from which they are shut off by a latched gate only. Fæcal matter lies about the few square feet of space allotted to the occupants of these seven tenements. In another part of the same thoroughfare is a row of twelve houses, containing in all a population of some sixty persons, for whose use there were nominally three closets, all exposed to public view. Practically, however, the sanitary accommodation was restricted to two of these offices, one of them being without a door, within full view of a much frequented footpath and the towing-path of a canal, and also habitually used by the men and boys employed at some adjoining ironworks, a 'short cut' to which lies in immediate proximity to it. How can habits of cleanliness and decency, or even morality, be expected to be maintained under such circumstances? On the opposite side of the road is another row of ten houses, none of which have any back doors. The closets for the use of the people living here are situate nearly 110 yards from the end house, and can only be reached along the main road. There are four of them, two being without doors, and all within view of passers-by. The fæcal matter runs away into a gulley, where it stagnates or percolates into the ground. In another part of the same ward the liquid filth from the middens runs down the yard to a convenient spot at the back of a row of houses, where it forms a green, stagnant, stinking pool, percolating through the bricks and into the foundations of the houses, with results not pleasant to imagine. A large number of the houses in this and other wards in the borough are in bad repair, unspouted, damp, and internally filthy dirty. The landlords will not do anything to them, or even find the materials where the tenants are willing to apply them. The tenants cannot afford to whitewash and colour or paper the walls and ceilings at their own expense, neither can they remove to other quarters on account of being, very many of them, in arrear with the rent, and knowing that to attempt to 'flit' would be to run the risk of losing the few sticks of furniture they possess. Of course a great deal of the dirt and squalor and general wretchedness is owing to the uncleanly and intemperate habits of the people themselves, and in some cases to their fondness for live stock, pigeons and poultry of various descriptions being kept in close proximity to the houses, often in the houses themselves; it being no uncommon thing to find the only cupboard in the living room occupied at the bottom with coals, and above as a pigeon cot. In many cases, too, the landlords find their houses wilfully pulled to pieces, the quarries being torn up from the floor, and the woodwork from any place available, and used for various purposes. And as in some of the worst places they can neither get rent or get rid of the people without resorting to harsh measures, it cannot be wondered at that there should be a want of eagerness on their part to spend money on property possessed under such unprofitable conditions. A case in point occurred only a week or two since. A labouring man who, by dint of industry and thrift, had become possessed of several small houses in the central part of the borough, had them painted and done up, inside and out. Shortly afterwards four of them were tenanted by Irish people, and in a few days from that they became so infested with vermin that he had to expend several shillings on sulphur and carbolic soap, after getting rid of the objectionable tenants, before he could make them fit for anyone else to inhabit. Still, a great deal could

be done at comparatively slight cost by both landlords and the sanitary authority to remedy the more glaring evils. Great drawbacks to cleanliness and healthiness are the unsatisfactory state of the surface drainage, the damp condition of the houses owing to want of spouting and the existence of water in the cellars, the dilapidation and foulness which characterises so many of the privies and middens, and the want of a supply of pure water. We could multiply such cases of bad drainage and insanitariness as we have mentioned above by the dozen, did space permit. We have simply selected a few at random, and from one ward only, as showing the condition of things existing in a borough which claims-and with reason in some respects-to be in advance of many of the towns in the Black Country. In the more central parts of the borough, where the population is very dense indeed, the unwholesome conditions under which the people live are necessarily much aggravated. Little need for wonder is there that when a disease such as smallpox or scarlet fever breaks out, it spreads with alarming rapidity, and is very difficult to get rid of. It is some little satisfaction to find that the authorities are awaking to a sense of the responsibilities resting upon them, and that the work of the sanitary department is likely to be carried out in a more prompt, active manner in the future. One thing is absolutely necessary if any effectual improvement is to be made, and this is the increase of the departmental staff. Under such a condition of things as we have indicated, it will be readily understood to be absolutely impossible for one sanitary inspector to properly supervise a borough like West Bromwich. And yet up to the present time, there is but one such official. One cannot wonder that infected houses should remain in a neglected condition, and become centres of contagion for want of proper disinfection and cleansing, or that general and easily preventable insanitariness prevails to so large an extent.

