being dry and hot, and the Cholera continuing to increase at Plymouth, the Committee met with the intention of immediately procuring the streets to be watered ; they accordingly agreed to the terms above proposed, requesting at the same time it might be done as early in the evening as possible, and Mr. Golsworthy was asked to state what other (if any) streets he could water from his present main, and on what terms ; and if some arrangement could not be made to supply the water-carts; while the surveyor was directed, on obtaining the water-carts, first to water the macadamised road, and then such others as might be convenient. To this Mr. Golsworthy replied, (20 July,) that the water could not be supplied for the streets before Monday (23 July,) without extreme inconvenience, after which day it should be done before ten o'clock at night, but it must be under his own control, that is, the Commissioners' men must attend at the hour convenient to him ; his charge would be £18 for a daily supply of one hour for twelve weeks ; the supply to be thus furnished, Goldsmith-street, Paulstreet, and the bottom of North-street, half an hour ; Northstreet and Bartholomew-street, a quarter of an hour ; Northstreet, Bock-lane, the Back-lanes, and the Butcher-row, one hour ; Mary Arches-street, half an hour ; making in all two hours and a quarter ; that in addition to the above streets Mary Archesstreet might be watered at a small outlay, say £8, by putting stopcocks to all the branch-pipes requiring them, and thus converting the present service-pipe into a main ; but more than this he could not undertake without considerable inconvenience and outlay. The scarcity of water always inducing some little activity in the inhabitants in dipping the water as it flowed down the street, he further stipulated that the Commissioners must prevent this practice. No definite arrangements were entered into for supplying the the water-cart, which it may be here mentioned was the first 106 public one used in the City. This single water cart was, however, soon proved to be quite insufficient for the purposes for which it was required, independently of the supply of water, from the want of mains and proper stop-cocks, being neither convenient nor adequate. The 21st of July had arrived, and it was now generally known that cases of Cholera had occurred in Exeter two days previously, the Committee therefore particularly urged upon Mr. Golsworthy the necessity of watering the lower part of the city this evening, (p. 90) ; and in order to render the watering the streets more general than under the present arrangements of the service-pipes was possible, they also at this time directed "that stop-cocks be immediately fixed in the undermentioned streets, or such of them as Mr. Golsworthy could supply with water, viz., St. Mary Arches street, Theatre-street, Pancras-lane, Gandy-street, the upper part of Paul-street, Bedford- street, Southernhay, Jamesstreet, Holloway-street, Magdalen-street ; and that St. Mary Arches-street be first proceeded with." On the same day Mr. Golsworthy received the following letter from Mr. W. P. Kingdon, the medical practitioner who had attended the first case that occurred of the disease, and which is here alluded to : "I am just informed the inhabitants of the court in which a poor woman has lately died of Cholera Morbus are in the habit of receiving water from your works twice a week, and that, as they are now entirely without water, may I request the favour of your immediately directing a large supply in that quarter, so as to enable the persons in that particular court to have the means of washing and cleansing every part thereof." Mr. Golsworthy immediately endeavoured to comply with these various demands, but found that his works were seriously embarrassed thereby ; they were in fact inadequate to the sudden supply which the public were now clamorously demanding at his hands; for in consequence of applications made to him the previous day by the Commissioners and the Board of Health, he had been obliged twice to water the streets, and was thereby prevented filling the cisterns for the supply of the City. In order somewhat to remedy this difficulty, he applied (22 July) to a neighbour, whose waterwheel 107 was situated lower on the same stream as his own, to remove, in addition to his waste fender, the others, so that as much water as possible might be drawn off from the tail of his wheel, the former alone not removing sufficient to allow the full power of his machinery to be developed. The above communications indicated that, while the public supply, now so urgently demanded, materially interfered with the private engagements of the lessee, the Committee of the Commissioners, in their eagerness to procure an efficient watering and cleansing of the streets, pressed him somewhat unreasonably. The public generally coincided with the Committee, and many and loud were the complaints. In reference to these subjects Mr. Golsworthy forwarded to the Committee (24 July) a letter, in which, after stating that their wishes, which had only been communicated to him the previous day, had been anticipated, goes on to say, " the Committee are, I fear, impressed with the belief that it is practicable for me, in the existing state of my establishment, to furnish these large and sudden supplies of water without inconvenience or loss. This impression, however, is altogether erroneous, which will be readily believed when I inform you, that the unexpected demand on Saturday night placed it entirely out of my power to furnish my numerous private customers with their regular Monday's supply, limited the watering the streets around the London Inns to once instead of twice in the day, and prevented me from filling the cisterns at the baths, the hospital, and the jails. I mention these circumstances to prove that it is not only impossible for me to carry on my business, if I am subjected to these sudden demands to supply water at uncertain points, but that I shall thereby be entirely prevented from doing what is really in my power toward meeting your wishes. You are aware that we are proceeding with all 'possible dispatch in fixing stop-cocks in St. Mary Archesstreet, and so soon as that work is completed all the streets mentioned in my proposal of the 20th may be watered during some part of the day or night. Your resolutions proceed to give directions for fixing stop-cocks in certain other streets and lanes which are enumerated. I have before repeatedly stated, and now 108 again beg most distinctly to assure you, that fixing cocks will not enable me to water all or any of those streets. It is wholly useless to provide for the discharge of extra water which my mains cannot carry. The required outlay, of which I have so frequently spoken, is in supplying this deficiency. The whole of my main pipes from Exe-lane to the London Inn must be replaced by others of larger diameter, (at an expense perhaps of about _6l500,) before your wishes can be accomplished ; unless I suspend (which of course I cannot) all my other engagements — and even if this great outlay were made, the water could only be delivered temporally. No expense which may be incurred can place me in the situation to furnish you with a regular supply of water, unless an ample reservoir be constructed in St. Sidwell's. I have often urged this fact on the notice of the Commissioners, and extremely regret that my suggestions in this respect had not been long since adopted — not on my own account, for I should, I believe, have derived no profit from the arrangements; hut because it would have enabled the Commissioners at the present emergency effectually to supply the urgent wants of the Board of Health, and of those who act with that body. It is extremely painful to my feelings in the present state of excitement and alarm, to have the odium of a deficiency of water thrown upon me ; I feel it to be wholly undeserved. I have done, and will continue to do, all in my power for my fellow- citizens, but it is unjust and cruel to condemn me because I cannot effect impossibilities. Under proper arrangements with you I am ready, if it is your wish, to commence laying larger mains, as before explained, immediately, by which a temporary supply of water in the additional streets may be obtained. In order still further to evince my desire to meet yonr wishes, I beg to state that I have requested Mr. Dymond on my behalf to make any practicable arrangements with you, and he will attend to any communications you may think it right to make to him." In accordance with tbe intimation made at the close of this letter, Mr. Dymond now conducted the arrangements proposed on behalf of Mr. Golsworthy, and this agency was extended to all negotiations with the Board of Health. On the day the above letter was written, Mr. Ottley, as one of the Committee of the 8 109 26 July 1832. Further proposals. Board of Health appointed "to provide water for the poor, having applied for this purpose to Mr. Golsworthy, Mr. Dymond replied on his behalf, he should have had much pleasure in meeting the Committee at the Guildhall in the evening, but that he feared inconvenience would arise from negotiating, at the same time, with two distinct bodies for effecting one object. To this Mr. Ottley rejoined, that the Board of Health were not aware the Commissioners were in treaty with Mr. Golsworthy, but hoped it would prove a means of providing a more efficient supply of water, if it be only for a time, and begged to be informed of such arrangements as should be completed, that he might report the same to the Board on the following Thursday, the 26th. On this day the Board of Health having renewed their application, Mr. Dymond, (27 July,) enclosing a copy of some proposals he had made to the Commissioners, deprecated their interference, and hoped they would "see the propriety of confining their applications for an extra supply of water to the Commissioners of Improvement." The following is the communication above alluded to. It should be stated that Mr. Dymond had attended on the previous evening a meeting of the Committee of the Commissioners of Improvement, and one of their conditions was that Mr. Golsworthy should supply his customers by night, and thus leave the engine at the disposal of the Commissioners by day. Mr. Dymond first replies to this, and then makes further and final proposals. 26 July, 1832. Mr. Golsworthy cannot supply his customers by night, the extra streets, therefore, which the Commissioners wish to cleanse must be i . • watered after the customers are served, nor can he increase his supply beyond the quantity stated in his communication of the 20th instant without extra expense and risk, for which he will require a sufficient guarantee from the Commissioners. Provided, therefore, that five of the Commissioners (to be approved by Mr. Golsworthy) will enter into a guarantee to the following purport, he will then, after his customers are served, give to the Commissioners all the extra time and strength he can produce. This will enable the Commissioners to have double the quantity of water so long as the machinery continues to work. 110 27Juiy,i832. And finally abandoned. casual water tinued. The guarrantee to comprise. 1. An undertaking to pay all additional expenses attendant on the alteration in the machinery, and the additional management of the works. 2. A security to repay all damages or injury which may be occasioned to the works, pipes, reservoir, &c, during the time of their engagement. 3. Against all liabilities of action for non-fulfilment of engagements for supplying inhabitants, and other parties taking in water. 4. Against all claims of millowners on the Leat. As a matter of caution, Mr. Golsworthy will require the sanction of the Chamber to these arrangements. The whole of the works to be performed under the direction of James Golsworthy, but at the expense of the Commissioners. Mr. Golsworthy can water the Mint, and will do so at the same rate per hour as the other streets, and also can supply about one hundred hogsheads per day from the baths at l-|d. per hogshead. These he is willing to effect without the proposed guarantee, and will make the necessary outlay himself. Robert Dymond. The Committee gave the whole question their fullest considerau -1 t j on on j^g 27th, and came to the conclusion " that Mr. Gols- worthy's terms and conditions could not be accepted, as they involved the Commissioners in an expense and loss, to which there appears no limit." All negociationsjfor any increased permanent supply were from this time broken off. It was, however, arranged that the casual supply lately afforded, with an addition of a supply to the water- cart from the cistern at the baths, should be continued. The Board of Health were also occupied in making such sup- ply, as was then available, easy to the poor. They accordingly granted tickets, of this form, to " the medical men, clergy, and others, to be distributed to the poor as they shall see occasion ;" and engaged water-carriers "to supply to the poor on receipt of such tickets, such BOABD OF HEALTH. Deliver Two Buckets of Water to (Signed) Date 111 quantity of water as shall be specified, the cost to be paid by the Board of Health to the water-carriers on production of the tickets." Nearly ten thousand of these tickets were distributed, and subsequently to the 26th of July there were paid _£13 10s. Id. for 6494 single buckets, of which .64 175. 9d. were expended in one week. This mode of supplying water being found inadequate, and somewhat cumbrous in its operations, the Committee of the Board of Health again applied to Mr. Golsworthy, who on the Ist of September informed " them that he could supply water for the use of the poor at certain situations, already named to the Commissioners, at the rate of eightpence for the score of hogsheads, that is at three shillings and fourpence for a hundred hogsheads." The Committee reported 112 12 Aug. 1832. spring in st. Sidwell's. to the Board of Health that one hundred hogsheads a-day would be the smallest quantity which it would answer the intended purpose to supply ; and that to supply this quantity of water would amount to _657 10s. per annum, independently of the cost of providing pipes, reservoirs, &c. Nothing further appears to have been done in this matter, but we find Mr. Golsworthy again dealing generously with the public, in offering gratuitously a temporary supply from the cistern behind the Guildhall, provided the Board of Health would undertake to station a person there to see that thewater was not wasted nor taken by other than poor persons. This offer was thankfully accepted, and. the Board immediately applied to the Chamber to fix a water-cask in some premises belonging to them at the back of the Guildhall. On the 12th of September the Chamber resolved, "that upon the whole expense being undertaken by the Board of Health, the spot, applied for, be appropriated for the purpose intended, under the direction of the Mayor, during the pleasure of this body." Another subject connected with the supply of water now occupied the attention of the Commissioners of Improvement. Messrs. Bouse and Clark on the 12th of August, 1832, stated to the Commissioners that they had discovered a powerful spring of water in a field near Salutary Place, St. Sidwell's, by which a constant supply in a running stream could be afforded ; and that, with the aid of but trifling machinery, it might be made to flow into almost every part of the City. In investigating this spring they had sunk two shafts, sixteen feet deep by eleven in diameter. On this the ' Commissioners resolved, " that a Committee investigate the work which Mr. Bouse and Mr. Clark have reported, and that such committee have authority to order a sum not exceeding sO2O, to be paid for securing the work which has been so executed, provided it shall appear that a considerable supply of water can be obtained for public purposes, and that a proper arrangement can be made with the owner of the land." The Committee examined the two shafts which had been sunk, and, from finding a large quantity of water therein, the probability of an ample supply appeared so reasonable, that they directed " the higher shaft or well should be walled up with nine-inch brick work, and that estimates be imme- 113 19 Sept 1832. Water Company.contemplated. plated. diately obtained of the expense of erecting a pump in the above shaft with sufficient wind and horse machinery for the purpose of raising the water." The Committee during the next ten days narrowly watched the supply of water afforded by this spring, and seeing that it yielded a large amount, reported so favourably of it, that they were requested to ascertain if a sufficient quantity could be obtained from this and other springs of the neighbourhood, to induce the Commissioners to purchase land and form a tank, and to report what should be the situation and size of such tank, and the cost of forming it. The cost of the works thus ordered, amounted (8 Sept.) to .864 13s. sjrd. ; they were not, however, now proceeded with, as it was deemed better to wait further time, to prove how far the supply was constant; and in order to do this, application was made, (12 Nov.,) to the owner of the land, who had throughout treated the matter in the best spirit of public accommodation, to know on what terms he would allow the wells which had been formed on bis land to remain open till the end of the following summer, and afterwards in perpetuity, in the event of their yielding a sufficient quantity of water for the sewers and streets. These and all other works were however shortly superseded by the feeling that for this large City a supply more efficient and universal should be sought ; in consequence, a meeting of influential inhabitants took place on the 1 9th of September, and the issuing the following advertisement was the result : — At a meeting of gentlemen desirous of ascertaining tbe means for obtaining a better supply of water for the City of Exeter; it was resolved, —That a reward of £70 should be given for the best practi- cable plan, and 5630 for the second best plan, which shall offer the greatest advantage for furnishing the whole of Exeter with an abundant supply of pure water. That a Committee, aided by an experienced surveyor and engineer, shall examine the plans and report their opinions thereon, to a general meeting of subscribers, which general meeting shall ultimately decide upon the respective merits and award the premiums. That such plans, containing all necessary sections and levels, with an estimate of the probable expenses, shall be furnished at the T 114 office of Mr. Ralph Sanders, Palace Gate, Exeter, on or before the 27th of October next. Signed by order of the meeting, Ralph Sanders, Treasurer. These proceedings were the origin of the present Water Company. In the following session of Parliament, both Mr. Golsworthy and the promoters of this scheme carried bills before a committee of the House of Commons; the latter then purchased Mr. Golsworthy's interests in the old works, and in 1833, obtained the act of Parliament, under the provisions of which the City is now supplied with water. The Board of Health took but little part in these measures, beyond holding a special meeting on the 9th of March, "in order to petition the House of Commons relative to the bills now before the House for supplying the City of Exeter and its neighbourhood with water." The above elaborate if not tedious detail of the state of the water supply of Exeter in 1831 and 1832, may perchance at this time be read with something like surprise by those who only know Exeter gushing at all points with the water so copiously afforded by the present efficient works. We have seen displayed a large and dense population deriving this necessary and great luxury of life in the smallest possible quantities, and chiefly from the most difficult sources, — the occasional wells and conduits of old times and the scanty bucketful of the water-carrier ; thg mains of the ancient waterworks laid but in few parts of the city, and even then but scantily applied to ; the streets unwatered, save a portion of the High Street, and that only by private subscription of the inhabitants ; the establishment of the first water-cart, &c. &c. The infliction of the terrible pestilence of the age aroused attention to this deficiency, and, so far, the lesson has not been neglected. 115 9 nov.issi. to be distri. butedby S oaji of CHAPTER V. FLANNEL belts. It having been stated on the authority of many whose opinions carried much weight with them, that flannel belts, worn round the 0 ; _ body, were of the greatest service as a preventive against the Cholera, the Board of Health, early in November, 1831, resolved to give these articles to such poor persons as might apply for them, and a committee drew up the following report and recommendations : — 1 . That narrow pieces of flannel, half the usual breadth of a piece, and a yard and quarter in length, be distributed to the poor men and women of this City. 2. That the probable cost of two for each person would be eight pence : — i. c. 7\d. for the flannel, and a halfpenny for tape and making. 3. That 4,000 be immediately provided and distributed among the different parishes in the following proportion : — All Hallows, Goldsmith St. 50 All Hallows on the Walls 1 00 St. Edmund - - - 320 The Close ... 50 St. David - - - 500 St. George - - - 150 St. John - - - 100 St. Kerian ... 30 St. Martin ... 20 St. Mary Major - - 800 St. Mary Arches - - 80 St. Mary Steps - - 180 St. Paul - - - 300 St. Pancras 30 St. Olave ... 60 St. Stephen - - - 30 St. Sidwell - - - 800 Trinity .... 400 4,000 4. That they be given out for distribution to the Clergy and parish 1 2 116 26 Nov. 1881. By Corporation of Poor. officers of each parish, who are desired to register the name of every person that receives them. 5. That the treasurer be requested to make a contract for a sufficient quantity of flannel on the lowest possible terms. 6. That, although the Committee have only recommended 4,000 of these belts to be made for immediate use, the cost of which would be about £70, they have reason to believe that at least double that number would be required. They therefore recommend tbe Mayor of this City to call a general meeting of the inhabitants to consider the most advisable method of raising a sufficient fund to meet the necessary expenses, not only of this article, but the expenses that have been hitherto incurred, and any future exigence that may arise." To the above document the following note was appended. — -.' Since the above report it has been ascertained the quantity of coarse flannel that can be procured immediately would not be equal to this demand, and that the price mentioned is too low. The cost would probably be Bjc.. per yard, or 9 Jc.. per two belts, and with the tape and making at least 10^d. This would increase the expense for 4,000 to _£87 10s." As the distribution of these belts was entirely confined to those persons that did not receive parochial relief, a deputation # from the Board of Health waited on the Corporation of the Poor on the 26th of November, and having communicated this to the court, desired to ascertain whether the Corporation would provide flannel for their own poor. The Corporation immediately resolved, " that the Treasurer be authorised to provide flannel for persons receiving parochial relief who shall apply for the same to the assistant Treasurer :'" and for this purpose £i 0 was at once voted. Subsequently, on the 1 3th of December, amongst the directions issued by the Central Board of Health, (p. 27,) it was said to he " of the utmost importance to tbe public health that flannel cloth : ing, at least .flannel belts and woollen stockings, should be given to the poor." On the 15th, the public meeting was held, to which allusion has been made in a previous page, (p. 34,) when it was resolved, after some explanatory observations from the Treasurer, that a subscription should be entered into to supply the belts; ; * The Rev. Chancellor Martin and Mr. Alderman Sanders. 117 in accordance with this resolution, the following circular was issued : — . Guildhall, Exeter, 17 Dec, 1831. Sir, Pursuant to the directions of the Board of Health, I have the honour to inclose a copy of the resolutions passed at a public meeting of the inhabitants of Exeter, held on Thursday last, to raise a subscription for providing flannel for the use of the poor, and for other purposes tending to preserve the health of the City, and to beg your early attention to that resolution, which requests the Ministers and Churchwardens, of the several parishes in Exeter, to collect subscriptions from door to door within their respective parishes. It will be seen that there were several subscriptions to the amount of a guinea some time since. It is, perhaps, necessary to state that those subscriptions were limited to that amount, the same having been raised merely to defray the charge of printing, and other small expenses attending the formation of the Board, and were not meant as a fund for the objects now in contemplation : it is therefore hoped no persons who are of ability to contribute more, will consider the former subscription as any guide for their present liberality. I am, &c, &c, John Gidley, Secretary. This urgent appeal does not at first appear to have been very successful.* Nevertheless, the matter was proceeded in, and " the Clergy and Churchwardens were desired to ascertain the names of such persons as would apply for the gratuitous distribution of the flannel belts." About the middle of December the returns were made, from which it appeared that the number of belts sought for would much exceed in amount all previous calculation. During this time the purchasing of flannel and the making it up * "We regret to find the subscriptions to defray the expenses for preventing the contagion of Cholera in our City, are not so liberal as we anticipated ; in Bristol and other places, where similar calls have been made, thousands have been collected, and we observe donations of fifty and twenty pounds very commonly given by the affluent. To provide flannel belts for five thousand persons, a considerable expense must be incurred, and as the malady seems to be spreading, we cannot repeat too often that two things are strongly recommended for immediate adoption. We allude to the wearing of flannel belts round the loins and bowels as & preventive, and the use of the steam and vapour baths as a cure for the disease." — Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, Dec 24th, 1831. r 118 into belts was proceeding with, and on the 21st of January, the Treasurer, after reporting that the money raised by subscription now amounted to £161 25., and that of this he had paid .£164 15s. 2d. for flannel, &c., # "wishes to have positive instructions whether he is to distribute the belts already made, and whether he is to proceed to have the others made ; they would be ready in about ten days." It was decided they should not be distributed until the whole were completed. This being accomplished on the 18th of February, 1832, the following notice was issued : — Exeter, 18th Feb., 1832. Sir, I am directed to acquaint you that at the next meeting of the Board of Health, which will be held at the Guildhall on Saturday next the 25th instant, at 10 o'clock in the forenoon precisely, the propriety of forthwith distributing flannel belts to the poor, to be worn as a preventive against Cholera, will be considered and determined. I am, &c, John Gidley, Secretary. It appears that there were 7,695 belts made, and that of these there were distributed to the different parishes of Exeter the following : — All Hallows, Goldsmith St. 80 All Hallows on the Walls 120 The Close - - - 160 St. David ... 500 St. Edmund - - 650 St. George - - - 180 St. Martin - - - 120 St. Paul - - - 160 St. Kerian 30 St. Olave - - - 440 St. Mary Arches - - 165 St. Mary Major - - 1,590 St. Mary Steps - - 800 St. John - - - 155 St. Laurence 80 St. Petrock - - ' - 30 St. Stephen ... 30 Trinity ... - 550 St. Sidwell - - - 1,600 On this occasion the total number distributed was 7,440 ; we may however assume that the whole were eventually given away, as there were, subsequently to the general distribution, many * This was exclusive of the cost of making up; £153 Bs. 6d. being paid for flannel and £11 6s. Bd. for the necessary needles, tape, &c. 119 further applications which, if reasonable, were always complied with. It should also be borne in mind that, in addition to these, belts were distributed to those poor of the City receiving parochial relief, so that the amount given away altogether must have been very large. It is not, perhaps, for me to say that the distribution of this amount of flannel was useless, and that the money expended thereon w r as thrown away ; but the history of this transaction would not be properly completed were it not mentioned, at the time this distribution took place, that, on the one hand, the inclemency of the season had in a great measure passed away, and, on the other, the Cholera did not occur for some months afterwards. 120 1 <) Nov. 1831. Medical men volunteer their services. CHAPTER VI. medical assistants, medicines, nurses, &c. On the first formation of the Board of Health, in 1831, it was deemed advisable, in case the Cholera should break out within the City, that efficient and prompt medical attendance should be provided for those attacked. In order the more easily and satisfactorily to effect this, the medical men not only cheerfully and willingly volunteered their services, but decided upon the different districts of the City to which they would severally devote themselves. The Board of Health also recommended (p. 11,) that the Corporation of the Poor, " should take such measures for the increase of their medical assistants as they shall deem proper." In compliance with the above suggestion, the Corporation of the Poor, at a meeting of their body, held on the 19th of November, 1831, " to consider the propriety of nominating additional medical officers, and of taking other measures preparatory to any attack of the poor of this City by Cholera Morbus," resolved, " it will be advisable that eight additional apothecaries be engaged to attend the sick, should the Cholera make its appearance in this City, and that the Governor should be desired to call a special court for the purpose of making such appointments, and that advertisements* be inserted for applications from professional gentlemen resident in Exeter." * " The Corporation of the Poor of this City do hereby give notice, that on Saturday, the 26th day of November instant, at 11 o'clock in 6 121 6 N0v.1831 . corporation of Poor elect 1 men ' 6 Dec. iB3i. ments of medical men. At this meeting a letter was also received from Dr. Blackall, on the part of the Board of Health, suggesting that, though they did not in any way desire to interfere with the arrangements of the Corporation of the Poor, it might be useful, if the physicians who had volunteered their services to the Board of Health were placed in communication with the medical officers of the Corporation of the Poor. Dr. Blackall also tendered on his own behalf every assistance in his power. On this it was resolved that " the Governor be requested to communicate the thanks of this body to Dr. Blackall for his polite offer of his extra services in case of Cholera, and that this body will adopt his suggestions as to the physicians of the district committees constituted by the Board r J •'2 of Health." The following week, (26 Nov.,) it was resolved, D ' \ '' ' " that Mr. Ernest Coldridge, Mr. B. F. Arscott,Mr. James Bennett, Mr. John Steele Perkins, Mr. W. K. Medland, Mr. D. Ottley,Mr. E. Pridham, and Mr. W. Land, be nominated the eight additional apothecaries to attend the sick poor, in case the Cholera should make its appearance in Exeter, and that an early arrangement be made of the districts which such gentlemen will attend, in order that the same may be published for the information of the poor, and that such arrangement be reported at the next monthly court, in order to such publication being made." - In compliance with the above resolution the medical gentlemen, on the 6th of December, presented a report, in which the City was divided into districts, and a medical man appointed to attend to each ; with these were associated the physicians who had volunteered their services to the Board of Health. It does not appear, however, that any further steps were taken during the next seven months. At the expiration of this time the occurrence of Cholera at Plymouth indicated the probability of its early ap- the forenoon, at the Guildhall of this City, a court of the said Corporation will be holden to nominate eight ad- ditional apothecaries, to attend the sick poor, should the Cholera Mor- bus make its appearauce in this City. - " The Corporation of the Poor can receive only the testimonials of pro- fessional gentlemen resident in Exe- ter, and such testimonials may be deposited in the clerk's office at any time before the day on which the said court is to be holden, and will be returned to the candidates after the said nomination shall have taken place. By the Court, Edward Gattey, Clerk. Dated, Exeter, Nov. 19. 1831." 122 24 July, 1832. Further suggestions of medical men. pearance in Exeter. On the 19th of July the expected storm broke upon the City. I trust I shall be excused for here mentioning, that I had now the honour of offering, in the following letter, my professional services to the Board of Health, and that these were most graciously accepted. 230, High-street, 20 July, 1832. Sir, As there exist fears that the appearance of the malignant Cholera in this City may call into activity the duties of the Board of Health, I beg to state that my services may be commanded in any way that may be deemed of public advantage. The Board having been constituted before I had taken up my residence in Exeter is the cause that I have not before proffered my assistance. I am &c, Thos. Shapter, M.D. To the Chairman of the Board of Health. A. second Beport was now drawn up by the medical men " on the arrangements best adapted for promptly attending to the wants of those who may be attacked with Cholera," and submitted to the Corporation of the Poor, who, on the 24th of July, proceeded to consider it most fully. The first recommendation related to the establishing of a Cholera hospital, but to this, as will in another place be seen, the Corporation declined to accede. They, however, decided, in compliance with the other recommendations, on forthwith engaging station-houses in each of the four quarters of the City, consisting of two or more rooms, and that to these responsible persons should be appointed to take charge of, and distribute, the stores of blankets, warm-air baths, and such other appliances as may be required : and on purchasing and depositing at the station-houses the following medicines for the use of the medical attendants of the several districts, viz. opium, calomel, aether, ammonia, oils of peppermint and cinnamon, soda, mustard, turpentine, spirit of wine, and any other drugs which may be required ; also brandy, "to be kept under the care of the station-keeper, and to be distributed 123 committee d_ugTap* se P°" mittee ap™" 2s Juiy,iB32. medical men appointed. only to persons bringing a ticket signed by the physician or surgeon of the district, specifying the quantity required, and for whom." In order the better and more efficiently to carry out all the arrangements contemplated in the above resolutions, " the Gover- nor of the Corporation, Dr. Blackall, a member of the Board of Health, and Mr. Tucker, one of the medical officers of the Corporation," were appointed a committee for directing the purchase of the drugs, &c.; and a committee, termed " the Ward Committee,"* was also formed, consisting of three members of the Corporation of the Poor from each quarter of the City, to superintend the distribution of the stores and drugs, and generally to look after the requirements of the time ; while the regular medical staff of the Corporation, which, at this period, consisted of Mr. Stabback, Mr. Tucker, and Mr. Delagarde, was added to, by formally engaging the eight medical gentlemen who had been on the previous 26th of November conditionally elected for this purpose. These latter were to be remunerated "at tbe rate of .£4O per year each, for such time as the Court may require their services to attend the sick poor on the present distressing visitation of Cholera in this City." Lists of the districts to be attended by the ordinary and additional medical officers of this body were also directed to be forthwith published by handbills, and distributed throughout the City. On the 28th, the eight additional medical gentlemen having by letter acceded to the wishes of the Corpora- °° J . tion of the Poor, were directed to make such arrangements with the three regular medical officers of the Corporation relative to the general attendance of the poor as they may deem fit; they were not, however, permitted to'issue " sick tickets." *b The ward Committee immediately commenced their operations, * The Committee was formed of the following gentlemen for each quarter : — I Mr. Merrifield. East < Mr. H. Hooper. ( Mr. Rowe. ("Mr. Taylor. North < Mr. Cullum. (,Mr. R. S. Cornish. f " Sick tickets " were orders for money made by the medical officers ( Mr. Pearse. West 1 Mr. Burt. ( Mr. Buxton. ( Mr. W. Mortimer. South «? Mr. W. S. Dewdney. (Mr. Balle. of the Corporation of the Poor on the assistant treasurer, payable to 124 Druggists ap. pointed. station- Assistants to appointed? Blankets, and, in order the better to carry them out, sat daily at 7 p. m. ; they expressed themselves willing to receive communications and suggestions from tbe medical officers, and at once (July 28) ap- pointed to each of the four wards the following druggists:- — L <_> oo East ward, or quarter : Mr. Banney, St. Sidwell- street. North ward, or quarter : Mr Partridge, North-street. ¦West ward, or quarter : Mr. Barker, Fore-street. South ward, or quarter : Mr. Pitts, Fore-street. • The duty of these druggists was to dispense medicines, brandy, &c., in their several wards or quarters, according to the directions of the medical officers. { The Ward Committee also hired a house in Mary Archesstreet to be the station-house for the City, and to which they immediately sent ten pair of blankets, four hot-air baths, &c, and two persons were appointed to be in attendance there, by day and by night, to deliver such things as might be required. They also appointed assistants and runners to assist their beadles. The beadles themselves were, during this time, called into great activity; and in order the more readily to provide for the wants of the people, one of them generally stationed himself in the cross-ways at the west gate, which was the centre of that portion of the City where the great amount of sickness and death prevailed. The Board of Health was at this period 1 likewise providing many little matters that appeared to be immediately wanted ; amongst them were blankets, which, being promptly and urgently required, could not for the moment be furnished by the local trade. The Board of Ordnance, who, when refusing to lend their barracks for a hospital, had volunteered (p. 99) providing articles of this description from their own stores, were on two separate occasions (July 24, and Aug. 17) applied to. In the delivery some little delay took place from its being necessary, " in such poor persons resident in the it. The following is a copy of one City as it appeared to them were, of the orders issued about this time: during sickness, in absolute want of SICK POOR. Exeter, Nov. 26, 1832. Please to relieve E. Keen, of the Parish of South Tawton, with 3s. J. H. STABBACK. To the Assistant Treasurer. 