the Government regards the money it gives as a reward. It is not so; it is the necessary money voted by the nation for the education of its children, and of which all schools require their share. It is childish to tell us that we must make our schools efficient and never mind whether we get money to support them or not; and when inspectors actually tell us that many of our schools would be more efficient if they earned less Government grant, and that to make them efficient we must not try for grant, I consider that the system is self-condemned by the mouths of its own supporters. Independence of the Government grant is all we want, and the law will then allow us to take our proper place as school managers; but as long as we have to earn money we must earn it how we can, and we have now to earn it by being managers in little more than name, and by paying a slavish obedience to the slightest regulation of a department which thinks that from a single office at Whitehall it is capable of regulating the individual life of each one of the millions of school children under its dominion. That it cannot do this successfully is, I think, becoming increasingly evident, and I hope most earnestly that the public attention which is being at present bestowed on the subject will result in the establishment of an educational system more suited to the needs of a great and progressive nation and to the physical and mental wants of each individual child. SMALL POX IN DURHAM.-In response to a requisition to the mayor a public meeting of the inhabitants of the City of Durham has been held to consider the best steps to be taken to prevent the further spread of small-pox now so prevalent in that city. There was a numerous attendance of the leading gentlemen of the city and university under the presidency of the mayor. Dr. Lake, Dean of Durham, in moving the first resolution, urged the necessity of promptly providing a temporary hospital or other place for the proper isolation of patients, in which he was supported by other speakers, the resolution being carried unanimously. On the motion of Archdeacon Watkins it was resolved that the clergy, all ministers of religion, and medical men residing in the city act as a committee to provide immediately trained nurses for the poor now suffering from small-pox.' At the monthly meeting of the Durham Urban Authority held on the 5th instant, the Finance and General Purposes Committee recommended the authority to apply to the county justices for the use of old militia stores as a hospital for infectious diseases; as also to the Race Committee for the use of the Grand Stand for that purpose, as well as to the Dean and Chapter for land to be used also for checking the progress of the disease. memorials were read praying the authority to take prompt measures to stay the spread of the disease and to provide a hospital at once. The town clerk read the report of the medical officer of health (Dr. Barron), wherein it appears that officer has repeatedly urged upon the authority the necessity of providing a hospital ever since the first appearance of the disease in that city, and the necessity had daily become more urgent. Fifteen deaths from the disease had occurred during the month of October. It was interfering with trade and causing much misery. Mr. Barnes complained of the culpable manner in which persons affected with the disease exposed themselves in the streets. It was suggested that schools be closed during the preva lence of the epidemic. It was announced that the justices were willing to grant the use of the militia barracks for a hospital, and they have since been utilised for that purpose. Canon Body has taken the initiative and secured the services of trained nurses to visit the sick at their homes and to provide necessary comforts. Two Resident-Director of the Newcastle Industrial Dwellings. AFTER SO much has been said and written on the important subject of housing the poor, I fear it is somewhat difficult to avoid travelling to some extent over well-trodden ground; yet I trust that the experience of one who has been intimately associated with the working classes for a very long period, and who has also for the past fourteen years been resident manager of a large block of industrial dwellings, may not be found entirely devoid of interest. A person who occupies such a position obviously enjoys greater facilities for practically studying the question than those who are not afforded such opportunities. The poor may be divided into two great sections, Whilst the the deserving and the undeserving. former are entitled to our warmest sympathy and support, as being placed in their unfortunate position through no fault of their own; the latter are poor, and probably always will be poor, on account of their own vicious habits, which seem as difficult to get rid of as for the Ethiopian to change his skin. Poverty is caused quite as much by the waste of money as by the want of it. If the two sections could always be kept apart, the great problem of the hour would be much nearer a solution than it appears to be at present. We find the victims of vice and misfortune so mingled together in the slums of our large towns that sanitary and other conveniences, which are much appreciated by the well-disposed, are continually neutralised or destroyed by people who are equally regardless of their own and neighbours' health and comfort as they are of their landlord's pocket. It will be generally found that it is this dirty, destructive, and non-rent-paying class that are most blatant over their self-inflicted grievances, and impose on unwary philanthropists by their plausible fictions. If these people were put into mansions of faultless construction and spotless cleanliness, they would, if allowed, soon reduce their new homes to the condition of their