Sir
William Blizard worked for twenty years as a lecturer on surgery and
anatomy at the Royal College of Surgeons. Sir William Blizard was
interviewed by Michael Sadler and his House
of Commons Committee on 21st May, 1832.
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Sir William Blizard was interviewed by Michael
Sadler and his House of Commons Committee
on21st May, 1832.
Question:
It is a known fact, that the factory system affords employment to
females. Is the female able to endure long and active labour as the
male?
Answer: Certainly not.
Question: Is not the female constitution particularly liable to present
and permanent injury, by undue exertion or improper treatment at that
particular period?
Answer: No doubt of it; it is admitted that at an early period the
bones are not permanently formed, and cannot resist pressure to the
same degree as at a mature age, and that is the state of young females;
they are liable, particularly from the pressure of the thigh bones
upon the lateral parts, to have the pelvis pressed inwards, which
creates what is called distortion; and although distortion does not
prevent procreation, yet it most likely will produce deadly consequences,
either to the mother or the child, when the period.
Question: Do you think that a child under nine years ought, under
any circumstances, to be sent to the labour of the mill.
Answer: Certainly not.
Question: Labour is undergone in a polluted atmosphere, rendered impure
by the mixture of dust and flues constantly passing off from the material,
would not, in your opinion, constitute an additional hardship as it
regards the hands of the employed?
Answer: Oh, no doubt of it; I might enlarge upon this very much. With
regard to that which is separated from the raw material, it is a foreign
body, and, by being inhaled into the system, has a very material effect
upon the small vessels of the lungs. With regard to the lungs, there
is a certain quantity of pure air required; and if not supplied, it
will pollute the whole frame.
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