125 pursuance of instructions, that all bedding issued for cholera patients should have a mark affixed, that the public might not hereafter be liable to a penalty for having ordnance stores in their possession." The Board of Health, considering the permission they had received to avail themselves of these stores as general, and without reserve, and finding there was a great want of bed* ding, &c, requested (Aug. 4) the Master-General would " have the goodness to allow sufficient camp equipage, now at Plymouth, to be lent to the Exeter Board of Health, during the prevalence of the Cholera, for the accommodation of one hundred patients." This application was, however, refused, the secretary to the Board of Ordnance stating, " that camp equipage being expressly provided 126 Cholera bed, 25 Aug. 1832. Medical men in attend- ance at night, for the military, the Master- General and Board regret they are unable to comply with the application." The Board of Health likewise provided a moveable bed, with a waggon cover, fitted with poles, &c. This was kept at the Guildhall in readiness to convey such persons, as, being ill of the disease, might require to be removed. They, also, in their anxiety that nothing appertaining to the w T ants of the period should be omitted, forwarded to the Corporation of the Poor some observations and demands relating to the general attendance on the sick poor. The Corporation of the Poor appear to have regarded with much jealousy any interference on the part of the Board of Health, and at once resisted their demands ; on the Ist of August they communicated, in reply to the Board of Health, the arrangements they themselves had made, with the further statement of there being twenty-four nurses in readiness. This was accompanied with the expression of their opinion " that everything may thus be obtained that the Board of Health are likely to want." During the prevalence of the disease the medical men were submitted to much labour and fatigue, and although they were most assiduous in their duties, the requirements of the people were at times with difficulty met. On the 7th of August some fresh arrangements of the districts were made, but it was still found that those whom the exertions of the day fatigued, were unequal to the demands of the night, and some broke down under the constant fatigue. On the 16th Mr. Arscott, Mr. Coldridge, and Mr. Ottley resigned,* and in their place Mr. Norris, Mr. Knox, and Mr, Congdon were appointed ; at the same time Dr. Budd offered his services, which were accepted. Subsequently (Aug. 25) a scheme, whereby an agreement was entered into, that two members of the profession should be in attendance during the night at the Guildhall, in readiness to answer all calls, t was devised * The resignations of these extramedical assistants were, however, greatly influenced by their being debarred from issuing " sick-tickets," ordering brandy, &c, as was permitted to be done by the ordinary medical staff of the Corporation of the Poor. f The Board of Health placed at their disposal two carriages ; the carriage hire for five weeks amounted to £33 12s. ; they also appointed a man to attend upon them, to supply coffee, &c. 127 Druggists, 24juiy,i832 hired. by Mr. Tucker, one of the medical officers of the Corporation of the Poor. This arrangement, by which the fatigue of the medical men was much lessened, continued till the 15th of September, when the attendance of one only was deemed requisite ; on the 22nd the disease had so almost entirely subsided, that this also was dispensed with. At the same time some new arrangements a3 regarded the general medical attendance on the poor were entered into, and by which the Corporation of tbe Poor relieved from their duties one half of the additional medical men they had appointed on the previous 24th of July. On the third of December, the disease having entirely ceased, it was resolved, " that the remaining four additional medical assistants be discontinued. # The duties of the druggists were also arduous, especially those appointed for the south and west wards; day and night they were obliged to be in attendance to answer the constant calls made upon them. Nor should the exertions of Mr. Hele, the dispenser attached to .the Exeter Dispensary, be lost sight of; though not contemplated by any previous arrangement, he voluntarily devoted his time to carrying out the wishes of the medical men, by bleeding those for whom it was prescribed, and by otherwise superintending the administration of the remedies ordered. It has just been mentioned that the Corporation of the Poor had hired twenty-four nurses; with regard to these very ne- cessary persons some difficulties occurred. The above number was hired in accordance with the resolution of the 24th of July, " that this Corporation do engage six nurses for each quarter, whose names and residences shall be registered at the different stations in order to be summoned at the shortest notice, and that such nurses be paid 2s. Gd. weekly from the time of their being engaged, and such further sum as may be thought sufficient for their services when they shall be actually employed in attending Cholera patients." On the 28th it was resolved, " that the names and residences of the tw T enty-four nurses engaged by the Ward * The arrangement entered into was first to dispense with the ser- vices of Mr. Land, Mr. Pridham, Mr. Norris, and Mr. Congdon, and then with those of Mr Bennett, Mr. Medland, Mr. Perkins, and Mr. Knox. 128 Committee be left at the general station-house, and with each of the druggists, who have been engaged as before stated, for the information of the medical officers and of all persons who may require the same.'" It was, however, found that this number was not adequate, and the Board of Health issued the following handbill. EXETEK. All persons qualified to be Nurses, and willing to attend Cholera Patients, are requested to engage themselves in the service of the Board of Health, who will give them the most liberal remuneration. 129 A person will attend at the Guildhall this evening, at eight o'clock precisely, in order to register the names and residences of nurses offering their services for the above-mentioned purposes. Wm. Kennaway, Chairman to the Board of Health. Guildhall, August 11, 1832. They moreover employed the public crier, as may be seen by the following curious bill : Exeter, August 11, 1832. Isaac Spratt, City Crier, Cried for the gentlemen of the Board of Health to obtain s. d. Nurses for the Cholera patients .... 1 6 Ditto second time ....... 1 6 3 0 The Corporation of the Poor had paid their nurses half-a-crown a day. The Board of Health not only urged upon them the necessity of engaging more nurses, but they themselves, in order to procure a larger number, offered the inducement of an increased scale of remuneration. Some umbrage was taken at this, and the Corporation of tbe Poor at their meeting on the 16th of August resolved, "that in answer to the communication from the Board of Health, this Court have, in their opinion, used every means to provide nurses and other necessaries for the sick. At the same time this Court cannot help observing that the offer of a larger sum than 2s. 6d. 2 )er diem for nurses, may be the means of dissatisfying those employed by this body who are now receiving that sum only, and may probably increase the public alarm,"* * The cost to the City of procuring these extra nurses amounted to £270 Bs. 6d. The Corporation of the Poor having paid £265 and the Board of Health £5 Bs. 6d. X 130 29N0V.1831. Application for Barracks for Cholera Hospital. CHAPTER VII. CHOLERA HOSPITAL AND HOUSE FOR CONVALESCENTS. The Board of Health on its first formation, and in accordance with the recommendations of the Committee appointed to consider the proper and best steps necessary to be taken towards alleviating the infliction of the Cholera, occupied itself with various schemes for the providing both a Cholera hospital and a house of removal for the convalescents. The order in Council of the 2nd of October, 1831, contained the following passage : "In some towns it may be found possible to appropriate a public hospital to this purpose ; or should any barrack exist in the neighbourhood, it might, under authority of the Commander of the Forces, be similarly applied." This appeared to indicate, that, as there were two large barracks immediately contiguous to this city, an application to this effect was not only the proper course to be pursued, but would be favourably entertained by those in authority ; accordingly the following letter was forwarded by the Mayor. Exeter, 29th of November, 1831. My Lord, In pursuance with the general recommendation issued by the Board of Health, and circulated by order of the Lords in Council, I have the honour to apply to your Lordship for permission to use as a hospital (in the event of the Cholera Morbus appearing in this city) the Cavalry 131 9 Nov.. 1831. Barracks refused. Bedding, &c. allowed. Barracks adjoining Exeter, which are, and have for some time past, been unoccupied by troops. I have the honour to be, &c, Wm. Kennaway, Mayor. To the Rt. Honourable Lord Hill, Commander of the Forces. A reply to this was received on the sth of November, to the effect that the matter was referred to the Master-General of the Ordnance, who had the charge of all buildings erected for the accommodation of his Majesty's forces, &c. On the 10th of November, the following letter was received from the Ordnance Office. Office of Ordnance, 9th November, 1831. Sir, Adverting to your application of the 29th ult., addressed to the General Commanding in Chief, for the appropriation of the Cavalry Barracks at Exeter as an Hospital for Cholera patients, in case of that disease making its appearance there. I have the Master General and Board's commands to acquaint you that it would be very inconvenient, and may be highly prejudicial to his Majesty's service that any permanent barrack constructed for the King's troops should be converted into a pest-house ; that in the event of such cases of Cholera occurring in the city of Exeter as are contemplated in the circular letters of the Board of Health, the Civic authorities should provide proper places for the reception of the diseased inhabitants ; and it can only be in the very unexpected circumstances that the numbers of the diseased persons should be so great as to be beyond the means of the Civic authorities providing proper places for them, that recourse should be had to any public building appropriated for the use of his Majesty's troops. 1 am, &c, R. Byham. To Wm. Kennaway, Esq. Mayor, Exeter. P.S. Should bedding or utensils be required for persons attacked with Cholera at Exeter, the barrack -master will issue, on the requisition of the proper authorities, such articles as they may require from the stores under his charge on the production of proper receipts. R. B. It will be seen from the above that the Board of Ordnance not only refused the barrack for this purpose as associating it incon- X 2 132 19 Nov. 1831 Arrange- ments for a Cholera Hospital entertained. veniently with the office of a pest-house, but indicated to the civil authorities the propriety of themselves providing adequate places ; at the same time they hazarded the opinion that the disease would not require any great accommodation of this kind. In consequence of the failure of this application the Board of Health turned their attention to the erection of a temporary hospital. On the 1 9th of November, a deputation from their body waited upon the Corporation of the Poor with a request that they would appropriate " a place or building near the workhouse to remove persons who may have been afflicted with the Cholera, and who may be in a state of convalescence." To this the Corporation replied, they should not be justified in allowing all persons to be removed to the place in question, at the same time they considered it incumbent on them to appropriate this, or some other place, for their own paupers whether in a state of infection or convalescence. While the above was under discussion, the Bey. Chancellor Martin, a member of the Board of Health, received the following letter : — 19 Nov., 1831. Rev. Sir, Understanding that it is proposed to provide and fit up a temporary hospital, to remove the sick into, in case the Cholera Morbus should extend to Exeter, and that some part of the buildings at the City Workhouse have been mentioned as a proper place for that purpose, and considering that an objection will probably be made to the occupation of any part of those buildings to such a purpose, from the number of inmates (from two to three hundred) that are there, I have thought that the large building in the brick-field behind the workhouse (but more than 500 feet from the boundary wall) may be fitted up and used for that purpose; it measures about 80 by 18 feet, and has two floors, with another building (communicating) of one floor, about 35 by 15 feet : these buildings are enclosed with a cob wall, all but part of the south front ; this building is now used for drying tile, and may easily be cleared out, and a fence put up at a small expense to cut off any communication with the brick-field, so that the sale and delivery of brick and tile may go on as usual. I remain, &c„ R. Cornish. 133 is March, 1832. 13 18*_."! y ' hospital 1 plated. This letter having been submitted to the Board of Health, it was resolved, " that the Key. Chancellor Martin, Dr. Blackall, Dr. Miller, and Mr. Alderman Sanders, be a Committee (with the permission of the Corporation of the Poor) to examine the building mentioned in Mr. Cornish's letter, and, with his assistance, to determine its fitness as a house of reception for convalescent patients; to procure an estimate of the probable expense of the necessary alterations ; to ascertain within what time such alterations could be effected ; and to make such other inquiries as they shall consider material, and to report thereon to this Board." This proposal did not meet with the sanction of the Corporation of the Poor, and was, after much trouble and many interviews, abandoned. During the succeeding months, the propriety of securing some place adapted for the purpose of a Cholera hospital occasionally occupied the consideration of the Board. In their endeavours to carry out this object, they made many applications both to public bodies and private individuals; amongst others, (15th March,) for a large and almost unoccupied house commodiously situated on St. David's Hill. The application gave much offence, and was indignantly refused; for such was the feeling, that while all, whether public bodies or private individuals, were loud and clamorous on the necessity of procuring such accommodation, they each shrunk from being the parties in any way to harbour, on their own grounds or property, the dreaded pestilence. Thus matters continued, now the Board of Health negotiating with those who met them with refusals, now entertaining plans which fell to the ground. From the failure of all previous negotiations, they then contemplated the propriety of at once building a hospital, and accordingly directed their attention to the procuring a suitable site, and called for the necessary plans and specifications. On the 13th of July the plan annexed was adopted by the Board,* and the site contem. plated for its erection was the south-east corner of the brick-field * The following are the specifications which accompanied these plans : — Exeter, 12 July, 1832. Gentlemen, In compliance with your instruc- 134 PROPOSED PLAN AND ELEVATION FOR A CHOLERA HOSPITAL. attached to the workhouse grounds, belonging to the Corporation of the Poor. On this, fresh negotiations took place between these two bodies. The Corporation, on the 14th of July, appointed a Committee, with directions immediately to consider the whole subject. On the 17th this Committee reported the brick-field as objectionable, on account of its contiguity to the workhouse, and the constant intercourse between it and the house, and " be- tion, I have considered the best means of constructing a building as a Cholera hospital, and I beg to send a plan for the same— the building to be erected in a temporary manner with yellow American timber, and partly elm ; the windows to be out of second-hand frames and sashes, and the doors common ledged or second-hand. A floor of deal to the wards, bed and sitting-rooms ; the front to be weather-boarded, and the internal plastered all over with plaster ceilings. Chimneys to the wards and the sitting-rooms, with a furnace flue. The bricks it is supposed the Corporation will supply at cost price. The roof to be composed of yellow pine, and covered with second-hand slate. The building erected in this manner may, with every care of economy, be finished for the sum expressed, two hundred pounds. I shall be happy to explain further as you may wish, or attend to any other question. I am, &c, Robert Cornish, Junr. The Chairman & Committee, Exeter Board of Health. 135 19 July 1832. Application for hospital at barracks, cause 100 persons at the least, from all parts of the City, are constantly at work therein, and because these persons, from their habits of life, are the most likely to be infected, and to disseminate the contagion through the City;" but recommended, that the north-west corner of Bury Meadow, a property belonging to the Corporation of the Poor, should be chosen for this purpose. The Corporation itself, however, did not take this view, and at their meeting on the same day put a negative upon the whole subject, by resolving, " that the only lands belonging to them, which are the Bury Meadows, the workhouse, and the property adjoining the workhouse, are too publicly situated, and too near a populous neighbourhood, for them to consent to have a Cholera hospital erected in them ;" they, however, resolved, that should the Board of Health succeed in procuring a site elsewhere, they would supply the bricks necessary for the erection of the building free of cost. At the same time they directed the attention of the Board of Health to " a bleaching house at the cotton factory, and which has been unoccupied for many years," as suitable for this purpose. On this the Board of Health made application for these premises, as also for those occupied by the infant-school in Paris-street; but neither the bleaching house, nor the infantschool house, nor in fact any other premises, could be procured for this purpose. In this dilemma, the Mayor, stimulated to fresh exertions by the breaking out (on the 13th of July) of the Cholera in Plymouth, applied to the Prime Minister, and, with the hope of obtaining the accommodation required at the hospital attached to the barracks, forwarded the following strong representation. Exeter, Guildhall, 19 July, 1832. My Lord, On behalf and at the request of the Board of Health established in this City, I have the honour to solicit your Lordship's attention and assistance in a difficulty with which this Board have to contend. The constant attention and beneficial aid which the interests of all classes of his Majesty's subjects receive at your Lordship's hands emboldens this application. 136 An act of parliament, lately passed for the prevention of Cholera, empowers parishes, &c. to raise on the poor's rate such sums of money as shall be deemed necessary for the erection of hospitals, and other necessary expenses. This act (as may be clearly proved to your Lordship, should it be required,) is wholly inapplicable to Exeter. Before the passing of this act, and in pursuance of instructions issued to the Boards of Health throughout the kingdom, an application was made to the General Commanding-in-chief for one of the two barracks adjoining the City, to be used as an hospital in the event of Cholera appearing here; a reply (dated 9 Nov., 1831) was received from the Office of Ordnance respecting this application. It may be proper here to state to your Lordship, that there are here two extensive barracks, one immediately adjoining the City, {the one applied for,) and the other scarcely one mile from it ; the latter is more than sufficient for the accommodation of the troops usually stationed at Exeter. At present, and for many months past, one troop of dragoons only has been stationed here. I trust, therefore, that on consideration neither your lordship nor the Board of Ordnance will consider that the application we now make for the hospital only of the Exeter cavalry barracks to be such as may not safely be granted. It is to be feared that the proximity of Plymouth to this City, and the constant intercourse between /the two places, must shortly introduce this dreadful malady amongst us, and we have neither time, nor have we been able, nor are we likely to raise the means for building or procuring a hospital for the reception of such as may be attacked. I trust your Lordship will feel that this City is entitled to a favourable consideration, it being one of the few places excluded from the benefit and assistance which nearly all others derive from the act of parliament before alluded to. In pleading a cause which I feel to be one of humanity, and in endeavouring to avert or lessen so dreaded a calamity from befalling the City over which I have the honour to preside, I am but discharging my duty, and am therefore emboldened to claim and hope for your Lordship's pardon for this lengthened statement, as also your powerful and speedy intercession, in order to obtain the accommodation now applied for. I have the honour to remain, Your Lordship's obedient and humble Servant, Wm. Kennaway, Mayor, Chairman to the Board of Health, To Viscount Melbourne. 137 1 0 Aug, 1832 Resolutions of Public Meeting. On the 21st, Lord Melbourne intimated he had forwarded this letter to the Board of Ordnance, together with a communication on the subject. Matters now pressed. The Cholera had broken out within the City. The Mayor, impressed with the necessity of the time, sought the advice and assistance of the members for the City, who readily lent him all the aid in their power. Mr. Buck, as senior member, officially addressed Lord Melbourne, whilst Mr. Buller seconded his endeavours, but with no successful issue. The result of all these applications is seen in the following letter. Office of Ordnance, 24 July, 1832. Sir, The Master-general and Board having received from the Secretary of State a copy of your application, dated the 20th inst., renewing your request made in October last, for use of one of the barrack hospitals at Exeter for the reception of Cholera patients. I have the honour to communicate the same to you, and to express their regret that the same objections still exist to their granting such accommodation, as in tbe event of the Cholera appearing among the troops, it will be expedient to remove the sick from one barrack to the other, in order to prevent, if possible, any contagion, a precaution which, under existing circumstances, it is indispensably necessary strictly to observe. I have the honour to be, &c, G. Butler, For the Secretary. Wm. Kennaway, Esq., Mayor of Exeter. Such was the position of affairs in this respect, when on the 10th of August a public meeting was held at the Guildhall, " to consider various matters connected with the state of the City in connection with Cholera," and at which, amongst other resolutions, the following were passed : " that a receiving house or houses be erected or obtained for the separation of the disinfected from the infected portions of the families of the poor ;" I that temporary accommodation be provided for such infected persons, as can conveniently, and with the consent of their friends be removed ; an object rendered essentially necessary by 138 Committee to provide Cholera Hospital ap- pointed. the vast increase of Cholera patients, and the utter inability of the medical men to attend them sufficiently at their own houses." The state of the City at this period was truly appalling; in all quarters there were the sick, the dying, and the dead. The feeling excited thereby may be appreciated not only from the above resolutions but from the promptitude with which exertions were made to carry them out. A committee was at once appointed, who immediately issued the following hand-bill. Exeter. Persons having large premises suitable for the reception of individuals in danger of Cholera from infection ; also, persons having premises which are suitable for the reception of patients suffering from Cholera, are requested to make tenders of the same, addressed to the Rev. M. Vicars, Chairman of the Committee for providing receiving houses for the healthy and sick poor. Tenders to be delivered at the Guildhall, on Monday the 13th inst. at 12 o'clock precisely. Guildhall, Aug. 11, 1832. The chairman of this Committee, with the best and most benevolent motives, made a strong representation on the subject to the minister, and again sought in the barracks an asylum for the sick of the City, hut, as might have been anticipated, without avail. The following letter may be regarded as the ultimatum on this subject. Whitehall, 13.7. Aug., 1832. Sir, I am directed by Viscount Melbourne to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 11th inst., and to acquaint you that references having so recently been made to the Board of Ordnance by this department, both on the receipt of the letters from the Mayor of Exeter, and from Mr. Buck, the member for the city, on the subject to which your letter relates ; his Lordship does not think it would be proper to press that subject any further on the consideration of the Board. I am Sir, &c, G. Lamb. The Rev. Matthew Vicars. 139 16 August Premises in Back Lane proposed, In this difficulty, a proposal to convert some premises, at the bottom of the second Back-lane, and between it and Preston street, into a hospital, having been very liberally made and eagerly entertained, the following notice was issued. Exeter Board of Health, 16 Aug., 1832. A report having been made from the Committee for providing a Cholera hospital, recommending certain premises situated in the second Back-lane, the property of Mr. Pearse, as being well adapted for that purpose : Resolved, That the Board of Health be summoned for to-morrow to meet at the Episcopal Charity Schools in Paul-street, at half-past ten o'clock precisely, for the purpose of taking into consideration the propriety of purchasing the said premises, and that in the mean time Messrs. Cornish and Julian be requested to make a valuation of the same. John Gidley, Secretary. In anticipation that the arrangements, entered into with Mr. Pearse, would meet with the sanction of the Board, the Committee also applied to the Corporation of the Poor, whether, in the event of their completion, they would provide the proper necessaries and medical and other attendances. On the 18th, the Corporation of the Poor replied, " that, before assenting to such a proposition, it would be necessary estimates and accounts should be laid before them as to the probable amount of expense that may be incurred." The Board of Health was now assailed by a torrent of remonstrances from those residing in and near the quarter of the City, in which these premises were situated ; while Mr. Pearse was also appealed to in a manner so urgent and impressive, as to induce him to withdraw his proposal in the following letter. To the Committee of the Board of Health, appointed to procure a Cholera hospital. St. Sidwells, 17 Aug., 1832. Gentlemen, Since I made a communication to you, (which I did from the best motives,) offering any part of my premises for a Cholera hospital, I have received so many and various communications and remonstrances 140 1 September; 1832. Receiving house for friends of those dying of Cholera. from. the neighbours, and persons interested in the property and business of that neighbourhood, that I am reluctantly compelled to decline any further treaty on the subject. I much regret that I should, unintentionally, have caused unnecessary trouble to those gentlemen who have been so diligently and laudably engaged. I remain, &c, James Pearse. I am afraid the objection made to my property will apply to every spot where there is a population or thoroughfare." The conversion of these premises into a Cholera hospital was accordingly abandoned, as was also a large linhay situated on the Friars, which had been suggested, and the Board of Health in their difficulty again fell back upon the Corporation of the Poor, who on the 24th of August resolved to hold a special meeting to consider a proposal made by the Board of Health " respecting the appropriation of some part of their property on which a Cholera Hospital might be erected." At the same time they resolved, in accordance with the wishes of the Board, and as in fact had been already done, that "all necessitous persons who may be seized with Cholera in the streets of the City should be conveyed to the workhouse." Subsequently to this, an arrangement was made, whereby a portion of the above premises in Back-lane were fitted up as a receiving house for the friends of those who were attacked or had died, and whom it was thought necessary to remove from their own houses ; but even this was not satisfactory to the neighbourhood, and again the storm of excitement and remonstrance arose, and eventually found a substantial vent in the following memorial signed by the whole of those living in the neighbourhood, as well as by many whom it might have been thought, lived sufficiently distant from it, to have rendered their interference unnecessary. "We the undersigned inhabitants of the South Quarter of the City of Exeter, having heard that a house for persons, associated with those affected with Cholera, is about to be erected at the bottom of Prestonstreet, beg to represent to the Board of Health, that a more inconvenient, ineligible, and dangerous situation for such a purpose could not be selected. It is surrounded with thickly populated habitations, in a 141 quarter where the disease has raged most fatally, in a neighbourhood where the lowest description of persons reside, and where the want of air has long been complained of. "The inhabitants therefore, in thus protesting against a hospital being so situated, do not think it even necessary to urge the mischief it would entail on the owners of property in that neighbourhood, inasmuch as such an establishment in any situation surrounded with buildings must be productive of the most serious consequence. " They therefore in conjunction with others, their fellow citizens, feel that some detached piece of ground for such purpose is absolutely necessary, and therefore they respectfully and earnestly submit to, and request that, the Board of Health will select such ground ; and not, because the inhabitants of the southern quarter happen to be poor and defenceless, expose them to such alarming consequences, as they have too much reason to anticipate from the erection of a hospital in the situation contemplated by the Board, and complained of by the inhabitants." The Board of Health nevertheless pursued their intention. To the best of my recollection, who was one of the Committee appointed to carry out this design, twelve beds were fitted up, six for males, and six for females, but this arrangement was not completed till the early week in September, when the disease had so far subsided, as did away with any urgent necessity for a house of this description. I believe that it was never occupied by more than one family, besides the person placed there to take care of it, and provide what was necessary, in case of its being occupied. On the 14th of November, all occupancy of it was finally abandoned, and the furniture, which had been deposited there, sold. After the Cholera had subsided, it was still deemed advisable that a Cholera hospital, together with a house of reception, should be in readiness against any fresh outbreak of the disease, and a portion of the Bury Meadow being thought adapted for this purpose, an application was made to this effect to the Corporation of the Poor. On the 17th of December, at a meeting of this body specially held for the purpose, it was unanimously resolved, " that this court having taken the communication from the Board of Health into their consideration, are of opinion no portion of the Bury Meadow should be appropriated to the building of a Cholera hospital ;" and thus were concluded all considerations on the subject. 142 CHAPTER VIII. BURIAL GROUNDS, &C. The appropriation of one or more portions of ground to the exclusive purpose of the burial of those dying of Cholera, which had been generally suggested in the earlier orders issued by the Privy Council, was rendered imperatively necessary as regards Exeter, from the situation and crowded state* of its two public * The state of the Burial-grounds was such, that irrespective of the interment of those dying of Cholera, a Committee of the Commissioners of Improvement, on the 14th of Dec. 1.831, resolved, "that the attention of the general meeting be called to the insufficiency of the space of ground appropriated to the public Burialgrounds in this city, and that the Committee strongly recommends to the Commissioners the forthwith providing an additional quantity of ground for this purpose.'' Bartholomew-yard was consecrated by Bishop Hall with unusual solemnity on the 24th of Aug. (St. Bartholomew's day) 1637, when he performed the first funeral service in it, over Christopher Tothill. Previously to this, St. Peter's close, which had been the common cemetery for the City, had become so overcrowded, especially since the occurrence of the plague in the preceding year, as to be the cause of gross indecency. To remedy this evil, the Bishop made every exertion, and on the 20th of Aug. 1636, his Dean and Chapter agreed with the Mayor and Chamber to contribute £150 towards inclosing a new cemetery. At the same time, it was distinctly covenanted, that at the expiration of 16 years from the levelling of St. Peter's cemetery, the citizens and inhabitants of Exeter, were to recover full and absolute power to re-bury their dead therein ; that the Dean and Chapter and their successors should form no enclosure there, nor employ any part for any private or particular use, nor plant any trees that might lessen the space for interments, nor divert, change, bar, nor interrupt any of the accustomed ways or paths through or over this ancient burying-place. Further it was agreed that Friernhay, which was then covered with racks, should be appropriated for the new burial-ground, and be completed for the purpose before Michaelmas of the ensuing year. The following inscription rehears- 143 \ sJ^> Ground" 8 ratf.no? the" places of interment — the Bartholomew and Southernhay buryinggrounds. On the first alarm of Cholera in 1831, we therefore find attention directed to the propriety of this course ; nevertheless nothing seriously was done towards this object, until the near approach of the Cholera, rendered it a question of pressing moment. The Board of Health now setting themselves directly and assiduously to supply this want, applied on the 15th of July 1832, as they had done in the case of the hospital, to the Corporation of the Poor for information as to what lands they may have available for this purpose, who, on the 17th, replied that "the only lands belonging to the Corporation of the Poor are the Bury Mea- ing the gift and consecration, cut upon a stone slab, was originally in- serted in a portion of the old town wall to the north side of the burial- REPOSITORIUM DEI FIDELIUM DORMITORIUM This platte of ground was gyuen by y e Cyttie of Exon fytted and incompassed by the concurrent charge of both the Churche and Cyttie with the carefull ov' seeynge of Koger Mallack Marchante then Major and was solemnlie consecrated by the Beverende Joseph Halle then Lord Bishope of Exon vpon Sainte Bartholomew's Daye Avgvste xxiiii ; 1637 PRETIOSA IN CONSPECTU DEI MORS SANCTORUM. ground; in 1838 it was removed to the south wall of the porch, where it now is. In 1664 another cemetery was required. The Chamber granted a waste spot in the Southernhay, which was inclosed at the sole expense of the Chapter, and was consecrated on 27 Oct. that year by the name of the | South Burying Place." In the articles of agreement between the Church and Chamber made on 20th October that year, the right of the citizens and inhabitants to be buried in St. Peter's Yard is unequivocally admitted; but the exercise of that right is declared to be postponed until the year 1684, when it could be acted upon again in as ample a mode and form, as it had ever been enjoyed or exercised in times past, This second burial-ground must very soon have been found inadequate for the purpose, for an Act of Chamber of 30 May 1689 gives liberty to the inhabitants to bury their dead in Bartholomew Yard, "in regard the churchyard near Southernhay was overfilled." 144 25 July. 1832. Remonstrance against burials in Bartholomew Yard. ' dows, the workhouse, and the property adjoining the workhouse, and that these were in the opinion of the Corporation too publicly situated, and too near a populous neighbourhood for burial-grounds to meet this anticipated calamity." But they " suggest to the Board of Health, that on the north side of the Barrack-road there is a large tract of land, with only one residence, and the tenant of that residence may be compensated." The breaking out of the disease, and the burial of those dying from it taking place in the ordinary grounds, excited much commotion and alarm amongst those living contiguous to them, "and the Board of Health was assailed by a storm of complaints. By the 25th the burials in the Bartholomew ground had created so much alarm, that a deputation* of the neighbouring inhabitants was appointed to wait upon the Board of Health. This deputation, viewing the whole question as most urgent, immediately forwarded the following memorial to the Secretary of the Board. " We the undersigned, request that you will convene a meeting of the Board of Health to be holden this afternoon, for the purpose of receiving a deputation of the inhabitants of the lower part of this city, with a memorial relative to the interment of persons dying of Cholera in Bartholomew-yard. We are aware that there will be a meeting of the Board of Health to-morrow, but as an interment of a person dying of Cholera has this morning taken place in Bartholomew-yard, contrary to the intentions of the Board of Health and the Corporation of the Poor, and to the express directions of the Mayor in the Guildhall last evening, and as it may be necessary to inter other persons before to-morrow, we beg to submit the urgent necessity of a meeting of the Board of Health this afternoon." .' The Secretary on the same day replied that he did not consider he had the power of calling the Board of Health together, without the direction of the Chairman, who was absent from Exeter ; but that, as no new cases of Cholera had been reported to him, it might be reasonably hoped no necessity for any interment would arise before the meeting of the Board on the next morning, when the deputation themselves had better attend. * John Daw, James Golsworthy, Richard Every, Jas. M. Wilcocks, E. C. Maynard, Robert Dymond, Jas. B. Wilcocks, R. Walkey, John Mason, G. M. Gould. 145 24 July, 1832. f™ yv^"t> uon^nhT 1" oor * vl y> ° o r/B^Jai en HotlnTotsequei The Board of Health were not, however, idle, and from their representations, the Corporation of the Poor, having been induced to review their decision of the 17th, had, on the day previously, ' ' J r J' resolved, —" that the North-west corner of Little Bury Meadow be forthwith appropriated for a burial-ground for persons dying of Cholera; and that a sum of money not exceeding _6200 be placed at the disposal of this body for purchasing a piece of ground for the burial of persons dying of Cholera, if a more desirable situation than Bury Meadow can be found." A Committee of the Corporation of the Poor immediately proceeded to Little Bury Meadow, and having there staked out a piece of ground, " part thereof containing in breadth 22 feet from the root of a tree in the hedge, in a south-easterly direction, and in length from the last named point, 1 92 feet, and in breadth at the lower end 33 feet, for the purpose of a burial-ground for persons dying of Cholera, deputed their Chairman to wait on the Mayor of Exeter as chairman of the Board of Health, and inform him thereof." On this, some circumstances worthy of passing note occurred : under the impression that the above portion of ground was now dedicated to the purpose of a Cholera burial-ground, an order was given that the body of a person then lying dead of Cholera, should be there interred, and the grave-digger was accordingly directed to proceed with the necessary arrangements. The parishioners of St. David's, having felt generally aggrieved at this appropriation of ground in their parish, rose in tumult, and somewhat of a riot ensued —the grave-digger's webs were cut to pieces, his tools scattered abroad, he himself assaulted, and eventually obliged to fly; while the warden of the parish retained many persons in his own house during the night, in order to prevent any further attempt at the interment. It was however evident, on consideration, that this was not yet a legally constituted burial-ground, and the interment of this body therein was consequently abandoned. It took place early the following morning in the Bartholomew-yard, but it was with the greatest difficulty the men employed to assist could be prevailed on to enter upon their duty. On the coffin appearing in the street supported by webs L 146 " underhand," great indignation arose, and the procession proceeded followed by a large concourse of turbulent persons, and attended, amidst swearing, hooting, and abuse, with much confusion and excitement. Two days subsequently to this, (July 28,) a clergyman of the City refused to inter the body of a person who had died from the disease in one of the ordinary burial-grounds, or in any other place than the Bury Meadow, stating as his reason, that the Board of Health had procured a burial ground, and~that the Order in Council of the 20th ult., " strictly forbids, prohibits, and interdicts the interment of any person whomsoever certified by a 147 l 2 medical practitioner to have died of the said disease of Spasmodic or Indian Cholera within the said City, in any church, churchyard, chapel, chapel-yard, cemetery, vault, burying-ground, or other place whatever used for the reception of dead bodies within the walls, limits, and bounds thereof." The Board of Health had not, however, as yet done that which constituted "the procuring of a burying-ground," nor had they in any way made " the necessary provisions and arrangements for the interment of bodies," consequently this refusal/which was grounded upon an insufficient reading of the Order in Council, was the source of some useless trouble and annoyance. An application on the part of the Mayor called from Dr. Blackall the following letter, which not only placed the whole bearings of the question in their true light, but induced a withdrawal of the refusal. Exeter, 29 July, 1832. My Dear Sir, With submission, I think the way out of the present difficulty is very easy. Tbe clergyman says, he will not bury a Cholera patient in a consecrated church-yard, now that another spot is set apart for that purpose, agreeably to the Order in Council. But a little reflection will show that this has not yet been done. The Board of Health have indeed expressed their wish for such a spot, and a Committee has been appointed to negotiate with parties ; but surely no arrangement has taken place, by which the solemn decision of the Board has been given, to set apart and legalize that particular spot ; at least this is my impression, and I say it independently of tbe objection, that it has not yet been fenced off, which appears to me to be the intention of the Order in Council. Would it not be better then to consider things as going on in their usual course, till we see our way clearly in another direction ? How the ecclesiastical authorities will view this subject, I do not know, perhaps unfavourably ; but till their decision is known, few clergymen will venture to proceed, and against it, none, so that in this case you will have no Chaplain, and the thing must fall to the ground ; the Bishop's leave and authority therefore are indispensable. But I think our difficulty may for the present be got over, as I said at first, by stating that the bargain and arrangement are not completed till the Board of Health meet for that purpose, and confirm it. Believe me, &c. &c, The Mayor of Exeter. J. Blackall. 