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17
1. Smoking and Curing of Fish.
2. Baking of Dirty Rags.
3. Dyeing and Baking of Pig Hair.
4. Making and Baking of Manure.
In two or three instances, the parties complained of have discontinued
the annoyance, and moved away. Numerous pigs
have been removed; and 19 Summonses taken out. In most
of these cases orders to complete the necessary works were
obtained; in some—the works being done—were withdrawn;
and in two instances dismissed.
4. Measures that promote Health and prevent Disease.
The grand aim—the sine qua non of sanitary reform—is to
purify the soil and air, and so prevent "the generation of the
elements of disease." To do so, requires every possible perfection
of the physical circumstances under which we live.
It comprehends, in fact, "the economy of health," in so
far as health depends on the conditions of our dwellings,
drains, supply of water, paving, scavenging, and ventilation.
Hence, these several matters demand our constant and unceasing
care. For certain insanitary houses, in narrow, dark,
cul de sac-courts,* that have not an exit or window behind,—
where, from foulness without, ventilation, unless by roof
outlets, cannot be made,—houses so small, so decrepit, so old
that no renovation can convert their apartments into
healthy, decent-sized rooms;—for such, I fear, there is no
remedy other than demolition and re-construction on better
hygienic plans. Ascending higher in the scale, to dwellings
with "adaptability for healthy human habitation," sundry
preventible evils are brought to view. Among these I may
mention certain dark, unventilated passages and staircases in
the streets of Lamb Fields, into which neither light nor air
have ingress—where, consequently, filth and all sorts of smells
abound. Here, obviously, the remedies are—windows, fan-
*Some of these were noticed in my First Annual Report.