THE BIRMINGHAM TOWN COUNCIL AND

ARTISANS' DWELLINGS.

The report and recommendations of the Artisans' Dwellings Inquiry Committee - a summary of which was given in the SANITARY RECORD for June 16 formed the subject of a lengthy debate at a special meeting of the Birmingham Town Council held on the 24th ult. The mayor, in moving the adoption of the report, remarked that with regard to the sanitary condition of the houses, many had been cleaned and repaired to a considerable extent. The great difficulty in connection with the small houses in the future was that those rented at 2s. 6d. and 35. 6d. per week were occupied by persons most of whom were not getting more than 1. a week, and a consequence of condemning those houses would be to drive many of the people into the workhouse or to lodging-houses, and the remedy in that case would be worse than the disease. Many of the owners of this small property, too, were in as impoverished a state as the occupants, and to attempt to close their houses without giving them compensation would be exceedingly harsh. The difficulty was not in regard to the erection of new houses, for the building by-laws would prevent the erection on the same soil of defective property in the future; but in regard to the property put up before there were any such regulations. They were assured on all hands that the working classes were willing to pay

for a good house as much as 5s. to 6s. per week, and good houses ought to be provided at that rent.

Considerable discussion of a somewhat animated character followed, the report being ultimately approved, with the exception of the recommendations as to cleansing the courts and providing closet accommodation, which were referred to the Health Committee, with instructions to report their views thereon. The Improvement Committee are also directed to inquire how the principle of rent collection, as devised and carried out by Miss Octavia Hill in London, can be applied to the area under their control. The recommendations appended by the Artisans' Dwellings Committee to their reports have been somewhat adversely criticised, as but a lukewarm and half-hearted dealing with the question. They certainly do partake somewhat of the character of grandmotherly legislation.' There could be no doubt in the minds of any one who followed the evidence given during the inquiry that the generality of the courts were in a dirty if not an absolutely insanitary condition. Yet it is only suggested that the 'worst' courts shall be 'occasionally' cleansed by public scavengers. Such courts as exist in Birmingham, having many of them a large resident population, should be regarded as thoroughfares and submitted to the same treatment. They require it, as a rule, more than many streets and open thoroughfares. Undoubtedly there ought to be no qualification in so important a matter; whatever is done or left undone, every court in the borough ought to be lighted and regularly and thoroughly cleansed.

In addition to the physical and sanitary advan

tages, the moral effect upon the residents would not fail to be beneficial. People with cleanly habits find it difficult to practise and maintain them in the midst of filth; those who have not such habits will never acquire them under the conditions which too often surround them. The necessity for the recommendation as to handrails to staircases being rigidly carried out has been shown very recently by the death of a man through falling over a staircase without a rail, during a drunken spree on the night of his marriage. On the whole it cannot be said that the result of exhaustive inquiry has been the solution of that difficult social problem-What to do with the poor. The committee seem rather to have been content to shift much of their responsibility on to other shoulders, and the poor have to some extent to suffer for the municipal extravagance of the past, which prevents the Corporation, by reason of the emptiness of its coffers through daring enterprises, carried out with the most dazzling splendour,' from adopting practical and thorough reform.

We have now endeavoured, though in but a cursory and imperfect manner, to describe the conditions under which the poorer classes of Birmingham, Wolverhampton, and other populous parts of the Black Country district, live, move, and have their being. The sanitary and social conditions are alike deplorable, and one is often the result of the other. One cannot wonder much at drunkenness, cock-fighting, dog-fighting, and even prize-fighting being indulged in as often as possible, where so large a degree of brutality and ignorance and vice in its most ferocious form exists. Nor can these be swept away by all the moral and suasive influences brought to bear, until the dwellings of the masses and their surroundings are less filthy and less hostile to all notions of cleanliness, decency,

and morality. The home has no attraction; the man seeks attraction elsewhere. The conditions under which he is compelled to live will often not admit of the cultivation of self-respect, unless it be inherent in him, and many people soon cease to trouble about keeping the house clean and tidy, where everything around them is suggestive of all manner of filth and nastiness. A great responsibility rests upon local authorities in this matter alone. Let them set the example of cleanliness and decency in regard to the dwellings and their surroundings. The occupants, however poor, will soon follow it, and the moral, as well as the physical and sanitary well-being of the people will be considerably enhanced.