148 Shilhay, Pester-lane and other sites proposed. Objections raised. To obviate all these various difficulties the Board of Health did their utmost, and Committees were formed in order to provide portions of ground for each quarter of the city. Mr. Tanner and| Mr. Tucker very liberally offered, the former, a portion of the Shilhay, and, the latter, part of a field situated at the top of St. Sidwell's on the south side of what is termed Pester-lane,* while a committee of the parishioners of St. David's suggested various other sites. In reference to these latter the Corporation of the Poor resolved on the 28th of July, " that of the several pieces of land suggested by the committee of St. David's, the Hilly Field adjoining Bartholomew-yard appears to this Court the most desirable for the burial of Cholera patients, it being only an extension of the existing burial-ground ;" and on the Ist of August the treasurer of the Board of Health amongst other matters writes to the Mayor, " I am extremely anxious about the burial-ground ; as the Corporation of the Poor have recommended the site below Bartholomew- yard, would it not but be proper to inquire of Mrs. Patch what she would ask for the whole or part of her field ? I believe the sum would startle its strongest advocates, but this should be ascertained. I hope the parish of St. Sidwell will not be allowed to bury in Bartholomew-yard." We may conclude the above surmise was correct, for although on this very day, the Corporation of the Poor voted £200 for this purpose no further mention is made of it. With regard to the Shilhay, it was objected that the bodies buried there would, at a very small depth, be immersed in water, which, causing rapid decomposition, must form a source of danger and annoyance, and which it was feared none of the many suggestions, as mixing lime with the water, &c, would obviate. But both with regard to this site and that in the Pester-lane, such a torrent of ill-feeling and abuse was aroused as to induce the withdrawal of the offers that had been made. The following letter will exemplify this feeling, and the difficulties the Board of Health had to contend with. * Formerly called "Pester-house Lane." This name was probably due to the following, that "in 1625 a pest-house in the parish of St. Sidwell was purchased by the City for the benefit of such poor people as were or should be infected with the plague." 149 4 Aug. 1.32. Feoffees of st. John offer j°n^ ester" My Dear Sir, I have been abused, threatened, and insulted for the offer yesterday made of my field for the burial of the dead ; it is therefore with considerable reluctance that I must now rescind that which, was I not a medical man, nothing should have induced. Yours faithfully, J. Tucker. To J. Gidley, Esq. There was, however, another spot belonging to the Feoffees of the parish of St. John on the north side of the Pester-lane which appeared applicable to the purpose of a burial-ground for the eastern portions of the city, and a negotiation towards procuring it took place. On the 4th of August, at a meeting of the Board of Health, the secretary reported, "that at a vestry meeting of the parishioners of St. John's, held on the 2nd instant, to take into consideration an application made by the Exeter Board of Health to the feoffees of the lands of the said parish for the field in Pester-lane to be used for the interment of persons dying of Cholera and to determine on the propriety of leasing or selling the same for that purpose, it was resolved to lease the said field to the chairman and secretary of the Exeter Board of Health for the term of fourteen years for the consideration of _£100, and a reserved rent of 2s. 6d. a year, the parish reserving the timber and other trees, and the lessees paying all outgoings, and leaving the field level and in pasture at the end of the term, and the gates and fences in good repair." No very active steps were however taken to complete this proposal, and at a meeting of the Corporation of the Poor on the 7th of August it was generally and loudly regretted, as they had voted i>2oo, no burial place had been procured. A clergyman who was a member of this body spoke strongly of the neglect that had been shown, and after stating that the Cathedral close was not only the original burial place for the inhabitants of the City of Exeter, but that their right to it for this purpose still remained, declared, if any one of his parishioners died of the Cholera Morbus, and the friends wished the body to be interred there, he would certainly read the burial service over the corpse. 150 10 Aug. 1832. ing. cemetery app^tated. Deputation' wait upon the Bishop, who eondi- tionaiiy con- sents to the Bury Sing the Such was the state of things when at the public meeting on the 10th of August, the necessity for providing burial-grounds for those dying of Cholera was again enunciated. On the following day a committee, designated the Cemetery Committee,* was appointed for this purpose, who immediately met, and resolved " that in the opinion of this Committee no spot, which has been yet proposed or can at present be found, after the most diligent search, as a burial place for persons dying of Cholera, is so eligible or so easily to be obtained, as that part of Bury Meadow on St. David's Hill," and a plan of this spot of ground was required to be furnished " showing the roads and paths in the vicinity and the distances of each from the said spot, and likewise showing the situation of St. David's church and churchyard with the distance therefrom." The matter was now, however, favourably proceeding, for the Ward Committee of the Corporation of the Poor had resolved to recommend that this spot of ground should be immediately devoted to the purposes of a Cholera burial-ground, and the Corporation had approved of their recommendation. It now became necessary, in order that the clergy of the Established Church might there celebrate the burial service, that it should be duly licensed by the Bishop. The Cemetery Committee therefore " strongly urged upon the chairman of the Board of Health the necessity of an immediate application to the Lord Bishop of Exeter requesting his Lordship to license the above spot as a burial place." A deputation appointed for . . this purpose forthwith waited upon the Bishop, who, in the . L course of the triennial visitation of the diocese, was at that time at Bridestowe. The following is the minute made by his Lordship of what then occurred. Bridestowe, 12th August, 1832. The Bishop of Exeter having this day received a communication from the Mayor of Exeter, in person, as Chairman of the Board of Health, * The Governor of the Corporation of the Poor, The Rev. Geo. Oliver, Mr. Crockett, Mr. Golsworthy Mr. Luscombe, Mr. S. Kingdon, the Rev. Mr. Tozer, Mr. Pearce, Mr. Lee, who acted as Secretary, and to them were subsequently added the Mayor of Exeter, Mr. M. Kennaway, Mr. R. Dymond. 151 attended by Mr. Pearse, a member of tbe Board, and by Mr. Dymond, with a plan of tbe ground proposed to be assigned as a cemetery for ; the interment of the bodies of persons who have died of Cholera, has given immediate attention to the circumstances of the case, and has no difficulty or hesitation in saying that, supposing those circumstances to have been accurately represented in the plan and measurements submitted to him, he will have real gratification in granting his licence for the purpose. The circumstances which have induced him to come to this decision are, that no footpath traverses the piece of land proposed ; that, on the contrary, the path, at the nearest point, is distant 180 or 200 feet, or thereabouts ; that only one house is in tbe neighbourhood, and that at a distance of more than 500 feet ; that St. David's church is at about the same distance ; that the land may be approached by a road of little traffic, and not actually contiguous to it, but nearly 100 feet distant from it. If these particulars are, as described, the place seems to the Bishop as little liable to reasonable objection, as can be hoped. He will, therefore, grant his licence, unless these particulars be disproved, or other objections of real weight stated, which do not occur to his mind at present. His necessary absence from Exeter, and his frequent change of station in the course of the next few days, will cause delay in preparing the instruments and submitting them for his signature. Meanwhile, he cannot wish the use of the ground to be delayed. Those, therefore, of the clergy of Exeter, whose parishioners may need their service on this melancholy occasion, will not incur any censure from him, if they immediately bury corpses in this ground, unless they are satisfied that the facts of the case are not such as have been stated above. The Bishop depends on the Mayor having the goodness to make an immediate communication of the contents of this paper to the minister and churchwardens of St. David's, in order that an immediate opportunity may be afforded to them to state any objections, or make any observations, which they may wish, before the licence issues. The movements of the Bishop may be known by consulting the paragraphs of the newspapers, which state his route. He purposes being at Teignmouth on Thursday evening the 16th instant. The Bishop's consent having been thus conditionally obtained, it merely remained for the matter to be legally arranged and otherwise proceeded with. In the mean time the Board of Health, (13 August, 1832,) 152 13 Aug. 1832. Board of STndemn-fy who g ™do duty there. M-adow ground en- closed and regulations made rials „ . ? - Majority of corporation pledge them- selves to vote for its dedi- cation to the purpose of a ground. Net^bSf* resolved, "that the spot of ground now staked out in Bury J Meaa¦ ' J J were re-opened, however, both in 1833 and 1834, as in both these years the disease recurred; in the former year, between the 7th of August and the 6th of October, twenty bodies were interred in Bury Meadow ; and in 1834, between the 16th of September and the 15th of November, thirty-three in Pester-lane and fourteen in Bury Meadow. From this last-named period Cholera has, with some slight exceptions, ceased, and these grounds have consequently reverted back to their original possessors, the period of their devotion to this purpose having passed away. Connected with the interment of the dead there are some lesser matters worthy of passing notice. The usual mode in which the bodies of the poorer classes of persons had been carried to the grave was on the shoulders of " bearers." The opinions and feelings ¦¦- ° entertained of the nature of the disease rendered this course objectionable, and the first few that died were carried " underhand." This gave great umbrage to the people, not only as being contrary to custom, but from their esteeming it a mark of ignominy and disrespect. The Corporation of the Poor were therefore induced to procure a hearse to be specially devoted to those dying of Cholera, and on the 24th of July, in somewhat quaint and -1 characteristic terms, they resolved " that a close conveyance, properly pitched, be provided at the expense of this Corporation, and placed on a carriage to be drawn by one horse, for the purpose of conveying paupers dying of Cholera to the burial-ground, and that the Assistant-Treasurer do provide proper persons to assist 172 One hearse insufficient, 28 Aug. 1832, Second hearse provided. at such burials, and that such conveyance be deposited (when not in use) at the burial-ground." A shed for this purpose was j then erected in the Bartholomew-yard. The parochial clergy of the City had made every arrangement to facilitate the burials of the dead, and so arranged it that the duties were taken in rotation during the morning, noon, and evening of each day. It was, however, early found that the one hearse was, from being insufficient to the requirements of the time, the source of much inconvenience. The Cemetery Committee of the Board of Health (13 Aug.) consequently " recommended and earnestly pressed upon the attention of the Guardians of the Poor to provide a second hearse and horse for the conveyance of persons dying of Cholera, as the clergymen have found it necessary to wait between each funeral for a considerable time, in consequence of the want of such second conveyance." This was forwarded to the Ward Committee of the Corporation of the Poor, who with official precision (Aug. 14) resolved " that the said Committee of the Board of Health be respectfully informed that their letter will be immediately forwarded to the Governor of the Corporation of the Poor, it not being within the power of this Committee to comply with the wishes of the said Committee of the Board of Health." This second hearse formed a topic of much discussion and of many resolutions. It was eventually procured by and at the expense of the Board of Health, but then arose the question who was to maintain it, i. c. provide the horse and the driver, and where was it to be kept ? On the 27th of August, at a meeting of the Ward Committee, it was reported, " that the Board of Health had this day undertaken to pay every expense of the second hearse on every Monday morning through their treasurer, and a communi' cation from the said Board of Health having been read requesting this Committee to appoint where the said hearse should be kept, it was resolved, " that the said Board be respectfully informed that this Committee are of opinion the second hearse should be kept in a place to be provided by the Board of Health in the second Cholera burial ground." This was accordingly done, and the shed erected in the Bartholomew-yard was removed thence to the Pester-lane ground. 173 Arrangement thegmves! covered with Grave-dig- The graves of those dying of Cholera were, on the first breaking out of the disease, and when the burials took place in the old established and ordinary burial-grounds of the City, dug of an extra depth of not less than six feet. An order was at the same time given, that when filled in, the surface mound should be covered over with a layer of lime. The effect of this on passing by the burial-grounds was very startling ; the white lime conspicuously pointed out the numerous deaths that had occurred, the more so as none were buried in the same grave, unless in the case of husband and wife, or children. Seeing how much people were shocked at this, the practice was abandoned, and it was subsequently ordered (Aug. 2,) that the graves should be dug from eight to ten feet, and that the lime should be placed over the coffin. The resolution of the Corporation of the Poor on this point runs thus ; — " that the Assistant Treasurer be directed from time to time to purchase such quantities of lime as may be required for putting into graves, with the bodies of Cholera patients who may be interred at the expense of the Corporation of the Poor, in order the better to prevent infection arising from the interment of such bodies." From the frequency of the funerals, the grave-digger and his usual assistant were obliged to procure extra aid. The men hired for this purpose could only be kept at work by the high bribe and persuasion of frequent draughts of beer and brandy, and then, when half drunk, would rarely do more than assist in digging the graves ; they almost invariably refused to touch the coffins, or even to go near to them ; the two sextons were for the most part themselves obliged to do all that was necessary towards placing them in the graves. A not unusual scene in the burialground, at this season, was two men without coats, their shirt sleeves turned up to the elbows, with short tobacco pipes in their mouths, carrying a coffin " underhand " towards the grave ; at a good distance off from the grave, was the surpliced clergyman performing the last solemn duty of religion. If this were by night, as frequently was the case, there was also the flickering light of one or two lanterns. Such was the scene on the 16th of August, 174 when the last burial of a person dying of Cholera took place in t^ le Bartholomew-yard. The circumstances accompanying this funeral are not devoid of interest; it took place at midnight, the moon sh one bright and calm, and when the grave was filled in, the old gravedigger placed over it the oldest tomb-stone in the yard ; it was a blue stone, and had for two centuries covered over, near to where was situated the lower seat in the town wall, the last resting place of one " Salathiel Jennings," whose remains were amongst the earliest occupants of this burial-ground, having been there interred shortly after its consecration by Bishop Hall, on the 24th of August, 1637. The general aspect of the City, as may well be supposed, was gloomy in the extreme, but it was much heightened by the discordant tolling of the different church bells, which incessantly broke upon the silence that otherwise reigned in the deserted streets. 26 nnl us*' church beiis discontinued. i 6 Aug. Cholera* i^gErthSS mew Yard. 175 Delay jnbvrymg the 01-*" Measures taken to ensure the burials of thoge fe^f£ ft^ 0 ' 011 bu" gr This was felt to be so great and unnecessary an evil, and was so much complained of, that at length the Board of Health interfered, and on the 16th of August, "recommended to the clergy that the tolling of the bells in the different churches for deaths or funerals be discontinued for the present." This request was to a great extent complied with. It was made a subject of complaint, that the burials of the dead frequently did not take place within the times prescribed by law. Though the extent of this evil may have been greatly exaggerated^ there can be no doubt there were some grounds for asserting it, and it partly arose from the dislike of the people to this early interment of the dead, and partly from the inability of supplying the coffins within the required time. In order to obviate this latter difficulty, as far as the funerals of paupers were concerned, the Ward Committee (29 July) "particularly requested the contractor for the coffins, to have at least six coffins, of different sizes, always in readiness for the burial of Cholera patients," while on the 3rd of August they urged the subject, as regards other persons, upon the consideration of the Board of Health, whose attention " is respectfully called to the above mentioned circumstances, in order that effectual measures may speedily be taken for the prevention of such delay in future cases." It was also made a source of complaint that the bodies of many j who had died from Cholera, were, subsequently to the opening ofthe * Cholera Burial-grounds, interred in the common and ordinary j grounds of the City, and that the certificates of the death having J proceeded from Cholera, and which constituted the authority to ! bury in the grounds devoted to this purpose, were withheld. It is difficult to say that such cases did not occur : the law certainly was somewhat cumbrous, and enacted but little power, if these deaths had not been previously reported in accordance with the Order of Council, towards counteracting such an evil. The Board of Health took every precaution, however, to prevent it. This is all clearly set forth in the following letter addressed by the secretary to a clergyman who had applied for advice in a case of this kind. 176 "I take the liberty of informing you that the Order in Council to which you allude, does not authorize the gentleman officiating at a funeral to demand a certificate from the medical attendant in cases not allowed to be those of Cholera. In order, how r ever, to prevent any embarrassment to the officiating clergyman, the Board of Health have directed the grave-diggers of the several Burial-grounds in Exeter to require a certificate that the deceased has not died of Cholera, before they prepare for interment, and to produce such certificates to the officiating clergyman before the funeral takes place." 177 Bodies di- rected to be enveloped in pitched cloths, &c. CHAPTER IX. FUMIGATIONS, DESTRUCTION OP CLOTHING, &C. With the view of preventing the spread of the disease, various means had been suggested by the Orders in Council, such as fumigations, the use of chloride of lime, whitewashing, gene- ral cleansing, the destruction of the clothes of those who had died, &c, and many of which were very fully adopted. In compliance with the Order of the 13th of December, 1831, (p. 27,) the bodies of those who died of Cholera were, on its first occurrence, directed to be enveloped in cotton or linen, saturated with pitch, or coal-tar. This proved, however, so serious an annoyance to the other inmates of the house, especially to those who might be then ill, that it was immediately abandoned. Fumigations of different kinds were freely used, and by a resolution of the 3rd of August, the Corporation of the Poor recommended to the Mayor, and the Board of Health, " the lighting of fires with tar, and tar barrels broken to pieces, in the most confined parts of the City, in order to purify the air during the present diseased state of the City." On the first commencement of the disease, the burning of a tar barrel was not unusually to be met with. Vinegar was also burnt. Chloride of lime was very freely resorted to, at times inconveniently, if not injudiciously, so. Some idea of the extent to wdiich this material was used, may be appreciated from the fact, that in one day, (3 Aug.,) the Corporation of the Poor stated " they had distributed it to 500 persons, N 178 and that they have a large quantity ready for delivery at their station-house," while nearly 8 cwt. was distributed by the Board of Health, besides that which was procured and consumed by private individuals, and which, as its use was universal, must have been a very large amount. The whole air was in fact poisoned with the injudicious use of what were considered to be disinfectants, and it was not an uncommon complaint, that the smell of all these things was worse than the Cholera smell itself. The contractor for the coffins and general undertaker, told me he had been submitted to so great an extent to these various odours, as to be more nauseated by them Limeprofusely scattered about Discontent thereby, than by the disgusting smells experienced in the usual prosecution of his duties. At the burial of the last body in the Bartholomewyard, the officiating clergyman, on its completion, desired him to hold out his hand for a something which would prevent contagion; seeing a small bottle, he thought to have received some brandy, or other spirit, but was sickened by a highly flavoured scent being given to him. The scattering of lime about the streets was also fully adopted, *¦ and heaps of it were deposited here and there, in order to facilitate its use ; some of the back streets were literally white with it.* General cleansing and whitewashing was also assiduously pursued, and a supply of lime for this purpose was kept ready for any persons who might apply for it. The mode in which this process was carried out, may be learned from the following directions, communicated in a letter to the Chairman of the Board of Health, by one of the Medical Officers. " These two cases were extreme cases of Cholera, and by all means not only all the clothes and bedding belonging to them ought to be burned, but also their two beds. The rooms and stairs should then be sprinkled with the chloride of lime, and afterwards the rooms washed secondly, in order to be perfectly purified." The destroying and purifying the clothes of those who had died of Cholera, was sought to be carefully carried out. The men specially employed for this purpose, were designated " Inspectors," and in the prosecution of their duties were occasionally submitted to much abuse. This appeared at times due to the irritation accompanying the first ingress of the disease, at others to misapprehension with regard to a compensation being allowed for the clothes destroyed. On many occasions, something like a disturb- ance occurred, and on one, a determination on the part of the people to prevent the inspectors following out their purpose was evinced. In order to counteract these various sources of misapprehension and difficulty, the following hand-bill was issued. another carted it, and deposited it in heaps at every corner, * A benevolent individual pur- chased at his own expense large quantities for this purpose, while N 2 179 180 Clothes burnt, afterwards buried, BOARD OF HEALTH, EXETER, 21st August, 1832. Several cases of contagion, attended with fatal consequences, having been occasioned in this City, by the neglect of destroying, or immediately purifying, the clothes and bedding of persons dying of the Cholera : — The Board of Health do hereby require all persons to assist the officers, appointed by them, in immediately purifying or destroying all the clothes and bedding of persons dying of the said disease, pursuant to the Order in Council : — And the said Board do also give notice, that the value of the articles so destroyed, will be paid by the said Board, upon proper application being made for that purpose. Henry Blackall, Deputy Chairman. Subsequently to the appearance of this notice, the removal of the clothes, though often evaded, was to a certain extent complied with, but frequently demurrings and threatening dissatisfaction accompanied the unwilling submission. The mode in which the clothes, &c, were destroyed was, during the first fortnight or so, by burning, afterwards, by burying them in pits with quick lime. On receiving proper directions, the inspectors resorted to the houses indicated to them, and examined, condemned, valued, and removed, such of the clothes as they thought should be destroyed. For the latter purpose a hand -cart, covered over with canvass, in order not to alarm passers-by, was chiefly used ; but at the lower part of the town, and contiguous to the river, a boat, purchased specifically for this object, was also employed. The goods at first destroyed consisted of bedsteads, bedding, and wearing apparel. The compensation paid for them amounted to a very large sum. The following shows the nature and character of the bills rendered on this account : — 181 4 Sept., 1833. Goods destroyed belonging to Mr. Coombs, whose two children died : £ s. d. 1 Sheet . . . . 0 4 0 1 Quilt . . . . 0 7 0 2 Blankets . . . 0 8 0 1 Bed (down) . . . 0 6 6 2 Pillows, bolster, and cases . 0 7 6 To a crate and stand . . 0 3 6 To three men for taking the corpses to the burial ground 0 7 6 To destroying goods . , 0 5 0 £2 9 0 182 Clothes washed. These bills varied considerably in amount. From the 4th of August to the 2nd of October, 147 lots of goods were destroyed, and for which £202 18s. were paid, so that, on the average, each lot was valued at £l Is. Two men, named James Handford and George Perriam were the inspectors chiefly employed in this work, and they severally received half-a-crown for each lot of goods they removed and destroyed. Between the 28th of July and the 2nd of October, the sum of £42 15s. Ad. was thus paid to them. Towards the latter period the destruction of clothes, unless in a very bad state, was not resorted to ; some w r ere washed in the fulling mills ; others, after having been steeped in a leather dresser's lime-pits for a day and night, were washed in the river, and rack dried. Very many excellent articles were by this means reclaimed, and distributed to those who needed them. The flock beds and feathers were, however, to the last destroyed. The place in which the process of destroying and purifying the clothes, &c, chiefly took place, was towards the lower part of the Shilhay, a spot of ground in all respects suitable for this purpose. Entirely surrounded by the water of the river and neighbouring streams, it formed an island, which, though immediately contiguous and accessible to the quarter of the City where the great amount of mortality occurred, was sufficiently removed from the residences of the people to be free from any objection on this account. Towards the conclusion of the period, (28 Aug.) the distance of the Shilhay from the upper part of the city being found inconvenient, some goods were burned and otherwise destroyed in the brick-field, Lion's Holt, at the upper part of St. Sidwell's. This spot was procured at the instigation of the Board of Health, who, on the 21st of August, requested a Committee, then appointed, "to take immediate measures to provide a spot of ground in which the clothes and bedding of persons dying of cholera in the parish of St. Sidwell and its immediate neighbourhood, may be destroyed or purified." It has been just mentioned that, at the first commencement, the clothes were burnt, but as the smoke therefrom occasionally passed over the City, they were subsequently buried. To this the 183 s^x^om °f Board- Board of Health of the neighbouring parish of St. Thomas demurred, and,notwithstanding the river flowed between them and the Shilhay, on the 17th of August a communication was forwarded to the Board of Health in Exeter, " desiring them to refrain from burying clothes in the Shilhay," and the letter from their Chairman, which accompanied it, after soliciting a compliance with the same, went on to state, " that in order to obviate the feelings of excitement which have prevailed on the occasion, our Board of Health have buried the clothes of persons dying of cholera in a field out of observation." Some further correspondence on this subject took place, the Exeter Board deeming the fears of that of St. Thomas's to be groundless, while the latter (25 Aug.) renewed their "hope, that 184 as the Shilhay is an open and exposed situation, some other place will be forthwith selected for the purpose." Amid all the difficulties and troubles of the period some pleasantries were indulged in, and we found, endorsed upon this last letter, "De non apparentibus et non existentibus eadem est ratio." 185 11 Aug. 1832, £^}°£ c a PP° inted- CHAPTER X. FOOD PROVIDED FOR THE POOR. The first resolution of the public meeting held on the 1 Oth of August affirmed, " it is very desirable that a supply of nutritious food be immediately provided for the families of the sick and des•> r titute poor." On the following day, the Board appointed for this purpose the " Provision Committee," who immediately proceeded to distribute bread and meat, in the quantities of one pound of beef or mutton, and two pounds of bread to each person. Blank tickets, of which the following is a copy, were largely supplied, with the annexed directions, to the members of the Board of Health, Clergy, medical men, &c, who were to fill them up with the names of those persons they might think required such assistance. PROVISION TICKET BOOK. NO. 195. Exeter, of 1832. Mr. Furnish to of (Signed) Countersigned by the Secretary of the Pro-] vision Committee of the Board of Health J ' 186 The provision tickets injudiciously distributed. DIRECTIONS TO DISTRIBUTORS; No person or family to be supplied with more than one ticket in the same day. Any person or family having received relief through the tickets of the Board of Health, cannot receive any further relief except from the hands of the gentleman who originally supplied them — or by the transfer of his authority. The following trades-people are appointed under the authority of the Committee to supply provisions : — Butchers. Mr. G. C. Brown, Butcher Row. G. Taverner, ditto. Allen, North Street. Mauley, St. Sidwell's. Batten, ditto. Bakers. Mr. Flood, St. Sidwell's. Horwill, ditto. Cuthbertson, South Street. Ocock, High Street. Woodman, North Street. Ratcliffe, Fore Street Hill.- Within six days the Committee had also established a Soupkitchen in a building belonging to the Blue Maids' Hospital, in St. Mary Arches Street, where an ample supply of soup was provided, and distributed, in quarts, to those furnished with these tickets. BOARD OF HEALTH. Soup Ticket. One Quart. (Signed) The better to supply those residing in the upper part of the City, it was deemed right, shortly afterwards, (2 1 Aug.) to open a second Soup-kitchen, and a house was hired for this purpose in Townsend Court, St. Sidwell's. This charity was, however, most grossly abused by the indiscriminate and injudicious distribution of the bread and meat tickets. It was ascertained, amongst other instances of a like kind, that upwards of forty pounds of meat had in one day been given to the inhabitants of one small lodging-house. The amount of food thus distributed may be appreciated by the cost 187 incurred on this account, between the 11th and 31st of August, amounting to £121 4s. The attention of the Committee having been directed to these evils, they resolved at once to modify their plans, and the following circular was forwarded to those who had received ticketbooks. Board of Health, Exeter, 28th August, 1832. Sir, In consequence of gross abuses which have attended the distribution of bread and meat tickets to the poor, the supply of provisions of these descriptions by the butchers and bakers is peremptorily suspended after to-morrow, — Wednesday. You are, therefore, requested to give the bearer your ticket-books, or immediately to send the same to Mr. Julian, Secretary of the Provision Committee, at 139, Fore Street Hill, as another more economical and better organized plan is about to be adopted. order of the Committee, Geo. H. Julian, Secretary. The Committee seriously considered the whole subject, and on the 31st of August presented to the Board of Health, the following report, in which their proceedings and wishes were generally set forth. August 31, 1832. At a Meeting of the Exeter Board of Health this day, the Right Worshipful the Mayor in the Chair : — The following Report of the Provision Committee was presented : — The Provision Committee which was appointed by the Board of Health on the 11th of the present month, August, proceeded forthwith, according to the directions of the Board of Health, to the establishment of some prompt and efficient measures for putting within the reach of the great body of the poor and destitute, a sufficiency of wholesome and nutritious food. And the object being to improve the habit of body of the destitute, with a view, under Providence, of diminishing the ravages of the present awful distemper, which are found to fall with peculiar severity on the dissipated and ill fed, the Committee was constrained to proceed on extensive and liberal methods, that the promptness and ampleness of the distribution, might, in some measure, compensate for any defects in the execution of their plan. 188 As the readiest mode of supply was the furnishing of meat and bread, the Committee prepared blank tickets, to be filled up at the dis. cretion of the distributor, by which these articles of provisions were obtained by holders of the tickets from certain butchers and bakers previously contracted with ; and so prompt was this measure of supply that tickets were distributed on the evening of the day on which the Committee was appointed. These tickets were forthwith delivered to all such clergymen, dissenting ministers, medical men, and members of the Board of Health as applied for them, — each packet being enclosed in a printed cover, urging economy and strict inquiry upon the distributors of the tickets. The next object of the Committee, as a more economical, and in some respects more suitable mode of relief, was the establishment of a Soup-kitchen. In this their efforts were speedy and effectual, for within four days of their appointment, an admirable situation was obtained, and apparatus fitted up, in a building belonging to the Blue Maids' Hospital, (granted gratuitously by the Chamber of Exeter for tbe purpose,) calculated for a daily supply of from 350 to 400 quarts of soup. The soup there made out of wholesome meat, and other excellent materials, was obtained at an expense of about 50*. per day, or about l^d. cost per quart of the soup furnished. This kitchen was in full operation on the 16th of August, and has continued daily ever since to furnish as much soup as the apparatus could prepare. The provision tickets, as the Committee were fully aware, though they answered the desired purpose, perhaps better than any other means capable of instant appropriation, were found to be not only extravagant in expenditure, but subject to a great number of abuses. These, in many instances, arose from inattention or profusion on the part of the persons distributing the tickets, but no doubt in many other cases, from the artful conduct of undeserving persons, who by various shifts and devices, contrived to obtain two or more tickets from different individuals at the same time. Several circumstances of great abuse having been reported to the Committee, and no means of correcting these abuses under the original system occurring to them, they thought it advisable to issue a circular, putting a stop to all distributions on that system, after Wednesday, the 29th of August, with a view of taking into their immediate consideration some other plan by which the funds of the Board of Health might be dispensed for the relief of the destitute and needy, in a more efficient, equitable, and economical manner. Before, however, taking leave of the original method of relief, and their observations upon it, the Committee beg to state that much and grievously as the dispensation of tickets has been abused, much and 189 great good has undoubtedly been accomplished. And whilst many distributors of tickets have erred, either by want of care and attention, or by being themselves deceived by the applicants, yet a vast amount of tickets has, in their firm conviction, been so prudently and properly distributed, that no small proportion of benefit must have accrued to the poor of Exeter at large. The necessities of the poor being no longer so urgent since the establishment of a Soup Kitchen in the Blue Maids' Hospital, with another recently fitted up in St. Sidwell's, the provision Committee have now to submit to the Board of Health the sketch of a plan for administering their future supplies of provisions in a manner at once universal, economical, and incapable of extensive abuse. Their plan, with the co-operation of the clergy, and other gentlemen whose assistance and participation will be essentially requisite, is as follows : — 1 . That the City of Exeter be divided into parochial districts, with a view to the efficient relief of the indigent poor. 2. That in each parish there be appointed a district or parochial Committee, consisting of the resident or officiating clergyman of the parish, and two or four other members. 3. That it be the business of the parochial Committee to find out and institute a sufficient number of Visitors to admit of a special visit to all the houses of the poor in the parish, at least once a week. 4. That it be the business of the Visitors to call personally at all the houses of the poor, and to inquire into their circumstances, leaving with each family which they may think necessitous, a recommendatory ticket to the Relief Board, describing the name, occupation, number in family, number under twelve years of age, and their circumstances, with such other particulars as may occur to them as desirable to be known by the presiding member administering relief. 5. That these recommendatory tickets be brought by some individual of the family receiving them, (if possible,) to the place which may be appointed for administering relief, where each, being carefully examined by the presiding member, will be relieved, either, by loaves of bread and soup tickets, on the spot, or by an order on a provision dealer for other supplies. 6. That in order thus to bring all persons relieved to one particular place, and before the same secretary, and before one board, by which imposition to any great extent will be rendered almost impossible — a Relief Board, consisting of not less than thirty-one members and a chairman, (which may hereafter, it is hoped, become the Board of a District Provident Society,) be formed out of the principal inhabitants 10 190 of Exeter, to be selected out of different denominations of Christians, and from persons resident in different quarters of the City. 7. That it shall be the business of this Board, generally, to prepare and put the machinery of the present plan in motion, and of each member, particularly, to preside at the Board in daily rotation, or once a month, (except Sundays,) from the hour of 11, till the applicants for relief shall have been all received, and their cases considered. 8. That a general book for registering relief be kept at the Board, wherein the presiding member shall put down the name of each person relieved, his residence, occupation, number in family, specifying how many children under twelve years of age, with the amount of relief afforded him, and any remarks. 