particularly those comprised in Class No. 1, are in a wretched state
with respect to the common conveniences of life, being adjacent to
stagnant ditches and pools of water, and having only one privy, common
to many houses, and hemmed in with piggeries, &c., most of these
houses having no back doors, the consequence of which is, that fevers
and other disorders, generated by filth and malaria, are very
prevalent, particularly in humid weather.”
_Mr. Elias Barlow_, the relieving officer of the Wolstanton and Burslem
union, states that—
“The townships of Knutton and Chesterton have been visited with fever
for several months; and it still continues its raging influence,
particularly in Knutton, the reason of which appears to me to be want
of drainage, owing to the houses having been built upon low marshy
ground; and also want of ventilation, owing to the houses being too
small and having no back doors; it first made its appearance in the
lowest class of houses, but has since extended to others.”
The condition of the labouring population of Liverpool, in respect to
drainage, is thus described in the report of _Dr. Duncan_:—
“The sewerage of Liverpool was so very imperfect, that about 10 years
ago a local Act was procured, appointing commissioners with power to
levy a rate on the parish for the construction of sewers. Under this
Act, which expires next year, about 100,000_l._. have been expended in
the formation of sewers along the main streets, but many of these are
still unsewered; and with regard to the streets inhabited by the
working classes, I believe that the great majority are without sewers,
and that where they do exist they are of a very imperfect kind unless
where the ground has a natural inclination, therefore the surface
water and fluid refuse of every kind stagnate in the street, and add,
especially in hot weather, their pestilential influence to that of the
more solid filth already mentioned. With regard to the courts, I doubt
whether there is a single court in Liverpool which communicates with
the street by an underground drain, the only means afforded for
carrying off the fluid dirt being a narrow, open, shallow gutter,
which sometimes exists, but even this is very generally choked up with
stagnant filth.
“There can be no doubt that the emanations from this pestilential
surface, in connexion with other causes, are a frequent source of
fever among the inhabitants of these undrained localities. I may
mention two instances in corroboration of this assertion:—In
consequence of finding that not less than 63 cases of fever had
occurred in one year in Union-court Banastre-street, (containing 12
houses,) I visited the court in order to ascertain, if possible, their
origin, and I found the whole court inundated with fluid filth which
had oozed through the walls from two adjoining ash-pits or cesspools,
and which had no means of escape in consequence of the court being
below the level of the street, and having no drain. The court was
owned by two different landlords, one of whom had offered to construct
a drain provided the other would join him in the expense; but this
offer having been refused, the court had remained for two or three
years in the state in which I saw it; and I was informed by one of the
inhabitants that the fever was constantly occurring there. The house
nearest the ash-pit had been untenanted for nearly three years in
consequence of the filthy matter oozing up through the floor, and the
occupiers of the adjoining houses were unable to take their meals
without previously closing the doors and windows. Another court in
North-street, consisting of only four small houses I found in a
somewhat similar condition, the air being contaminated by the
emanations from two filthy ruinous privies, a large open ash-pit and a
stratum of semi-fluid abomination covering the whole surface of the
court.
“From the absence of drains and sewers, there are of course few
cellars entirely free from damp; many of those in low situations are
literally inundated after a fall of rain. To remedy the evil, the
inhabitants frequently make little holes or wells at the foot of the
cellar steps or in the floor itself; and notwithstanding these
contrivances, it has been necessary in some cases to take the door off
its hinges and lay it on the floor supported by bricks, in order to
protect the inhabitants from the wet. Nor is this the full extent of
the evil; the fluid matter of the court privies sometimes oozes
through into the adjoining cellars, rendering them uninhabitable by
any one whose olfactories retain the slightest sensibility. In one
cellar in Lace-street I was told that the filthy water thus collected
measured not less than two feet in depth; and in another cellar, a
well, four feet deep, into which this stinking fluid was allowed to
drain, was discovered below the bed where the family slept!”