SANITARY BUILDING LAWS IN NEW YORK.*

By CHARLES F. WINGATE, Sanitary Engineer. UNDER its English charter New York possesses almost no sanitary powers, and prior to the Revolution there seems to have been no sanitary legislation worth mentioning in the whole State. Even down to 1804, all legislation affecting the public health, which related mostly to quarantine and the removal of nuisances, was limited in its application to the cities of New York, Hudson, and Albany, the only ones of note at that time in the State.

In 1820, an elaborate Act of forty-five sections

provided for a Board of Health for the three cities just named, and the navigable waters connecting them. It included a provision for Health Wardens to inspect dwellings and other buildings. After the cholera epidemic of 1832, local health boards were formed throughout the State. At about 1850 the Common Councils of New York and Brooklyn were each constituted Boards of Health, with the result of so mixing up politics with health administration that of Health was created. The powers of the present in 1873 a change was made, and the present Board Board of Health, as regards buildings in New York, are thus set forth in the Sanitary Code :

The first provision, sect. 17, is sufficiently comprehensive No person shall hereafter erect, or cause to be erected, or converted to a new purpose by alteration, any building or structure which, or any part of which, shall be inadequate or defective in respect to strength, ventilation, light, sewerage, or of any other usual, proper, or necessary provision or precaution, nor shall the builder, lessee, tenant, or Occupant of any such, or of any other building or structure (within the right or ability of either to remedy or prevent the same), cause or allow any matter or thing to be done in or about any such building or structure dangerous or prejudicial to life

or health.'

Sects. 18 and 19 repeat much of the above, and add that no cellars or any apartment not at least two feet above the level of the sidewalk are to be used

for sleeping purposes, or as a place of residence, nor any apartment where the floor is damp, or which is impregnated with unwholesome odours. Overcrowding is forbidden. Adequate privies or waterclosets must be provided and kept in a cleanly condition. Rooms shall be adequately lighted and ventilated.'

Abridged from the Medico-Legal Journal. New York.

THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL'S

ANNUAL REPORT.

By J. HAMPDEN SHOVELLER. THE Forty-fifth Annual Report of the RegistrarGeneral of England has been recently issued. It contains detailed abstracts of the marriages, births, and deaths registered in England and Wales during the year 1882, prefaced by a valuable and interesting analysis of the vital statistics of that year.

The growth of the population of England and Wales during 1882, occasioned by the excess of births over deaths, was 372,360; but this does not represent the real increase. Emigration and immigration have to be taken into account. The population of this country in the middle of 1882 is estimated at 26,413,861, an increase over that of the preceding year of 352,125, a number more than 20,000 less than the balance between the births and deaths of the year. In consequence of the unprecedentedly large numbers of emigrants during the past few years, the loss of population due to the large excess of emigration over immigration must recently have been considerable.

The marriages during 1882 numbered 204,405, equal to a rate of 15:5 persons married to each 1,000 persons living. It is satisfactory to note that the marriage-rate, which fell year by year from 1873 to 1879, has since steadily recovered. Of the marriages during 1882, nearly 72 per cent. were solemnised according to the rites of the Church of England. The marriages included those of 124 persons described as divorced. In no less than 15 per cent. of the marriages the officiating minister neglected to insert in the register the name of both parties, or of one or other of them. The mean age at marriage among those whose ages were duly stated was 27.9 for males and 256 for females. The educational test supplied by the signing of the marriage register with a mark instead of the person's name shows a progressive improvement, though it has not, during the last few years, been so rapid. The proportion of persons who were unable to sign their names was 152 per cent. in 1882, which was a smaller proportion than in any previous year; still the fact remains that even now 13.2 per cent. of the men and 17'1 per cent. of the women of England are unable to sign their names in writing; though in the year 1850 no less than 31 in each 100 men and 46 in each 100 women who married were unable to sign the marriage register.