former hovels: squalid nurseries of filth, disease, and vice. It certainly seems unreasonable to be continually harassing the landlords of property inhabited by such people to keep it in thorough repair, when they know the impossibility of the task from bitter experience; and that whatever repairs they do will be speedily undone by malicious and unprofitable tenants. No greater hallucination can exist than to imagine that property inhabited by a disreputable class of tenants is really such an El Dorado as is sometimes represented by writers, who are guided more by sentiment than a desire to learn the truth. The fact is, such property seldom proves remunerative, as the occupants not only cause the unfortunate landlord endless trouble and expense in repairs, but resort to every known artifice to avoid paying rent at all. It is scarcely necessary to observe that, as a rule, their household requisites are distinguished by their scantiness and portable character, so that, if desirable, a sudden change of residence can be accomplished with remarkable celerity. I have known cases where the owners of tenemented property in Newcastle have actually given it away rather than be further subjected to the annoyance and expense which it entailed. Read at the Newcastle Diocesan Conference, Oct. 30, 1884. It may naturally be asked, Why do landlords or their agents admit such undesirable tenants into their property? In answer to which question it may be stated that no sane person would do so knowingly; but in spite of all the precautions taken they get admission most frequently by practising gross deception. In seeking admission such applicants prove themselves adepts at simulation, and occasionally present themselves with borrowed clothes cn their backs, a well-filled rent-book and forged character in their hands; this trick, along with a plausible tale of their antecedents, sometimes succeeds in throwing the landlord or agent off his guard; as he cannot always spare time to verify credentials, he may trust to appearances and is thus deceived. It sometimes happens that a respectable-looking relative of the family is employed to take a room or house for the intended occupants, when their own appearance is not considered prepossessing. Once in possession they can cause the landlord considerable trouble and loss, before they can be ejected in legal form, which is a dilatory and expensive process, and is only resorted to under compulsion. From the constant frauds to which landlords and their agents are subject, they have now become much more wary than they were formerly, and disreputable parties now find it a more difficult task to impose on them. It would be absurd to deny that bad landlords do exist, but in the majority of cases it will be found that it is bad tenants that make bad landlords. From long personal observation, I have no hesitation in expressing my opinion, which is but the echo of other persons of equal experience, that the primary cause of much of the poverty and wretchedness to be met with in the slums of Newcastle, as well as of other large towns, arises from a constant craving for drink by the inhabitants, which destroys all regard for the best affections of human nature, and for everything calculated to make a happy home. The numerous temperance agencies that have been established in Newcastle, have undoubtedly done much good amongst the male population of the working class; but it is a lamentable fact that drinking amongst women is alarmingly on the increase. As home is the birthplace of all that is good or evil in man, no effort should be spared to preserve the purity of the domestic hearth; the best of all reforms begin at home and cannot be accomplished without the voluntary aid of wives, mothers, and daughters; it is important that we enlist them under the right banner. Here the clergy can render efficient aid. But, from whatever cause these nurseries of disease and vice have sprung up in our midst, it is a most suicidal policy to allow them to remain, impregnating the atmosphere, physical and moral, with their foulness; they should be uprooted at all hazards, as their injurious effects are seldom confined to the locality where they originate. Infectious disease spurns geographical boundaries and class distinctions, and although generated in wretched hovels, often finds its way by subtle means to the mansions of the rich, selecting its victims with startling impartiality. We therefore cannot afford to ignore its existence ; selfinterest, if no higher consideration, should prompt us to take energetic steps for its removal. The longer we suffer the cancer to grow, with apathetic indifference, the more dangerous it will become, and the more difficult to remove. The evil must, therefore, be faced boldly if we desire an efficient cure, but how is this desirable result to be accomplished? In my humble opinion, the initiative rests with the sanitary authorities, whose staff should be augmented if required, so as to enable them to make an efficient inspection of all houses periodically, so that they may detect any defects of construction as well as the existence of any nuisance detrimental to the public health. It is desirable that vigorous efforts be made to find out and punish the real offenders, who create the nuisances, and not, as is often the case now, to visit the shortcomings of bad tenants upon the head of their unfortunate landlord who is frequently made to pay dearly for the removal of nuisances of whose existence he was probably ignorant till pointed out to him by the authorities. Malicious tenants, who were in arrears of rent, have been known to stop up drains and water-closets, or do other wilful damage, and then coolly report the existence of the nuisance to the inspector, with the object of gratifying their petty spite at their