Genre:

Essay, Polemic

Subjects:

Politics, Government, Human Development, Narcotics, Disease, Class, Medical Practitioners

    Discusses Brougham's contributions to the House of Commons debate on the Factory Bill. Insists that Brougham is unaware of the fact that 'women employed in the factories could not suckle their children' and challenges Brougham's argument that because this practice has not proved injurious to aristocratic mothers, it should be safe to factory women. Adds that Brougham found it difficult to believe that factory women could not hire wet nurses for their children. The author points out that such mothers do hire wet nurses, 'and their names are "Opium", "Godfrey's Cordial", and "Gin"'. Laments Brougham's 'ignorance of this fact' and invites him to consider a speech of Anthony A Cooper (Lord Ashley) describing the staggering quantities of opium and 'other preparations' administered by factory women to their children to keep them still—a practice that leads to children falling victim to hydrocephalus. Concludes by wondering whether Brougham would have been so 'insulting' to factory women had he known this, and would not have compared factory women to those aristocratic ladies who can hire family physicians.