9. That a paid Secretary be appointed to the Relief Board, who shall attend at the daily sittings, fill up tickets, and give out bread, under the direction of the presiding member ; and at leisure time shall make up and keep an alphabetical list of all persons relieved, posting up the daily distribution, and repetitions of relief, by reference to the pages of the relief book, and performing such other duties as the general Board may appoint and determine. 10. That under these arrangements it be made a standing rule, that no person shall be relieved, otherwise than by the presiding member of tbe Board, and that no family shall be assisted, till regularly visited at their house, and furnished with a recommendatory ticket. 1 1 . That in case of a deficiency in any of the parishes in providing visitors, a general or paid Visitor or visitors be engaged, whose business it shall be to call at the houses of all persons not otherwise visited, and to furnish the family, if needy, with a ticket accordingly. 12. That poor or destitute persons, who by any omission shall not be visited, may apply to the visitor or visitors of the district wherein they reside ; or, in case of a visitor not being appointed there, they may give in their names and places of abode to the relief visitor, (at the office of the Board,) at given hours of each day, or of any one day in the week, as may hereafter be determined, who shall forthwith proceed to visit all such applicants, and give recommendatory tickets to those who may seem entitled to them. In recommendation of the proposition now submitted to the Board of Health, the Provision Committee hope it may be useful towards its adoption, to state that it is no untried plan, being founded on the basis of the District Provident Societies, which in Liverpool, Lynn, Brighton, London, and other considerable places in this country, have been found to be productive of the most beneficial effects upon the character and 191 3 Sept., iB3_. Relief Board appointed, habits of the poor, as well as most efficient for administering to their temporal necessities, and at an expenditure singularly economical. In Liverpool, for example, where, in a population of about 200,000, a most efficient society has been in operation for above two years, the expenses of the last year were only £1,277 for provisions, coals, &c, supplied in relief of no less than 1 1,303 of the needy or destitute poor ! And it is also encouraging to find that among all the cases recommended for relief, only 103 were rejected as unfit, because not deemed needy, whilst 150 impostors, attempting to avail themselves of this means of relief, were detected ! (Signed) Wij.liam Scoresby, Chairman of the Provision Committee. The above report, having been read, was ordered " to be printed and circulated among the members of the Board of Health, the parochial clergy of Exeter, and dissenting ministers, and that they be respectfully requested to attend a special general meeting of the Board, to be holden on Monday next, the 3rd of September, at half-past ten o'clock, in the Episcopal schoolroom, Paul-street, to take into consideration the propriety of immediately adopting the plan recommended by the Provision Committee in the said report, for visiting and relieving the sick and destitute poor." It was also resolved, " that in the meantime bread and soup tickets be distributed by the members of this Board and the parochial clergy, but that they be desired to be very careful in ascertaining the merits of the parties, and in preventing imposition ; and that no ticket be valid for more than a single relief; and that a supply of soup and bread tickets be placed every morning at the disposal of the chairman, for the use of the members of the Board." On the 3rd of September, the whole question was fully dis. . cussed, and, with some modifications, the plan proposed in the report of the Provision Committee was adopted. In order that its intentions might be carried out, a " Belief Board " was appointed.* This Board was now very active, both as regards the * Relief Board. Rev.W.Scoresby,Chairman; Wil- liam Kennaway, Esq., Treasurer ; Rev. R. H. Tripp, Hon. Secretary. Chairmen of Parochial Committee. — Rev. Thos. Atkinson; Rev. John Bradford; Rev. Dr. Carwithen; Rev. Dr. Cleave; Rev. Dr. Collyns; 192 distribution of relief, and the supervision of those to whom it was given. These are the forms of the tickets then issued. BELIEF BOABD. Sou}) Ticket. One Quart. EXETER board of health. To Mr Let the Bearer __ ¦¦ ¦- have the value of in to the account ofthe Relief Board. 1832. Agent. N.B. The person who furnishes the above articles is requested to present this ticket for payment at the Office in the College on Monday, at twelve o'clock. That the business of the Board might be facilitated, a room was hired, in the College, for the purpose of an office, and it was made imperative on those who had supplied the provisions to apply there for payment every Monday morning, so that a knowledge of the expenditure incurred might be, from week to week,- Rev. W. Compton ; Rev. J. Ford ; Rev. E. C. Harington ; Rev. T. Melhuish ; Rev. C. R. Roper ; Rev. G. M. Slatter; Rev. W. Stabback; Rev. John S. Tozer ; Rev. J. F. Turner ; Rev. M. Vicars ; Rev. A. T. R. Vicary ; Mr. Lend on ; Mr. Tory. Additional Members. — Henry Blackall, Esq. ; Rev. John Warne ; Rev. John Mason; Rev. Henry Acton; Rev. J. Bristow; Rev. G. Oliver; R. R. Sanders, Esq. ; Dr. Miller; Dr. Macgowan; Dr. Oxley; Dr. Pennell; Capt. Trevilian; Mr. J. Pearce ; Mr. J. J. Tanner ; Mr. John Dymond; Mr. G. H. Julian; Mr. W. Lee; Mr. James Golsworthy; Mr. Bingham ; Mr. Robert Dymond ; Mr. Paul Measor ; and Mr. Drewry Ottley. 193 t c sh^ p ' mittees. m" ascertained. Further to guard against abuse, the propriety of a very minute investigation as to the state of the poor was also deemed necessary, and the suggestion of the appointment of dis- trict committees was forthwith carried out. The following circular, sent to the clergyman of each parish, will explain how this was to be arranged. Board Room, 10th Sept. 1832. Reverend Sir, The Relief Committee under the Board of Health having received the sanction of the clergymen of Exeter as a body, to the appointment of District Committees for the better relief of the poor, &c, and the several Committees having been accordingly appointed, I am directed by the Relief Committee to request your kind attention to the two following measures. 1, To call together at your earliest convenience your Parochial Committee, for the election of a chairman. 2. To make general examination of your parish, to ascertain the number of houses of the poorer class which may possibly require visiting. This will perhaps be most easily accomplished by the Committee dividing the parish into portions, and taking the examination of their several portions by two members together. The object of this is to ascertain how many visitors will be requisite for each parish, and for the whole City, reckoning one visitor for every twenty or thirty houses of the poor. Directions for the visitors are in preparation. The return of these two particulars — the name of the chairman elected, and the number of houses of a class to be visited — will be required (if possible) on or before Saturday morning next, and may be sent either to myself, (by post,) or left at the Board Room, addressed, I To the Chairman of the Relief Committee." It would be very desirable, at the same time, if all the members of your Parochial Committee were to be inquiring for visitors, (to be approved by yourself and Committee,) in order to the more speedy introduction of the plan in contemplation. The Board of Health have already determined that all clergymen are to be considered as visitors in their several parishes, and all members of Parochial Committees are eligible as visitors, if they are willing to undertake the office. I remain, Reverend Sir, your obedient servant, Wm. Scoresby. Chairman of the Relief Committee. In the early part of October the system of district visiting was o 194 District visiting established. Amount of relief afforded fully established, and so carried out that a complete history of the indigent portions of the City was accurately developed.* When the Cholera had entirely subsided, the demand for labour returned, and the unusual aid afforded by the Belief Board was deemed no longer necessary. It was accordingly resolved, at a special meeting of the Board of Health, on the 19th of October, to lessen, and within a few days conclude, this distribution of food. The extent to which relief had been afforded was great and liberal in the extreme ; at this meeting it was stated that about d£2o in bread, and s£4o in soup, was being then weekly expended. The general extent to which relief was afforded during this period will, however, be better understood from the following facts. In 28 days 13,120 quarts of soup, f and 10,300 provision tickets were distributed, and the expenditure consequent upon the whole distribution of relief amounted to _81,331 10s. 6d. ; to this should be added the sum of £500, advanced by the Corporation of the Poor to their own sick, besides monies to such paupers as belonged to other parishes then resident in this City, as also the cost of the double rations allowed to the inmates of the workhouse. * See Table opposite. f These 13,120 quarts of soup were distributed between the 29th of August and the 29th of Sept., at the cost of £95 13s. 4d., which is at the rate of lfd. per quart ; it will be seen that this is one farthing more than the cost of that distributed previously by the Provision Committee, as stated in their Report (vide p. 188). 195 * I have by me a copy of some ofthe returns then made ; the following is a portion of that of theparish of St. John. The names of the parties are suppressed. RETURN OF FAMILIES OF LABOURING AND DESTITUTE POOR IN THE PARISH OF EXETER, OCT. 1832: No. of Average Weekly Amount Names of Prin- Children, earnings Paro- of Rent No. cipals. Ages. Occupation. Residence. of the chial per State of the Family, and Remarks. Above Under family, Relief. Week. 12 12 weekly. s. tl. s. d. s. d. 1 A. and wife 44 and 45 Joiner .... Stepcot-hill 0 2 50 40 30 Cleanly and industrious. 2 B. and wife 30 and 30 Tallow-chandler . . do. 0 0 7 0 • • 10 Idle, worthless man. 3 C. and wife 45 and 46 Cork-cutter . . . do. 1 1 12 0 . . 16 Industrious family. 4 D. and wife 48 and 46 Clock and watchmaker do. 1 2 15 0 • . 2 0 Idle, drinking man. Family very destitute. 5 E. and wife 33 and 34 Comb-maker . . do. 1 4 16 0 2 0 16 Industrious man. 6 F. and wife 32 and 32 Tailor .... do. 0 2 15 0 .. 2 0 Industrious couple, not fully employed. So on to fourteen families. 15 G. female 39 All work . . . Friernhay-street 0 1 . . 2 0 14 Had no work for the last six weeks. 16 H. and wife 41 . . Schoolmaster .. do. 1 4404050 Industrious people, their goods seized for rent, having lost their school during the Cholera. 17 I. female 60 All work ... do. 2 0104010 Both children in bad health. 18 J. female 50 Straw-hat-maker . . Fore-street-hill 3 0 6 0 . . 3 0 Industrious woman. 19 K. and wife 46 . . Painter . . . Friernhay-street 1 1 . . . . 12 No work at present. 20 L. female 76 Past labour ... do. 0 0 . . 2 6 Alms Blind. So on to nineteen families. House. 34 M. and wife 57 . . Labourer . . . Butcher-row 0 0 10 0 . . 13 35 N. 40 Pork-butcher . . do. 2 0 20 0 . • 4 0 36 O. 83 ..... do. 1 0 .. 4 0 0 9 Past labour. 37 P. and wife 30 . . Labourer . . . do. 0 0 9 0 . . 13 Industrious. 38 Q,. and wife 40 . . Cooper . . . do. 0 0 7 0 . . 17 Husband at times insane. 39 R. and wife 24 . . Labourer ... do. 0 1 5 0 . . 0 9 Very little labour, So on to twenty-one families The above return was made up by the Parochial Committee from information given by the Visitors, who for this purpose divided the parish into three districts as follows :— PARISH OF ST. JOHN. District, No. 1. Stepcote Hill. Visitors — Mr. Cooper, Mr. Presswell. Number of families, 14. District, No. 2. Friernhay Street. Visitors — Mr. Julian, Mr. Ball, Mr. Marwood. Number of families, 19. District, No. 3. Butcher Row. Visitors — Mr. Taylor, Mr. Reeves. Number of families, 19. (Signed; John M. Collyns, Chairman of fhe Parochial Committee. So that in this parish there were 59 families, of whom 39 applied for relief. o 2 196 4 Aug., 1882. Consecration of Bedford Chapel. CHAPTER XI. CONSECRATION OF BEDFORD CHAPEL, THE ASSIZES, PAYMENT OF WEEKLY WAGES, &C. In the preceding pages some of the chief topics that occupied the attention of the Board of Health have been detailed. There were, however, some lesser matters, characteristic of the times, which should not be omitted. The Bishop of Exeter had arranged that the chapel, recently erected in Bedford-circus, should.be consecrated on the 4th of August. In consideration of the state of the City, his lordship referred, in the following letter, the propriety of so doing to the Mayor. Teignmouth, 2 August, 1832. Dear Sir, Under the peculiar circumstances of the time, when it has pleased God to send the Cholera into our City, I feel it my duty to communicate with you before I finally resolve on performing a ceremony which may draw a large concourse of people together, and so may endanger the further propagation of tbe disorder. I allude to the intended consecration of the new church in Bedford-circus. If you, under the advice of the Medical Board, wish that the ceremony should be deferred, I shall certainly comply. In saying this, I assure you that I have no personal apprehension, nor do I myself foresee any greater danger than from a large congregation at church on an ordinary occasion, unless it be probable that there will be a confluence of persons from the infected parts of the place. If there be not the probability of 197 3Uuiy, i 832. appointed to beheld. judges the existence Exeter. 6™ m danger, I would greatly prefer letting the service proceed as was intended. Your faithful servant, H. Exeter. The Right Worshipful The Mayor of Exeter. After due consideration the wishes of the Bishop were complied with, and, as originally intended, the chapel was consecrated on the 4th of August, and on Wednesday, the 22nd, together with the other churches, was opened for the purpose of offering up prayers of humiliation on the spread of the pestilence. The assizes for the County and City had been appointed to be held on the 31st of July. On the breaking out of the Cholera the Mayor deemed it expedient that the judges should be brought acquainted with it, and accordingly forwarded the following letter, addressed to the Kecorder of Exeter, by an express messenger to Dorchester, where the judges then were. My dear Sir, It is with sincere regret I feel myself called on to communicate to you that the Cholera has at length made its appearance in this City. As the assizes will commence here on Monday next, I feel it proper the honourable the judges of the western circuit should be informed of this circumstance, in order that they may exercise their discretion on the occasion. I have therefore to request that you will, as Recorder, be the organ of this communication. By the enclosed return it will be seen that this alarming malady at present exists but in a very limited degree, and we can only hope that it may not increase. In consequence, however, of the Order in Council being in great measure inapplicable to Exeter, we experience great difficulty in carrying into effect the necessary sanitary measures. I understand the sheriff for the county has refrained from making this communication, considering that as Mayor and Chairman of the Board of Health in this City, it becomes my painful duty to do so. Wm. Kennaway. Together with this, which may be termed an official communi- 198 Judges arrive at Exeter, cation, the Mayor wrote to the Recorder his private views upon the matter. My dear Sir, As you may think it necessary to place the enclosed letter in the hands of the judges, I desire confidentially to state to you my wish, to leave the decision of any alteration taking place as to the holding the assizes in this City entirely to their lordships. The inhabitants have expressed no wish on this subject, and if at my own suggestion any alteration should take place, it would put a heavy responsibility on my shoulders. To yourself I may state, that as the business of the assizes will call a large number of persons from Plymouth and the neighbourhood, (where the Cholera is at present very destructive,) this alone may tend to increase the spread of the malady here, particularly as the first case which occurred here is clearly traced to Plymouth. On the other hand, the serious loss and injury to the shopkeepers and tradespeople, from the postponement or removal of the assizes elsewhere, is (by me) to be considered. I have, therefore, deemed it proper merely to inform their lordships, by favour of your communication, of the existence of this evil, leaving to their discrimination to act on this emergency. Wm. Kennaway. The following is the reply of the Recorder. 27 July, 1832. My dear Sir, I have only time to write, in answer to your distressing intelligence, that I have seen the judges upon it, and, after much consideration, they are of opinion that at present they have no alternative but to open the commission on Tuesday at all events. They beg to receive a daily report from the Board of Health, and reserve to themselves to make any arrangements which may become necessary. If you have the means, they wish this communication to be made to the sheriff of the county . Yours very truly, J. T. Coleridge, Recorder. I should not be surprised if some arrangement was made as to Plymouth cases. The assizes were eventually held at the appointed time, and the judges, the Hon. Sir W. E. Taunton and Sir J. Patteson, 199 L Aug- 1 r 8, 3, 2, Charge of Mr. 6" yGrand Jur- arrived in Exeter on the 31st of July. They appear to have made no alteration in the usual state and proceedings on the occasion. They entered the City about 2p. m., attended by the High Sheriff, John Morth Woollcombe, Esq., and the usual cavalcade. Their lordships immediately proceeded to the Castle, where they opened the commission for the county of Devon ; after which they attended at the Guildhall, where they were met by the Mayor, the Aldermen, and their attendants ; after opening the commission for the City of Exeter, they proceeded in state to the Cathedral, and were there received by the Venerable Archdeacon Barnes, the Rev. Canon Heberden, and the Rev. Prebendary Oxenham. On the Ist of August, Mr. Justice Patteson attended at ° ' the Guildhall, and, addressing the Grand Jury, said, " he knew it was not usual for them to receive a charge from the judge at the assizes, such a course being unnecessary, as, generally speaking, there were no criminal cases or even other business before the court ; moreover the Grand Juries of Exeter were always charged by the Recorder, to whom the business of the City was intrusted. It so happened, however, that on the present occasion there was a criminal case to come before them, and he would make a very few observations There was another subject on which he also felt it his duty to say a few words : he alluded to the unfortunate circumstance, which he deeply regretted, that, by the visitation of the Almighty, a grievous disease, which raged in other parts of the country, had appeared in this City. It would have answered no good purpose to put off the assizes, so far as the business of the City was concerned ; and with respect to the County, such a course must be attended with serious consequences ; and if the assizes had been put off, no one could tell to what period it might have been necessary to have done so ; therefore, under all the circumstances, his Majesty's government had thought it better to proceed as usual. As to the means necessary to be taken to check the spread of the disease, he was quite sure, from what he knew of the City of Exeter, and he did happen to know something of it, that everything that was 200 Theatre opened. 26 Aug. 1832. Entry in the register of City Prison. right and proper would be done by the constituted authorities ; and he hoped all persons, high and low, would by every means in their power readily assist them in their endeavours to eradicate or stop the progress of the pestilence ; if they did not do it, or if they attempted to offer obstruction, in any violent and illegal manner, he could assure them they would subject themselves to a punishment of which, perhaps, they were not aware ; besides, by such conduct, they would increase in a tenfold degree the ravages of the disease." The latter observations of the learned judge had reference to a subject which will subsequently be mentioned. The assizes were unusually long, and notwithstanding the best endeavours of the judges, who frequently sat till after midnight, in order to facilitate the progress of the numerous causes, did not terminate till the 7th of August. It may not be inappropriate to add, that the Theatre, in accordance with the usual custom of the assize week, was opened. The "poor player," notwithstanding the pestilence that reigned, still sought a subsistence by " strutting his hour upon the stage," but, as the following notice in a local paper of the time shows, with illpaid success. "The performances at this place of public amusement commenced for the assize week, under the able management of Mr. Hughes, Jun. On Tuesday evening last ' William Tell,' with entertaining after-pieces, together with the sweet warbling of Miss Martin, was the bill of fare for the occasion, and the pieces were very well performed ; but, we regret to state, the house presented ' a beggarly account of empty boxes ;' and, we fear, under present circumstances, the corps dramatique will experience but little encouragement. This evening (Friday) the High Sheriff patronises the company, when we have no doubt the house will be graced by a highly respectable, if not a very numerous, audience." The following entry in the register of the City Prison is not without its interest: — "August, 1832. No prayers on Sunday, 26th, in consequence of a severe and awful visitation in the house and family of the chaplain." A child and servant of the chaplain 201 Dissipation of the lower orders- had died from cholera, he therefore submitted to the Mayor and visiting justices the propriety of his celebrating divine service there on the succeeding Sunday. The Mayor thought the safer and better plan to be that he should not ; hence the above entry. There was a remarkable characteristic of the times of which i i . mention must not be omitted. Notwithstanding the frequent exhortations of the Board of Health, the threatenings of the magistrates, the constant assiduity of the police and others, the lower orders could not be prevailed on to adopt a more satisfactory practice of cleanliness, nor to forego many of their usual habits. On the contrary, they fell into low dissipations of many kinds with an unusual intensity. The existence of the disease was denied or derided, wanton songs were sung about it, and drunkenness increased to a frightful extent ; brandy was the panacea for all their ills. The prevalence of this latter vice occupied much attention, both as a moral and a physical evil. A benevolent citizen # interested himself much in this matter, and on two occasions urged upon the Board of Health, that they should earnestly request the master-tradesmen and employers of the City to alter their pay-nights from Saturday to Thursday; that the doing so would cause no inconvenience, it would at once strike at the root of this fearful vice amongst the lower orders, especially on the Sunday, which being to them what is called a leisure day, powerfully operated in causing an indulgence in late hours and excess, while, as Friday was the great market day, it would probably conduce to the spending their money in the more homely necessaries of life. The Board of Health eventually took the matter into their consideration, and the following handbill was issued :— To the Master Tradesmen and Employers of Workmen in the City and County of Exeter. The Board of Health established in this City, having received information that the payment of wages to workmen on Saturday * Mr. Andrew Patey, an architect. 202 r evenings is attended with much inconvenience, and that an alteration of the day of payment from Saturday to Thursday would benefit the labouring classes, by enabling them to purchase provisions for their families at Friday's market, and would be otherwise advantageous to them ; this Board does therefore earnestly request all Master Tradesmen, and other persons who are in the habit of employing labourers, to pay them their wages in future on Thursday evenings, instead of Saturday. Henry Blackall, Deputy Chairman. Exeter, 15th August, 1832. 203 General corwith other Boards of Health- CHAPTER XII. CORRESPONDENCE WITH OTHER BOARDS OF HEALTH. At the meeting which took place on the Ist of November, 1831, preparatory to the formation of the Board of Health, a resolution was passed, " that it be recommended to the Board of Health to encourage communications from local districts in this neighbourhood." : On this recommendation a considerable amount of correspondence ensued, spread over a period from thelst of November, 1831, to the 17th of September, 1832. The information sought was upon all subjects connected with the occurrence of the disease, from the formation of a Board of Health to the medical management of the patients. The following extracts from letters from two of the neighbouring Boards of Health, may be taken as showing the general character of the inquiries made. The Teignmouth Board, having previously stated, on the 24th of November, 1831, that they have done everything precautionary in the way of cleanliness, and towards making pro- visions for supplying the poor with the necessary medical aid, and proper food and clothing, on the 24th of August, 1832, sought for general information, but " more especially as to the removal of patients to a Cholera hospital ; the mode of conveying them ; the ratio of payment to medical men and nurses ; and of persons carrying the dead to a place of burial ; the method of taking them ; and whether or not you allow bodies to be buried in your usual place of sepulture ; and, as our town consists of two parishes, it may be desirable to be informed whether or not the 8 204 expenses in your place have been borne generally, or the patients of each district provided for separately." The Honiton Board, on the J 7th of September, 1832, seeks to know, " as early as possible, what articles of bedding, clothes, &c, are considered by the medical practitioners in your City to he absolutely necessary to be destroyed after having been used by Cholera patients, and particularly whether feather beds, unsoiled by such patients, have been usually destroyed, or what mode is adopted to disinfect them." This correspondence must have occupied much of the time of the Secretary, as it proceeded, incessantly, from all quarters, and was evidently prompted by the impression that everything had been arranged and done by the Board of Health in this City on the best and most ample basis, while, as the preceding pages have shown, embarrassments and difficulties accompanied its almost every operation. Numerous letters were also received, chiefly anonymous, containing suggestions on almost every step that was to be pursued ; very many detailed nostrums for the prevention and treatment of the disease. Some of these are sufficiently curious. One states that "it is a well known fact, that the firing of cannon and the ringing of bells, have been resorted to in cases of plague with . astonishing effect; I have mentioned this to a medical man of the City, whose remarkable answer was, that if such an idea were carried into effect, he verily believed that in a week not any more would be heard of the Cholera." Another suggests, " that fires he lit in the streets where the Cholera is known to be, and a sufficient quantity of tobacco thrown on them, so as, in some measure, to impregnate the surrounding atmosphere." This was accompanied with a long discussion on the whole question of an impure atmosphere, and an exposition of the virtue of that great purifier, " tobacco." This same writer, though professing to be no physician, also suggests " that yeast might be found beneficial in cases of Cholera, applied as a warm poultice over the stomach, &c, or internally administered if possible." 205 i9Juiy,m2 First cases of Cholera- CHAPTER XIII. ACCOUNT OF THE ASIATIC CHOLERA AS IT OCCURRED IN EXETER. The previous pages have set forth, under the impression the Cholera would, sooner or later, visit this City, the various means contemplated and devised to alleviate the severity of its infliction. Though much time had been devoted to their consideration, it must be confessed no very material provisions nor arrangements had been completed. Save that the occurrence of the disease had long been dreaded, and, so far, anticipated, it burst, in respect to all practicable purposes, upon a people unprepared to meet it. The weather had been fine and sunny, the season was bountiful in its various fruits, and as far as the face of nature was concerned,, all looked cheerful, and spoke of plenty, contentment, and happiness ; moreover, very little sickness prevailed ; # but in this last respect how sudden was the change ! On the 19th of July, 1832, it became generally known throughout the City that cases of Cholera had occurred during the previous night and morning ; one in the neighbouring parish of St. Thomas, the other in the North-street of the City itself. On the following day these latter cases were officially reported, in the letter subjoined, to the Exeter Board of Health : — * This has been frequently ob- served preceding a season of plague. Thucydides writes, " this very year, as is universally allowed, had been more than any other remarkably free from common disorders." 206 21 Ju1y,1832. First Official Report to Central Board of Health. " Exeter, 20 July, 1832. " Sir, " It is with regret I have to announce to you my having attended three cases of Cholera in this City, one of which terminated fatally. \ was first sent for yesterday morning a little before six o'clock, to see a poor woman named Ruse and her two children, living in North-street. I found them labouring under Cholera in its worst state, and notwithstanding every means that I could (in conjunction with Dr. Miller) devise, the mother expired this morning at four o'clock. It appears she had, with her child, returned from Plymouth the previous evening, " I am, &c. " W. P. KINGDON. " To the Chairman of the Exeter Board of Health." On the 21st, the first official report was forwarded to the Central Board of Health as follows : — No. 3. CHOLERA. — Daily Numerical Report of Cases for the Parieli of- District of Exeter. To be furnished to the Central Board of Health. Remaining Remaining DATE. at last New Cases. Dead. Recovered, this Day Report. at 10 a. m. 1832. July 21. 0 3 10 2 : , From the Commencement of the Disease, on the 19th July, 1832. CASES. DIED. 3 1 JOHN GIDLEY, Secretary. At the same time Dr. Blackall, as the " Corresponding Medical Member" of the local Board, forwarded the following letter to the Chairman of the Central Board of Health in London : — 207 Exeter, 21st July, 1832. Srn, The report made by Mr. Gidley, the Secretary to the Board of Health in Exeter, will sufficiently explain to the Central Board, that there has been an appearance of malignant Cholera in this City, but I think the Board may be desirous of hearing some further particulars both with regard to the previous state of health of this City, and the exact circumstances of the present attacks. Sporadic cases of Cholera, with great collapse and sinking, have existed here during the whole winter, commencing soon after the Influenza, but they did not, as far as I can learn, in any instance prove fatal ; as the summer came on, these had been less frequent, and I seldom recollect such a calm or truce to disease as there had been for the last month. On the 19th, in the morning, two instances of malignant Cholera were announced, viz., in a family in North-street, in this City, of which the annexed report and letter speak ; and in St. Thomas's, which may be called a suburb, but being in a different county, and an entirely dif- ferent jurisdiction, has arrangements of its own and a separate Board of Health. Having signed, however, a document to the Chairman relative to that case, (vide, post, p. 268,) I wish to explain further, that the person alluded to was a stranger who had arrived from London about three days, that he had been affected with a looseness of the bowels previous to his journey, and that he lodged in a very respectable house, but bad been imprudent, in taking much walking exercise since his arrival, particularly on the Wednesday, the 18th, and in his diet. On the night of the 18th, he appears to have been attacked with violent discharges upwards and downwards ; great collapse followed, and when Mr. Woodman and Dr. Shapter saw him, both very judicious and unprejudiced practitioners, they found his pulse a mere flutter, great coldness, and very extraordinary livid discoloration both of his face and hands ; he was not suffering so much from cramps as from excessive restlessness. Fortunately, he was able to swallow some sether, ammonia, and laudanum, and at the time I saw him, between three and four hours afterwards, he was materially benefitted by this treatment ; the extreme collapse and discoloration were passed off, but I had an opportunity of seeing those remarkable discharges from the bowels which characterise the disease, consisting of a clear aqueous fluid, in which minute flakes (albuminous ?) swam. These, combined with the history and all the other symptoms, induced me to report as I did. St. Thomas's is a suburb of Exeter, on the opposite side of the river, certainly rather low and flat, but apparently dry. Dr. Miller, who attended the other family, i.e. in Exeter itself, will speak to you, if he have time, more particularly respecting them ; lest he should be pre- 208 vented from doing so, I will mention that the mother had not only just returned from Plymouth, but, as I understand from him, had there attended a child who had died of Cholera. Every care is taken by the authorities in both places to purify, and cleanse, and prevent, if possible, the spreading of the disease from any fixed point. Mr. Gidley, as Secretary, will continue to transmit reports when there is occasion ; and should any topics more particularly medical occur besides, I will do myself the honour of communicating them, and shall be very glad to receive instructions from the Board. I am, &c. J. Blackall. To the Chairman of the Central Board of Health. From this time the disease rapidly spread, arrived at its acme, and declined. The following are the Official Keturns of its progress made to the Central Board of Health, setting forth the daily number of new cases, deaths, recoveries, &c, as directed t(| be done by the Order in Council of the 29th of February, and in the form prescribed on the 20th of March (pp. 47 and 50) by the Board itself. Return of the Cholera Cases, fyc.,for the City of Exeter, from the 19th July to the 27th of October, 1832. Remain- Remain- Commencement of ing at New Re- ing this the Disease from Date. last Re- Cases. Dead, covered Day at thel9thJuly,lB32. ' port. 10 a.m. — Cases. J Died. July 19 0 3 0 0 3 3 0 21 3 0 1 0 2 3 1 24 2 7 4 2 3 10 5 26 3 1 2 0 2 It 7 28 2 8 1 0 9 19 8 30 9 11 7 1 12 30 15 31 12 15 4 0 23 45 19 Aug. 1 23 20 4 2 37 65 23 2 37 16 3 4 46 81 26 3 46 25 7 6 58 106 33 4 58 22 10 5 65 128 43 6 65 49 5 18 91 177 48 7 91 42 11 16 106 219 59 8 106 59 20 24 112 269 79 9 112 26 11 9 118 295 90 10 118 43 14 17 130 338 104 11 130 55 15 29 141 393 119 13 141 89 31 38 161 482 150 r Remain- Remain- Commencement of ing at New Re- ing this the Disease from Date. last Re- Cases. Dead, covered. Day at thel9thJuly,lB32. port. 10 a. m. ¦ Cases. I Died. 14 161 52 14 22 177 534 164 15 177 51 17 24 187 585 181 16 187 49 11 35 190 634 192 17 190 41 8 14 209 675 200 18 209 26 10 22 203 701 210 20 203 74 20 38 219 775 230 21 219 44 7 23 233 819 237 22 233 26 7 21 231 845 244 23 231 21 14 35 203 866 258 24 203 19 8 16 198 885 266 25 198 30 7 27 194 915 273 27 194 40 12 37 185 955 285 28 185 25 7 29 174 980 292 29 174 10 3 15 166 990 295 30 166 12 2 6" 170 1,002 297 31 170 12 4 14 164 1,014 301 Sept. 1 164 11 5 17 153 1,025 306 3 153 21 7 31 136 1,046 313 4 136 11 3 14 130 1,057 316 5 130 8 1 15 122 1,065 317 6 122 8 4 10 H6 1,073 321 7 116 1 1 12 104 1,074 322 8 104 4 1 11 96 1,078 323 10 96 11 4 22 81 1,089 327 11 81 10 1 12 78 1,099 328 12 78 5 4 3 76 1,104 332 13 76 1 0 2 75 1,105 332 14 75 2 1 4 72 1,107 333 15 72 2 2 15 1,109 335 17 57 4 0 32 29 1,113 335 18 29 1 0 4 26 1,114 335 19 26 0 0 7 19 1,114 335 22 19 1 1 18 1 1,115 336 25 I 0 1 0 0 1,115 337 29 O 3 2 1 0 1,118 339 Oct. 2 13 0 13 1,121 339 6 3 3 10 5 1,124 340 95 1 10 5 1,125 341 13 5 6 2 2 7 1,131 343 20 7 2 2 3 4 1,133 345 23 4 0 0 4 0 1,133 345 27 0 2 0 0 2 1,135 345 209 210 General account. Ist stage, In the above the whole of the deaths, as will subsequently be more particularly shown, were not returned, and there is every reason to believe that many more " cases" really occurred, for, independently of the hurry and confusion of the time, the " daily numerical returns" made to the Local Board by the medical men record many deaths which had not been previously reported as cases, while they are frequently accompanied by such notes as these, " besides many others," " besides several labouring under diarrhoea," &c. &c. The " daily numerical returns" generally contained some short statement of the symptoms, treatment, and peculiar circumstances attending the several cases ; and as these were always the prominent and strong points of the case, noted while the memory was fresh and likely to be accurate, I propose extracting from them such history of the disease, as with my own memoranda then made, may yield a brief yet fair account of its occurrence in this city. An attack of Cholera was usually preceded by a diarrhoea, varying from many days to a few hours' duration, the countenance during this time being anxious, pale, and worn ; then sensations of a deadly sickness at the epigastrium, with violent spasmodic pains in the stomach and bowels, ensued, followed by a sudden vomiting of the contents of the stomach or of bilious matters, and the passing downwards, as it were, of the whole feculent contents of the bowels. These symptoms were succeeded, if not accompanied, by cramps, proceeding from the extremities of the toes and fingers upwards, rendering the surface hard and knotty, and were at times so painful in their nature, as to exact from the patient the loudest cries. The matters now vomited and dejected, often in great quantities, and sometimes without effort, were an opake dirty-white fluid, without fecal smell, with coagulable matters floating in it, and not unlike to the water in which rice has been boiled, hence the origin of the term, " rice-water discharges ;" the countenance became dusky, and assumed an aspect of intense anxiety and restlessness ; the surface of the body generally became cold and clammy ; the pulse weak, slow, oppressed, and Intermitting ; the loss of muscular power abso- 7 211 Stage of collapse. lute; the forehead painful, at times intensely so, with vertigo, tinnitus aurium, and even slight deafness, and a general nervous agitation and uneasiness, attended by an excitement and irritability of mind, amounting at times to incoherency, supervened. After this state had continued for two or three hours, the pulse at the wrist would become so weak as to be almost imperceptible, the voice low and shrill, the surface reddened and covered with a profuse moisture, and the vomitings and purgings more frequent and sudden. The stage of collapse was now at hand, and quickly * became complete, as evidenced by the total absence of pulse ; the deathlike coldness of the surface ; the purple contracted lip ; the sunken eye, the sharp, wild, and terrified stare ; the altered features, rendering recognition even by friends difficult; and the gutteral and almost inaudible whisper. During the progress of this stage the cramps generally continued, the surface of the body became damp, or bathed in a profuse cold sweat, while the patient himself complained of heat ; the skin assumed a shrunk, purplish, or leaden hue, and the nails that of a pearly blue ; the hands and feet became shrunk, corrugated, and as if sodden in water, while those of the young presented the appearance of the hands of very aged persons ; the veins were marked by flat dark lines ; all secretions were arrested, there being neither urinary, salivary, nor bilious discharges ; the thirst for cold drinks was incessant ; the vomitings and purgings of the character described occasionally recurred, often suddenly and as if uncontrollably ; the hypochondria were drawn inwards and upwards by spasms, accompanied by pains, at the epigastrium, described as intense and burning ; the sensation of weight and anguish about the heart was overwhelming; the respiration was hurried, and at times struggled for, the inspiration being difficult, and the respiration rapid, and exhaling a cold air ; the tongue was of a leaden colour, flabby, small, and cold; the pulse was entirely wanting, and all indicated a badly organised blood, and a stagnation in the circulation itself; that this was the case was rendered evident by the condition of this fluid which, on the opening of a vein, flowed with difficulty, was dark in colour, and produced a loose coagulum. After the stage of collapse had continued some ten or twelve p 2 212 Varieties of the disease. . Premonitory symptoms. Ist stage. hours, the evacuations, pains, and spasms subsided, and the eyes, losing their former bright expression, became glazed and flaccid, and an intolerance of being disturbed, (giving the character of ill-humour,) or a sleepy insensibility, came on ; the patient now resembled a corpse, and soon became one, if a recurrence of pulse at the wrist, with an emergence from the general difficulties of collapse, did not early take place. When reaction became fairly established, recovery rapidly followed. Such were the usual and more common symptoms of the disease ; many variations, however, were often observed. Sometimes the premonitory symptoms, which varied from days to minutes, were only unusual feelings experienced in the bowels, or sinkings in the stomach, inducing sensations of fear ; at others they were entirely wanting, the attack coming on without any previous warning, whilst pursuing the daily avocation, or even during sleep. The first decided ingress of the disease also presented many diversities, in some the prominent symptoms being referable to disorder in the nervous system, in others in the alimentary canal : now marked by sudden nausea with vomitings, accompanied by " rolling in the bowels," * now by a violent pain in the epigastrium, with general or partial cramps ; or by intense rigors, prostration of strength, and depression of mind ; or by faintness, constriction of the chest, oppression about the heart, with lividity of the countenance ; or by head affections, varying from slight sensations of weight to the severest pains, accompa-. nied by sudden confusion and loss of judgment, dizziness, delirium, vertigo, and even apoplectic coma. The symptoms accompanying the course of the disease likewise varied ; at times the head affection maintained some one or other of the disorders just described, at others the mind evinced an anxious clearness. The general nervous system in like manner was differently affected ; in place of the cramps a numbness only was experienced, or which passed into tremors, (a most fatal symptom) ; or the cramps ceased entirely on free dejections taking place. The vomitings and purgings varied much both in fre- * A designation frequently adopted by the medical men in the returns of cases. 