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to the houses, and sometimes even beneath them; and not
only do their abominable contents sink into the soil around,
and contaminate the water of the surface wells, but they even
saturate the walls of adjoining houses, and not unfrequently
their overflow accumulates under the very floors. Not only, however,
are they injurious individually, but how vast must their
influence for evil be in the aggregate! Think of the millions
of inhabitants that at present crowd London, and think how
foul must be the exhalations from the open mouths of the
thousands of cesspools by which its surface is riddled, and how
foul the soil which has become saturated by their constant soakage
during many many years past, and surely the necessity of
banishing them will be apparent to every one, and the importance
of providing the only efficient substitute, namely good
drainage, must be acknowledged!
But, gentlemen, there is yet another reason why it is important
that that matter, which the Board of Works has had under
consideration, should be speedily and well carried out ; for not
only is it essential that the excreta of the population should be
carried away, but it is equally essential for health that the drainage
of the ground on which we dwell, as regards the removal
of its surface water and of that which saturates the soil, should
be complete. No localities probably are so unhealthy as marshy
localities—localities which lie low, which possess no natural
drainage, in which water accumulates and becomes stagnant, and
in which, even when the surface becomes dry, the soil immediately
below the surface is still saturated with moisture. What it is
that impresses on the emanations from such a soil the deleterious
and often deadly qualities they are known to possess, may be a
matter for speculation, but the fact itself is authentic and too
notorious. Bat, it is equally certain that, when these marshy
lands become artificially drained, agues and fevers and dysenteries
and other affections, which were rife, become remarkably
lessened or wholly disappear. This has been illustrated in the
History of London itself; a large segment of its area—some
part of the north, and a large portion of the south—was once
marshy ground, and ague and dysentery were once common
diseases. London however has been drained more or less
efficiently, and those diseases once so common are now rare.
But all parts have not been equally well drained; the southern
districts are no longer a marsh it is true, but the level is so