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were seriously ill with choleraic diarrhoea, on the 17th April,
and on the 19th three other children with the same malady.
The advice of the Medical Officer of Health was asked, and he
pointed out the above, and some other sanitary defects in the
house, which amply accounted for the attack of illness.
John's Court, Farm Street.—This is a place so viciously
constituted, that the occurrence of sickness and death are quite
in accordance with the laws of physiology. It is a space about
117 feet long, and 20 broad; out of the breadth the houses take
15 feet, leaving 5 feet for a passage from one end to the other.
It is bounded on each side by a large livery stable, the emanations
from which lessen the purity of the air ; the entrance is by
a narrow passage, the air entering which must pass by a dust
heap and urinal; and at the other end is a day school frequented
by 160 children, the urinals and closets for whom are
(or were) insufficient and scarcely decent. In addition to the
want of free air, and to the sources of impurity without, each
house is constructed with an unventilated water closet under the
staircase on the ground floor, the fumes from which annoy the
Residents. If we say that there is no sufficient aperture at the
top of the houses for ventilation, or for escape from fire, and
that if there is a trap-door there is no ladder, we speak of a
thing quite common, but which, nevertheless, is sure some day
to lead to loss of life. The court contains five houses, in which
58 persons lived at the census of 1851, and 84 were ascertained
to live there in May 1858. Sickness has been prevalent on
the ground floors of the houses.
The proprietor of Nos. 2 and 3 had often been appealed to,