landlord's expense. Sanitary officers thus sometimes unwittingly become the catspaw of bad tenants, and owners of tenemented property more particularly complain bitterly of this annoyance, which would soon abate if the real offenders were reached and punished; depraved minds only practise virtue under compulsion. We have seen the excellent results of the police supervision of common lodginghouses; the system should be extended in a certain degree to tenemented dwellings. The Corporation of Newcastle seem desirous of carrying out this view, and have recently passed a set of by-laws under the 90th section of the Public Health Act, which are not altogether of a satisfactory character; whilst some of the clauses justly affect dirty tenants, by other clauses landlords will be subject to much unnecessary trouble and expense, through the default of their tenants. These obnoxious clauses have created much dissatisfaction amongst owners of tenemented property, which possibly may lead to some desirable modification of them. Otherwise landlords may prefer, as the lesser of two evils, to shut up their property rather than be subject to further irritating annoyance and loss. Thus the injudicious exercise of stringent powers may intensily the difficulty, by leading to the continued eviction of the most troublesome class, who must find accommodation somewhere, and at somebody's expense, even if it be the ratepayers. We cannot expect landlords to ruin themselves for the benefit of worthless tenants. It will be obvious that the death-rate of a locality is often quite as dependent on the habits of the residents, as upon the construction of their habitations, and therefore the deathrate of a place cannot always be regarded as an infallible test of its normal healthiness. And here I may observe that the Church can render valuable aid by instructing her clergy to strive all in their power to inculcate the necessity of habits of temperance and cleanliness amongst their parishioners; if this could be accomplished, they would find their future work much more pleasant. It has been well said that cleanliness is next to godliness. Having thus referred to the people and causes which make our slums a disgrace to us, and thwart in no small degree the best efforts of the clergy, sanitarians, and philanthropists, we will now take a glance at the more agreeable side of the picture, and consider the wants of the really deserving poorunfortunately a numerous class, whom it is unjust to punish or neglect for the faults of their less deserving brethren. In going through the slums of our large towns we sometimes come across a humble dwelling which arrests our attention by the contrast it affords to its surroundings-a clean, bright spot or oasis in a wilderness of filth, whose occupants, despite their misfortunes and scanty furniture, have not forgotten the lessons of cleanliness engrafted into them during their earlier and happier days: this is the class that wins our sympathy. Compelled by necessity, and not from inclination, to inhabit places whose only attraction is their low rental, as best suited to their limited resources, and to herd amongst those whose antecedents and habits are very different to their own, they evidently endeavour to put the best face on their misfortune, and show us that even our slums, with their manifold defects, can be made to present a much cleaner and healthier appearance than they generally do. The principal cause of poverty amongst the deserving class is the want of employment, now unhappily so prevalent, and sickness, contingencies which cannot be avoided by the keenest human foresight. It should be clearly apparent that the majority of the labouring poor cannot afford at any time to pay any proportionally large amount out of their slender and uncertain earnings in the shape of rent. There are hundreds of men in Newcastle who in the best of times cannot earn more than 20s. per week to keep themselves and their families; at present, many would probably be thankful for a fraction of that sum. Much as these poor people may appreciate healthy homes and sanitary conveniences, they are often far beyond their reach, and they are compelled to subjugate their desires to their means. Two shillings per week is the utmost that most unskilled labourers can afford to pay out of their weekly earnings for their dwellings; and many cannot pay even that sum with a due regard to the necessities of their families. Unfortunately no one has yet been able to show us any practical plan by which suitable dwellings could be erected on a sound commercial basis, at a cheap rate, so as to let at this low rental, and yet produce a satisfactory return as an investment, though many efforts have been made. The excellent work of Miss Octavia Hill and her coadjutors may be said to come the nearest to the desired end; but it must be remembered that her plan of transforming old houses into improved dwellings is only available to a limited extent, where opportunities occur, so that her laudable and economical system can only be regarded as but a partial remedy for housing the multitudinous poor, who require to be dealt with on a much larger scale. The authorities of several of our large towns have shown their sincere anxiety to grapple with this important question in a practical manner. It is now thirty-two years since the Corporation of London took the matter in hand, and before the passing of Sir R. Cross's Act in 1875 they had provided accommodation for 1,800 persons. They have just erected a block in Petticoat Square for about 1,000 persons, at an estimated cost of 68,000l. It is not necessary to refer at length to the many blocks of model dwellings which have been erected in London during recent years, for although the majority of them have proved a gratifying success in a commercial