213 quency and amount ; now large, now small quantities of fluid were frequently and suddenly ejected; (and these were by no means the most unfavourable cases) ; now there were only ineffectual attempts, Or neither vomiting nor purging; and this occurred in cases which, developing other symptoms, might proceed to a. fatal termination. In some few, but invariably fatal cases, the later dejections were bloody. The respiration, which has been described as generally somewhat affected, was in some cases irregularly slow and oppressed, and accompanied with that blowing and puffing of the cheeks so frequently seen in apoplexies or fatal comas ; the voice varied from the hoarse or low whisper to a shrill shaking treble ; the discoloration of the surface was of all shades, from a livid red to a dull leaden hue ; in some cases a peculiar dark ring round the eyes was developed, and which might continue observable for a considerable time after recovery. The termination of the disease, whether by recovery or death, presented many variations. Recoveries, for the most part rapid and complete, were occasionally protracted by the development of cerebral or typhoid disorders ; in these cases collapse sometimes, though rarely, recurred. The termination in death was occasionally accompanied to the very last by active pains, cramps, and vomitings, or there might be, as it were, an occasional easy oozing from the mouth of the peculiar fluids discharged during this disease ; sometimes there were a few long protracted sighs, and a quiet subsiding into death, or a state of insensibility may have supervened for some hours ; in many cases, after the most complete collapse, there appeared such evident symptoms of a reaction, that recovery was fairly to be hoped for and expected, when, suddenly, the former state of collapse recurred, and death would ensue. A curious phenomenon connected with the disease may here be mentioned : the surface of the body, which at the time of death was cold, recovered, in the course of four or five hours, a considerable amount of temperature, and during this time there were usually to be observed slight tremulous vermicular motions of the muscles, or even convulsive twitchings of the limbs : these subsided as the body again became cold. 214 Duration of attack. Cholera modified by circumstances. It may be gathered from the preceding account of the Asiatic Cholera, as it occurred in Exeter, that the natural course of anattack occupied but a short period, (from one to four days,) and that, when death supervened, it usually took place early in this period. A careful examination of the official returns shows that, in those cases which terminated fatally, death usually ensued between the eigh. teenth and forty-eighth hours after the first attack ;* more than seventy-two (72*48) per cent, having died .before the expiration of this latter hour, and nearly forty (39 # 68) per cent, before the expiration of the twenty-fourth hour ; in some few cases (5*66 p. c.) death took place as early as twelve hours, and in one case in four hours after the first attack. The few remaining deaths (27*44 p. c.) were spread over, comparatively speaking, a prolonged period of time. It may, therefore, be stated as a general fact, that the Asiatic Cholera is a disease which runs its course in a few hours, that if fatal it is chiefly so within forty-eight hours, and that if death do not supervene before the expiration of this time, the tendency to recovery is so great as rarely to be interrupted. We shall now proceed to consider this disease as modified by the various circumstances of time, age, sex, climate, locality, &c. ; but before doing this, it should be mentioned, that whilst the epidemic prevailed, many persons who were never attacked by any of its decided or characteristic symptoms, experienced, without further inconvenience, many unpleasant sensations, chiefly of * TABLE I. — 335 Deaths from Cholera, shewing the duration of the attack, and the proportion per cent. HOURS. DAYS. 6 12 18 1 2 3 4 5 6 and and and and and and and and and under under under under under under under under under up-6 12 18 24 2 3 4 5 6 wards. Actual number of deaths at each 2 17 14 100 110 32 12 9 11 28 period breach period 611 . ' 59 5 0 7 4 1 7 29 8 5 32 8 0 9 5 5 3 5 8 2-6s 3 " 28 B*Bs8 * 85 1 215 cholerine, influence of time upon tne A ™eam. a nervous character, such as tinglings of the surface, weakness, and numbness of the limbs, slight spasms, feelings of languor and depression, often accompanied by a flatulent dyspepsia or diarrhoea, and in which the discharges were occasionally of a light colour. Whether this series of symptoms, and which was at the time called " Cholerine," is to be viewed as a slight form of the disease or only as an accidental accompaniment of the period, depending on influences, the nature and full power of which have not been ascertained, may be difficult to decide. This is certain, it was not necessarily followed by those severer and more urgent symptoms above detailed, and which are universally considered to be characteristic of the disease ; nor was the disease necessarily preceded by these lesser symptoms ; nor, on the other hand, were those who experienced them exempted from its attacks. The official reports of the new cases, (p. 208,) show that after the breaking out of the disease it did not immediately, i. c. during the first week, diffuse itself to any great extent, a few cases only daily occurring ; but that from this time to the completion of the next fortnight, i. c. on the twentieth day from its first commencement, it rose rapidly and continuously to its height, then gradually subsided, and in about a month afterwards had, as a prevailing epidemic, passed away. An impression generally entertained at the time was, that the malignity of the disease, as it numerically declined, also diminished, and that the ratio of recoveries to deaths was much increased.* This does not, however, appear to be the fact, as shall now be shewn. From a careful examination of the burial registers, I am enabled to present in the following table, what I believe to be an accurate statement of all the deaths that occurred, between the 19th of July and the 19th of October, specifying those which ensued from Cholera, and those from other causes : — * Thus, Dr. Hodges, in his ac- count of the great Plague of London, says, " before the numbers affected decreased, its malignity began to re- lax, insomuch that few died, and those chiefly such as were ill-managed ; it did not stop for want of subjects, but from the nature of the distemper." —Hodges, pp. 25, 26. 216 Deaths from Deaths from Deaths from Deaths from Date. Date. Date. Date Cholera. Other Cholera. Other Cholera. Other Cholera. Othecauses. causes. causes. causes. July 19 0 2 Aug. 12 19 5 Sept. 1 4 1 Sept. 25 0 5 20 1 2 13 24 2 2 4 1 26 0 2 22 0 3 14 14 4 3 10 27 0 3 23 3 0 15 17 0 4 7 3 28 1 1 25 2 0 16 16 1 5 12 29 1 5 26 3 1 17 13 3 6 4 1 Oct. 1 1 0 29 2 3 18 10 3 7 12 2 0 2 30 4 0 19 16 6 8 10 3 0 1 31 4 0 20 14 0 9 16 4 10 Aug. 15 8 21 10 3 10 4 2 6 0 2 243 22 72 11 10 706 3 11 0 23 12 2 12 3 2 8 0 1 4 8 0 24 11 1 14 1 3 9 12 5 4 1 25 4 1 15 1 0 10 1 1 6 3 1 26 10 2 16 0 5 11 1 1 7 11 1 27 5 3 17 0 2 12 0 1 8 30 2 28 3 2 20 1 0 13 I 1 9 14 4 29 4 0 22 1 0 14 1 1 10 17 0 80 0 3 23 0 3 15 0 1 11 13 0 81 6 1 24 2 1 16 0 1 19 1 1 Total 402 142 From a comparison, at any one time, of the sum of the mortality from Cholera, which really took place as above set forth, with a sum of the new cases, we find that its rate ranged throughout about thirty-five per cent., and that the variations in this are so slight as to induce to the conclusion, that the relative propor- tion of deaths to cases continued much the same at all times of the disease. This, as well as the general progress of the disease, will be more easily seen by the accompanying chart, which has been constructed as regards the deaths from the above corrected statement, and, as regards the new cases and recoveries, from the official reports previously given. As before stated, it is probable that all the new cases were not reported, there should therefore be a rather larger space between the two lines exhibiting these and the deaths ; probably, with this correction, throughout the disease the average number of deaths to the number of cases was thirtythree per cent., or a mean mortality of one-third. Upon the gross population of the City the mortality from Cholera was 1*42 per cent, (vide p. 220, Table 2) ; this, though very considerable, considering the short period the disease prevailed, is far less, in proportion, than 217 1 I i JJSS^Ji^ that which took place in many other places, a long list of which were submitted to a mortality of upwards of 2 per cent. CHART OF THE PROGRESS OF THE ASIATIC CHOLERA IN EXETER FROM THE 19TH OF JULY TO THE 12TH OF SEPT. 1832; Showing the Number of Cases, Deaths, and Recoveries. New Cases Deaths ««=— Recoveries It has been a not unfrequent statement, and I believe is an opinion commonly entertained, that during the progress of plagues 218 Influence of age. all other diseases subside. The above table of the deaths that occurred in Exeter show this not to have been the case during the prevalence of the Cholera; the deaths from other causes were by no means few nor far between, and bore rather a large proportion to those from Cholera itself. If the few deaths that occurred after the 1 9th of September be excluded, there were from Cholera 336, and from other causes 90 : this latter number was scarcely less than the average mortality, which was about fifty deaths per month ; so that it would appear the deaths from Cholera were entirely superadded to what may perhaps be termed an otherwise not fatal season. Recent careful investigation has shown this to be the case elsewhere, and there is now reason for believing that the above opinion is founded on popular error — an error probably due to the all-absorbing topic, during the prevalence of a plague, of the plague itself, and to the habit of the public mind to assume, without any very intimate inquiry, that all the deaths which take place are from the prevailing cause; in fact, in common parlance, to die at the season of the plague is to die of the plague. Another and very general error exists, that the Cholera chiefly attacks the young and those of the middle ages of life, leaving exempt from its influence infant and old age ; this has arisen from an imperfect manner of viewing the subject. When the deaths resulting from Cholera at each period of life are compared with the numbers living at the same period,* (and which is the only true mode of arriving at a sound deduction on this point,) it will be seen that during infancy its ratio is rather above that which takes place between the ages of ten and thirty-five, when the deaths are by no means numerous, and that after the age of thirtyfive there is a considerable increase in the relative amount of mortality, but that its greatest proportionate amount takes place after sixty-five years of age. The following, abstracted from the tables which occupy the two next pages, will show the relative proportions of deaths from Cholera occurring at the different periods of life more distinctly. * See Table I. opposite, and Tables 11. and 111., p. 220. TABLE I. — The Deaths from Cholera in Exeter, in 1832, with the Ages at which they occurred, and the Duration of the Attack. DURATION OF DISEASE. DURATION OF DISEASE. _5 HOURS. DAYS. jg HOURS. DAYS. « , o ¦ g J Males. « Total. Females. i §¦ Total. 6 12 18 123436- 6 12 13 12 34 5 6~j under and and and and and and and and and g under and and and and and and | and and and £ 6 under under under under under under under under up- 6 under under under under under under under under up-12 18 24 2 3 4 5 L 6 wards. 12 18 24 2 3 4 5 6 wards. under 11 2 4 7 under 1 12 115 1 and under 511174213 4 24 1 and under 5 21731 23 19 5 10 22662 1 3 22 5 10 2 13 3 3 3 15 10 15 2 5 11 2 11 10 15 2 3 12 19 15 25 3 8 2 1 14 15 25 16 5 1 1 6: 20 25 35 2 2 5 3 1 3 3 19 25 35 4 8 8 1 2 2 5 30 35 45 2 1 8 11 1 1 2 4 30 35 45 17931 155 32 45 55 2 13 4 3 1 23 45 55 6 10 1 1 2 2 22 55 65 1 4 3 1 2 1 2 1 3 18 55 .65 1 4 6 1 1 2 7 22 65 75 1 1721 112 16 65 75 3 4 4 1 1 2 1 6 22 75 and upwards 13 116 75 and upwards 1134 1 1213 Age not specified 2 2 Age not specified 1 1 Total . 2 7 9 49 53 17 7 6 5 11 26 192 Total . 10 5 51 57 15 5 3 6 17 41 210 I ' 220 1 TABLE II. — The sum of the Mortality of Table I. compared with the Population then living, and stated in its proportion per cent., those in which the Age and Duration of Attack were not specified being omitted. HOURS. DAYS. 6 12 18 1 2 3 4 5 6 under and and and and and and and and and 6 under under under under under under under under up- Total. 12 18 24 2 3 4 5 6 wards. under 5 o'3l 0-95 -09 -47 -28 -15 -03 -09 -09 1-74 5 and under 10 '13 '10 -30 '30 -16 -33 1-25 10 15 '14 '29 -03 .03 -03 -14 -73 15 25 '01 '15 -24 -05 -01 -59 25 35 -08 -04 -20 -26 -08 '01 -04 -10 -.97 35 45 -05 -05 -43 -57 -08 "05 -05 -20 1-78 45 55 -08 72 "57 '16 "06 -08 -04 1-85 55 65 -06 -06 -51 '57 -12 -19 -06 -12 -19 256 65 ........ 75 '11 -46 1-27 -69 "23 -11 -34 -23 4-38 75 and upwards -21 -42 129 -86 -21 -21 -43 4-08 Total . "00 -06 -04 -35 -38 *11 -04 -03 -03 -09 1-42 The above Table has been constructed by a comparison with the population taken in 1841, which is as follows : — TABLE 111. — Numbers living at the undermentioned periods of life in Exeter, in 1841. 5 jlO 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 and j and and and and and and and and Not under under under under under under under under under up- speci- Total. 5 10 jl5 25 35 45 55 65 75 wards, tied. Males . 1,702 1.622 1,506 2,614 2,303 1,727 1,115 703 349 161 39 13,841 Females 1,801 1,653 1,484 3,641 3,236 2,115 1,567 1,026 602 354 8 17,497 Total 3,503 3,275 2,990 6,255 5,539 3,842 2,682 1,729 961 515 47 31,33S ; I I As the population had increased very considerably between the census of 1831 and 1841, it is obvious that the per centages deduced from the above population table are rather lower than they should be, and that a nearer approximation to what is the true proportion of deaths would have been arrived at, by a comparison with the population of 1831 ; this, however, was not possible, as the census of 1831 did not give the numbers living at each period of life. Some correction on this account was therefore necessary. As the increase in the population between these two periods was 1*166 p. c. annually, the quotients in all cases have been multiplied by ril, by which they are raised one-ninth (nearly). The results thus obtained, and given in Table 11., may be assumed to be sufficiently accurate. 221 Influence of sex. 5 10 15 25 85 45 55 65 75 and and and and and and and and and under under under under under under under under under up- Total. 5 10 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 wards. Deaths from Chonexerf Ag^s per 1<74 1>25 ' 73 ' 69 ' 97 178 1135 2 5 6 4 3 8 4 ' oB 1 4 2 i cent. The influence of sex upon the course and progress of the disease does not appear to be very considerable. From, the following table, in which the relative intensity and proportion of the duration of the disease, and of death proceeding from it, are contrasted, it would appear that males are rather more obnoxious to its influence than females, a rather larger proportion of these having died, (1*54 p. c. males, and T33 p. c. females,) and at a slightly earlier period of the attack. The proportion per cent, of Male and Female Deaths from Cholera at each period of life. HOURS. DAYS. 6 12 18 1 2 3 4 5 6 and and and and and and and and and Total, under under under under under under under under under up-6 12 18 24 2 3 4 5 6 wards Males . . 2-02 T49 '81 -59 -91 192 2-28 283 4.99 4-12 1-54 Females . . 1-47 -99 -66 '59 1-02 -56 155 2-37 398 407 133 Total . 1-74 1-25 -75 "60 -97 I'7B 1-85 255 4-38 4-08 1-42 With regard to the influence of the peculiarities of the female condition, it may be mentioned that several cases occurred during the advanced stages of pregnancy, but that this, notwithstanding its severer symptoms were present, did not in any way affect the progress of the disease : of two cases between the eighth and ninth months, in both of which there were rigors, cramps, serous discharges, &c, one died and one recovered. From the above, it may, therefore, be generally concluded that neither age nor sex appear to exert any very great influence upon 222 Influence of occupation. Influence of climate. the duration or virulence of the disease ; irrespective of these, its course is rapid and almost ephemeral. Unlike most epidemics, which exclusively single out for their victims persons at particular periods of life, it is, in fact, a general disease, and obeys, in the proportional amount of its mortality, the ordinary laws which govern the mortality of mankind, but then this mortality is crowded into a narrow and conspicuous space. The various occupations of life did not in any particular way predispose to the disease ; those who died belonged to no exclusive calling ; on the contrary, they were chiefly persons who had no very settled business, whose habits were irregular, and whose bodily comforts were badly provided for. The occurrence of Cholera, though much influenced by the climate of season, has been for the most part so little influenced by that peculiar to different localities that any particular account* of the climate of this city need not be entered into. It will be sufficient to say that immediately preceding and during the time the Cholera prevailed, the weather was for the most part clear and fine, and such as produced the fruits and vegetables of the season in the greatest perfection and abundance. June and July were peculiarly fine months ; the 19th of July, the day on which the Cholera set in, was clear and fine, and the barometer stood above thirty inches, with a north wind varying to the eastward ; the same character of weather continued till the latter end of August, when some rainy days with a few thunder storms occurred. * The Climate of Exeter in 1832. Mean Dew Kainy Itain in Temp. Point. Barom. Wind. Days. inches. June .. 59-5 12-0 29-73 W. 9 2-02 July . . 62-7 13-9 29-93 S. &W, 5 1-50 August . 62-2 10-1 29-71 W. &S. 9 4-66 September 56-8 3-2 29-97 Variable. 4 -40 223 influence of During the early part of this month, however, the currents of air which had been coming from the south gradually changed, and proceeded from the east, with a falling barometer. In September, though the wind was variable, the barometer regained its height, and the weather continued fine. With respect to the influence of locality on the amount of the disease, some peculiarities are worth alluding to. It will be recollected that the first cases, which were reported, occurred in the North-street, and in the neighbouring parish of St. Thomas; the distance between these two localities, and the circumstances of the persons affected, render it improbable they had any previous communication, and, therefore, if the disease be solely due to contagion, its origin, as regards them, must have been distinct. It should, however, be observed, that the one party had come from Plymouth, where the disease then prevailed in great activity, and the other from London, where its expiring embers still lingered. Between the 19th and 24th seven more cases occurred, and these in parts of the city distinct from each other, being severally in the High-street, Fore-street, under the Town walls, in West, Genney, James, and Goldsmith streets; a few days afterwards cases became frequent in other parts, but the disease, as an epidemic, chiefly occupied the south-western quarter of the City. The following is the proportion per cent, of the deaths to the population in the different parishes. The exact locality of each death is inserted in the map which accompanies this volume. (Vide frontispiece.) St. Mary Steps '. . 365 St. George . . . 3*41 St. Mary Major . .3*26 St. John . . .273 Trinity . . . .1*54 All Hallows, Goldsmith-st. 1-42 St Olave . . . 134 St. Edmund . . . I*3 X The Close . . . 1-30 St. Mary Arches . . '98 St. David .... -87 All Hallows on the Walls . -87 St. Laurence . . . '64 St. Kerian . . . *63 St. Sidwell . . . -62 St. Pancras . . . *26 St. Stephen . . . -20 St. Paul and Bradninch . *06 St. Martin . . . -00 St. Petrock . . . -00 224 Recurrence 1 of Cholera, a. d. 1833, A. D. 1834. There were a few isolated spots in which a remarkable and undue amount of mortality took place, and which are indicated on the map, as at the Black-boy-road, at Lion's Holt, at the Wynard's in Magdalen- street, &o. ; now it is worthy of note that these, as well as the four parishes which head the above list, are the very places in which, anterior to the disease, a large amount of mortality had been anticipated, and of whose bad drainage and unwholesome state, complaints had been made. The position of the parish of St. Edmund, as regards mortality, is also worthy of remark ; situated with those above alluded to in the low flat at the bottom of the hill, it was densely peopled, chiefly by the poor, and possessed no particular sanitary arrangements ; its sole peculiarity consisted in being freely intersected by running streams of water, and to this cause must be attributed its: comparatively low rate of mortality.* The position in this respect of the parish of St. Mary Arches is not less remarkable, for not only was it a poor and ill-cared for parish, but in its principal street were the station-house and the soup-kitchen, which necessarily attracted large numbers of persons, who, if not themselves affected with the disease, were constantly in communication with those who were. This street is situated high, and towards the north is exposed to free currents of air. Before concluding this history of the occurrence of the Cholera in Exeter, it may be briefly mentioned that the disease again prevailed, though to a less extent, in 1833 and 1834. Of the number of cases that occurred there is no record, but the deaths in the former year, between the 7th of August and the 6th of October, amounted to twenty, and in the latter, from the 16th of September to the 15th of November, to forty-seven. The deaths of ,1833 chiefly occurred, as in 1832, in thejower parts of the City j, while those in 1834 chiefly took place in the upper parts and north-eastern outskirts. (Vide map.) Amongst the deaths of this latter period, there are some which require more par- * The mortality of the Paris hos- pitals in 1840, shows something like a similar influence, that of the Hotel Dieu, though surrounded by a dense population, having a lower rate of mortality than the others. 225 Recurrence of Cholera, a. d. 1846. Nature of the disease. Q ticular notice, as having taken place in the workhouse, where no deaths from Cholera had occurred in the two previous years. At this time the population of the workhouse amounted to 277; of these 48 were attacked, and 19 died : amongst those then in the house gl were lunatics, 15 of whom were affected with the disease, and 9 died. The day before it showed itself in the workhouse, a few persons had died of Cholera in villages to the south-eastward of Exeter, (Fenny Bridges and Broad Clist,) and it chiefly confined itself to this face of the City, affecting people at Lion's Holt, HiU's-court, and the County prison. No reports nor returns of these cases were, however, made ; nor was it deemed necessary to call together the Board of Health. In 1846 two cases came under my own observation, and, though J ° neither of these died, they were as well-marked in their symp- toms and the suddenness of their attack, as those that occurred during its prevalence in 1832: the one was in North Street, in the very court where the first case then occurred, the other in St. Sidwell's. Having now detailed the chief phenomena of the disease, as it occurred here, we may briefly consider what light they throw upon its origin and nature, which their unusual character and rare happening would indicate to be specific and peculiar. First, as to its nature, the prominent, it may be said, the whole series of the phenomena developed, speak to that condition which is commonly understood by the term " collapse," and, without the phenomena peculiar to this state, death never supervenes, nay, more, nor excepting in this state ; the natural course of the disease being either death during collapse, or a rapid recovery consequent on an emergence from it. Truly, some few, after rallying from the collapse, passed into a typhoid state, and died; but these, it may be fairly assumed, succumbed to a cause which was accidental and superadded, and neither proper nor belonging to the disease. The question then arises, what is the cause of the collapse ? it is not due to exhausting discharges of blood or of diarrhoeal matters; of the former there were none, while, in very many cases, the latter were not copious, and in some few en- 226 Proximate origin. tirely wanting, and these were usually the most rapid and fatal ; it appearing, in fact, that death ensued before they had become established : on the other hand, the larger proportion of those cases which terminated favourably were accompanied with the most frequent and copious discharges. So far, then, from the collapse depending on, or being caused by, these discharges, it would rather appear, that they are, to a certain extent, the means whereby a " materies morbi " is exuded, and are therefore to be esteemed as beneficial and conducive to reaction. As the collapse, which is the chief character of this disease, is not therefore the effect of exhaustion consequent upon too free and excessive discharges, it becomes necessary to inquire what other cause it may be dependent on. The slow and almost imperceptible circulation, the laborious breathing, the absence of secretion, &c, all indicate that the great organs of organic life are peculiarly affected, and that the due performance of their functions is interfered with, or even entirely suspended ; that there is, in fact, the presence of that state which is generally understood by the term internal congestion. It must, then, be ascertained whence this state arises. For the solution of this question we naturally look to the nervous or the circulating systems ; as regards the circulating system, there can be no doubt that the heart's action is early implicated, but it is by no means so at first, nor indeed, prominently so, until other large organs of the body generally are affected, and an universal prostration of strength, and cramps, indicate that the rest of the muscular system is involved : nor can all the symptoms accompanying the characteristic collapse be referable to disorder here : collapse from the heart would not cause the peculiar discharges, nor the cramps ; hence its origin cannot be referred to primary errors in the circulating system. To the nervous system, then, are we driven to look for the proximate cause of the disease, and a careful examination of the symptoms shows every reason for concluding this to be its seat ; the uneasiness in the heart, the oppressed breathing, the pains about the preecordia, the sinkings at the stomach, the general depression and prostration of strength, the suppressed functions of the secreting organs and chylopoietic viscera, the discharges which are exudations rather than secretions, &c, all indicate disorder here. 227 q 2 It being granted that the primary origin of the disease is in the nervous system, it remains to inquire what portion of this system is its seat. Many of the earlier symptoms indicate disorder of the brain, as intense headache, tinnitus aurium, &c, yet these are only Of occasional occurrence, and then would appear to be rather of secondary than primary origin ; nor are their course such as is usually witnessed where the brain is itself affected, for as the disease progresses, they do not proceed from bad to worse; on the contrary, distress here often ceases either naturally or by remedial means, without any alleviation, may be, even on an aggravation of the disease itself. The cramps, too, as opposed to con- vulsions, which are so singular an accompaniment of the attack, are less indicative of brain than of spinal or ganglionic disorder. Though the attendant symptoms may afford some ground for the assumption that the collapse is due to disorder in the spinal cord, yet such a conclusion is negatived by the fact that the collapse of Cholera is on the one hand unaccompanied by many of the usual symptoms of disorder in this system, and on the other, is invariably characterised by many of those which are neither proper nor. common to it. To disorder in the sympathetic system of nerves all may, however, fairly be referred. In fact, the whole series of symptoms, reviewed calmly and comprehensively, lead to the conclusion, that here is the primary seat of the disease, and that hence proceeds all difficulty. The sympathetic nerves are freely and chiefly distributed to those principal organs of organic life, the functions of which we have seen so greatly disturbed, such as the heart, the lungs, the stomach and intestines, the liver, the kidneys, &c, and they are to these the main, if not the only, channel of nervous influence and action ; secretion and nutrition being governed and controlled by their means : moreover, branches of this system, together with nerves of motion, accompany the blood-vessels throughout the whole body, and hence we see the connexion, with this disorder, of the cramps during life and the spasmodic twitchings after death. Further confirmation of this view may be found in the occasional occurrence of collapse in injuries of those organs to which this system of nerves is freely distributed, but more especially in the observed consequences 228 Mode of pro- pagation. of direct injury to the nerves themselves; a blow over the ceeliac plexus being capable of producing many of the effects above described, i. c. " of suspending the respiratory and other movements which minister to the organic functions, and hence not only a gradual stagnation of the latter, but a sudden and complete cessation of their whole train of action." Those lesser symptoms and pains which indicate disorder of the brain and spinal system, and which are occasionally met with in Cholera, may easily be accounted for in the morbid impressions conveyed to these Organs, through the medium of reflex action, by those nerves which they themselves supply to the sympathetic system. From the above, we are, therefore, disposed to consider that the Asiatic or Pestilential Cholera consists essentially of a congestive collapse consequent on disordered action in the great sympathetic system of nerves. The exact character of this disordered action is difficult to define. We may, however, assume, on the one hand, that it is rather of a general than of a specific nature, from its course not necessarily being certain or defined, but capable of being cut short from the first ingress of nervous feelings, and slight colliquative bowel disorder, to the commencement of, or during the collapse ; while, on the other, that it is of a depressing and stunning nature, both from its general characters, and from the class of remedies which, when properly applied on its first indications, invariably prevent the progress of the disorder. We shall now proceed to inquire what are the external influ. . , ences or remote causes which determine to this disease; and here are immediately opened those vexed questions, whether it be an epidemic due to aerial or other influences, the true nature of which we do not understand, or solely propagated from man to man by the communication of a " materies morbi," of which we also neither know the nature nor the medium. Doubtless during the occurrence of the disease in Exeter, many of the medical men were strongly impressed with the latter opinion, and remarks thus attributing its origin are frequently to be met with in their reports, such as " attacked shortly after communication," " put a body into a coffin," " attended others in the same house/ " been in company with Cholera,"" " drove a Cholera patient," 229 " smelt effluvia at a funeral," "infection conveyed by a third person," " nursed many," " from a shop-boy," " washed linen without knowing it," " from using a bedstead," &c, while the resident officer of the dispensary, who himself suffered from the disease, and two members of whose family fell victims to it, in a letter he had occasion to write to the Board of Health, expressed himself, | that, as in order to bleed a patient, it is necessary to remain in the room ten minutes or a quarter of an hour, and in immediate contact with the patient, I cannot divest myself of an idea, which has been considered by several medical men as extremely probable, that my exertions in this respect were the means of introducing the disease into my own family, and producing, as is generally known, a most severe domestic affliction." The occurrence of the two first cases may perchance also be referred to as evidence of the disease being thus propagated, while those who are opposed to this view may allege, and with great propriety, that there had been as frequent intercourse with infected persons for months before ; that those who were first attacked had, from exhausting journeys, and being new to the now aerial or infected district, become more susceptible of the disease than those residing in it ; that the number of the cases immediately succeeding its first breaking out, and the diversity in their situation, are opposed to such a view, as is the circumstance that the villages and towns contiguous to Exeter, as well as whole districts, and a large class of the inhabitants of the City itself, were exempted from the influence of the disease. Moreover, any arguments founded upon the above statements made in the medical reports are inconclusive from the absence of that condition, which,in order to prove the agency of contagion, is absolutely necessary, viz. that the persons to whom the disease is supposed to have been communicated should not reside in the same situation or locality as those by whom it is asserted to have been propagated ; for in such case the former, as well as the latter, are subjected to the same influences, and therefore any conclusions thus deduced in support of the operation of contagion, become entirely invalidated. I shall not here pursue the discussion of this subject further, being unwilling, on the one hand, to involve myself in the endless disputes by which it is characterised, and which unfortunately 230 Period of incubation. Predisposing causes of Cholera. have too frequently led those engaged in them to an unseemly appreciation of the views and arguments by which they may be opposed ; or, on the other, to identify myself with that reign of terror exemplified in the fears and strong assertions of the Orders in Council issued in 1831, or with that age of scepticism now paramount, and whose dogmatic opinions find expression in those of 1849. In support, whether of the epidemic, as opposed to the contagious origin, or of the contagious origin of this disease, the facts are so numerous and the arguments so cogent, that the foundation in truth of both these views is rendered obvious, and therefore to limit the origin of the disease to either, is probably erroneous. The conclusion to which, after a full consideration of the controversy, I have myself arrived, is, that the Asiatic Cholera is essentially an epidemic, originating in, and chiefly due to, aerial influences, but capable, under peculiar and rare conditions, of being transmitted from man to man. With regard to the period of incubation necessary to the production of the disease, it is most difficult to decide anything ; this may, however, certainly be said, that if it be solely due to contagion, it must be very short, and that, after contact has been effected, the full development of the disease is most rapid. In the house where the first case occurred, there were ill on the 19th a woman and her two children, while she, with one of these children only, had returned from Plymouth on the previous day, and by the 22nd, cases had occurred in Genney, West, James Streets, and under the town walls. Leaving these various questions connected with the origin and primary cause of the disease, and looking solely to its predisposing causes, we must carefully regard, with their attendant circumstances, the districts and localities which were principally affected by it, and we cannot then fail to observe that its amount and intensity were much influenced thereby ; that the disease chiefly prevailed in crowded and ill-drained places, and in such only was there a large mortality. We must therefore consider these social errors as the chief predisposing causes of the disease, and that to them its difficulties and excessive mortality are mainly to be 231 Treatment, referred. Doubtless in some cases previous bad health, over anxiety, or unusual fatigue, may somewhat have had their influence, but, seeing that whole classes of the community were exempted from its attacks, not to any very great extent. From what occurred in this City, I feel justified in asserting the Asiatic Cholera to be an epidemic rendered general and fatal by external circumstances, and that without these it is,, comparatively speaking, a manageable, if not a preventable, disease. In describing the treatment of the Asiatic Cholera I shall follow out the course adopted in the preceding pages of confining myself to that which was pursued at the time and detailed in the official daily returns of the disease.* * On the subsidence of the Cho- lera the following circulars were received from the Central Board of Health. The form appended to No. 1 was inapplicable to Exeter, as no Cholera hospital was here esta- blished. Form No. 2 was circulated amongst the medical men, but I am not aware whether its requirements were generally complied with. No. 1. n -7/->_r TTr_-_ t. 7. Council Office, Whitehall, e P '' ' Sir,—-The Central Board of Health being anxious to obtain from au- thentic practical sources, short out- lines of the different plans of treat- ment in Cholera which may have been considered most successful, I am directed to request that you will have the kindness to submit the enclosed (No. 2.) to the medical members of your Board, and to any other gentlemen in the neighbourhood who may have had extensive practice in the disease, You will also request the medical gentlemen in charge of the Cholera hospitals to fill up, and to forward, through you, a return of the followins; form, for each of these establishthe under superintendence of your Board. I am, &c, W. Maclean, Secretary. To tbe Secretary of the Board of Health, Exeter. Return of Patients admitted into the Cholera Hospital at from \ to __ 1832. TOTAL NUMBERS. Admitted. Died. Recovered. Remarks. ( Signed ) 232 Premonitory stage. First attack. Early state of collapse. Estahlished collapse. Review of remedies. Carminatives. On the first ingress of uneasy nervous feeling, or of the slightest diarrhoea, ammonia and warm carminatives with alkalies were administered, and with the almost certainty of immediate relief and cure. On the symptoms of the disease showing themselves in a more marked degree, to these remedies were added, external warm applications, and the abstraction of a small amount of blood. The employment of this latter means, accompanied by the exhibition of active doses of mercury, is spoken of as affording great relief in those cases where the head symptoms were severe, and followed up by opium and brandy where the pains and distress of the stomach were urgent. In the commencing and early stage of collapse, in addition to the above line of treatment, various remedies were favourably spoken of, as frictions of mercurial ointment, calomel in large doses (in some cases to the extent of twenty grains frequently repeated) combined with ammonia and ether ; and, for the vomiting, lime water and milk. On collapse being established, the whole battery of reactive medicines were used, and with variable success ; these consisted in the different stimulants then most prominently in use, with turpentine, and aromatic enemata, hot air baths, and hand frictions ; hot applications, as mustard poultices, with, in some cases, the use of emetics, mustard, ipecacuanha, and antimony ; and in others the saline treatment. On reviewing the various remedies used, it appears that throughout warm aromatics and carminatives were useful, with such medicines as are usually found beneficial in allaying irritation of the stomach, lime water and milk may be particularly specified, together with those that calm nervous agitations. Mercury, freely used both externally and internally, was attended with the greatest advantage ; nor does its administration in large doses, though fre- No. 2. Council Office, 3 Sept., 1832. Medical gentlemen who have had experience in the treatment of Cholera, and are of opinion that they have been successful in their practice, are requested to forward to the " Secretary of the Central Board of Health," under cover to " The Clerk of the Council in Waiting, Whitehall," a short account of their respective methods of treatment of the epidemic. Ist. When in the form of bilious diarrhoea, 2nd. In that of rice-water evacuations. 