and the remainder is but imperfectly distributed in the room, but its cheerfulness as a fire and its utility as a ventilator are more influential than the objections on the ground of expense. With increased cost of coal it is however certain that some modification of the system must be effected, and heat generated and distributed at a less cost. This is at present in operation in a very limited degree by the system of hot-water distribution with which stacks of pipes are connected, and adapted to warm the hall or a room, and although this has not yet been extended to small houses, the building of blocks of such houses under one management will render it practicable. In such a case one arrangement for the warming of the water or the air for all the houses would suffice, and the distribution might be made in defined proportions to the several rooms or houses. The chief sanitary difficulties to be overcome in this system of ventilation are the regulation of the temperature and the prevention of an undue dryness of the air. With an internal temperature above 62° or 64° there would be danger of increasing the sensibility of the skin, so that exposure to the cold external temperature of winter would be followed by disease, whilst other evils indicated by debility might arise. The air becomes relatively drier as the temperature increases, since its capacity for the reception of moisture. increases with it, and hence the quantity of moisture required to produce saturation of the air increases with the temperaThe table on the next page will be found useful :— ture. (No. 8.) WEIGHT IN Grains of a Cubic Foot of Vapour, under the Pressure OF 30 INCHES OF MERCURY FOR EVERY DEGREE OF TEMPERATURE FROM 0 TO 100°. Note. The temperature is the dew-point, and the weight of vapour is the weight which can be sustained at that temperature without being visible. SECTION III. DRAINS AND DRAINAGE; PETTIES, AND OTHER ACCUMULATIONS OF FILTH.* The drainage of houses is of the utmost importance to health, and has been the subject of many legislative enactments. The following are extracted from the Towns' Im * See also p. 181. provement Clauses Act, 1847, and the Metropolis' Local Management Act, 1855, but the subject will be discussed at greater length under the following clause :— TOWNS' IMPROVEMENT CLAUSES ACT, 1847. Section 33.-All sewers and drains within the limits of the special Act, whether public or private, shall be provided by the commissioners, or other persons to whom they severally belong, with proper traps or other coverings or means of ventilation so as to prevent stench. Level to allow Drainage. Section 36.-No house or building within the limits of the special Act shall be built upon a lower level than will allow of the drainage of the wash and refuse of such house or building into some sewer belonging to the commissioners either then existing or marked out upon the map hereinbefore directed to be made by them, or into the sea. Privy. Section 43.-The owner of any such house shall provide the same with a privy, with such door and covering of the same, and with such ash-pit as aforesaid, to the satisfaction of the commissioners, within one month next after notice in writing for that purpose given by the commissioners to him or the occupier of the house. Stagnant Water in Cellars. Overflow of Cesspool. Section 99.-No person shall suffer any waste or stagnant water to remain in any cellar or other place within the house belonging to or occupied by him, within the limits of the special Act, so as to be a nuisance; and every person who so suffers such water to remain forty-eight hours after receiving notice from the commissioners to remove the same, and every person who allows the contents of any privy or cesspool to overflow, or soak therefrom, to the annoyance of the occupiers of any adjoining property, shall for every offence be liable to a penalty not exceeding forty shillings, and to a further penalty not exceeding five shillings for every day during which such nuisance continues. METROPOLIS' LOCAL MANAGEMENT ACT, 1855. Drained Houses. Section 75.-If any house or building, whether built before or after the commencement of this Act, shall within any such parish or district be found not to be drained by a sufficient drain communicating with some sewer and emptying itself into the same to the satisfaction of the vestry or board of such parish or district, and if a sewer of sufficient size be within one hundred feet of any part of such house or building on a lower level than such house or building, it shall be lawful for the vestry or board, at their discretion, by notice in writing, to require such owner of such house or building forthwith or within such reasonable time as may be approved by the vestry or board to construct and make such house or building into any such sewer a covered drain, and such branches thereto, of such materials, of such size, at such level, and with such fall, as shall be adequate for such house or building and its several floors or stories, and also of its areas, water-closets, privies, and offices (if any), and for conveying the soil drainage and wash therefrom into the said sewer, and to provide fit and proper paved or impermeable sloped surfaces for carrying surface water thereto, and fit and proper sinks, and fit and proper syphoned or otherwise trapped inlets and outlets for hindering stench therefrom, and fit and proper water supply and water supplying pipes, cisterns, and apparatus for scouring the same, and for causing the same to convey away the soil, and fit and proper sand-traps, expanding inlets, and all other apparatus for hindering the entry of improper substances therein. Water-closet, Privy, &c. Section 81.-After the commencement of this Act it shall not be lawful newly to erect any house or rebuild any house pulled down to the extent aforesaid within any parish mentioned in Schedule (A) to this Act, or any district mentioned in Schedule (B) to this Act, without a sufficient water-closet or privy and ash-pit furnished with proper doors and coverings, and also furnished as regards the water-closet with suitable water supply and water supply apparatus and with suitable trapped soil-pan and other suitable works and arrangements. Inspection of Drain, Water-closet, &c. Section 82.-It shall be lawful for any such vestry or board, or for their surveyor or inspector or such other person as they appoint, to inspect any drain, water-closet, privy, cesspool, or water supply or sinks, traps, syphons, pipes, and other works or apparatus connected therewith, within the parish or district of such vestry or board, and for that purpose at all reasonable times in the daytime. COMMON LODGING-HOUSES ACT, 1851. As to cleansing Common Lodging-houses. Section 13.-The keeper of a common lodging-house shall thoroughly cleanse all the rooms, passages, stairs, floors, windows, doors, walls, ceilings, privies, cesspools, and drains thereof to the satisfaction of and so often as shall be required by or in accordance with any regulation or bylaw of the local authority, and shall well and sufficiently and to the like satisfaction limewash the walls and ceilings thereof in the first week of each of the months of April and October in every year. * SECTION IV. PERSONAL HABITS OF THE PEOPLE. None can doubt that the personal habits of the people exert a great influence over public and private health. Want of cleanliness of the person, house, utensils, and yard,' *See also p. 144. |