sense, their erection does not seem to have benefited the real poor to any appreciable extent, not even excepting the magnificent blocks belonging to the Peabody Trust. One of the most exhaustive and able papers that has yet appeared on this subject was read before the Liverpool Diocesan Conference last year by Mr. Forwood, Chairman of the Insanitary Committee of the Liverpool Corporation, which will be found with other interesting matter of a kindred nature in the SANITARY RECORD (December 15, 1883), which journal, I may note, has devoted a considerable portion of its valuable space to the ventilation of this important question for many years past. After studying the question carefully, Mr. Forwood declares his conviction that when it is clearly proved that the public health is endangered by the existence of overcrowding and insanitary houses, and that private enterprise is unable or unwilling to cope with the evil, it is the duty of the authorities to face the matter boldly and provide a remedy, even at the risk that such action may entail a loss. The Corporation of Liverpool, acting on this advice, are at present building at Nash Grove thirteen blocks of labourers' dwellings, five storeys high, at an estimated cost of 55,000l., exclusive of the cost of the ground; further erections are also projected. (See SANITARY RECORD for March 15, page 437.) Mr. Forwood is of opinion that the block system offers the best and cheapest means of providing suitable dwellings for labourers, near to their work, at low rentals, and that it is desirable that such rents, if possible, should not exceed one shilling per week per room, if it is intended to place such accommodation within the reach of the very poor. The objections once raised by theorists against the block system of building dwellings on the score of unhealthiness, &c., has now been exploded by the practical experience gained in the numerous blocks of model dwellings which have been erected in London and elsewhere. Dublin is another city where more than one scheme under Sir R. Cross's Acts has been faithfully carried out. The Corporation cleared a large area at a cost of 24,000l., and in order to encourage the erection of dwellings for the labouring classes they let it to the Dublin Artisans' Dwellings Company at the nominal rent of 200l. per annum. Thus encouraged, the company has already built 600 houses, specially adapted to the requirements of the working class, and are about to erect 400 more on another site. Dr. Cameron, of Dublin, is another authority who is also of opinion that in default of action being taken by any other agency it is the duty of the municipal authorities to make some provision for housing the very poor. The authorities of Belfast have given an impetus to the erection of houses for the working class by making a material reduction in the rates of that class of property; houses under 207. per annum being allowed a reduction of 50 per cent. off the regular assessment: a further reduction of 25 per cent. is allowed on houses under 87. per annum, provided the rates are paid promptly by the landlord within a month of the date of the assessment. Under such liberal treatment it is not surprising that the working class of Belfast are much better off in the shape of house accommodation than many of their brethren resident in other large towns. Capital self-contained cottages of two and three rooms, with the usual conveniences, are to be had at from 2s. 6d. to 3s. 6d. per week, and prove amply remunerative at those figures. In Birmingham the authorities may almost be said to have led the van in sanitary reform during recent years. By their energy and liberal expendi ture of a considerable amount of money in improvements, they have accomplished a complete and satisfactory change in the sanitary aspect of that large and important borough, including the erection of several labourers' dwellings. It was stated by Dr. Foster, at the recent Social Science Congress held there, that he did not believe that there were more than a dozen instances of families occupying but a single room to each family in that town-a marked contrast to what he had seen there before, and to what can now be found elsewhere. The excellent work accomplished by the City of Glasgow Improvement Trust is so well known, that it is merely necessary to mention it as showing the good corporate authorities can do in this direction when so minded. These authorities have set an excellent example to other Corporations. In Newcastle, where so large a proportion of the population reside in tenements of but one or two rooms, no practical effort has been made, or aid given, by the Corporation to provide accommodation for the many hundreds of the labouring poor who have been unhoused during recent years, on account of new streets and other improvements, although the necessity for doing so has been freely admitted, and plans for the purpose have been prepared on several occasions. This omission has been keenly felt by many poor labourers, who now find it very difficult to procure a home suited to their requirements within easy reach of their work. These so-called improvements have also pressed very hardly on the poor people in London, as by them 22,000 persons have been unhoused, whilst accommodation has only been provided for about 14,000 on or near the site of their former dwellings. The grievance has perhaps been most acutely felt in Newcastle by the Quayside labourers, whose only chance of a temporary job often depends on their presence upon the spot when a steamer or other vessel arrives. It is bitter irony to ask these poor people to reside a mile or more away from their work, as many are now compelled to do, through their former habitations in the neighbourhood being pulled down. It was sideration the company applied to the Public Works