3rd. In tbe stage of collapse. 233 Biood- Enemata. applications, saline treat- Transfusion, quently repeated, appear to have been followed by any evil results. The evacuation of blood, either by leeches or by venesection, was useful in the early stages of the disease and before collapse had completely set in, greatly relieving headache, vertigo, the violent pains in the bowels and the cramps ; but when collapse was fairly established its use was injurious, and, far from tending towards rallying from the collapse, apparently hastened the fatal result, though some of the notes even then speak both of its alleviating the headache and arresting the vomiting. The use of enemata of different materials, saline, aromatic, and turpentine, appears to have been frequently adopted, but, on the whole, the result of their employment is not encouraging. The general application of warmth, friction with the hand or sinapisms, were frequent remedies, and often accompanied with advantage, but not by such decided effects as might have been expected from the coldness of the surface. The application of hot stimulants over the heart was attended in some cases with remarkable advantage. The saline treatment does not appear to have been very successful; nor, to any particular extent, was the administration of emetics, which always appeared to distress the patient. Transfusion was resorted to but in one case, and without success.* I shall conclude this short summary of the treatment adopted, by the following abstract from a few notes made by myself at the time in answer to some inquiries then addressed to me. " Judging from the reports daily given in the medical journals, I should suppose that less empiricism had been resorted to here than elsewhere. In the early stage, that is, when there were vomitings, purging, and cramps, but before collapse was established, the following treatment was found of the utmost service ; the constantly repeated exhibition of small doses of ammonia and ether * From the peculiarity of this mode of treatment the following de- tails are extracted from the official reports of this case : —L. S. set. 43, a manufacturer of " taffies," was taken ill in the street at 3 p.m., and reached home with difficulty. Before 2 a.m. she had all the true characteristics of Asiatic Cholera in its worst form, but from this time no evacuations. The treatment was first a full dose of tincture of opium, with some brandy and other stimulants, 20 grains of calomel, bleeding from tbe arm, from which about 2 oz. of a fluid resembling tar issued, 40 oz. of weak broth containing the quantity of saline matter directed by Dr. Stevens was then thrown into the veins, She expired at 3 p.m. 234 combined with camphor julep, in the ordinary proportions, together with such small amount of opium as would act as a sedative on the stomach. This was followed up by calomel or blue pill in frequent doses. The formulse and direction commonly adopted was somewhat of this kind : R Pilulce hydrargyri gr. v. Pulvis opii gr. |-, Misce etjiat pilula omni semihora sumenda. B: Spiritus mtheris sulphurici compositi, Spiritus ammonice aromatici aa. Liquoris opii sedativi m. xxx. Misturce camphorce Misce et sumat mger semi' unciam frequentissime. " If the large table-spoonful of the above mixture were generally rejected, a tea-spoonful every four or five minutes was administered. On sickness still continuing, the free application of mustard cataplasms or other similar stimulating applications over the stomach were then freely resorted to, together with the abstraction, by venesection, of a small amount of blood, and apparently with the very best success. The above means promptly employed rarely failed in preventing the ingress of collapse. Should this, however, have set in, superadded to the above, the stimulating applications were freely and repeatedly applied to the limbs, together with frictions of mercurial ointment in combination with the spirits of turpentine, and the internal exhibition of such general stimulants as the feeling and judgment of the moment prompted. For the purpose of allaying the vomiting the administering of lime-water and milk appeared to me in one case to be attended by marked benefit, and it has been tried by others, especially Dr. Blackall, with much good effect. The anxious desire for draughts of cold water was freely permitted, and proved grateful if not beneficial. Ido not th^k the saline treatment, as propounded and administered by Dr. Stevens, has found many advocates ; it has been resorted to, but certainly not with the results one was led to expect from his reports." 235 Existence of the Cholera denied. CHAPTER XIV. VARIOUS incidents, rioting, abuse of medical men, day OF HUMILIATION, &C. The remarkable perversities of feeling and fluctuations in . opinion which actuated the general public before, and on the occurrence of the Cholera in this country, have been in a previous page briefly alluded to. The same weakness and instability of the human mind was evinced in a striking degree in the narrower limits of this city. The disease had raged in various parts of England ; it had approached nearer and nearer ; daily accounts of its progress in a neighbouring town had been anxiously received, yet, on its bursting forth within the City, its existence was denied ; the medical attendants ministering to its necessities were accused of inducing the unknown symptoms, and even of being the murderers of the people ; drunkenness prevailed ; derisive, blasphemous, and wanton songs were sung ; rioting and opposition to the enactments of the law took place, calling for the interference of its officers, and the warnings of the judge from the bench ; then, as the disease progressed, the people became appalled, and repenting, appealed, by public humiliation and prayer, to the Great Disposer of all events to stay the pestilence. Some of the occurrences of this period are strikingly characteristic of the season of Plague, and may not be uninteresting to recall to mind. 236 Public riots. Amongst the earlier deaths were those of a man and his wife (L. and A. T., 26 July) in James-street. The undertaker, in compliance with the law and the local orders given, proceeded more promptly than was usual in the discharge of his duty ; after placing the body of the man who first died in the coffin, its exterior was tarred and covered with brown paper, and that in the same room where the wife was ill; whilst this was doing she died, and another coffin being immediately procured, her body was at once placed therein. The circumstances attending the death of these two persons produced much excitement, and on the removal of their bodies a vast crowd of turbulent people assembled. The unusual course of " carrying underhand was now first adopted; and strongly roused their indignation. " They were buried alive," —" they were murdered," —" it was burying like a dog," &c. On arriving at the Southernhay burial-ground, fresh commotion 237 Medical men insulted. was excited, the crowd had increased, and the officers of justice, whose assistance had been sought, were assaulted. I well remember the scene ; the burial-ground was crowded with an excited, buzzing people ; the police were protecting those engaged with the funeral ; the clergyman, rendered conspicuous by his surplice, standing at a distance from the grave, proceeded with the service, bis voice unheard, and the body lowered at the proper part of the service by a signal given. The ringleaders of this tumult were summoned before the magistrates, and cautioned against any recurrence of such acts. Some little time after this, in another quarter of the city, Kackclose-lane, a somewhat similar scene of tumult took place. A man (J. P., 13 Aug.) having died, the friends declared the body was being, taken away too soon, and so violently resisted its being done, that for that night the attempt was abandoned, and it was only effected the next day through the interposition of the police. Nor were similar scenes of commotion and magisterial interference wanting from other causes. The removal and destruction of the clothes of those who had died, by the inspectors, was a fruitful source of altercation and petty riot, and on one occasion, in the lower part of the City, much uproar and tumult arose. Connected with these manifestations of the disorderly state of J J i public feeling, perhaps the most remarkable was the insult and abuse heaped upon the medical men, and originating in the most extraordinary misconceptions and unnatural suspicions. I was myself on one occasion placed amidst a scene of this kind, and though nothing absolutely insulting occurred, I could perceive lowering and suspicious looks and gestures, and overheard observations expressive of doubts of my purpose and intentions. To show the extent to which this prevailed, the following statements are quoted from the local newspapers of the day. "We regret to state that the most unfounded and shameful reports have been circulated respecting the conduct of some of the medical gentlemen of this City, who have attended the few cases of Cholera that have taken place. We can state from our own personal knowledge, that their anxiety and exertion to stay the progress of 238 the disease has been beyond all praise, and no means that could be devised have been left untried in those cases that have unfortunately proved fatal. With respect to the rumours of improper interference and treatment, they are but the idle tales of mischievous individuals, or the absurd stories of weak-minded persons, who suffer their fears to get the better of their reason ; and when we consider the effect of a similar outcry against the medical practitioners in Paris and other places, we would remind those who indulge in spreading false and wicked reports, that they are not only endangering the gentlemen of the medical profession, but perhaps their own lives, and those of their friends and neighbours, by foolishly insulting and opposing the only men who, in case of need, can render them assistance. We hope, for the credit of the City, we shall not have occasion to advert to this circumstance again." * Another journal reports, " there is one subject connected with this malady that grieves us more than anything, namely, the treatment of the medical gentlemen by the ignorant and besotted portion of the poorer classes of the community. In many instances they have been assailed with opprobrious epithets and even menaces — those for whose benefit they act having got hold of the notion that they wish to encompass their death. One gentleman the other night was called ' one of the gang of bloody murderers ' who did all the mischief; and such was the diabolical feeling manifested towards him, that he was justly alarmed for his personal safety." f The following is taken from a small tractj published shortly after the subsidence of the disease ; the writer says, " It was reported that the medical gentlemen were destroying their patients by the application of poisonous medicines, for the purpose of taking the bodies for dissection ; also that laudanum was administered in such quantities as caused a protracted sleep, so that many were buried alive by immediate interment, and various other expressions unfit for this print ; they were even insulted in the streets, and when they, the poorer classes, were attacked with the * Exeter Gazette, 28 July, 1832. f Western Times, 4 August, 1832. X "An account of the Cholera Morbus in the City of Exeter, where it extended its ravages during the space of three months, with a description of proceedings taken to check its progress, by James Brewer." 239 disease, they persisted in refusing the aid of medical assistance till life was nearly extinct." The direct insults offered to some of the medical men, together w ith the general disorders and attempts at rioting, had so frequently called for magisterial interference, that the Mayor was induced to issue the following handbill. AT THE COUNCIL CHAMBER, WHITEHALL, July 19, 1832. By the Lords of his Majesty's most honourable Privy Council. " Whereas by an act passed in the second year of the reign of his present Majesty, intituled ' An Act for the prevention, as far as may be possible, of the disease called spasmodic or Indian Cholera, in England ;' " And whereas the said disease has extended to many parts of Great Britain, and other parts thereof may be affected by the same ; ) left his home early in the morning apparently in good health ; while at work on the river he was taken ill, came home, died that evening, and on the following morning was buried in the clothes he had worn at the time he left home, and which had never been removed from him. A little lad, (H. H., 7 Aug.,) led by idle curiosity, followed the hearse to a house where it stopped, and then crept into it : he was taken home and died within seven hours. An undertaker (J. 8., 12 Aug.) made a coffin for a person who died at Westgate, and put the body into it : he himself died the same day. A respectable tradesman, (J. N., 6 Sept.), was taken ill while out shooting, was brought home and died. As an illustration of mere rapidity, the instance of a man (T. 11., 13 Aug.) may be quoted, who was taken ill, died, and was buried on the same day. Another occurred in a man, (E. M., 14 Aug.,) who was taken ill early in the morning when preparing to go to work, and died in the course of the day ; the rapidity of this man's death was strongly marked by the firkins, which he had that 245 Numbers dead at tne same time- J"Jg e8 of morning filled with cider to supply the anticipated wants of the day, standing as he had filled them by the side of his coffin. The last fatal case of the disease that occurred was the child of one of those mentioned as having died in the midst of indulgence in loose and intemperate habits ; and the last death but one has also its interest, but for very different reasons. At the time this took place the disease had so far subsided that a day for public thanksgiving had been held for the cessation of the Cholera. The wife (M. A. 14th Oct.) of the clerk of one of the city parishes attended divine service on this occasion, was taken ill the same day, and buried the next. It was a remarkable fact that marriages were most frequent immediately after the subsidence of the disease, and the husband of this person offered an illustration of it. The week after her death he left for Liverpool in order to be married, but on arriving there found he had forgotten the direction of his intended wife, and returned to obtain it. Many similar examples of the extreme rapidity of the disease J L l J might be mentioned, but its appalling character was more strongly marked by the numbers lying dead in the same houses at one time. On the 7th of August there were five so lying dead in Sun-lane; on the 19th there were three in the building then known as Bussell's Barracks, and on the 20th four in a house in Gandy-street. Further illustrations of this may be found where husband and wife died about the same time ; two instances have been already mentioned, the one when relating the history of the riot in the Southernhay burial-ground, the other when speaking of the chest of tea ; there was also another example of a similar mortality (J. and M. L., 5 Aug.) The consideration and kindness of the poor towards each other at this period was, as is usually the case in illness and difficulty, most marked and praiseworthy ; they were generally willing to render to each other every assistance. A few examples to the contrary, however, occurred amongst them, some which are most affecting to contemplate. The death of one poor woman, (J. W., 28 Aug.) who was in an advanced stage of pregnancy, was much contributed to, if not caused, by the most wilful neglect. Another poor female (A. C, 11 Aug.) died with her nameless offspring at her breast, unassisted by her mother and sister, who, regardless 246 vvlttfth^un- dertakers. of her safety, and seeking solely their own, were rendering the air unbreathable by burning tar in the room ; this sister was a violent and loose character, and had been a chief promoter and agent in the disturbances of the season. But the most lamentable and unnatural instance of neglect which happened was that of some children by their father : this man, who resided in St. Sidwell's, having bedding and ample accommodation, placed his two dying children (H. and S. L., 22 Aug.) on the landing of the staircase upon straw, and there they both died ; his sole reason for this inhumanity being the saving of his goods. Connected with the business of the undertaker many little ciroumstances worthy of note took place. As the funerals were 247 proceeded with immediately after death, the undertakers had often great difficulty in procuring in time a sufficient supply of coffins, and those provided were sometimes unsuitable to the purpose for which they were designed. In one instance a coffin ordered for a very large bulky woman, (S. W., 27 July,) was in the hurry of the season provided too small ; some slight force and management which was necessary to make it answer the purpose intended drew down upon them much indignation. In another, a wife personally bespoke a coffin for her husband, and one was accordingly furnished ; proving too small, it was kept for the wife herself, who was by this time dying. It has been mentioned, while describing the disease, that spasms of the limbs after death were frequent. The first time these were observed by the undertakers was in putting a corpse (S. H., 8 Aug.) into the coffin ; the motions in the arms and legs that then took place excited so much astonishment and alarm that they refused to complete their purpose until the following day. Subsequently it was often witnessed by them unheeded. There was a general order that the clothing and bedding about those who died, which was in a bad state, should be buried with them. The assistant to the undertaker (J. X., 25 Aug.) was proceeding to place, together with a body, the soiled blanket belonging to a lodging-house keeper, in a coffin ; this she resisted, and he, as if in play, threw around her " the webs ;" she, falling into a great rage, now threw over him the contents of the vessels in the room ; and this man, who throughout the wtiole preceding period of the Cholera had been engaged in the duties of his office, was so affected by it, that he immediately sickened, and the following day was dead. Many of those engaged in the various offices connected with • the public duties of this nature were affected with the disease, but none died except this and another man. Early in the period the sexton of the Bartholomew Yard was attacked, as was also the contractor for the coffins and his assistant ; these several parties, however, promptly recovered, and were afterwards most active in their respective and very onerous duties. They subsequently made applications to the Board of Health for some compensation 248 Incidents at the funerals, for the difficulties they had undergone, and the details they entered into in so doing are fraught with the terrible incidents of the time. The petition of the contractor for the coffins states that he had made the coffins, &c, for, and assisted in burying the chief part of those who had. died ; that he was often thus occupied for several nights together without the opportunity of taking any rest, and from being so mixed up with these offices, he had not only lost a great part of his business, as his usual employers would not allow him to enter their houses, but had caught " this dreadful disorder in placing a badly-infected corpse in the coffin," which had brought him to the brink of the grave. The petition of the assistant to the contractor is accompanied by the following statement: "your petitioner is at this time labouring under aserious attack of sickness, having never thoroughly recovered from a severe attack of Cholera, by which his wife also has been a sufferer, and is still in a feeble state, expecting shortly to be confined in childbed. During the prevalence of the Cholera your petitioner was employed by Mr. Stear in making coffins for those who died of that disorder, into which he himself put upwards of two hundred bodies, some of them in a highly offensive state ; in consequence of which he caught the disorder himself and communicated the same to his wife. As being infected, he was under the neces- ¦ sity of destroying two pair of trousers, two waistcoats, one shirt, and flannel jacket, and besides this, his best clothes were spoilt. These circumstances have reduced him and his family to a state of great poverty and want, and any remuneration you may have in your power to make him will be thankfully received." The funerals were often accompanied by events of some little interest. On one occasion a female attending the burial of her husband, (W. F., 16 Aug.), in Bartholomew Yard, was attacked at the side of the grave, by the disease, even to discolouration and cramps. The undertakers first removed her to the tool-house of the yard, and then carried her, in their arms, to her own house : she recovered to be twice remarried. Many funerals took place at midnight ; one of particular note has been mentioned in a previous page, but it was by no means an unfrequent practice ; on the 15th of August, three thus took place in the burial-ground of 249 St. Sidwell's. Some of the circumstances attending the history of the first person interred in the Bury Meadow are singular ; this gentleman, (T. W. T., 17 Aug.,) approaching the City on the Barnstaple coach, observed the putting up of the fences of the Bury Meadow ground, and was much shocked at hearing the purpose for which it was intended. On his arrival he was attacked by the disease, and shortly died. The Bury Meadow was by this time ready to receive those for whom it was destined, but it was proposed, and urgently entreated by the friends of this person, that he might not be there interred. The undertakers, knowing the feeling that prevailed, interfered very decidedly, and proclaimed that were he not buried in this ground, it would be useless for them to propose it in any other case ; it was accordingly done : but still the poorer people were incredulous, and, in order to convince them, on the burial of the next person, the grave-digger made a communication from the grave he was then preparing to this former one, and was thus enabled to cut off from the coffin some of the cloth with which it was covered : with this they were satisfied, and the funeral proceeded. There is amongst the grave-diggers in this city a cant phrase used of " heaving the lead," by which they understand the lowering of the coffin into the grave : it had its origin at this period. On the burial of a corpse (S. W., 26 Aug.) in the Bury Meadow, a clergyman, who was very timid on the occasion, could not be prevailed on to enter the ground, but stood without the entrance-gate; one of the grave-diggers remained by his side, and at that portion of the service where the body is to be lowered into the grave, made a signal with the plumb-line, and from this time these people have spoken of lowering the body as " heaving the lead :" this scene was rendered more remarkable to them by its taking place during a violent thunder-storm. On the occasion of the onehorse hearse being used for the first time, and which was driven by one of the coachmen ordinarily attending funerals, a curious scene of altercation ensued. The driver, either from fear or other motives, would not open the door, the undertaker also refused, as he was not " cad to a coachman," and the difficulty was only got over by the beadle of the Corporation performing this very necessary duty. 250 Many more circumstances of a similar character to the above could be quoted ; these are, however, sufficient to illustrate the extraordinary nature of the events crowded into the short space of time during which this pestilence prevailed. We shall conclude by detailing one other case, the circumstances attending and consequent upon which were singular and of foreign origin. It appears that on Thursday, the 23rd of August, at 3 a. m., a covered cart was observed proceeding up the street under suspicious circumstances ; it was stopped by the captain of the watch, who found, that in addition to the two persons sitting outside, there were two inside, one of whom was in a state of intoxication, the other was an unfortunate man (J. V.) in an advanced stage of Cholera ; and who, besides his shirt and stockings, was covered by a single blanket and coverlid only, and from the shortness of the cart, his feet hung over the end. Though promptly attended by Dr. Pennell, (who was at that early hour going the round of the City in attendance upon Cholera patients,) about mid-day he died. The history of the man is shortly this : he left Exeter the previous morning in perfect health for Dawlish, where, at 6 p. m., being in the skittle-ground of an inn, he was taken ill ; the people at the inn at first refused to admit him into the house ; he was afterwards, however, on magisterial authority, taken iifl and put to bed ; when visited there, the man mentioned as being drunk was seen "in bed with him, smoking his pipe." By this time considerable excitement prevailed in Dawlish, and eventually, at the instigation of the overseer and two respectable inhabitants, he was, at about 10 p. m., but contrary to his own express wishes, placed in a cart and removed to Exeter. It was thought that these circumstances required investigation, and after a full examination of the above particulars, a coroner's jury ie 4 turned as their verdict, that he had come to his death by the culpable and wilful conduct of the above persons concerned in his removal, and that therefore they were guilty of manslaughter. These persons, having in the course of a few days surrendered themselves, were admitted to bail, and, on the 15th of October following, were tried on the above charge at the City Sessions. A verdict of acquittal was returned, the Kecofder having sub* 251 Various articles of food rejected as unwholesome. mitted it to the jury whether it were possible to substantiate the charge against the defendants, considering that the fact of the death of the deceased being accelerated by the treatment he received, could only be ascertained by medical evidence, which in this case they had heard given with much doubt. In Exeter, as elsewhere, during the prevalence of the Cholera, prejudices against various articles of food were entertained; fish was generally avoided, and the vendors, attributing this to the suggestions of the medical men, vented much abuse on some of them and those connected with them. Fruit and vegetables, which were at this season most abundant and fine, were deemed particularly injurious, and so generally did this prejudice prevail, 252 22 Aug. 1832. Bay for public prayer and humiliation appointed. that the Central Board of Health in London, after entertaining a remonstrance from the growers of these articles, published a letter, (26 July, 1832,) in which " the members of the Board stated their opinion most explicitly that a moderate use of fruit and vegetables is not injurious to health, nor tending to promote Cholera." This letter was re-published in Exeter. An incident of this period, more creditable to the people and far better worthy of being chronicled than the preceding lamentable histories, shall now occupy our attention. The ravages of the pestilence had from day to day been increasing ; by the 15th of August the number of deaths from the commencement of the disease had amounted to 181, and on this day there were reported 17 deaths, 51 new cases, and 187 remaining under medical care. Disease and death were in every quarter, and under such awful circumstances an appeal to the Almighty pressed itself upon the minds of the people. On the 1 7th, the following address was issued : # — * Previously to this a general day of humiliation had been appointed, when was issued, by his Majesty's special command, " A form of prayer to Almighty God to be used in all churches and chapels throughout those parts of the United Kingdom called England and Ireland, on Wednesday, the 21st day of March, 1832, being the day appointed by proclamation for a general fast and humiliation before Almighty God, to be observed in the most devout and solemn manner, by sending up our prayers and supplications to the Divine Majesty for obtaining pardon of our sins, and averting the heavy judgments which our manifold provocations have most justly deserved, and particularly for beseeching Almighty God to remove from us that grievous disease with which several places in this kingdom are at this time visited." Some months before this, however, (12 Nov. 1831,) the following form of prayer had been directed to be said during the continuance of the Cholera : — " Most gracious Father and God, who hast promised forgiveness of sins to all them that with hearty repentance and true faith turn unto Thee, look down, we beseech Thee, from Heaven, thy dwelling-place, upon us, thy unworthy servants, who, under an awful apprehension of thy judgments, and a deep conviction of our sinfulness, prostrate ourselves before Thee. We acknowledge it to be of thy goodness alone, that whilst Thou hast visited other nations with pestilence, Thou hast so long spared us. Have pity, O Lord, have pity on thy people both here and abroad ; withdrawthy heavy hand from those who are suffering under thy judgments, and turn away from us that grievous calamity, against which our only security is thy compassion. We confess, with shame and contrition, that in the pride and hardness of our hearts, we have shown ourselves unthankful for thy mercies, and have followed our own imaginations instead of thy holy laws. Yet, O merciful Father, 253 EXETER. The clergy of Exeter, with the sanction of the Bishop, as also the ministers of every denomination, having resolved to open their churches and other places of public worship on Wednesday next, the 22nd inst., for the purpose of special humiliation and prayer, under the awful dispensation of Providence with which this city is visited. The Mayor, fully concurring in the propriety of this measure, trusts that the inhabitants of Exeter will, by a proper observance of the day appointed, endeavour to obtain that mercy and favour, which, in the present hour of calamity and affliction, can only be granted by Divine goodness and mercy. Wm. Kennaway, Mayor. Dated Aug. 17 th, 1832. An unanimous feeling prevailed : with one consent the people resolved to hallow this day, and determined, as far as possible, to abstain from worldly occupations, giving due meditation to the awful circumstances that oppressed them ; and the neighbouring towns and villages joined in the pious intention. It is gratifying to state, that this day* was observed with much devotion by all classes of the inhabitants, " never," says a contem.- suffer not thy destroying angel to lift up his hand against us, but keep us as Thou hast heretofore done in health and safety, and grant that, being warned by the sufferings of others to repent of our sins, we may be preserved from evil by thy mighty protection, and enjoy the continuance of thy mercy and grace, through the merits of our only Mediator and Advocate, Jesus Christ. Amen. " O Almighty God, who by the many instances which encompass us on every side, dost call upon us seriously to consider the shortness of our time here upon earth, and remindest us that in the midst of life we are in death, so teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Give us grace to turn unto Thee with timely repentance, and thus to obtain, through the merits of our Saviour, that pardon to-day, which, to-morrow, it may be too late to seek for ; that so being strengthened by thy good Spirit against the terrors of death, and daily advancing in godliness, we may at all times be ready to give up our souls into thy hands, O gracious Father, in the hope of a blessed immortality through the mediation and for the merits of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen." * The Rev. R. H. Tripp, at that time incumbent of St. Sidwell's, has forwarded to me the following interesting observation, that after allowing for the deaths and recoveries, the number of cases remaining increased from the commencement of the disease to the 21st day of August, but from the following day, being that of prayer and humiliation, which was so religiously observed, they gradually decreased. 10 254 poraneous report, " has a sabbath-day been kept with more strict propriety and true devotional feeling than w r as this solemn day of penitential supplication to Him in whose hands alone are the issues of life and death, and who has left upon sacred record that •in the midst of judgment He will remember mercy.' " All worldly business was, as far as possible, suspended ; the parochial Churches, the Eoman Catholic Chapel, the dissenting places of worship and the Jews' Synagogue, were alike open, and crowded by attentive congregations. The service at the Cathedral was made special, and was attended by the Bishop, the Mayor, and members of the Chamber ; and before whom an appropriate sermon was preached by the Venerable Dr. George Barnes, Archdeacon of Barnstaple. 255 isSept.isi2 Subsidence fthedis- Pubiicacknowledgment ment of the services of the Mayor- CHAPTER XV. PUBLIC ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF THE SERVICES OF THE MAYOR, MEDICAL MEN, &C, AND THE THANKSGIVING DAY. About the middle of September, the Cholera had so far sub- sided that a general feeling of confidence and security was re-o stored, and those that had, on the first threatening of the disease, fled the City, returned. This was a source of much congratulation, and the unusual and almost unknown course was adopted, of announcing their arrival in the local newspapers. On the 24th of September, the mayoralty of Mr. Wm. Kennaway having expired, his successor was elected. The Recorder, as was ° *¦ his duty, presided on this occasion, and observed, amid the hearty concurrence of the assembled citizens, that during the period of affliction they had just passed, Mr. Kennaway's situation as Chairman of the Board of Health had called for the exercise of increased exertion, diligence, and humanity ; and his conduct had been such, as would render him well entitled to the approbation and grateful thanks of the inhabitants of this City. In acknowledging this kind mention of his services, Mr. Kennaway said that he must first express his grateful thanks to that Divine Providence who had supported him with health and strength through the difficulties of his office. He then alluded to the calamity with which the City had been recently visited, and expressed his belief that that visitation, melancholy as it was, had had the effect of softening 256 Public acknowledgment ment of the services of the medical men. 22 Oct. 1812. Public meeting. party spirit, and of uniting all classes in their efforts to meet a common danger; and if, in his judicial capacity, he had felt pain and regret at the scenes of vice and immorality which had come under his notice, and at the symptoms of turbulence and insubordination which had appeared in the city, yet he had witnessed such instances of public spirit and extensive liberality, and such humane and charitable exertions to alleviate the condition of the poor, as must for ever redound to the honour and credit of our ancient and loyal city. He further hoped the state of the lower classes would continue to be a subject of interest to the rich, and he could only pledge himself in his private capacity to be ever ready to come forward for the welfare and good of the city. Shortly after the above had taken place, it was made both a duty and a pleasure with the public bodies, and with the inhabitants generally, to consider the merits and labours of the medical men, and to render to them their various acknowledgments of the services they had performed whilst ministering to the calamity and distress of the city. The first public intimation of this feeling was the issuing of the following handbill, and which originated in a suggestion made by the grand jury of the City Quarter Sessions: — TRIBUTE OF GRATITUDE To the Medical Gentlemen professionally engaged during the prevalence of the Cholera. Such Inhabitants of this City, who feel the importance of the late Valuable Services of so deserving a Body of Men, are requested to Meet in the Council Chamber (the sanction of the Mayor having been obtained) at 12 o'clock on Monday next, the 22nd instant. Exeter, 17 Oct. 1832. In pursuance of the above, a meeting was held at the Guildhall, on the 22nd of Oct, 1832, at which it was resolved that a subscription should be entered into for the purpose of marking, "by some lasting testimony," the gratitude of the people for the voluntary service of the medical men. The following handbill, issued at the time, gives the general result of the proceedings of this meeting : — 257 CITY OP EXETER. At a numerous and respectable Meeting, held at the Guildhall, this 22nd day of October, 1832, The Right Worshipful the MAYOR, in the Chair ; Resolved unanimously, Ist. — That this Meeting, justly valuing the Voluntary Services of the Medical Gentlemen, professionally and efficiently engaged in this City during the raging of the Cholera, are anxious to mark it by some lasting Testimony of their Gratitude, for their late noble conduct. 2nd.— That Subscriptions be immediately commenced, for carrying such plans into execution, as the amount collected will allow ; and that as the poorer classes will be equally anxious with their richer neighbours, to join in so laudable an undertaking, it is recommended that Subscriptions as low as 6d. be received ; that the City be divided into eight parts, and that a Sub-Committee be appointed to each Division to collect the same : and that subscriptions be also received at the different Banks in Exeter ; at the Printer's ; and at Curson's Library. 3rd That a Committee of the following Gentlemen be requested to adopt the best mode of carrying the second Resolution into effect, and to determine from the amount of Subscriptions received, the Mark of Gratitude to be given to the Medical Gentlemen. The Mayor, The Lord Bishop, The Rev. Chancellor Pott, John Milford, Esq. Robert Cornish, Esq. Wm. Kennaway, Esq. J. B. Sanders, Esq. Rev. Wm. Scoresby, Rev. H. Acton, Rev. Dr. Collyns, W. H. Furlong, Esq. Rev. G. Oliver, W. C. Trevillian, Esq. Joseph Sparkes, Esq. J. Hart, Esq. E. Woolmer, Esq. Rev. R. Tripp, Rev. E. C. Harington. 4th. — That the Mayor be requested to act as Treasurer on this occasion. sth.— That these Resolutions be printed and circulated, and advertised once in each of the Exeter papers. 