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becomes so offensive as not to be borne, or that
disease is present in the house, or that one or more
of the inhabitants have been snatched away bydeath,
that the condition of these houses become
known to the Sanitary Inspector, or is reported to
myself. I would, therefore, again repeat what I
said last year, that in all cases where brick drains
have existed for seven or eight years, they ought to
be examined whether they smell or not, in order
to ascertain whether they are entire or not. It is
not the gases which smell the most that are most
injurious to health, and a broken drain or cesspool
may be constantly pouring forth a deadly miasm
that can only be detected by those accustomed to
the investigation of such causes of disease.
In connection with the deficient drainage of the
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better class of houses, I would especially refer to
their frequent deficient ventilation. The fear of a
draught is alike the bane of the rich and poor.
Windows are not only not opened, but they are
not made to open; many windows have the topsash
immoveable, the letting down of which is the
only efficient way of ventilating the room at all.
The water closets are frequently placed in
positions where ventilation is next to impossible,
and many of them even in good houses are disgustingly
small, dark, and noisome. These are
some of the causes which, amongst even the
wealthier classes of society, produce directly attacks
of disease, or by their constant action on the system