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Street. The outlet, a small square drain, was entirely choked
up, so that all, or nearly all, of the water which entered this
pit, must have soaked into the gravel. It is worth notice that
a very popular pump is situated close to this cesspool, and that
the efficacy of London gravel as a filter, in depriving sewage of
its offensive properties, has seldom been more clearly shown.
The cesspool has been abolished, and pipe drainage into the
sewer provided, at the joint expense of the parties whose premises
are drained thereby.
No. 4, Ducking Pond Mews.—Here there were apartments
over a dirty undrained stable, occupied by a man with his wife
and two children; and there was no water closet, so that all
the house slops were emptied into the mews—a low sunless
place. At the next house a whole family was destroyed by
cholera in 1849. The occupiers paid a heavy rent, and complained
of the indecency of these arrangements; and many
were the visits and letters of entreaty to the owners, who disregarded
the notices served on them; at last, however, a
summons was taken out at Marlborough Street, but before it
came to the trial, they paid the costs and did the work
required.
No. 69, Brook Street, Hanover Square.—Here was an
instance of a kind of nuisance not very uncommon, and always
perilous. A sink in the nursery led into a rainwater-pipe,
which had been made foul by emptying slops into the gutter,
and, besides, ended in an untrapped drain; hence, in certain
states of wind, a current of foul air was brought into the
sleeping apartments of the children. A servant and one child