He also states,—
“There are upwards of 8,000 inhabited cellars in Liverpool, and I
estimate their occupants at from 35,000 to 40,000.”
He adds that—
“In a Report lately made by the Surveyors, appointed by the Town
Council to examine the condition of the court and cellar residences
within the borough, it is stated that of 2,398 _courts_ examined,
1,705 were closed at one end, so as to prevent thorough ventilation.
Of 6,571 _cellars_, whose condition is reported on, 2,988 are stated
to be either wet or damp, and nearly one-third of the whole number are
from 5 to 6 feet below the level of the street.”
_Dr. Jenks_, in his report on the condition of the town of Brighton,
states,—
“Owing to the imperfect and insufficient drainage of the town, the
inhabitants are compelled to have recourse to numerous cesspools as
receptacles for superabundant water, and refuse of all kinds; and to
save the inconvenience of frequently emptying them, they dig below the
hard coombe rock till they come to the shingles, where all the liquid
filth drains away. The consequence is inevitable; the springs in the
lower part of the town must be contaminated.”
But even in Birmingham, which, as will be seen, enjoys almost an
immunity from fever in consequence of the fortunate position of the town
conferring advantages in respect to drainage, and the good construction
of the houses, it appears from the report made by the physicians and
surgeons, that the drainage is in many places extremely defective.
“The great sewers of the town open into the Rea, or into the rivulets
which discharge their contents into that stream. In some places these
rivulets are now covered over and constitute sewers. The present
sewers, which are numerous and large, appear to be sufficient to carry
off any storms or floods to which the town is liable, and no part of
the town is subject to inundations. The principal streets are well
drained, but this is far from the case with respect to many of the
inferior streets, and to many, or rather most, of the courts, which,
especially in the old parts of the town, are dirty and neglected, with
water stagnating in them. These require immediate attention, and care
ought to be taken that the depth of the main drains is sufficient to
drain the cellars of the adjoining premises, which is not the case in
some parts of the town. It is also important that a system of proper
drainage should be enforced at the commencement of the building of any
new streets or houses. The want of some regulations in this respect
often causes the accumulation of putrid water in ditches and pools in
the immediate vicinity of newly-erected buildings. In some parts of
the borough, as at Edgbaston, there are but few public underground
sewers, and the water from the houses is discharged into the ditches
or gutters by the sides of the roads, where it stagnates. In the
courts the drains are often above ground, and not covered in, and
discharge their contents into the gutters or kennels in the streets.
We do not think that much advantage is derived from having small
underground drains in the courts if the gutters are laid upon a proper
slope and are kept in proper repair, for the weirs or grates of small
underground drains are very apt to be out of order, or to become
choked, in which case accumulations of filthy fluids take place above
them.”
The inquiry into the sanitary condition of the towns in Scotland shows
that similar defects stand equally in need of remedy in that part of the
empire. _Mr. Burton_, in his report on the provisions of the Police Act
for the city of Edinburgh, observes:—
“Until very lately the Cowgate, a long street running along the lowest
level of a narrow valley, had only surface drains. The various alleys
from the High-street and other elevated ground open into this street.
In rainy weather they carried with them each its respective stream of
filth, and thus the Cowgate bore the aspect of a gigantic sewer
receiving its tributary drains. A committee of private gentlemen had
the merit of making a spacious sewer 830 yards long in this street at
a cost of 2000_l._ collected by subscription. The utmost extent to
which they received assistance from the police, consisted in being
vested with the authority of the Act as a protection from the
interruption of private parties. During the operation they were
nevertheless harassed by claims of damage for obstructing the
causeway, and their minutes, with a perusal of which I have been
favoured, show that they experienced a series of interruptions from
the neighbouring occupants, likely to discourage others from following
their example.”
