View report page

27
mitted, and that upon those who devised the present
system of sewerage, and who permit the admission of the
drainage of such large areas of elevated land as must
infallibly overcharge the sewers, without providing for
their relief by adequate pumping power; such as may, for
instance, be seen at the magnificent pumping station at
the north side of Chelsea Bridge ; a heavy responsibility
rests, not only for a direct loss of life, but for the vastly
greater numbers in whom a lowered condition of vitality
is induced, with an abnormal tendency to certain diseases,
such as Rheumatism, Bronchitis, and Consumption, all of
which we have observed to be much more frequent in
houses which have damp basements from the sewer-overflow
than in the districts which have not been thus
affected.
W. H. KEMPSTER,
JOSEPH OAKMAN,
Medical Officers of Health jor East and
West Battersea.