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INDEX.

SOILS AND SITES. BY ARTHUR RANSOME, M.A., M.D., F.R.S. DRAINING AND SEWERING. BY JOSEPH CORBETT, EEQ., C.E. *PLANS AND SECTIONS. BY FRANCIS VACHER, F.R.C.S....

FOUNDATIONS AND MATERIALS USED IN BUILDINGS.

BY JOHN HOLDEN, F.R.I.B.A., F.S.I.

PAGE

I

23

37

55

PLUMBING. By W. R. MAGUIRE, ESQ., F.R.M.S.

81

DECORATION AND FURNISHING, WITH ILLUSTRATIONS IN
COLOURS. By G. F. ARMITAGE, ESQ..................................

117

HEATING, LIGHTING, AND VENTILATION.

BY JOHN NEWTON, ESQ., M. INST. C. E......

THE LEGAL POSITION OF LANDLORDS, TENANTS, AND

SANITARY AUTHORITIES.

BY J. E. CRAWFORD MUNRO, LL.M.

133

157

* PLANS, SECTIONS, AND ELEVATIONS of Country and Town Cottages, and Tenement Dwellings, specially arranged for Workingmen, on a scale of in. to a foot, illustrating this Lecture. Price Threepence.

SOILS AND SITES.

BY ARTHUR RANSOME, M.D., M.A., F.R.S.

IT

T is intended in the present series of Health Lectures to make the dwelling-house the centre around which all our discourses are to play-its site, its foundations, the materials of which it is constructed, the ground plans and elevations of the edifice, its drainage, heating, lighting, and ventilation, its plumbing, its decoration and furnishing, and, lastly, the legal conditions under which it may be inhabited. On all these topics it is hoped that the several lecturers may have something practically useful to say, and something that may be of widespread usefulness to the community. It is my business to-night, not only to begin the course for the present season, but theoretically, if not actually, to lay the foundation for the superstructure—at least, to point out where it will best be placed.

We all of us have to inhabit some kind of dwelling-house; and though there are not many of us who can choose the one that may seem to us the highest ideal of what a dwelling should be, we shall none of us be the worse for knowing something of the subjectwhat dangers may have to be encountered, what advantages may be secured, and how a dwelling may be most healthfully and economically constructed.

The subject that has been entrusted to me is "The Site of the House," the place on which it should be erected, and the nature of the soil in which its foundations are to be based.

In selecting a site, or in choosing a dwelling, there are not many men who care to look much below the surface. Those persons whose fortunate lot it is to be able to live in the country, generally regard the aspect towards which the living rooms will look, whether the views from them are pretty, whether the garden is good and suitable for the growth of plants and vegetables. They

enquire as to the water supply, and the nearness to a town or village or railway station from which eatables may be procured. Possibly, too, a thought may be given to the question of drainage; but there are not many people who are themselves competent to judge as to its adequacy.

To those who have to live in a town, the first considerations are probably the position of the dwelling in reference to their business, its rental and adaptability to the needs of the household, and whether the neighbourhood is suitable for their position in life; and after all these points are settled, there may come in some questions as to the healthiness of the situation, and the arrangements for the disposal of refuse.

But we shall have to look much beyond all these things if we would secure life's chief blessing of health to those who are to form the family circle of such a home. In the country we shall have to take account of the aspect of the house in regard to the possible danger from malaria. We shall have to examine the nature of the subsoil upon which the house is built, or is to be constructed, its composition, its structure, its moisture, and the way in which it can be drained away; and in towns there is always the possibility of previous contamination of the ground, and the danger that poisonous emanations may pass from the ground into the precincts of our habitation.

I propose to take up each of these topics in their order, and although it will not be possible within the short limits of a single lecture to deal exhaustively with the subject, I hope that I may be able to say sufficient on each point to put you on your guard against some of the more common dangers to health that lurk within or on the surface of the soil.

1. As to aspect. We all know the advantages of a southern aspect for a house, and we can appreciate the importance in this climate of having as much of the warmth and light of the sun as we can get. But it may not be equally well known that the sun's light is an important sanitary agent. It has been shown recently by Dr. Downes and Mr. Blunt that the minute organisms that produce putrefaction cannot live in the full glare of sunlight, and it is highly probable, therefore, that many disease germs, which are closely allied to them, will be equally affected by light. Other observers, notably Dr. Graves, of Dublin, and M. Fourcault, have on the other hand given good reasons for believing that the absence of light produces a tendency to the production

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