A mixture of spirit, 500 parts; tinct. aromatica, 5 parts; oils of bergamot, lavender, and rosemary, of each 2 parts; oil of thyme, 3 parts; oil of spearmint, 1 part. (Hager.)
SANITATION, DOMESTIC. Not one of the least creditable or important benefits conferred of late years, by the efforts of philanthropic and enlightened enterprise upon the poorer classes of this country, has been the erection—in cities and large towns more particularly—of healthy houses for them to dwell in. In the construction of these habitations the architects and designers have for the most part been guided by sound sanitary principles, the carrying out of which has been effected by means of legislative supervision, and if needful, of legislative action.
The result of these measures has, in most cases, been to provide residences for our poorer brethren, wherein, amongst other advantages, they enjoy the two primary ones of pure air and water. That the richer, upper, and middle classes, whilst devising and achieving so much in the way of comfort and health for those beneath them, should themselves in so many cases live in houses notoriously unhealthy, and should fail to recognise the advantages of the compulsory enforcement of necessary hygienic arrangements, are anomalies so amazing as to be, at first sight, scarcely credible. Yet a little piece of statistics may serve to discomfit those who are incredulous on this point. The average mortality in London is 24 persons in a 1000. In the improved dwellings of the poor it is only 14 in the 1000.
This subject was ventilated in a very earnest and valuable paper read before the Social Science Congress at Brighton in 1875 by Mr H. H. Collins. In this paper Mr Collins refers only to the houses of the metropolis and its suburbs, and maintains that, as far as regards the enforcement of sanitary precautions in house building, London and its suburbs are infinitely worse provided for than many second-rate provincial towns, most of which, he says, have the construction of their buildings and streets regulated by bye-laws issued under the powers of the Public Health Act, and sanctioned by the Home Secretary, whereas in London the various Acts of Parliament for this purpose have been inoperative. Mr Collins describes the insanitary condition of some of the high-rented houses he examined and says the descriptions which follow equally apply to many others situated in the most aristocratic quarters of London.
Imagine one of our legislators who, perhaps, had been voting for the passing of the “Nuisance Removals Act,” returning from his parliamentary duties to such a mansion as is portrayed by Mr Collins in the following extract:—“I have recently purchased on behalf of a client the lease of a mansion in Portland Place from a well-known nobleman, who had spent, as I was informed, a fortune in providing new drainage; indeed, I found the
principal water-closet built out of the house altogether; the soil-pipe of it, however, was carried through the basement, where it was supposed to be connected with the drain. Upon removing the floor-boards to examine it, I found the ground surrounding the connection literally one mass of black sewage, the soil oozing through the point even at the time of the examination, and the connection with the main-drain laid in it at right angles. The 9-inch drain-pipes ran through the centre of the house, having a very slight gradient, and had evidently not been laid in many years, yet they were nearly full of consolidated sewage, and but little space was left for the passage of the fluid. With but a slightly increased pressure the joints would have given way, and the sewage would have flowed under the boards instead of into the sewer. The sinks, water-closets, and cisterns were all badly situated, and all more or less defective in sanitary arrangement. In the butler’s pantry the sink was placed next to the turn-up bedstead of the butler, who must have inhaled draughts of impure atmosphere at every inspiration. The soil-pipes of the closets had indeed been ventilated with a zinc rectangular tube, but, as this had been so placed as to let the sewer-gas through an adjacent skylight into the house, and the odour being extremely disagreeable, it had been by his lordship’s directions (as I am told) closed. Here was evidence that it had at all events been doing some service, and probably had only poisoned a few of the domestics. I found the bends of soil-pipes likewise riddled with holes, as described by Dr Leargus. There happened to be a housemaids’ sink situated close to a bedroom, the waste from which had been carefully connected with the soil-pipe, so that probably had the closets been satisfactorily ventilated, this arrangement would have defeated the object in view. I should also mention that the best water-closet was situated on the bedroom floor under the stairs, and was lighted and ventilated through a small shaft formed of wood boarding and carried to the roof; it also opened by a window to the main or principal staircase. The gutter of the roof ran through the bedrooms and under the floors; at the time of examination it was full of black slimy filth. This is a fair specimen of the sanitary arrangements of a nobleman’s town house, situated in one of the best streets of this great metropolis in the year of grace 1875.”