In a communication from _Mr. William Chambers_, he observes—
“Within these few years, the practice of introducing water-closets
into houses has become pretty general, wherever it is practicable; but
in the greater part of the old town nothing of the kind can be
accomplished from the want of drains. There are drains in the leading
thoroughfares, but few closes possess these conveniences, and water is
also sparingly introduced into these confined situations. You will
therefore understand that a want of tributary drains and water is a
fundamental cause of the uncleanly condition of the town. Of water of
the finest kind there is indeed a plenteous supply, but unfortunately
this is a monopoly in the hands of a joint-stock company, and
excepting at two or three wells, all the water introduced into the
town has to be specially paid for, in the form of a tax upon the
rental, by those who use it.”
As in England, the ignorance or neglect upon this matter is not confined
to the labouring population of the capital. _Dr. Scott Alison_, in his
report on the condition of Tranent and the adjacent districts, observes
that—
“There is nothing like an efficient system of drainage in Tranent and
the other villages in the district. There is a piece of drain here and
there, but it is very inefficient. There is not even a sufficient
water-course in the main streets of Tranent; and it frequently
happens, during and after a heavy fall of rain, that the carriage-road
is covered with water, and that some of the lower class of houses are
inundated. In a few parts of the town the water-course is covered with
stones or flags. These occasionally fall in, and openings are made.
These openings are generally left unrepaired, and are not filled up.
People frequently get hurt by stepping into them when it is dark. I
have myself met with an accident; and serious mischief would very
frequently occur did people not pay particular attention to avoid
them.”
_Dr. Sym_, in his report on the sanitary condition of the town of Ayr,
states that—
“A good covered sewer traverses the principal streets of the new part
of Ayr; but the old part of the burgh, and both Newton and Wallacetown
have merely shallow open gutters along the sides of the causeway.
These gutters receive all the liquid refuse from the closes and alleys
which communicate with the street, and which are generally causewayed
in such a way that one side is considerably higher than the other, so
as to permit water to find its way to the opposite edge. This sort of
drainage might suffice for all useful purposes in our dry sandy soil
if we had an adequate establishment of scavengers; but the gutters in
many of the streets, and in all the closes inhabited by the poor are
so much neglected, that they are never free from the stinking residuum
of foul water. In Newton and Wallacetown, the drainage is exceedingly
imperfect; indeed, in most streets of the latter it may be said
scarcely to exist, and as the surface is very flat, almost the whole
of the liquid putrescence and filth which are thrown out from the
houses is allowed to filter through the sand, or evaporate in the sun,
leaving a most offensive paste at the sides of the streets, and in the
passages through the houses. This is the more to be regretted, that
the beautiful state of cleanliness of the new part of Ayr, shows with
how little labour it might be obviated with the aid of our absorbent
soil and free atmosphere. There are some streets, the main street of
Newton in particular, which have such inequalities in the causewayed
footpaths, and such want of escape by the gutters, that it is
impossible to find one’s way through them in a dark night, without
many a plunge into the filth. There is everywhere sufficient slope
toward the river to render drainage perfectly effectual, if properly
executed.”
_Mr. Forrest_, the surgeon, in his account of Stirling, states that—
“The drains or sewers, called in Stirling ‘_sivers_,’ are all open and
sloping. On the public streets they are, in general, well constructed,
but in the closes their construction is so very bad that scarcely any
of them run well. The only supply of water, so far as I know, which
they receive, is from the heavens. The inhabitants of Stirling, during
many months of the year, do not obtain water sufficient for their
domestic wants, and they cannot, therefore, have any to spare for
their sewers. There is a regularly appointed service of scavengers,
but it is inefficient. A few old men sweep the public streets from
time to time, and the sweepings thus collected are removed in a cart,
without any apparent attention to time or order. Sometimes the
sweepings remain on the streets for many days. To show how matters of
medical police are neglected, I shall state a few facts which are
known to every person in Stirling. 1st. The filth of the gaol,
containing on an average 65 prisoners, is floated down the public
streets every second or third day, and emits, during the whole of its
progress down Broad-street, Bow, Baker-street, and King-street, the
principal streets in the town, the most offensive and disgusting
odour. 2nd. The slaughter-house is situated near the top of the town,
and the blood from it is allowed to flow down the public streets. 3rd.