The total number of births registered in England and Wales during the year 1882 was 889,014, equal to a rate of 33.7 per 1,000 persons estimated to be living.

This was the lowest birth-rate recorded since 1853, and was considerably below the average rate in the preceding ten years. Of the 889,014 births, 452,752 were males and 436,262 females, so that to each 100 females 103.8 males were born. The proportion of illegitimate births was fewer in proportion to the population than in any previous year; though, in consequence of the diminution of the legitimate births, resulting from the decline in the marriage-rate, the proportion of illegitimate to total births did not show any decline.

The deaths registered in 1882 were 516,654, and were equal to a rate of 19.6 per 1,000 persons living. With the single exception of 1881, when the deathrate was 189, the death-rate in 1882 was the lowest on record. During the ten years 1871-80 the rate

averaged 214, and had the death-rate in 1882 corresponded with this average, no less than 48,338 more deaths would have been registered. This improvement in the general health of the country appears to have been shared in by persons at each age-period during each of the two years 1881 and 1882, so that the conditions prevailing in those years must have been favourable to health in all stages of life. The rate of mortality among infants showed the usual excess in the manufacturing and mining counties, and was lowest in the agricultural counties.

In the urban population of England and Wales, consisting of about fifteen millions of persons, the death-rate during the year under review was 211, while it did not exceed 17.2 in the rural population of about ten and a half millions. Both these rates

showed a marked decline from the average rates in preceding years.

The number of names added to the alphabetical indexes of marriages, births, and deaths in England and Wales during 1882 was 1,814,478. These records, for the convenience of public reference, extend from the year 1837, when civil registration was first established, to the present time, and contain an aggregate number of 66,619,275 names. The number of searches in these records during 1882 was as many as 33,597.

POISONOUS DYES.-The danger of wearing next the skin articles of clothing dyed with substances obtained from benzol and other products of coal tar has been fully recognised by medical men, who have given instances of the illeffects caused through the absorption by the skin of these irritating and poisonous compounds. Their warnings are repeated and illustrated in a case of exhibits sent to the Health Exhibition by an authority on skin diseases, Mr. James Startin, M.K.C.S. In this case, which will be found in the Dress Section in the East Quadrant, near the entrance from the conservatory, are specimens of some of the beautiful aniline colours-rosaline, magenta, violet red, methyl violet, Bismarch violet, &c.-and gloves and stock

ings dyed with the substances by which these hues are

obtained that, in cases coming under the treatment of the exhibitor, had produced eruptions on the skin of women and children, in some instances of a very severe character. Below are shown many vegetable dye stuffs, and gloves, stockings, and other portions of dress dyed with them, from which no danger of the kind need be apprehended.

VEGETARIANS are taking up the feeding of the children describes the experiment in the Daily News. A room of the poor on a self-supporting basis. A correspondent which had a small fireplace with hobs was taken in a King's Cross court at 3s. a week; three saucepans and other cheap utensils were bought; two or three mothers were asked in to help and to learn to cook; a shilling was invested in lentils and vegetables, and 6d. in two wheat meal loaves. So the dinner was made by the teacher and the mothers, and eaten with relish by the mothers and some fifteen to eighteen children for a week. So far the dinners were free. The mothers were then asked to club together; they were to take the cooking in turn, day by day; one fire was enough; and the cost had been found to vary from Sd. to Is. for twelve to eighteen portions of a little more than a large breakfast cup each. Accordingly the women are now cooking daily at their own expense the two-gallon saucepan full either of strong lentil soup, peas pudding, or sweet porridge. They feed their own children-each woman has three or four-and they have some left, which others in the court buy at three ladlefuls for a penny. One day they fed their party for a shilling, and sold the remainder to a non-co-operator for 2§d.; and 'the soup is beautiful.'