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590-feet of brick-sewers have been constructed; 61 sewers have
been cleansed and repaired; 128 gullies have been cleansed, repaired,
or trapped, 7 newly constructed; 115-inch, 3 12-inch, 14 9-inch, and
346-inch drains have been laid; 79 houses have been drained; 1 housedrain
trapped; and 45 cesspools destroyed.
Three urinals have been constructed. I regret however, to have
to announce that at the two courts of justice—the Sessions House, and
the Police Court, there is no urinal.
As other sanitary improvements, may be mentioned, the enclosing
of a portion of the New River in iron-pipes; the re-building of the
houses in Fletcher's Row, and Little Sutton Street; the enclosing of the
coffins of the vaults of St. John's Church, and the erection of new
"Ragged" Schools in Lamb Square, and St. Paul's School, Allen Street.
Appointment of Analyst.-On the 31st of January, 1861, the
Vestry did me the honor of electing me Analyst of food &c., under the 23
and 24, Vict., c. 84. And in furtherance of carrying out the provisions
of the Act, a hand-bill was drawn up, printed and circulated, stating the
terms and powers of the Act, so that the inhabitants of the district
might take advantage of them. The working of the Act however, as
regards section 4, proved completely nugatory, for but two articles of food
were sent to me for analysis under its provisions during the 15 months I
held the appointment. And in regard to section 1, in which the Analyst
is empowered to enforce a penalty for the sale of adulterated articles, the
risk of having to pay the costs on appeal, and the expenses of the analysis
was too great to allow of my preceding under that section.
During the year, I had occasion to point out the dangerous properties
of the material used for making the so-called steel ornaments for
bonnets; from the use of which 1 saw two well-marked cases of poisoning.
The material I found by analysis to consist of pounded mineral Galena,
or native sulphuret of lead, and not of steel or iron. This powder gaining
admission to the body accidentally with the food, produces the ordinary
symptons of lead poisoning.
I directed attention also to the poisonous nature of the fly-papers,
each of which contains enough arsenic to kill an adult.
In conclusion, I regret that the low mortality of the two preceding
years has not been preserved.
The mortality among children has been enormous.
Undoubtedly the occupation of single rooms by entire families, has
had much to do with the increase of mortality from Zymotic diseases.
For how is it possible to prevent the spread and fatality of fever or
Hooping Cough, when six or seven persons are shut up in one small room
breathing the same air, loaded with the Zymotic poison, over and over
again ?
In the case of Small Pox, vaccination is a positive and certain
means of ensuring a mild form of the disease, with the smallest amount
of the morbid poison regenerated in the body of the sufferer, and thrown
off so as to affect the healthy. In fact, the unusual prevalence of Small