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7
polis will continue to be, in its relation to the public
health, a comparative failure. By the present method of
sewer ventilation, the atmosphere immediately above the
surface of the roads and streets is, especially in summer,
soon after sun set, not much better than that in the
sewers themselves; and it is only by observing the
greatest care in trapping and managing sinks, that
sewer gases can now be prevented impregnating the
interior of houses—the communication being direct
with the sewers. This care is only exercised to a
sufficient extent by a very few people—in fact, in the
absence of a plan by which sewer gases can be rendered
innoccuous, destroyed, or carried beyond the
distance of doing harm, the old closet system under
good and stringent regulations would be preferable.
Then, the poisonous emanations arising from the closets
were outside, and often at some distance from the
dwellings, and the exhalations rendered less dangerous
by dilution with the atmosphere. Now, through the
medium of sewers and drains, they have a direct
communication in a concentrated form with the interior
of houses.
I conceive it to be my duty to point out to you any
circumstances or conditions which I believe specially
to affect the public health, and influence the rate of
mortality. There are other causes than overcrowding
and bad drainage, &c., which, although even still more
easily under our control, are neglected. Of what use
is it to record the ravages of measles, scarlatina,
whooping cough, &c., when we allow their sources and
means of propagation to continue without attempt at
effective prevention or removal—I allude more especially
to the " spreading " causes of these diseases.
The most prominent and fertile propagating media are