Loan Commissioners for a loan equal to one-half the cost of the proposed extensions, which was granted. As this loan is repayable, both principal and interest, in heavy annual instalments, it formed a somewhat serious charge on the company for the first few years after it was granted, engrossing a considerable portion of the annual revenue, which would have otherwise been applicable to the payment of dividends if the whole of the capital had been provided by shareholders. A large portion of the capital sum has already been repaid, and of course the balance is reduced yearly. The shareholders will ultimately reap the reward of their pluck and patience, as their property becomes annually enhanced in value, with the advantage of undeniable security. With the aid of the increased capital thus obtained in 1879 the company extended their block by the addition of other sixty-four sets of tworoom dwellings and shops—as well as a large room used for instruction and recreation. The whole of the dwellings are now fully let, with numerous applicants waiting for vacancies. This year the company paid a dividend of 3 per cent. ; their resources have been much crippled by the payment of house duty and other onerous rates and taxes, to which similar buildings elsewhere are more or less exempt. The buildings now accommodate 500 persons, chiefly of the labouring class. Of course the Loncion companies, with a different class of tenants, and a rental at least 25 per cent. higher than can be obtained in the provinces for similar accommodation, are able to show more favourable returns, but the results will always be governed by local circumstances. For instance, whilst some of the blocks of the London Improved Industrial Dwellings Company pay as much as 8 per cent., their blocks at Wapping (which for situation and class of tenants hear the greatest affinity to the block of the Newcastle company) only paid 1 per cent. last half-year, but from the great number of their blocks in various parts of London, which command higher rents, the company are able to equalise their dividends and pay a Corporation of Newcastle might well follow the example of the authorities I have quoted; for, with the abundance of land of their own in eligible situations at their disposal, and with a competent official staff, they are able to erect a large block of dwellings for the labouring class at a much less cost, and therefore, at a lower yet remunerative rental than can be expected of any public company or private individual who do not possess such advantages. Beyond this, surely the hundreds of poor people who have been unhoused by the Corporation during recent years have some claim to their consideration. If unwilling to build themselves, the Corporation might render material assistance to those who recognise the great want of dwellings for the poor, and may feel disposed to meet it. The principal effort that has been made in New-uniform 5 per cent. It has been suggested that the castle to meet the urgent want of dwellings near the Quayside was undertaken by the company with which I have the honour of being connected, which, along with many other philanthropic works, owes its formation chiefly to the indomitable energy of Mr. James Hall, its present chairman. In 1870 the company erected a small experimental block of forty-four dwellings, which proved a great success. speedily filled with good tenants, the demand for rooms being much greater than the supply, and, as the shareholders provided most of the capital, they were rewarded with the fair dividend of 5 per cent. for nine years successively after the opening of the buildings, showing conclusively that in Newcastle, when properly supported, such an undertaking does not prove a bad investment, independent of any other good work it may accomplish. This success induced the company to make an effort to extend their block, but unfortunately at that time 5 per cent. does not appear to have been in quite so good repute as at present, and the appeal of the directors for the increase of capital necessary to carry out their proposed extension met with a poor response. It was evident that the proposed extensions would have to be abandoned unless the aid of a Government loan or some other means of raising the necessary capital was sought. After much con The principal facts that have been elicited after all that has been written and said on this subject may be thus summarised. Ist. That the poor of the labouring class, out of their limited resources, cannot afford to pay more than a rental of from one to two shillings per week for their dwellings, of whatever size and construction and wheresoever situate. 2nd. That no practical plan has yet been devised by which dwellings can be built, which, after paying a fair market price for land, labour, and material, can be let at these low rentals and prove remunerative to the builders. THE REGULATION AND REGISTRATION OF PLUMBERS. 3rd. If this desirable end is to be accomplished it must depend, to some extent, on philanthropic aid, FACTS IN SUPPORT OF THE EXTENSION OF either from Government, corporate authorities, or private individuals. 4th. The most efficient aid that the Government can give is to grant loans at a low rate of interest THE EXISTING STATUTE LAW AS TO HOUSE DRAINAGE.* By ERNEST HART, Council of the International Health Exhibition. say 2 per cent.-to companies who erect dwellings Chairman of the National Health Society; Member of the Executive at a low rent for the bona fide poor, the repayment of such loans to extend over a longer period than is now the custom (thirty years). 5th. That it shall be incumbent on corporate authorities as the appointed guardians of the public health, where the want of proper dwellings for the poor is shown to exist, to provide sites for the erection of such dwellings; and, in order to encourage such erection, to grant a reduction of rates, or afford such other aid, as may enable the promoters to secure a satisfactory return. 