The lower part of a dwelling-house, not more than three or four yards
from the town-house and gaol, is used as a ‘midding,’ and pigsty, the
filth being thrown into it by the window and door. 4th. There are no
public necessaries; and the common stairs and closes, and even the
public streets, are used habitually as such, by certain classes of the
community. 5th. Two drains from the castle, convey the whole filth of
it into an open field, where it spreads itself over the surface, and
pollutes the atmosphere to a very great extent. 6th. A dwelling-house
in the Castle-hill, the greater part of which is inhabited, is used by
a butcher as a slaughter-house; and some of the butchers kill sheep
and lambs in their back shops, situated under dwelling-houses. 7th.
The closes where the poor dwell, and where accumulations of filth most
abound, are, I may safely say, utterly neglected by the scavengers. In
some situations, the ventilation around the residences is good, but in
many others, and especially in the closes, it is very bad, and in my
opinion, quite irremediable.”
Before quitting this class of instances, it may here be necessary to
guard against the conclusion that neglect of drainage is confined to
towns, or to numerous and crowded habitations. Similar instances may be
presented, even of single and isolated houses, and of small groups of
rural cottages, in almost every district. Of this last class of cases I
give only one instance, supplied by the evidence of _Mr. J. Thomson_, of
Clitheroe:—
“Have you not had amongst your own people an instance of pestilence
occasioned by the neglect of removable causes of disease?—In the
summer of 1839 some remarkable cases of fever occurred in my immediate
neighbourhood amongst the inhabitants in my employment, of a small
cluster of houses called Littlemoor. The situation of this little spot
has always been considered, and justly, as remarkably healthy and
agreeable, the soil around it being dry, and not marshy, as the name
would seem to imply. It is situated on gently sloping ground, about a
mile from the town of Clitheroe, and freely exposed on all sides to
the wind. It contained six houses and 21 inhabitants at the time of
the fever. The houses are built in three distinct groups, round an
irregular area of from 50 to 60 feet square. A single, inadequate, and
half-choked-up drain, originally constructed more than 40 years ago,
for the only cottager, then existing on the spot, was the only
underground outlet for the filth, and sink, and surplus water of these
habitations; the rest was carried off by a deep and open ditch filled
with grass and weeds; this ditch spread out, about 100 yards to the
north, into a shallow stagnant pool, in summer green and fœtid; from
which was conveyed all the water that could flow during that season
past and amongst the cottages at Littlemoor. Into the centre of the
open area or yard was poured all the filth of the houses in open
channels, and thence, by the above-mentioned underground drain,
conveyed away. This state of things was bad enough, but was rendered
still worse by the erection recently of a pigsty, the litter and filth
of which not only obstructed the drain, but occasioned a pool of
abomination of the most perilous and disgusting nature. At the time I
saw it—the commencement of the fever—it was overflowing into the
foundation of the principal habitation, and had infected the whole
house with its stench, and was making its way by innumerable black and
fœtid streams through a small shrubbery, the area of which it wholly
covered, into the deep and open ditch. Believing this to be the source
of the pestilence, I had the sty instantly pulled down, the filth
removed, and a large drain brought up to the centre of the yard,
terminating in small covered troughs to each habitation. This was in
the middle of August, and from the hour of the removal of the filth no
fresh case of fever occurred. The first case was on the 12th of May,
and was followed by another in the same house on the 27th. In June
there were three cases; and in July six; in August four; in all, 15;
of which nine were the resident inhabitants, in a population of 21;
and the remaining six, nurses and attendants on the sick, obtained
from the immediate neighbourhood. No fever prevailed at the time in
Clitheroe. One case was fatal, and the health of a most valuable
member of that small community was so seriously affected by the fever
as to cause his death in a short time. A visitor and attendant on the
funeral of the person deceased at Littlemoor, and who took the fever,
died also. This spot has remained, and I doubt not will continue,
healthy ever since.
