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37
there by the receding tide, are often so copious as
to produce very objectionable effects on the atmosphere
which surrounds them; and I would beg
leave strongly to urge that such sources of nuisance
should be thoroughly and permanently removed.
Further—from what I have said as to the conditions
of our vulnerability by Cholera, you will be
prepared to think it of great importance that, during
the next six months, you should be certified on the
state of your sewers, in every part of the City, as
to their greatest possible cleanliness and least possible
offensiveness of ventilation. Fifty miles of
sewer, reticulated through the City, sufficiently
attest your active desire to provide for the complete
and continuous carrying away of all excremental
matters: and you will excuse me, I hope, in consideration
of the anxieties of my office, if I seem
superfluously cautious in reminding you that the
test of successful sewers lies in an inodorous fulfilment
of their duty, and that every complaint of
offensive emanations indicates, in proportion to its
extent, a failure of that sanitary object for which
the construction was designed.
There is one precaution—always of great value to
the health of towns, and especially useful against
any malarious infection, which happily I find it
needless to recommend. The paving of all public
way within the City—including every court and
alley, is already so complete as to constitute a very
favorable point in your sanitary defences. In order