11. Blackall, Mayor. The Mayor having left the Chair, Resolved unanimously, That the best thanks of this Meeting be given to the Right Worshipful the Mayor for his conduct in the Chair, and for his valuable services as Treasurer of the Cholera Subscription Fund. s 258 The above resolutions were adopted by the meeting on the suggestion of the Bishop of Exeter, and John Milford, Esq., who expressed themselves as feeling great pleasure in proposing them. The Lord Bishop, in the course of his remarks, observed, it was utterly impossible not to think and feel with the spirit of the first resolution, that there was a debt of gratitude due from the inhabitants of this City to the medical gentlemen, which could never be repaid; and, therefore, in adopting some public mode of expressing those feelings, they were only escaping disgrace themselves, and not conferring honour on the Physicians and Surgeons. The arrangements of these gentlemen had been so admirable, that on any one being attacked with the disease, whether by day or by night, whatever might be their station in life, wherever they might reside, there was immediately in attendance a skilful, able, and affectionate adviser. It was well known that these laudable exertions of the medical practitioners were at first met, from the effect of unhappy prejudice, by the most inveterate hostility on the part of the poorer classes, but that this unfounded feeling was afterwards deeply regretted by them ; he, therefore, entirely concurred in the second resolution, as it would give an opportunity to the poor to express their feelings of gratitude towards those who, in this season of extraordinary difficulty and peril, to the sacrifice of their own personal comforts, and even the risk of their lives, had proved their best friends and benefactors. The Committee appointed on this occasion hastened to make arrangements and collect subscriptions ; unfortunately, however, a discussion arose, as to whether this public manifestation of feeling was to take the form of a general or of an individual testimonial, it being argued, that in the former case those would be benefited who had not personally exerted themselves, while in the latter, an equitable apportionment was, if not impossible, certainly difficult; in fact, the very obvious purpose of generously and publicly honouring a class through the merits of the individuals which composed it, was entirely lost sight of, and distorted into a mere pecuniary remuneration for services rendered. This discussion caused doubts and delays, and not only frustrated the good intentions 259 Medical teatimonial fund- of the movers of this meeting, but naturally excited comment on the relative merits of the medical men, and in which some members of the profession were so injudicious as to involve themselves. It was in reference to this subject that on the Ist of December the following announcement appeared in the public papers. TRIBUTE TO THE MEDICAL PROFESSION. Some misconception appearing to exist respecting the appropriation of the subscription which was determined to be entered into, for the purpose of affording some tribute of gratitude to the medical gentlemen of Exeter, which has greatly impeded, and in some instances entirely prevented the same, a Sub-Committee was formed on Saturday last, who were desired to take the most effectual steps for promoting the desired object. The said Sub-Committee consider it, in the first instance, desirable that the application of the sum collected should be known, and therefore beg to inform the public, that it is intended to apply the same towards the erection of a room for Medical Meetings, which has long been wanted by the profession, and it is known would be considered the highest compliment that could be paid them. The Committee trust they are not too sanguine when they express their hopes that they shall be enabled to offer at least the sum of £500 for that purpose. Four persons are appointed to make personal applications, and should any individual be called on who has already subscribed, it is hoped that it will be attributed to unintentional error. The Committee trust that gentlemen in the neighbourhood will also assist in promoting the object in view. Henry Blackall, Mayorv John Milford I ? • . T Members of the William Kennaway V „, , ,„ T t, „ , Sub-Committee. Jos. B. Sanders Robert Cornish, jun. / Dated, Exeter, 27 Nov. 1832. Subscriptions are received at the different Banks, and by the Members of the Sub-Committee. This fund ultimately amounted to _5204 Is. Its history may J J be briefly followed out. In tbe autumn of 1833 the Committee appointed to collect it, intimated to the medical men their inten s 2 260 Corporation of the Poor vote thanks to the Physicians. tion of handing it over to them, that they might decide what should be done with it. A meeting of the profession consequently took place at the Guildhall on the 17th of October. This meeting, which was fully attended, and presided over by Dr. Blackall, entertained various propositions, amongst the rest, that the sum subscribed should be applied " to the erection of an ornamental fountain for the use of the poor ;" " that one-half of the above sum should be given to the hospital, and the other half to the dispensary;" ultimately, however, with the exception of a protest from one member, " against the right of any meeting to dispose of the fund for the benefit of the profession at large, or indeed otherwise than to each individual concerned," it was unanimously resolved that the money should be vested in five trustees,* in order to its being hereafter applied for the purpose of a medical reading-room, library, or museum. The above amount, with the exception of a small sum which was handed over to the protesting member, was subsequently expended in books. These, for a time, were deposited at the Athenaeum, then in a room in the High-street, then at the hospital, and now form a portion of the library at the Exeter dispensary. The acknowledgments of the Corporation of the Poor for the assistance rendered by the profession, were confined to the physicians, and to their own medical officers. A court was specially convened to consider the most appropriate mode in which the services of the former, which had been voluntarily placed at the disposal of the Corporation of the Poor, should be noticed. It was resolved unanimously, that the best thanks of the Corporation should be offered them, and in order to do so in a marked and unusual manner, these were engrossed, and, at a special court, passed under their common seal. Subjoined is a copy of that which was transmitted to myself; similar acknowledgments of service were forwarded nomine mutando to each of the following physicians : Dr. J. Blackall, Dr. T. F. Barham, Dr. S. Budd, Dr. F. Granger, Dr. P. Hennis, Dr. * Dr. Miller, Dr. Barham, Dr. Pennell, Dr, Shapter, Mr. Pridham. 261 R. PL Lucas, Dr. E, Macgowan, Dr. P. Miller, Dr. R. L pennell. At a Special Court of the Governor and Guardians of the poor of the City and County of the City of Exeter held at the Guildhall of the said City this twenty -fifth day of September 1832. It was unanimously resolved That the very best and cordial thanks of this Corporation be most respectfully presented to Thomas Shapter Esquire and the other physicians who have with so much promptitude skill and eminent ability exerted themselves on behalf of the poor and afflicted inhabitants of this City during the late distressing visitation of Cholera and who by their professional aid have under the blessing of Divine Providence proved highly instrumental in alleviating and arresting the progress of this dire calamity. Ordered that the above resolution be fairly copied and transmitted by the clerk under the common seal of this Corporation to each of the physicians in testimony of the high respect and esteem of this body. 262 Corporation of the Poor remunerate their own medical officers. Board of Health acknowledge the services of their officers, With regard to the medical men specially under their own control, and upon whom the chief labour during this period had really fallen, the Corporation of the Poor passed at various times commendatory resolutions. On the 22nd of September they voted, " that the sum of £50 be sent to each of the gentlemen who had been employed to assist the medical officers of this Corporation, and that the same be accompanied with the best thanks of this court, who, in making this pecuniary compensation, do not consider it as a payment for their valuable and meritorious services, but as that grant which, as trustees of the public purse, they feel themselves warranted to make." On the 3rd of December a further sum of £10 was voted to each of those whose services were retained during the extra period, between the general and entire subsidence of the disease ; and £12 to Mr. Ottley, as a remuneration for the services he had rendered previously to resigning his office. To their own regular medical staff (Sept. 22) they offered their best thanks, and subsequently (Dec. 3) it was ordered " that the sum of _650 each be given to the three regular medical officers, with the best thanks of this Corporation for their very able and unremitting attention to their duties during the progress of the Cholera." The clerk of this body, and the assistant treasurer, had likewise had very unusual and arduous duties thrust upon them ; the court therefore ordered on this same day (Dec. 3) " that the best thanks of this court be given them for their extra services, and that the former be remunerated for attending on the Ward committee with the sum of £26, and the latter with .630, for his extra services during the prevalence of the Cholera." The services of the contractor for the coffins were also not disregarded, and the sum of £10 was voted to him. The Board of Health had likewise some duties of this kind to perform to their president, treasurer, and secretary, each of whom had during the previous twelve months devoted the most unremitting care and sagacity to the duties of their several offices. An unanimous vote of hearty thanks was tendered to them, while to the latter this was accompanied with, as it was felt, the inadequate 263 k 0 a o< fo_ 1832 thanksgiving appointed remuneration of £60. They likewise voted some lesser sums to those whose time had been occupied in their service. In a previous page it has been mentioned that when the dis- ease was ravaging the City, a day of humiliation was held, and prayers were offered up that the evil might be averted. Those prayers had been answered. On the suggestion of the Bishop, and with the concurrence of the Mayor, Thursday, the 11th of October, was set apart "as a day of solemn public thanksgiving to Almighty God for the abatement and almost total cessation of the Cholera";* and the notices expressed " the hope that those who lately so anxiously met to pray, would now with equal alacrity and devotion assemble to praise." This day was kept in a most solemn manner ; all worldly business was as far as possible suspended, the shops were closed, and the inns and public-houses were, during the hours of divine service, shut. All sects and parties entered into the feeling and spirit of the occasion, and evinced, by their eagerness to repair to their respective places of divine worship, that they were as deeply sensible, now the pestilence had ceased,, that gratitude and praise were due to the Eather of mercies,, as they had been, when it prevailed, of the necessity of prayer and humiliation. The cathedral was opened, and service performed at the usual hours, as on a Sunday, and in the forenoon the Mayor and Corporation attended in state,, when Mozart's grand anthem, " Praise God, 0 my soul,'* was performed by the choir, as was also the hundredth psalm ; after which the Bishop preached a very impressive and appropriate sermon, from the Second Book of Samuel, eh. xxiv. 14. " And David said unto Gad, lamin a great strait ; let us now fall into the hand of the Lord ; for his mercies are great : and let me not * Subsequently a general day of thanksgiving was appointed, when was issued, by his Majesty's special command, " A Form of Prayer and Thanksgiving to Almighty God, to be used in all Churches and Chapels in England and Wales, and in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, upon Sunday, the 14th day of April, 1833, being the day appointed for a General Thanksgiving to Almighty God, to acknowledge his great goodness and mercy in removing from us that grievous disease with which several places in this kingdom have been lately visited." 264 fall into the hand of man. So the Lord sent a pestilence upon Lsrael from the morning even to the time appointed : and there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men. And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, Lt is enough '•' stay now thine hand." 265 7 Nov. 1831. Board of Health appointed. CHAPTER XVI. AN ACCOUNT OF THE CHOLERA IN THE PARISH OF ST. THOMAS THE APOSTLE. The parish of St. Thomas, though not included in the municipal or county boundaries of Exeter, is yet locally, and by its population, so intimately connected with this City, that to pass over in silence the history of events there would be virtually to omit a portion of the history of the Cholera in Exeter ; a brief mention, however, will be sufficient. On the 7th of November, 1831, a vestry meeting was held, when the establishment of a Board of Health was adopted. This Board immediately drew up such resolutions as were deemed applicable to the times, and which will be found in the following handbill then published. THE PARISH OF ST. THOMAS THE APOSTLE. 7th November, 1831. At a vestry meeting held this day, for the purpose of forming a Board of Health, in obedience to an order of the King in Council, respecting the introduction and spreading of the disease called Cholera Morbus, the Rev. C. Harward in the Chair, it was resolved unanimously, That a Board of Health be established, consisting of the resident magistrates, the clergyman, the two medical practitioners, the churchwardens, the visitor, guardian, and overseers of the poor, the surveyors of tbe highways, and twenty-one other parishioners, with 266 liberty to add to their number, and that they do communicate with the Board of Health in London, as occasion may require. Signed on behalf of the meeting, C. Harward, Chairman. In compliance with the above appointment, the Board of Health met, and came to the following resolutions : First. That in the opinion of this Board it is indispensably necessary, immediate and decisive arrangements should be made to meet the possible contingency of this parish being visited by this dangerous malady, and such measures adopted as may best secure the inhabitants from its effects. Second. That the parish be divided into the five following districts : No. 1. — To extend from the parish boundaries on the Dunsfordroad, to the end of the Debtor's Ward, under the inspection of Mr. Snow, of Franklyn, Mr. Buckley, Mr. Bid will, Mr. Drew, Mr. Lang, Mr. Pollard, Mr. Nicks, and Mr. R. Southwood. No. 2. — From the Debtor's Ward to Exe Bridge, under the inspection of Mr. Benison, Mr. Hartnoll, Mr. Langdon, Mr. Francis, Mr. Bedford, and Mr. Dyer. No. 3. — Oakhampton-street, to Whitestone Cross, under the inspection of Mr. White, Mr. B. Salter, Mr. John Ward, Mr. Friend, and Mr. Elworthy. No. 4. — Foxhays — Exwick, to the boundaries of the parish on the Crediton-road, under the inspection of Mr. James Moxey, Mr. Rew, and Mr. Maunder. . No. 5. — Alphington-street, to the boundaries of the parish on that road, under the inspection of Capt. Greenway, Mr. S. S. Hore> Mr. Pince, Mr. Cleeve, Mr. R. Thomas, Mr. Addiscott, and Mr. Back. Third. That the different District Committees do inspect into the state of the streets, passages, courts, drains, &c, and report thereon. Fourth. That the Board of Health do sit in the vestry, every Monday,, at ten o'clock in the morning, or oftener if necessary. Fifth. That this Board, having regard to the public safety at this awful crisis, and the great importance of removing all probable causes of infection and disease, by cleanliness, and administering to the comforts of the poorer classes, do earnestly recommend that the respective owners and occupiers of houses do immediately cause the same to be whitewashed and properly ventilated. Sixth. That these resolutions be forthwith printed, and distributed throughout the parish. 267 p^^ings 1 ' °£ He e aU J n, f rd District reports of the state of the parish were sent in on the 15th of November, and orders given towards counteracting many of the nuisances therein detailed; and on the 22nd a form of letter was agreed on, first requesting the removal of the nuisance, and then stating the powers of the Board, in case of refusal, to compel it. The want of water also attracted attention, and a plan was devised for bringing it into Cowick-street. On the Ist of December a letter w Tas forwarded to the Central Board of Health, reporting the formation of the Board; that the health of the parish was particularly good; that warm-air baths had been procured ; that cleansing and whitewashing had been pursued; that an inspection of the parish had taken place, and many nuisances 268 19 July, 1832. First case of Cholera reported. been removed, but that " some do still remain, which remonstrance has not succeeded in abating, and therefore this Board of Health do earnestly desire an order, from two or more of his Majesty's Privy Council, according to their instructions dated Whitehall the 21st ult., for the immediate removal of the same." On the 21st of December they recommended a parish meeting to be held, to raise subscriptions " to provide flannel for the use of the poor, and for other purposes tending to preserve their health on the approach of the Cholera Morbus." Nothing appears to have been done, however, till the 1 9th of July, 1832* when Mr. Woodman, a medical man residing in St. Thomas's, reported he had been called on to attend a case of malignant Cholera in that parish, on which it was resolved, " that a written report of the case, by the medical officers of the parish, be furnished, and forthwith forwarded to the General Board of Health in London, and that application be made for such powers as may be necessary for the occasion. This was the case referred to in the letter addressed by Dr. Blackall, on the 25th of July, (p. 207,) to the Central Board. The following are the certificates. To the chairman of the Board of Health of the parish of St. Thomas. Sir, We the undersigned having seen a decided case of Cholera in this parish to-day, feel it our duty to report the same to your Board. (Signed) Wm. Woodman, Surgeon. Wm. Lyddon, Surgeon. Tubs. Shapter, M.D. Dated July 19, 1832. Having been requested by the chairman of the Board of Health of St. Thomas to give my opinion respecting the case alluded to in the foregoing report, I beg to state I visited that case at the desire of Dr. Shapter and Mr. Woodman, and though the extreme state of collapse had in some degree passed off, yet from what I saw, and heard from these gentlemen, I have no hesitation in declaring it to be a decided case of spasmodic or malignant Cholera. J. Blackall, M.D. Exeter, July 20, 1832. 269 B 0a" d y 0f 832, §Ss£p?" pointed. The board of Health of St. Thomas immediately (20 July) forwarded to the Central Board notice of this case, and applied " for such powers and instructions as may be necessary for the occasion." On the 24th of July, in reply, it was requested " that the names of the local Board of Health at that place may be transmitted for the approval of the Privy Council, after which the necessary orders and instructions will be forwarded." The names were accordingly sent, and the appointment of the Board duly received as follows : At the Council Chamber, Whitehall, the 27th of July, 1832. [Seal of the Privy Council, as at p. 72.] the Lords of his Ma- jesty's most Honorable Privy Council. It is this day ordered by their Lordships, that a Board of Health be constituted in the Parish of St. Thomas, near Exeter, consisting of the following members, viz.— T. Northmore. Rev. C. Har ward. — W. Copleston. Messrs. W. Lyddon. — W. Woodman. — J. Greenway, R.N. — R. T. Pince. — J. Rew. — J. Back. — T. Hartnoll. — J. G. Bidwell. — T. Snow, Jun. — R. Southwood. — ' J. Buckley. — J. Smalridge Hore. — E. White. — R. Nicks. Messrs. T. Pollard. — W. Lang. , — J. Drew. — W. M. Benison. — J. Langdon. — J. Francis. — T. Bedford. — T. Dyer. — B. Salter. — J. Moxey. — J. Ward. — W. Friend. — F. Ellworthy. — j. Maunder. — W. Cleeve. — W. Addiscott. — R. Thomas. 270 2Aug.1832. ccr S d and ?__!" pointed! ap" General pro- the d Bo S a S rd f of a A"g'forft duty on °f an y ' Medicai man E°xwick. a And the said Board are to proceed in the execution of the duties required of them accordingly. C. C Greville. The Board now proceeded to carry out the various measures requisite. On the 2nd of August they ordered a careful inspection of the parish and the suppression of nuisances, appointed six nurses, and resolved that " Mr. Woodman and Mr. Lyddon be considered for the present as the medical practitioners of the Board of Health for the parish, and that they be authorised * ' -^ Dy tn^s meeting to expend any sum, they may consider necessary i n providing medicines and necessaries for poor people attacked with Cholera, not exceeding in amount five pounds ;'' and on the 4th these gentlemen were appointed the " medical inspectors for examining houses for the reception of vagrants,'' and for reporting upon nuisances; they also ordered a " a bier for carrying the corpses of Cholera patients to the grave under-hand," and appointed four persons so to carry them to the grave. On the 6th of August they published admonitory cautions which were distributed in handbills; appointed (10 Aug.) Mr. Bidwell, treasurer, and, Mr. Benison, secretary, to the Board; ordered that the streets be washed, and lime be furnished to those requiring it; that portions of the clothes of the infected should be burned and destroyed, and subsequently (23 Aug.) that those which were in sufficiently good condition should be purified, and for this pur- pose the workhouse furnace was removed from the house into the garden. On the 15th of August, the Board having been informed that the duties on foreign brandy used by Cholera patients at Plymouth had been remitted, applied to the Lords of the Treasury for a similar indulgence, but which (24 Aug.) was refused, " the Lords not being aware of any instance in which the duties on brandy required for the use of Cholera patients have been re- mitted, and that their Lordships cannot therefore entertain the present application." On the 28th of August it was ordered that accommodation should be provided for a medical man to sleep in the hamlet of Exwick within this parish, several cases of Cholera having occurred there, and the distance from the 271 witling- 2 ' nolinced?' c e e P- f 1832--mSuclimen. 12N0V.1852. Treasurer's accounts. residences of the medical practitioners of the Board rendering prompt and efficient attendance difficult. On the 10th of September the landlord of the Lamb Inn public-house in this parish having advertised that a wrestling match would " come off," was summoned before the Board. He promised that it should not take place. Bills were subsequently published forbidding it, and special constables sworn in for the purpose of carrying out this intention. The disease having subsided, on the 17th of September the men in attendance on the surgeons were discharged, and on the 23rd the Board unanimously voted " that the sum of £'50 be presented to Mr. W. Woodman, and the like sum to Mr. Wm. Lyddon, for their valuable services and unremitting exertions during the existence of Cholera in this parish, accompanied by the best thanks of this Board for their attentions." It was also resolved, "that the sum of £10 be presented to Mr. Thomas Land, assistant to Mr. Woodman, as a complimentary gratuity for his great attentions and exertions during the progress of the disease," and " the sum of £5 to Mr. Loder, Mr. Lyddon's pupil, for his attention and exertion upon the same occasion." Also that " the sum of £20 be presented to Mr. Benison, for his attention and services as secretary to the Board." On the 12th of November the treasurer's account was audited, by which it appeared that the expenditure amounted to £423 Bs. Id., and the subscriptions to £430 ls. 6c.. In order to raise this sum various means had been resorted to. On the 30th of July the Board resolved that the parish should be applied to for £50, and a committee was appointed to prepare and lay before the Vestry the plan for its expenditure. On the 9th of August, however, the Vestry voted £150. As the form necessary for doing this under the provisions of the " Cholera Prevention Act,'' could not be complied with in Exeter, the proceedings which took place on this occasion are appended below.* * At a vestry meeting of tbe pa- rishioners of St. Thomas the Apos- tie, Devon, (duly convened,) held on Thursday, the 9th day of August, 1832, in compliance with a request to tbe Churchwardens, Captain John Greenway, R. N., and R. T. Price, Esq., from the Board of Health of 272 On the 25th of August an application for subscriptions was made to the landed proprietors, and in many instances most the Parish of St. Thomas, constituted by authority of his Majesty's Privy Council, to consider upon the provision necessary to be given to the Board by parish or vestry meeting under the act of Parliament, entitled " An Act for the Prevention, as far as may be possible, of the disease called the Cholera or Spasmodic or Indian Cholera in England." Present—Rev. J. W, Copleston, Rev. C. Harward, Messrs. Buckley, Snow, Greenway, Hore, John G. Bidwell, Joseph G. Bidwell, White, Francis, Joel H. Ward, Hartnoll, Cleeve, Nicks, Addiscott, and many others. Rev. W. J. Copleston, Vicar, in the chair. The Board of Health for this parish, having submitted to this meeting a proposal in writing, signed by their chairman, as to the manner in which any sum of money, authorised to be expended by the parishioners in vestry assembled under or by the authority of the Act 2nd William IV., chap. 10. shall be expended, and applied, and disposed of. It was unanimously resolved : — That the Board of Health of the parish, duly constituted by an Order of his Majesty's Privy Council, under and by virtue of the Act of the 2nd William IV., chapter 10, intituled " An Act for the Prevention, as far as may be possible, of the disease called the Cholera or Spasmodic or Indian Cholera in England," have the permission and consent of the parishioners now assembled in vestry, That the said Board of Health shall be enabled and invested with full powers to expend and lay out the sum of one hundred and fifty pounds, for all or any of the purposes recited or mentioned in the Order of Council of the 19th July, 1832, with the exception of the purchase of a burialground. Resolved also, — That all the expenses which have been incurred by the Board of Health, be sanctioned and paid by the parish out of the sum now voted. (Signed by) W. J. Copleston, Vicar jC. Harward, Curate ; John Greenway, T. Hartnoll, Wm. Cleeve, Saml. Stocker, Roger Nicks, Samuel Ferris, Thos. Bedford, Thos. Dyer, James Francis, Edwd. White, John Serle, W. Southwood, S. S, Hore, Thomas Snow, Jun., Richd. Southwood, Robt. Fouracre, Wm. Benison, Henry Kirkpatrick, Wm. Canes, Jas. Stocker, John Back, Wm. Addiscott, Thomas Bedford, Jun. It was also resolved, — That this meeting do authorise the Board of Health to proceed with cleansing or covering, as may seem expedient to them, such drains, sewers, and privies, as the medical inspectors shall report offensive and dangerous, provided that the expense of such proceedings be confined within the sum specified and granted by this meeting. St. Thomas the Apostle, Devon, 9th August, 1832. It is proposed by the Board of Health of this parish that any sum of money authorised to be expended by the parishioners in vestry assembled, under or by the authority of the Act 2nd William IV., chap. 10, shall be expended, and applied, and disposed of, in the following manner, that is to say, — in providing all necessary and useful medicines, articles, and remedies required in the treatment of Cholera; the same to be placed at the disposal of the medical practitioners of this parish, in providing proper nurses and attendants, in whitewashing and purifying all houses and places requiring to be whitewashed and purified, in cleansing all or any of the offensive drains and gutters in the parish ; .... in removing all nuisances from slaughterhouses and other places, in removing swine from any styes in or near to any dwelling houses, and providing 273 t^Tehoiert Thomas, I liberally responded to, and on the 3rd of September it was resolved to apply to the Board of Health for Exeter for some portion of the money subscribed in aid of their Board; this application was duly considered by the Exeter Board of Health, who granted the sum of £100, on the grounds that many had contributed to their fund under the impression that the parish of St. Thomas would participate in the general arrangements carried out in Exeter. The disease pursued a course somewhat similar, in St. Thomas, to that which it did in Exeter, the first case occurring on the 19th of July, and the disease ceasing early in September. The cases were not, however, officially reported until the 6th of August, when a notification was received from the Central Board intimating that daily returns would be required so long as the disease prevailed. The following is a summary of the official returns. Return of the Cholera Cases, fyc.,for the Parish of St. Thomas, from the 6th of August to the 21st of September. From com- . " _ Prom comg "g mencement, S ¦§ mencement, Rem. es g Rem. 19 July, 1832. Rem. „ & Rem. I!) July, 1832. Date, at last -; g this Date, at last <-> g this Kep. | g g Day. Rep. | . g g Day. & ft Cfi Cases. Died. Jz; ft # Cases. Died. Aug. 6 So 10 2 1 32 45 9 Aug. 28 20 8 3 2 23 231 34 7 32 15 0 7 40 60 9 ! 29 23 8 1 7 23 239 35 8 40 9 1 7 41 69 10 j 30 23 3 1 2 23 242 36 9 41 20 1 8 52 89 11 31 23 1 1 6 17 243 37 10 52 9 1 12 48 98 12 jsept. 1 17 0. 0 -8 14 243 37 11 48 12 0 13 47 HO 12 2 14 4 0 1 17 247 37 12 47 10 2 6 49 120 14 3 17 0 0 4 13 247 87 13 49 6 1 7 47 126 15 4 13 2 0 1 14 249 '37 14 47 8 0 6 49 134 15 5 14 2 0 8 8 251 37 15 49 7 1 9 46 141 16 6 8 4 0 1 11 255 37 16 46 5 2 11 38 146 18 7 11 0 0 3 8 255 37 18 38 12 0 11 39 158 18 8 8 1 0 0 9 256 37 19 39 12 0 15 36 170 18 9 9 10 3 7 257 87 20 36 6 1 8 33 176 19 10 7 » 0 1 9 260 37 21 88 11 3 4 37 187 22 11 9 7 1 1 14 267 38 22 37 6 1 5 37 193 23 12 14 4 0 5 13 271 38 23 37 12 1 8 40 205 24 13 13 1 0 3 11 272 38 24 40 7 2 7 38 212 26 14 11 0 0 3 8 272 38 25 38 2 0 12 28 214 26 15 8 1 0 0 9 273 38 26 28 5 0 9 24 219 26 17 9 2 0 8 3 273 38 27 24 4 5 3 20 223 31 21 3 0 0 2 1 275 38 L___J other styes for the reception of such swine, in burying the corpses of poor persons dying of Cholera, in paying the value of any clothes, bedding, or articles belonging to or used by any deceased Cholera patient in his or her lifetime, which may be deemed necessary to be destroyed, in compensating the medical inspectors, and in obeying or carrying into effect any Order of his Majesty's Privy Council in reference to the said Act. W. J. Copleston, Chairman of the Board. T 274 28 Aug. 1832. Report on the mortality called for. Mortality in Exeter and St. Thomas compared. It appearing to the Board that the ratio of mortality in this parish from Cholera was comparatively low, on the 28th of August they requested their medical officers to report thereon, and which, on the 2nd of September, was accordingly done as follows : The Board of Health having requested their medical men to furnish them with an opinion respecting the probable causes of the rate of mortality being comparatively less in the parish of St. Thomas than in the City of Exeter, we beg to state that in our opinion the following may be considered the principal causes : Ist. The situation of our residences at the entrance of the three streets enabling us, by assisting each other, to give that prompt and immediate attention so essentially necessary in all cases of Cholera, and upon which its successful treatment mainly depends. 2ndly. The poor being still enabled to employ the medical men who have been in the habit of attending them, and in whom we trust they have that proper confidence at all times so advantageous to both parties, but more particularly so in the present instance. The poor of Exeter have not .this advantage, their medical men being limited to particular districts. 3rdly. The pecuniary assistance and additional comforts so liberally bestowed by the Board of Health have also tended in a great measure to mitigate the disease and hasten recovery. We take this opportunity of expressing our acknowledgments to the Board for the very kind and liberal manner in which they have acceded to all our suggestions, and we beg to assure them that our exertions will continue unrelaxed whilst the disease remains amongst us. W. Woodman, Surgeon. W. Lyddon, Surgeon. To the Chairman of the Board of Health, St. Thomas, September, 2, 1832. The above statements of the relative lower rate of mortality from Cholera in St. Thomas, than in Exeter, are worthy of being more particularly examined ; in order to do so, the population, number of cases, and deaths, are compared in the following table : — 275 Deaths p. c. Population, Cases> D Cases p. c. _ 1001. tO + T> 1 Population, to Cases. t0 f.°P uiation. Exeter . 28,285 1,135 402 4-0 36-3 I' 4 St. Thomas 4,176 275 38 6-5 141 09 By the above, we see that the proportion of cases to the population appears to have been far greater than in Exeter. In a previous page, I. have shown reason for concluding that all the cases were not reported in Exeter, and this fully confirms such a conclusion ; it is probable that, as then hazarded, the cases should be increased about one-third, while in the parish of St. Thomas, there is every reason to believe they were all fairly stated ; unless this element of error be considered, any conclusion drawn on the ratio of mortality by a comparison of the deaths with the cases must be erroneous. If we, however, compare the amount of deaths with the population, it is still found that the ratio of mortality in Exeter was relatively greater than in St. Thomas's by nearly two-fifths. On considering the condition of the population of St. Thomas's, this may, however, be explained, as for the most part it is rural, a small portion only being collected into a township ; if the deaths that took place in this latter portion had been compared with the number of cases that occurred, or with the population exclusively living there, I very much question if the ratio of mortality would not be found to have been as high, if not higher, than in Exeter. T 2 276 1 Nov. 1881. Contributions towards expenses and procuring flannel, &c. CHAPTER XVII. GENERAL FINANCIAL STATEMENT COMPRISING AN ACCOUNT OF THE EXPENSES INCURRED IN CONSEQUENCE OF THE OCCURRENCE OF THE CHOLERA. In the course of the preceding pages mention has been made at various times of money having been raised by subscription, and occasionally the amount of expenditure, on some of the measures carried out, has been briefly stated. Of these a somewhat more detailed account will now be rendered as further illustrative of the feelings and doings of this period. At the first formation of the Board of Health, on the Ist of November, 1831, there was no general subscription entered into, but some few persons contributed towards the necessary expences then incurred. On the 15th of December, (p. 33,) it was resolved, at the public meeting then held, " that £500 should be placed at the disposal of the Board of Health, and that this sum should be raised by subscription." The following circular, which intimated this, was largely distributed : — Guildhall, Exeter, 17th Dec. 1831. Sir, Pursuant to the directions of the BOARD of HEALTH, I have the honour to enclose a copy of the resolutions passed at a Public Meeting of the Inhabitants of Exeter, held on Thursday last, to raise a Subscription for providing flannel for the use of the poor, and for other purposes tending to preserve the Health of the City, and to beg your early 277 attention to that resolution, which requests the Ministers and Churchwardens of the several Parishes in Exeter, to collect Subscriptions from door to door within their respective Parishes. It will be seen that there were several Subscriptions to the amount of a guinea some time since. It is, perhaps, necessary to state that those Subscriptions were limited to that amount, the same having been raised merely to defray the charge of Printing, and other small expenses attending the formation of the Board, and were not meant as a Fund for the objects now in contemplation : it is therefore hoped no Persons who are of ability to contribute more, will consider the former Subscription as any guide for their present liberality. I am, &c. JOHN GIDLEY, Secretary. This appeal was not very promptly nor liberally responded to, and called forth remonstrances from the local press, contrasting the tardiness of this with the liberality of other places, (p. 117) ; eventually, however, a sum amounting* to £482 4s. was subscribed. Of this there was expended in printing and advertising £78 16s. 3d., and in flannel, tape, &c, in order to make the belts, £164 15s. 2d. ; to this should be added £7 18s. for the making up, besides some few sundries. On the 10th of August, 1832, there was a balance in the hand of the Treasurer amounting to £231 14s. Id., which was added to the Cholera Eund then formed. In the previous pages, the anomalous and difficult position of the Board of Health, and the wants and requirements of the times, have been fully set forth. The utter impossibility of procuring money to supply these from the poor-rate, as might have been done elsewhere throughout the kingdom, and was done in * Connected with this subject, we shall here refer to a matter of passing local interest ; the mode in which communications and intercourse took place in the old Chamber ; a member of this Corporation wrote to the Mayor on the 19th of December, that " as a subscription is now in progress in Exeter for providing those comforts for the poor which are considered most likely to prevent the approach of a pestilential disease now spreading in a distant part of the kingdom, I think the Chamber ought not to be backward in contributing their aid, and I would therefore propose that they contribute the sum of twenty guineas. If you coincide in this view, the opinions of the members of the Chamber might 278 10 Aug.iB32. Cholera fund subscribed. the parish of St. Thomas, induced the resort to a public appeal. Consequently, at the meeting on the 10th of August, (p. 69,) it was resolved, " that a fund be forthwith raised by bona Jide subscriptions, with a further subscription by personal guarantee for specific sums, to be called for in such proportions to the re- lative subscriptions as the necessities of the case may require." This appeal was very liberally responded to, and in the course ll J J f > 0f a fortnight the subscription amounted to £2591 145., with a guarantee of £313 ; the list of these subscriptions was then published and circulated by the Committee, who were appointed to carry out the above resolutions, with the following notice attached to it : — Sir, Exeter, 28th August, 1832. We beg leave to solicit your attention to the accompanying Resolutions adopted at the Guildhall on the 10th inst., and to the list of Subscriptions already obtained for the purpose of carrying those Resolutions into eifect. As a Committee appointed by the Board of Health to procure ad- easily be ascertained by sending round the Mayor's box." The " sending round the Mayor's box," was a very useful custom which ob- tamed in the old Chamber, by which information was communicated amongst the members, at the times intermediate to their meetings. It was a small oblong mahogany box, to which each had a key, and was passed in rotation from one to the other by one of their officers. The following is a copy of the paper that then went round : — 21 Dec. 1831. —The Mayor wishes to ascertain the sense of the Chamber, if any, and what amount should be subscribed by this body in aid of the Subscription for the prevention of Cholera. Nothing, I disapprove of this method of giving money. Henry Blackall. W. Payne. Jos. Were. J. White. I think the time is not yet come to give anything, We are all going headlong to work. It. It. Sanders. I agree with the above for the present. J. Harris. £20, or £25, or £30 or £35, or £40, or Guineas. Guineas. Guineas. Guineas. Guineas. Wm. Kennaway P. Measor J. H. James John Hart. ( Mr. Johnson does not think the Keceiver would be justified in advancing any money without an order in Chamber. To advance money in the way proposed, when no urgent cause existed, would be most absurd and dangerous ; no doubt at the next Chamber what is proper will be done handsomely and legally. Nil. H. L. Grove. 279 ditional Subscriptions, we feel that it is unnecessary for us, in the present awful emergency, to use any arguments to prove the paramount urgency of the call now made upon all, of every class, (not absolutely poor,) to stand forward, and relieve the destitute and the diseased amongst us. It may be proper to state that the Board of Health meet daily, and is indefatigable in its exertions, through the agency of numerous Committees, to carry into effect the various Resolutions of the General Meeting. Soup Kitchens are established in different parts of the City, from which nutritious food is liberally dispensed to the sick and poor. Bread and Meat are distributed in large quantities in each parish. Two sites for the intermeut of persons dying of Cholera have been procured, and it is hoped that others may be obtained ; the Bedding and Clothes of the dead are destroyed, and their value repaid; nuisances and filth are removed ; the dwellings of the poor cleansed and whitewashed ; water is supplied ; and various other measures are adopted for arresting the progress of the pestilence. We lament that the Board has hitherto been unsuccessful in its attempts to procure Hospitals for the sick, and Houses of Reception for the separation of the disinfected from the diseased, but the Board is still endeavouring to obtain these objects. Notwithstanding the liberal manner in which the call on the public has been already met, the Board now discovers that it will be prevented from carrying all the measures of relief into effect, unless more general pecuniary assistance is obtained. Under these pressing circumstances, we feel assured that we shall be allowed to add your name to the list of Subscribers, and shall receive the benefit of your advocacy amongst your benevolent friends and acquaintance. Your early reply, addressed either to H. Blackall, Esq., Treasurer, or Mr. Lee, Savings' Bank, Exeter, will greatly oblige. Your very obedient Servants, Henry Blackall. William Lee. Robert Dymond. The final result of these appeals was a subscription amounting to £3,023 14s. 9d., with a guarantee of £576 165. ; this, with the addition of £482 45., which had been collected in the previous winter, made in all £4,082 14s. 9d., a most noble sum, and one larger than was subscribed, under similar circumstances, in any other place in the kingdom, not excepting the City of London itself. 