“The medical gentleman, Mr. Garstang, of Clitheroe, who attended the
preceding case, has communicated to me the equally striking and
instructive statement I subjoin:—At Chatburn, a village to the north
of Clitheroe, he was called to attend a patient in fever, in the month
of May of the same year 1839. The first object that struck his eye on
approaching the house was a long pole, with a bunch at the end, black
and filthy from its recent use in forcing a choked-up and inaccessible
drain, which passed between and under the gable-ends of two closely
contiguous houses, only a few inches apart, one of which contained his
patient. From this single case and house Mr. G. ascertained that 11
cases arose, by which means the fever was spread through the country,
where it prevailed with great severity, and terminated, in many
instances, fatally. There was no fever but what could be traced to
this, and no other discoverable source.”
_Street and Road Cleansing: Road Pavements._
The local arrangements for the cleansing and drainage of towns, &c.,
generally present only instances of varieties of grievous defects from
incompleteness and from the want of science or combination of means for
the attainment of the requisite ends. Thus the local reports abound with
instances of expensive main-drains, which from ignorant construction as
to the levels, do not perform their office, and do accumulate
pestilential refuse; others, which have proper levels, but from the want
of proper supplies of water do not act; others, which act only partially
or by surface drainage, in consequence of the neglect of communication
from the houses to the drains; others, where there are drains
communicating from the houses, but where the house-drains do not act, or
only act in spreading the surface of the matter from cesspools, and
increasing the fœtid exhalations from it in consequence of the want of
supplies of water; others again, as in some of the best quarters of the
metropolis, where the supplies of water are adequate, and where the
drains act in the removal of refuse from the house, but where from want
of moderate scientific knowledge or care in their construction, each
drain acts like the neck of a large retort, and serves to introduce into
the house the subtle gas which spreads disease from the accumulations in
the sewers.[3] Other districts there are where their structural
arrangements may be completed, and water supplied, and the under
drainage in action, and yet pestilential accumulations be found spread
before the doors of the population in consequence of the defective
construction, and the neglect of the surface-cleansing of the streets
and roads. Recently a remonstrance was made to an able and active member
of a Commission of Sewers, for taking no steps to extend the drainage in
a wretched district of the metropolis. The reply was, a statement, that
a drain had been cut through a portion of it, but that it had done no
good; and the remonstrant was invited to inspect the district himself,
and judge whether, with streets that were unpaved and uncleansed, wet
and miry, with deep holes full of refuse, it were possible by any under
drainage to remove the evil complained of. Other districts there are in
which the Road Commissioners or the Paving Board appears to have done
their duty; but the benefit is prevented, and the road is kept
continually out of repair by the neglect of the service of scavengers.
All these local defects again are referred back to the defective
construction of the Acts of Parliament,—which generally either presume
that no science, no skill is requisite for the attainment of the
objects, or presume both to be universal,—which in some instances
actually prohibit the only effectual mode of drainage, namely, that from
the houses into the main-drains; and in others, prescribe cleansing by
house-drains without supplies of water; or prescribe the construction of
roads independently of drains, and direct the execution of only part of
the necessary means, leaving other essential parts to the discretion of
individuals.
Between a town population similarly situated in general condition, one
part inhabiting streets which are unpaved, and another inhabiting
streets that are paved, a general difference of health is observed. The
town of Portsmouth is built upon a low portion of the marshy island of
Portsea. It was formerly subjected to intermittent fever, but since the
town was paved, in 1769, it was noticed by Sir Gilbert Blane, that this
disorder no longer prevailed; whilst Kilsea and the other parts of the
island retained the aguish disposition until 1793, when a drainage was
made which subdued its force.