Let us take another example:—“A few years ago a client of mine, who resided in a large house in a wealthy suburb, informed me that his wife and two daughters had suffered in health ever since they had occupied their house, that he had consulted several medical men without beneficial result, and that he wished me to make a survey of the premises. He paid a rental of about £200 per annum. I found that the drainage was in every way defective, although he told me that he had
spent a large sum of money in making it ‘perfect,’ the gradients were bad, the pipes choked, and the joints unsound. The servants’ water-closet was adjacent to the scullery, which was in communication with the kitchen, the sink being directly opposite the kitchen range. The water-closet was supplied direct from the cistern, the waste from which entered the drain, although it was said to be trapped. The waste of the sink was simply connected with the drains and trapped with an ordinary bell-trap, the cover or trap of which I found broken. Under the kitchen range hot-water tap I found a trapped opening, also leading into the drain. The domestics complained of frequent headaches and general depression, and I need not add that it excited no surprise, seeing that the kitchen fire was continuously drawing in from the sewers and house drains a steady supply of sewer-gas to the house and drinking-water cistern. In addition I found the basement walls damp, owing to the absence of a damp-proof course and the want of dry areas. The upper water-closets, house-closets, and cisterns were situated over each other, off the first-floor landing, and directly opposite the bedroom doors. The bath and lavatory were fixed in the dressing-room, communicating with the best bedroom, the wastes from which were carried into the soil-pipe of closets. This latter was unventilated, but was trapped with an S pipe at bottom. The water-closets were pan closets, and were trapped by D traps. The upper closet periodically untrapped the lower closet, and both traps leaving the impure air free access to the house and cistern, which latter was also in communication by means of its waste-pipe with the house-drains. The overflows from safes of the water-closets were practically untrapped. The peculiar nauseating odour of sewer-gas was distinctly perceptible, and I had but little doubt but that atonic disease was rapidly making its inroads on the occupants. The landlord refused to recognise the truth of my report. My client, acting on my advice, relinquished his lease, took another house, the sanitation of which was carefully attended to, and his wife and children have had no recurrence of illness.”
Mr Collins mentions a very alarming and unsuspected source of aerial poisoning in many town-houses to be the existence of old disused cesspools in the centre of the buildings. These receptacles, which are frequently nearly filled with decaying fæcal substances, are very often found to be insecurely covered over with tiles, stones, or boarding. To ensure the construction of a healthy dwelling-house, Mr Collins regards attention to the following conditions as essential:—“All subsoil should be properly drained, proper thickness of the concrete should be applied to the foundations, damp-proof courses should be inserted over footings, earth should be kept back from walls by dry areas properly drained and ventilated, external walls should be built of good hard
well-burnt stock brickwork, of graduated thicknesses, and never less than 14 inches thick; internal divisions should be of brick in cement. The mortar and cement should be of good quality. All basement floors should have a concrete or cement bottom, with air flowing under the same, and the boarding thereof should be tongued so as to prevent draught and exhalation penetrating through the joints of the same. Ample areas back and front should be insisted on, the divisional or party fence walls of which should never be allowed to exceed 7 feet in height, to allow free circulation and to prevent the areas becoming wells or shafts for stagnant air. The main drains should be carried through the back yards, and, to prevent inconvenience to adjoining owners from any obstruction, they should be laid in subways, so that the sewer inspector could gain ready access thereto without entering any of the premises or causing any annoyance to the tenants. No basement should on any account be allowed to be constructed at such a level as will not permit of the pipes having good steep gradients to the sewer.