6th. That the sanitary officers should take more vigorous action under the powers already conferred upon them to improve the condition of existing dwellings and the removal of nuisances, whether caused by bad tenants, or the neglect of unscrupulous landlords, care being taken to reach the real offenders. SODA AND MINERAL WATERS.-The Commissioner of Health (Dr. Raymond), by virtue of the power conferred upon him by law, has declared the following practices dangerous and detrimental to public health, and has therefore prohibited the same in the city of Brooklyn :-(1) The storage, keeping, selling, or having for sale, of soda water or mineral water in tin-washed copper fountains or vessels. (2) The storage, keeping, selling, or having for sale, of soda water, mineral water, syrups, or flavouring extracts, in vessels composed in whole or in part of copper, lead, or other poisonous substance in which the soda water, mineral water, syrup, or flavouring extracts come in contact with the copper, lead, or other poisonous substance. (3) The selling, delivering, or draughting of soda water, mineral water, syrups, or flavouring extracts through pipes, faucets, or taps, composed in whole or part of copper, lead, or other poisonous substance, unless such pipes, faucets, or taps are so lined, coated, or protected as that the soda water, mineral water, syrup, or flavouring extracts cannot come in contact with the copper, lead, or other poi onous substance composing the same. The commissioner states that, in reference to the above declaration and order, the evidence as given in the recent hearings satisfied him that the probability of soda water and mineral water becoming contaminated with poisonous substances was very great, and that an examination just made by the chemist of the department (Dr. Bartley) confirms this opinion. In this examination Dr. Bartley visited fifty-five localities where soda and mineral water were sold. These localities were not selected, and included some of the principal thoroughfares of the city. In these fifty-five examinations copper was found in the syrup in eight and in the soda or mineral water in seventeen instances. In this tour of inspection he found but four tin-washed copper fountains in use, and in every one the soda water contained copper. A MILKMAN DISSEMINATING FEVER.-At the Berwick Police Court, William Scott, a cow-keeper at Tweedmouth, was charged with contravention of the order of the Privy Council by allowing milk to be sold whilst there was typhoid fever in his house. It was stated that up to that time no less than twenty-three cases of fever had been traced to milk sold from Scott's house after the disease had broken out there. He was fined in the mitigated penalty of three guineas; a somewhat mysterious decision. I. INTRODUCTORY. GENTLEMEN,-It would ill become me, before an assemblage such as this, to arrogate any superior or special knowledge on the art and mystery' of proper plumbing. But it has seemed advantageous that one who, from the nature of his work and the bent of his inclinations, has gathered together some experiences of general interest on a matter that affects us all, both professionally and domestically, should offer those experiences for the consideration and discussion of an institution having functions and attributes such as yours. In what follows, I shall not attempt to indicate in detail the sanitary defects from which our houses and their inhabitants suffer. It must suffice for me to draw your attention in general terms to the undoubted evils which accompany bad plumbing and imperfect drainage, and to indicate what, in my judgment, appear to be the only effectual remedies. It is not by any means an exaggeration to say that hardly a week passes without some mischief caused by bad drainage being brought under my notice. Epidemics caused by sewer-gas occur and recur, but their warning is not heeded. People are vaguely conscious when they get a strong whiff of sewer-gas in their houses, that there is something wrong with the drains,' but it does not occur to them that there is any need for action on their part until fever or diphtheria. It is not till then that the one of their household is struck down with typhoid health-officers or sanitary architect is called in, to find, it may be, that the inmates of the house have been practically living for a considerable period over a cesspool. The effects of sewer-gas manifest themselves in many occult ways other than an explosion of actual disease. A convalescence is retarded; ordinary disorders take on more acute phases, surgical operations heal slowly and badly, the household is generally out of health, and below par. A diligent search in the basement would probably reveal the cause of all this. I shall hardly need, before an assemblage like the present, to argue that drains ought not to be improperly constructed, improperly laid, or imLet me enproperly connected with the sewers. deavour to be constructive as well as destructive, and to indicate what, in my opinion, may best be done by legislation to keep from our thresholds the arch and subtle enemy of sewer-poison. It would be foreign to my present purpose to discuss at all the various traps and other contrivances for preventing the access of sewers-gas to our houses that are so much paraded before the public. The cardinal principle is, of course, to break the connection between the air of the housedrains and the air of the sewers. Anything that interferes with this, or sets itself up in substitution for it, is a delusion and a snare. I shall presently Read at the Plumbers' Conference at the International Health Exhibition, Oct. 20, 1884. |