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MARRIED WOMEN IN FACTORIES. 165
valuable inquiries should be buried in scarce Blue Books, which
are hardly accessible, except in the 13ritish M~~seum or n few
other public libraries. After describing in n fow touching
sentences thc history c+f u~nuy a young woman mho fiuds
herself n mother mhilu shc is yet really n child herself, ko
proceeds (p. 458) :
“A worsc degrcc of crimimlitg is found in older mothors. After
loring a clliIc1 or two, thcy begin to view tho subject ns 0110 for ingenuity
and speculation. It is related that 011 tho birth of (L second or third
bastard the neighbours will say : ‘ So-and-so hns rtnothcr baby ; you’ll
sco it, won’t live.’ And this hcomcs (L sort of jokc, in which tho mothcr
will join; pulllic upinion expressing no colrticmuution of her cruelty. A
medical mnn is r:lllcd to tho wnstillg iurtwt, bcc~~rlsc tl~cro is so much
bother with rcgistering. Tho mothor sup tho child is dying, nnd won’t
touch food. When he offcrs food tho cldd is ravenous, and fit to tenr
the spoon to picccs. On somcof tho fcw occasions on wllich thc surgeon,
in his disgust, has insisted on opening thc body, thc stornacl~ luld bowels
hare been found quito cmpty.”
Dr. Hunter enters pretty fully into tho natural history of
“Godfrey,” tho compound of opium, trcncle, and infusion of
sassafras, to which r~~nny thousands, perhaps hundreds of
thousands of infants havc succumlxd. This is so commonly
demanded in many districts that it becomes tho ‘( leading
article ” at the shops. Tho shopkcepers, in tho sen1 of cornpetition,
sell “Godfrey ” at cost price, as the best means of
inveigling improvident mothers. One inconvcnicncc of this
excessive competition is, that different specimens of “Goclfroy ”
vary much in strength, and a nurse who incautiously administers
a new brand of tho cordial is sornetimcs alarmcd at the result.
Thus, saps Dr. Hunter (p. 459) : It has not unfrequentlg
happened that n nurse has substituted her own ‘ Godfrey ’ for
her client’s” [query ? her client’s “ Godfrey” for her own]
rr and, frightened at its effects, has summoned the surgeon,
who finds half-a-dozen babies-some snoring, some squinting,
all pallid and eye-sunken-lying about the room, all poisoned.”
There 81% peculiar technical means, it seems, which surgeons
nee in such emergencies to bring the babies round, but I need
not describe them. Suffice it for our purpose that Hunter
asserts it to be the general opinion of medical practitioners