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Annual Report of the Medical Officer of Health—1873—4. 9
respect than we had distributed to us only a few years ago, when it was rich in fœcal matter.
Now it often is discoloured, and still contains "living organisms." We must hope Government
will see to this, and give us their aid.

The Slaughter-houses, Cow-sheds and Bakeries have been regularly visited according
as the Law demanded; and the required sanitary measures have been carried out. In all,
thorough improvement is manifest.
Great changes have been made in the London-road Sub-district, and for the better.
Courts and alleys where the health of those who occupied them was impossible have been
abolished, and new streets of a superior class have been made ; for which change we cannot
be too thankful. The contrast between the present and the past is great.
It is high time that the disused churchyards of the Metropolis were converted into
shrubberies and gardens, which would regale sight and smell, and prove sources of health
and delight, instead of sources of disease and ugliness. Some of them have been thus converted,
and present a very pleasing appearance ; the authorities of which deserve the thanks
of the community in general. I am glad to be able to congratulate this Vestry in having
followed the example, if only to a limited extent. The interest will far more than repay
the outlay.
As churchyards now exist they are dangerous, (although of course not so much as
formerly when burials went on), from the decomposing animal matter they hold, which
constantly gives off poisonous gases, and often so rapidly that the earth can neither absorb
nor decompose them. Water percolating through them is highly injurious, if used for
domestic purposes. Facts have often most markedly shown the unhealthiness of dwellings
situated near them. Carbonic Acid, Ammonia, and an highly offensive putrid vapour
are the emanations exhaled from the soil. In vaults more complicated gaseous compounds
are met with, and men have been struck dead on entering them. Churchyards should be
planted with grass, flowers, shrubs, and trees. Nothing absorbs the carbonic acid, and
*The tons figured, are so many tons of impurity in 100,000 tons of water.