280 27 Nov. 1832 Amount of ¦mnnfiv ex- money ex- pended. Amount ex- pended in food. bur Pia"- ses °f grounds. Expenses of reception house. After deducting from the above gross amount the money expended previously to the 10th of August, (£250 9s. 5d.,) and the sum guaranteed but not paid, (£576 165.,) the Treasurer of the Cholera Fund had at his disposal the sum of £3,262 9s. 4d. ; of this, £2,685 13s. 4d. was, during this period expended, leaving a balance in favour of the fund of £576 16s. On the 4th of December the following balance-sheet of the receipts and expenditure was submitted to, and approved by, a special meeting of the Board of Health. See page 281, opposite. It may not be uninteresting more particularly to refer to some of the above heads of expenditure. The three first, which comprise the disbursement of a very large sum of money, £1331 10s., relate to the same object, a general expenditure in food, and the means of preparing it ; they have been already referred to in Chapter X., which is specially devoted to the consideration of these subjects. The next sum specified, £341 Bs., was expended on the burialgrounds ; (Chapter VIII. ;) it includes the cost of fencing in, &c, the Bury Meadow, and erecting there the clergyman's vestry, a sentry-box, a room for the mourners and watchers, &c, £142 10s. 9d. ; the licence granted by the Bishop, £6 75., and some necessary expenses incurred by the Committee, amounting in all to £156 9s. 2>d. It should be observed that the ground itself cost nothing, having been devoted to this purpose by the Corporation of the Poor, so that this sum was entirely expended in its preparation and dedication. The spot of ground in Pesterlane cost £184 18s. 9d., being for the ground itself £101 155., for conveyance and necessary law expenses £10 17s. 6d, and for the licence, £6 75.; for fencing it in £57 12s. 6d., and for reerecting in it a shed for the hearse which had been removed from the Bartholomew yard, £8 6s. 9d. It is to be regretted that the devotion of these grounds to their purpose was so temporary, as, should occasion again arise, this expense may probably be reincurred. The next head of expenditure, " the fitting up a house for the .... reception of disinfected persons, &c," and which amounted to £67 9s. Id., comprised the payment of £27 9s. 6\d. for those 6 281 Henry Blackall, Esq., Treasurer to the Exeter Board of Health. Dr. 1831 November. £ s. d. To Balance of the Subscriptions entered into for providing the poor with flannel, and to meet the expenses of printing, advertising, &c, on the first formation of the Board 231 14 7 1832 August. To amount received on account of the subscription entered into at the general meeting of the Inhabitants of Exeter, and its vicinity, held at the Guildhall, for the purpose of providing nutritious food for the poor — houses of reception for Cholera patients — receiving houses for the uninfecte — and burial-grounds for persons dying of Cholera; and for other purposes connected with the Board of Health 8,023 14 9 £3,262 9 4 November 27, 1832.— Examined and found correct. Cr. „ ¦ £ s. d. By amount paid to the Provision Committee, to defray the expenses of bread and meat for the poor, and of the soup kitchen in St Mary Arches-street, to October 6 .... 721 4 0 By expense of the soup kitchen in St. Sidwell's, to October 6 . 110 6 6 By amount placed under the direction of the Relief Board, to provide bread for the poor, and to defray the expense of both soup kitchens, from October 6 . . 500 0 0 By purchase money of ground, for interment of persons dying of Cholera, and expense of enclosing, also for the conveyance thereof, and for licences from the Bishop of the diocese . . 341 8 0 By expense of fitting up a house for the reception of disinfected persons, furnishing the same, and providing food, &c. for its inmates 67 9 7 By amount paid for goods and clothes taken away ; paid the Inspectors for taking them away, and destroying or purifying them ; paid for enclosing ground to bury in, and paid the expence of burning, burying, and purifying . . . .. 317 18 8 By expense of removing nuisances, building sties for pigs, &c. . 103 1 5 By cash paid grave-diggers and beadles, for the extra depth of graves for persons dying of Cholera . 117 19 10 By ditto, the purchase of extra hearse, &c 33 3 0 By ditto, for hire of hackney coaches, kept in attendance during the night for five weeks, and for extra nurses, &c. . . . 39 0 6 By ditto, for blankets, drugs, porter, &c 20 18 8 By ditto, for printing, stationary, and advertising . . . . 94 4 9 By ditto, postage, carriage, and other incidentals . . . 18 18 5 By amount voted to the Board of Health in St. Thomas . . 100 0 0 Ditto, to Mr. Gidley, Secretary to this Board . . . . . 50 0 0 Ditto, to Woolcott, Gingham, and Howard 20 0 0 Ditto, to Mr. Hele, at the Dispensary lo 0 0 By Mr. Gidley, expenses of journey to London 20 0 0 By balance — In Exeter Bank . . 136 4 7 In City Bank . . 42 6 3 In General Bank . . 68 8 0 In Devon County Bank 198 18 0 In Savings' Bank . 110 12 8 In hands of Treasurer . 20 6 6 576 16 0 £3,262 9 4 PAUL MEASOR. WILLIAM SCOREBBY. WILLIAM LEE. 282 Expenses of destroying clothes, &c. Expenses in removing nuisances, &c. general repairs which were necessary to make it habitable, and £40 advanced to the Committee for fitting it up with bedding, furniture, &c. The expenses incurred in doing this rather exceeded the above amount, but were covered by a further sum of £11, the product of the sale of these goods, on the 14th of November, on which day the occupancy of the house was relinquished. The above sum was, as it proved, uselessly expended, the disease having ceased by the time the house was ready for the reception of those for whom it was prepared. The sum of £317 18s. Bd., which is entered as paid for destroying the clothes, &c, requires a slight correction, £11 lis. 2d. having been expended in a small quantity of chloride of lime, and 18 hogsheads of lime for general distribution. The burning the clothes, &c, and the necessary expenses attending it, therefore amounted to £306 7s. 6d, and comprise £221 10s. 6d. paid as compensation for the clothes destroyed, £42 15s. 4d. as wages to the men termed " inspectors," who were engaged in the removal and destruction of them, £4 which was paid for the boat, and £3 for the hand-cart employed in this service, and 18s. for a bit of canvass to cover over the clothes when in the cart, to prevent alarm in going through the streets. Besides these, there were some necessary attendant expenses, as £12 7s. Bd. for pickaxes, lime, &c, and £21 16s. for fencing in the ground appropriated to the purpose of burying the clothes of those dying in St. Sidwell's. The removing nuisances, building styes for pigs, &c, cost £103 ls. 5a.., and includes the sum of £55 Bs. 6d. paid as wages to the scavengers ; it is otherwise made up of a variety of small expenditure, which is curious in its detail; there was £4 10s. paid for nineteen dozen brooms, 18s. lOd. for six shovels, and £2 for two wheelbarrows; £13 10s. Id. was paid for the water which was supplied in separate buckets full, at the cost of one halfpenny per bucket. Besides this, there was an expenditure in the parish of St. Sidwell of £6 12s. for lime and whitewash, of] 4s. for " crying" the removal of pigs, and £19 17s. 6d. for erecting pig- styes in other places. The sum of £117 19s. lOd. is stated to have been expended in 283 raves» cost of second hearse. Expenses of coach-hire and nurses. undries, postage, car riage, &c. making the graves of an increased depth; the price paid appears to have been after the following rate : for a grave of six feet deep, five shillings ; for one of eight feet, eleven and twopence ; and for one of ten feet, fifteen shillings. This item was thus distributed: St. Sidwell's - - -£176 South ernhay, Bat lis. 2d. - - 26 4 10 Bartholomew-yard, 13 at 155., and 30 at lis. 2d. - - . 31 3 4 St. David's, 3at ss. - - 5 10 0 Bury Meadow - - - 50 15 0 Pester-lane - - 2 19 0 56117 19 10 The cost of the second hearse, and which is entered as £33 35., was for the hearse itself £30, and the expenses for a week £3 35., being six shillings per day for the horse, and three shillings for the driver. As an illustration of the times, it may be mentioned that by the 3rd of September the hearse needed repairs, to the amount of £5 125., but this was carried into a subsequent account. The expenditure under the head of coach-hire and nurses has 1 been previously referred to ; the former amounted to £33 125., and was incurred in providing carriages during the night for the medical men; the remainder of the sum was for a few occasional nurses provided by the Board of Health. Of the £20 18s. Bd. paid for sundry articles, £11 10s. was dis-s bursed for the blankets which were procured from the ordnance stores; they had been originally charged at 6s. each, and at this rate £18 had been demanded for them; but on the representation of the exorbitance of this demand, it was reduced to the above amount. For drugs the small sum of £3 2s. only was expended by the Board of Health, this item having been provided by the Corporation of the Poor; the remaining £6 6s. Bd. was paid for porter supplied to patients by the druggists. The items comprised in the £18 18s. sd. paid for postage, car- riage, and other incidentals, are of some interest; amongst them is £2 Bs. 6d. for the Cholera bed, £1 14s. for repairing the pump 284 Gratuities voted. Expenses incurred by the Corporation of the Poor, at the bottom of Fore-street Hill, at the corner of West-street; 15s. as compensation for the destruction of an easy chair in which a patient was removed, Bs. for tar-barrels, and lis. for a tin kettle. The remainder was for various post-chaises necessary to convey the deputations to procure the licensing of the burialground, £6 9s. 6d., and for the postage of letters, £6 12. The concluding items comprise the few small sums voted as acknowledgments of the services rendered during the period of the Cholera by those there specified. That to Mr. Gidley has been alluded to in the course of the preceding pages. The £20 given to Woolcott, Ginham, and Howard, were for a series of little services in connexion with the general cleansing of the City, and the lesser requirements of the Board of Health. The £10 to Mr. Hele were for bleeding, and otherwise ministering to the Cholera patients. Considerable sums of money were also expended by the Corporation of the Poor and the Commissioners of Improvement. The Corporation of the Poor have not preserved any detailed account of their expenditure, but on the 2.2nd of September, 1832, they made an application to the Board of Health " to defray a portion of the expenses incurred by nurses, medicines, blankets, and other matters relating to the Cholera, and that a copy of the statement of the assistant-treasurer, of expenses incurred, be sent to the said Board of Health, for their information in reference to the present application." The following is the statement referred to, and contains an account of the monies then paid, with the supposed liabilities. Lime Persons Remuneand in- Drug- Blankets, employed Cash ration to July to Nurses. Fu- cidental gists and Brandy, at Station- paid to Medical Total. Sept. 20. nerals. Ex- Appara- and house and Sick Men, Offipenses. tus. Clothing. Guildhall. Poor, cers, &c. Paid 200 25 5 1 5 35 305 576 To pay 65 154 7 502 73 6 say 50 400 1257 265 179 12 503 78 41 355 400 1833 285 j. equeitothe Fund, The Board of Health, however, unanimously decided " they did not feel themselves justified in complying with this request." The sum spent by the Corporation of the Poor, and which eventually amounted to £2,084 95., was subsequently submitted to, and received the approval of, the Commissioners for controlling their expenditure. The Commissioners of Improvement, independently of what they expended in sewerage,* and which, as being necessary for the permanent improvement of the City, is not to be taken into account, also disbursed large sums of money in watering the streets, scavengering, &c. As there is no certain mode of arriving at their true amount, it may be stated generally, that the expense to the City of the Asiatic Cholera, from the 19th of July to the middle of September, a period of two months, was upwards of £5,000, and may be set down thus : By money expended by Board of Health _62,929 2 0 By money expended by Corporation of the Poor 2,034 9 0 By money expended by Commissioners of Im- provement £4,963 11 0 The history of the Cholera fund remains to be briefly followed out. There were some few demands upon it which had been neglected to be made previously to the making up of the balance sheet above given, amounting in all to £15 16s. 4d.; amongst these was a gift of £3 to Davey, the assistant to the contractor for the coffins, and £5 ss. for repairing the pump in Magdalen-street. In 1833 and 1834, on the recurrence of the disease, the fund was further called upon ; in the former year £54 6s. was paid for destroying the clothes of sixteen persons, £15 9s. for additional depth of graves, and £5 12s. for repairing the hearse. In 1834, £42 lis. 3d. was paid for destroying goods, £18 ss. 4d. for graves, and £7 7s. Id. for medicines. * Since the period which has occupied our attention thirteen miles of sewers have been formed. 286 Balance given to the Exeter Dispensary. In 1841, after the payment of all claims, this fund, with the addition of some small proceeds acquired by letting the Pesterlane field, and the interest accruing on the general balance, amounted to £511 3s. 9d. At a meeting of the subscribers to the fund, duly summoned by advertisement, this sum, together with a balance of £36 4s. Id. remaining in the hands of the treasurer of the Relief Board, was presented to the Governors of the Exeter Dispensary in aid of the building fund of that institution. 287 Similar events in all plagues. Conspicuous virtues and vices. CHAPTER XVIII. CONCLUSION. The Cholera in Exeter, in 1832, has now been traced. The various circumstances that accompanied it are so similar to the events which have marked the great plagues which have preceded it, that they cannot fail to arrest the attention and excite the interest of those conversant with their history ; the unchanged character of the human mind, as thus exemplified, is a subject of such deep consideration, that a brief comparison of them may not be uninteresting. The previous pages have shown that while the few, excited to x ¦*¦ v an elevation of sentiment, and actuated by good thoughts and benevolent feelings, steadily advised and followed out, notwithstanding popular clamour and violence, the course they deemed advantageous to the welfare of the community, the many developed a depreciation of the mind to grovelling vices and immoralities. The same phenomena may be invariably contemplated in the history of every plague handed down to us. Thus, on the one hand, we read in former times of the plunderings at Athens ; the surrendering the mind to witchcrafts and superstitions in the middle ages ; and the murders and robberies of 1665 in London : # while, on the other hand, the examples of conspicuous virtue are no less numerous. As it would have been painful to have detailed the vices and enormities of these periods, so would it be tedious to dwell upon the examples of conspicuous virtues which they offer; we shall, therefore, only mention that the plagues of Milan have * Hodges' Plague of London, p. 8. 288 Principle of magisterial interference recognised. _ity vrither a" aiTaffofded. The utmty 1 thehe°aithy m been distinguished by those of the Borromeos, that of 1576 by the active philanthropy of San Carlo, and that of 1630 by the devotion of his illustrious nephew Federigo. The establishment of Boards of Health at the time of all great plagues is merely a more decided enunciation of the principle universally acknowledged, that it is the duty of those in authority to provide for the well-being of the individual, and that " therefore when pestilences occur their nature and peculiar qualities should through such means be known and reported by physicians, and such laws should be provided as might best conduce to prevent its spreading, if not to its entire extirpation."* This principle has been so universal, that we find it enunciated by Livy in the history of the plagues occurring at Home, b. g. 361 and 291. Though Boards of Health have been therefore almost invariably constituted, nevertheless we find, as seen in the previous pages, that their establishment has been generally reprehended, while their ordinances have been opposed and condemned. Doubtless they have often proposed measures that were not applicable, but more frequently they have been embarrassed in carrying out those which were, by opposition or the want of pecuniary means : thus we find in the plague of Milan, a. d. 1630, "the Board of Health solicited precautions and co-operation ; they met with anger and dissatisfaction :" again, " the Board constantly demanding money to provide for its daily expenses, while it was being decided how they were to be charged. "f ' Though the public, as a state, have thus ever been jealous of , rendering pecuniary assistance, and therefore interposed difficulties and delays in affording the proper aid, individuals, have ever been prompt and liberal in supplying the necessary means : " nor ought we to pass by the beneficence of the rich," says Dr. Hodges, in his history of the Plague of London in 1665. Edicts similar to those recorded in the previous pages for; a separating the sick from the healthy are frequently to be met with, and as often proved valueless and impracticable ; thus, the order in 1831, which directed that on the houses of those infected * Hodges' Plague of London, P- 205 _ ,„¦¦-, f This is quoted from the very interesting work " I promessi sposi," p. 640, which contains an accurate and carefully compiled History of the Plague of Milan in 1630. 289 Existence of plagues denied- Medical men abused. "a conspicuous mark (sick)" should be placed, found its prototype in 1665, when it was ordered they should be marked '¦* with a red cross, having with it this inscription, 'Lord, have mercy upon us.'" Nor are there wanting previous examples of other occurrences, recorded in the preceding pages, thus in the Plague of Milan, " the Board of Health ordered the wearing apparel to be committed to the flames," and in that of London " the bells seemed hoarse with continual tolling, until at last they quite ceased." The denial of the existence of the disease by the general J v public, not only before it had occurred within the City but for days afterwards, finds its parallel in the history of the Plague of Milan, a. d. 1630 ; for when the disease was in the immediate neighbourhood, "if any one had attempted in the streets, shops, and houses, to throw out a hint of dangers, and mention the plague, it would have been received with incredulous scoffs or angry contempt." The same similarity occurred when the disease became too obvious for wilful incredulity of this kind; those who from their profession were prominently engaged in the endeavour to relieve the malady of its horrors were abused, and even directly accused of being its authors; thus in the Plague of Milan, the physicians, more especially Tadino and Settala, could not publicly appear without being assailed with opprobrious language, if not with stones ; on one occasion " the aged Settala, illustrious for his learning throughout Europe, was only saved from the animosities of the people by the protection afforded him by the house of a friend." So again in the Plague of Marseilles (1720) " the common people indulged their animosity against the physicians and surgeons, whom they openly insulted and accused of causing false alarms injurious to the town."* This feeling during the Cholera was almost universal throughout Europe ; it was the crime of St. Petersburgh, of London, of Dublin, of Paris, &c. The more general accusation of human agency has been the very frequent assumption of the people; so early as the Plague of Athens, " the people giving loose to their own fancies concerning the authors of their calamities, accused the Lacedemonians of having * Account of the Plague of Marseilles, by John Ireland, D. D., p. 3. TJ 290 Similar nostrums. Public acknowledgment ment of God's power eventually general. poisoned the wells of the Pireeus." The pestilence which traversed Europe in 1348, designated the " black death," and which is so well known from its associations with Boccacio, was chiefly attributed to the agency of the Jews, who were accused of having poisoned the fountains, and some of them of having gone to the Indies on purpose to bring the plague to the Christians. So also at Milan, where the origin of the plague was attributed to the anointing of the door-posts by those who were termed " poisoners." As if to complete our appreciation of the narrow limits of the imagination and suggestive powers of the human mind, we find that of the numerous nostrums and offers of advice suggested to the Board of Health in Exeter, similar examples are to be found in the history of previous plagues ; the firing of cannon,* the use of ardent spirits as a preventive, -f- &c. &c, are but the repetitions of those made in former times, then tried, and decided to be useless. Again, the same blank acknowledgment of the unopposible destructibility of the disease, so frequently heard in 1832, finds its caustic expression in the pages of Petrarch, who writes that " no remedy succeeded, the physicians understood nothing about it, and, which is most astonishing, confessed that they did not." If, however, these lesser similarities be remarkable and worthy of passing note, how much more so is the fact that the ultimate resort to the Almighty Ruler of all events, which so forcibly took' place here, is, whether we look at the heathen or the Christian world, a portion of the history of every plague: The illustration of this in that which afflicted Rome 461 years before the Christian era, is beautifully pourtrayed in the forcible and eloquent pages of Livy4 " The senate, unable to discover a prospect of relief in any human means, directed the people to have recourse to vows and to the deities : they were ordered to go, with their wives and children, to offer supplications, and implore the favour of the gods ; and all being thus called out by public authority to" perform what each man was strongly urged to by his own private * Hodges' Plague of London, p. 208. f Hodges' Plague of London, p. 217- % Lib. iii. c. 7. 291 m«it. op" . calamities, they quickly filled the places of worship. In every temple the prostrate matrons, sweeping the ground with their hair, implored a remission of the displeasure of Pleaven, and deliverance from the pestilence." There is one other point to be regarded, and which an extended and comprehensive view of the accompanying circumstances, and immediate consequences of all great pestilences, invariably sets forth; plagues are, in the words of Hecker,* " epochs of development wherein the mental energies of mankind are exerted in every direction. The history of the world bears indisputable evidence of this fact; the tendencies of the mind, the turn of thought of all ages, have frequently depended on the prevailing diseases ; for nothing exercises a more potent influence over man, either in disposing him to calmness and submission, or in kindling in him the wildest passions, than the proximity of inevitable and universal danger. Often have infatuation and fanaticism, hatred and revenge, engendered by an overwhelming fear of death, spread fire and flames throughout the world. Famine and diseases, among which may be instanced the fiery plague of St. Anthony, were no less powerful in calling forth the chivalrous spirit of the Crusades, than the enthusiastic eloquence of Peter the Hermit; the black death brought thousands to the stake, and aroused the fearful penances of the Flagellants, while the Oriental leprosy cast a gloomy shade over society throughout the whole course of the middle ages." During the early period of the 19th century, the tone and feeling of society were altering, and the free expression of men's opinions, consequent upon a long series of foreign warfare, was greatly contributing to the development of social advantages by the extension of political and religious freedom, and by a more just and perfect recognition of the rights of all, not excepting the most humble classes of the community. This great object was materially assisted by the occurrence of this disease ; it developed effects upon the social condition of the kingdom which, while tending to physical well-being, has been otherwise socially * Preface to account of the Tuscany sickness. 292 calming and beneficial. In. this City the effects produced have been most striking, it has emerged from a selfish apathy to an active consideration of the well-being of the cbmmunity, and the results are obvious, cheering, and satisfactory. Drainage is now comprehensive and efficient ; water gushing at all points yields its ample supply; those attending the markets have covered buildings ; in St. Sidwell's a new church and schools cover the ground where the clothes of those dying of the pestilence were destroyed, and a new parish has been created in obedience to the wants of the people ; a pleasure park occupies the ground which was first devoted to the burial of those dying of the Cholera ; a spacious cemetery without the walls has relieved the former over-crowded grounds, and which are now closed and planted; while in one of them the monument, erected over the last Cholera patient there buried, is a church — a parish church, the advantages of which had been denied to' the inhabitants for nearly two hundred years. INDEX. Address from the Clergy of Exeter, 20 Advertisement for Water Company, 113 Assistance, private rather than public, afforded, 288 Assizes held, 197 Barnes, E., letter on appropriation of burial-ground, 153 Beadles, assistants to, appointed, 124 Bedford Chapel consecrated, 196 Blackall, H., appointed treasurer to the Exeter Board of Health, 16 appointed deputy-chairman of, 66 letter on the difficulties of, 66 Blackall, J., appointed corresponding member of the Board of Health, 13 letter on burials in Bury Meadow, 147 on first case of Cholera, 207 Blankets supplied from Ordnance Stores, 124 Bishop of Exeter, letter on the burial of Jews, 170 on the consecration of Bedford Chapel, 196 Board of Health established, 1 Central, established, 22 Local, to be established with corresponding medical member, 7 established, 10 constituted under seal of Privy Council, 46 in their difficulty apply to Privy Council, 62 enlargement of, 72 business of, concluded, 73 thank their officers, 262 Bodies enveloped in pitched linen, 177 Brandy, application for the remission of duty on, 270 Buck, letter on the inapplicability of the Cholera Prevention Act, 58 Burial-grounds, crowded state of the Southernhay and Bartholomew, 142 memorial against burying in, 144 proposal to close, 168 Cholera, sites proposed for, 148 Pester-lane field proposed for, 149 Bury Meadow voted for, 145 parish meeting of St. David 0n, 160 re-opened in 1833 and 1834, 171 those dying of Cholera to be buried in, 175 expenses of, 280 Burials, regulations for, 155 handbill respecting, 158 number in the different grounds, 168 delay of, 175 Bury Meadow voted for Cholera burialground, 145 riot at, 145 clergyman refuses to inter except in, 146 fenced and enclosed, 152 mode of procuring licence for, 153 Guardians of the Poor formally dedicate, 154 licence granted by the Bishop for, 156 portion of, set apart for the burial of Jews, 169 tombstones erected in, 170 Butler, C, letter on Cholera Hospital, 137 Byam, letter on Cholera Hospital, 131 Cases, reports of, by the medical men, ordered, 31 forms for returns of, 47 official returns of, 208 Cemetery Committee appointed, 1 50 294 Cemetery Committee, proceedings of, 158 apply to the minister and churchwardens of St. Sidwell's, 159 report of, 163 Cholera, origin of, 1 existence of, denied, 2, 235 Prevention Act passed, 35 inapplicable to Exeter, 41 correspondence thereon, 42 in Russia, 1 at Hamburg, 2 in London, 35 at Plymouth, 52 in Exeter, 58, 205 first official report of, 206 general account of symptoms of, 210 total deaths from, 216 influence of age upon, 218 of sex, 221 of occupation, 222 of climate, 222 of locality, 223 nature of, 225 proximate origin of, 226 mode of propagation of, 228 period of incubation of, 330 predisposing causes of, 230 treatment of, 231 bed provided, 126 reappearance of in 1833 and 1834, 224 in St. Thomas', first case, 268 official returns of cases and deaths in, 273 report of medical officers, 274 Cholera Fund established, 69 history of, 285 treasurer's account, 281 Circular, on flannel belts, 117 on subscriptions for flannel belts, 276 soliciting subscriptions, 278 Scoresby's on relief of poor, 1 93 City, return of inhabitants to, 255 City prison, entry in its book, 200 crier bill for crying for nurses, 129 Clothes, destroyed and purified, 179 cost of destroying and purifying, 282 Coffins, carried under hand, 171 Coldridge S. T., letter on water supply, 104 Coleridge, J. T., letter on assizes, 198 Committee, to draw up first directions, report of, 14 Conduit, 77, 92 Cordon of troops, 9 Cornish, X,., letter on Cholera Hospital, 132 Correspondence with other Boards, 203 anonymous, 204 Difficulties experienced from inapplicability of Cholera Prevention Act, 52 Drainage, deficient, 78 Druggists appointed, 124 Drunkenness, &c. of lower orders, 201, 241 Exeter, natural position of, 74 declared an infected port, 81 clean bills of health granted to, 82 Expenditure, total, 285 Flannel, the use of enjoined, 29 belts recommended, 34, 115 probable cost of, 116 public meeting and circular, 116 number distributed, 118 money raised for, 276 Food, distributed, 185 soup kitchens established, 186 expense of, 280 Forms for returns of cases prescribed, 47 required by Central Board on treatment of Cholera, 231 for returns of cases and deaths, 49 Fumigations, 178 Funds, how to be raised and expended, 57 General directions given for cleansing the City, 85 Gidley, J., appointed secretary to the Exeter Board of Health, 16 letter and statement on inapplicability of Cholera Prevention Act, 41,43 on negociation with Central Board, 65 on flannel belts, 117 on distribution of flannel belts, 118 Golsworthy, various letters on water supply, 101 Graves, extra depth of, 1 52 cost of, 283 covered with lime, 173 the diggers of and their assistants, 173 Grove and Whitlock on Quarantine, Bf, 82 Hamburg, Cholera at, 2 Handbill, general, with medical directions, 17 with resolutions of public meeting, 15 December, 1831, 33 relating to nurses, 128 respecting funerals, 158 on the destruction and purification of clothes, 180 to master tradesmen, on payment of wages, &c, 201 on rioting and insult to medical men, 239 relating to the day of humiliation, 253 on the testimonial to the medical men, 256 of public meeting for testimonial to medical men, 257 on differences concerning testimonial to medical men, 259 295 Handbill of requisition to the Mayor, Aug. 9, 1832, 67 of resolutions of public meeting, Aug. 10, 1832, 68 for Cholera Hospital, 138 of St. Sid well's Testry Meeting, Aug. 14, 1832, 159 of St. David's Vestry Meeting, Aug. 23, 1832, 161 on formation of Board of Health in the parish of St. Thomas, 265 Hearse provided, 171 second provided, 172 expense of, 283 Hele, S. voluntary assistance rendered by, 127 Hospital, application for the barracks for, 130, 136 application for buildings belonging to the City workhouse and other premises for, 133 plan for erection of, 134 Board advertise for premises for, 139 remonstrance against establishment of, 140 House, receiving, for friends of Cholera patients provided, 141 expense of, 280 Houses, purification of, 8 lodging, inspected, 83 Humiliation, day of, appointed, 252 account of, 258 Improvement, Commissioners of, vote £1,000 to cover drains, &c, 16, 85 Incidents illustrating the desolation of the City, 241 profligacy, 241 effects of anxiety, 242 rapid course of the disease, 243 numbers dead at the same time, 246 neglect, 246 relating to burials, 246 of the Dawlish case, 250 Julian, G. H., on abuse in the distribution of food, 187 Kennaway, Mark, letter on nuisances, 87 on forming common sewers, 91 on the water supply, 98 Kennaway, William, letters on the inapplicability of the Cholera Prevention Act, 52 making application for Cholera Hospital, 130, 135 on the burial of Jews, 1 69 on holding the assizes, 197, 1 98 Kingdon, "W. P , memorial to, 152 letter on deficiency of water, 106 on the first case of Cholera, 206 Lamb, G., Letter on Cholera Hospital, 138 Letters on abuse in distribution of food, (Julian,) 187 Assizes, holding of, (Kennaway, W\,) 197, 198 (Coleridge,) 198 Board of Health, formation of, (Seymour,) 13 constitution of, (Gidley,) 45 confirmation of, (Maclean,) 45 amendment of, (Maclean,) 72 of St. Sidwell's, (Maclean,) 61 negociations with Central, (Gidley,) 65 burials, on appropriations of grounds for, (Barnes,) 153 in Bury Meadow, (Blackall, J.,) 147 of Jews, (Kennaway, W.,) 169 (the Bishop of Exeter,) 170 Cholera, daily reports of, (Sargeant,) 73 first case of, (Blackall, J.,) 207 (Kingdon, W. P.,) 206 Cholera hospital, (Byam, 131) (Kennaway, W.,) 130, 135 (Cornish,) 132 (Butler,) 137 (Lamb,) 138 (Pearse,) 139 on Cholera Prevention Act, inapplicability of, (Gidley,) 41, 43 ( Maclean,) 43 (Kennaway,) 52 (Buck,) 58 (Blackall, H.,) 66 Consecration of Bedford Chapel, (Bishop of Exeter,) 196 enclosing official forms, (Maclean,) 48, 231 flannel belts, distribution of, (Gidley 1 ) 117, 118 formation of common sewers, (Kennaway, M.,) 87 nuisances, (Kennaway, M.,) 89 offering professional services, (Shapter,) 122 personal insult, (Tucker,) 149 quarantine, (Grove and Whitlock,) 81,82 water supply, (Golsworthy,) 101 (Kennaway, M.,) 98 (Coldridge,) 104 (Kingdon,) 106 Lime distributed, 179 put over and in the graves, 173 Maclean, letter, on inapplicability of Cholera Prevention Act, 43, 44, 52 on confirmation of the Board of Health, 45 enclosing official forms, 48, 231 on St. Sidwell's Board of Health, 61 296 Maclean, letter, on amended Board of Health, 72 Magisterial interference, principle of, recognised, 288 Mayor's box, 278 Medical assistants, &c, directed, 40 Guardians of the poor appoint eight additional, 121 resignation of some and appointment of others, 126 inspectors, to lodging-houses appointed, 55 Medical men, keep watch at the Guildhall during the night, 127 insulted, 237, 289 testimonial to, proposed, 256 resolutions of public meeting to thank, 257 in St. Thomas thanked and remunerated, 271 Meeting of Mayor, magistrates, &c, 9 of public bodies to form Board of Health, 10 public of inhabitants, 13, 67, 278 on flannel belts, 116 resolutions of, to thank medical men, 257 of Commissioners for controlling expenditure of Corporation of Poor, 59 of Corporation of Poor, 59, 120 to thank medical men, 260 to audit Cholera fund accounts, 73, 280 of Commissioners of Improvement to form sewers, 90 of vestry of St. David's, 161 of St. Sidwell's, 159 of Board of Health on supply of food, 191 Mode of watering the High-street, 97 Natural position of Exeter, 74 Nostrums proposed, 204, 290 Nuisances, removal of, 84 cost of removal of, 282 Nurses, hired, 127 handbill relating to, 128 rate of remuneration to, 128 expenses of, 283, 284 Order in Council, 21st June, 1831, 1 20th October, 1831, 4 14th November, 1831, 23 21st November, 1831, 30 13th December, 1831, 26 29th February, 1832, 36 6th March, 1832, 37 19th July, 1832. 53 Bth August, 1832, 62 Patteson, Mr. Justice, his charge at the assizes, 199 Pearse, J., letter on Cholera Hospital, 139 Pester-lane, leased to Board of Health, 164 licensed by the Bishop, 1 65 Plagues, similarity of events in, 287 existence of denied, 289 epochs of development, 291 Poor, Guardians of, refuse funds to Board of Health, 59 provide medical attendants, &c. 59, 121 thank the physicians, 260 thank and remunerate their own medical officers, 262 expenses of, 284 Provision Committee appointed, 185 report of, 187 food distributed by, 185 Pumps, 92 Quarantine, regulations directed, 6 enjoined by Local Board, 80 at workhouse, 83 Belief Board appointed, 191 distribute soup and meat, 192 investigate the state of the poor, 193 Report of Committee to consider circular from Home Office, 13 on nuisances, 78 on cleansing streets, 85 on scavengering the City, 88 on springs in St. Sidwell's, 112 on providing flannel belts, 115 on Cholera Hospital, 135 on burial-ground, 145 of medical men 122 of Cemetery Committee, 163 of Provision Committee, 187 of Committee for Cholera Fund, 279 on St. Thomas' district, 266 of St. Thomas' medical officers, 274 Riots, account of various, 286 Russia, Cholera in, 1 Drs. Barry and Russell sent there, 1 Sanitary state of the City discussed, 35 Sargeant, letter on daily reports of Cholera, 73 Scavengering, scheme for the better, of the City, 88 Secretary to the Board of Health appointed, 16 Sewerage, mode of, 74 Sewers in various streets commenced, 91 Seymour, letter on Board of Health, 1 3 Shapter, letter offering professional services, 122 Ship, the Ranger, infected, arrives at Exeter Quay, 81 Sick, separation of, 8, 288 observation of, 9, 40 Soup kitchens, established, 186 expense of, 280 Specific in Cholera condemned, 30 297 Station-house procured and supplied with necessaries, 124 Streets, pavement of, 74 watering of, 89 St. Sidwell's Board of Health established, 60 St. Thomas' Board of Health, correspondence with, 1 83 appointed, 265 resolutions of, 266 proceedings of, 266 officially confirmed, 269 appoint medical officers and inspectors, 270 medical and other officers thanked and remunerated, 271 history of disease, and official returns of cases and deaths, 273 report of medical officers to, 274 report considered, 275 Subscriptions, amount of, published, 278 Tar barrels, 178 Testimonial to medical men proposed, 256 Thanksgiving, day of, 263 Thanks tendered to the Mayor, 255 Theatre opened, 200 Ticket, water, 110 provision, 185, 192 soup, 186, 192 Tolling of church bells, 174 Treasurer appointed to Board of Health, 16 Tucker, J., letter on personal insult, 149 Vestry of St. Thomas, money raised by, 271 Ward Committee appointed, 123 Water carrier, 77 Water supply, 75, 91 proposed from springs in St. Sidwell's, 112 supplied to the poor in buckets, 110 works, 94 company established, 113 Watering the City, negociations with Mr. Golsworthy, 97 Wells, 91 Wrestling match in St. Thomas prevented, 271 LONDON : PRINTED BY G. J. FALMER, SAVOY STftEKT, STRAND. •v" NEW WORKS PUBLISHED BY MR. CHURCHILL, PRINCES STREET. THOS. SHAPTER, M.D. PHYSICIAN TO THE EXETER DISPENSARY. The CLIMATE of the SOUTH of DEVON, and its Influence upon Health : with short accounts of Exeter, Torquay, Teignmouth, Dawlish- Exmouth, Sidmouth, &c. Post Bvo. cloth, price 7*. 6d. Illustrated with a Map geologically Coloured, " This very admirable work, for completeness, information, and philosophical tone, may serve as a model for all future inquiries of the same nature. . . . We advise our readers to procure and study the original for themselves. ... In concluding this very imperfect sketch of Dr. Shapter's valuable and interesting work, we must at once recommend it to the attention of our readers. Independently of the important information of various kinds contained in it, it may safely be studied as a model for those who are desirous of pursuing a similar line of inquiry, and who wish to see the medical topography of a district treated with that brightness of purpose and philosophical candour which should characterise the writings of every member of a liberal profession." — British and Foreign Medical Review. "• This volume is far more than a guide book. It contains much statistical information, with very minute local details, that may be advantageously consulted by the medical man before he recommends any specific residence in Devonshire to his patient." — Athenaeum. " The remarks upon the principal inland and sea coast towns of South Devon are what will render the book most interesting to the general reader ; and being backed, as previously said, by an admitted medical authority, it should become the companion of all who are seeking health in those renowned regions of our own fair isle. The geology, natural productions, economical history, and statistics of South Devon are treated of; and thus while there is a philosophy in the relation of all these subjects to one another, there is also a source of instructive amusement to all who follow our advice, and make this their guide to South Devon." — Literary Gazette. the Same, MEDICINE an ART, and its TRUTHS to be ATTAINED. Being an ADDRESS read on January 31, 1848, at the opening Meeting of the " Library of the Exeter Dispensary," and the " Devon and Exeter Pathological Society." " We cordially thank Dr. Shapter for the assistance he has given us, and of which we have gladly and freely availed ourselves in setting before the medical profession the imperfections of its present intellectual system:" — British and Foreign Medico-Chirurgical Review. REMARKS upon the MORTALITY of EXETER ; together with SUGGESTIONS TOWARDS THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH. HEALTH OE TOWNS COMMISSION. Report on the State of Exeter. 2691® NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE NLII 02T_5___ 1