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decently and carefully kept previously to interment." The provisions contained
in the above recited clause have not, as yet, to the best of my knowledge, been put
in practice by any Local Board of Health. The reasons for not doing so are probably
in consequence of the expenses that would be entailed upon the ratepayers
by the erection of a suitable building, and the annual outlay necessary for the
payment of proper officers to take charge of it, and also from the fear that the cost
of the interment would not unfrequently be cast upon the local authority, when once
the body was removed from the house of the surviving relatives, and deposited in the
public building set apart for the reception of the dead previous to interment. The
domestic feelings of the poor might also be hurt by the forcible removal of the corpse
of a dearly beloved relative to a public receptacle for the dead. The question, however
difficult it may be under the present phase of society, is nevertheless one of
considerable importance as regards the public health, and is well worthy of the deepest
consideration of the public.
Complaints of Trades-nuisances have been of frequent occurrence during the
quarter. These complaints are a source of great anxiety to your Medical Officer of
Health, who, in the discharge of his duty in endeavouring to protect the public health,
is compelled, notwithstanding the cost that may be entailed, to urge upon the manufacturer
the necessity of making such alterations in his premises as shall tend to
prevent the recurrence of the nuisance; yet, at the same time, your Officer of Health
is most anxious not to fetter trade to such an extent as to interfere injuriously with
the operations of the manufacturer.
The Improvements which science is continually suggesting to abate the nuisance
arising from the process of manufacturing certain articles of commerce ought, for
the promotion of the comfort of the neighbourhood, to be in every instance readily
adopted; and it will frequently be found that the offensive products which now
contaminate the atmosphere, may, by converting them into something useful,
become a source of pecuniary benefit to the manufacturer.
The trades-nuisances which have been the most frequently complained of during
the quarter are the malt-roasting premises in Bell Lane, Spitalfields, and in Booth
Street, Mile End New Town, and the bone-boiling premises of Mr. Smith, in
Thomas' Street, Whitechapel. That the nuisance arising from the faulty method in
which the business of malt-roasting is conducted is not only a source of great annoyance
to the inhabitants, but is injurious to their health. The effects produced by
breathing an atmosphere charged with the products of the roasted malt are, cough,
headache, sickness, and a smarting pain in the eyes, resulting in some instances in
ophthalmia; all these ailments have been experienced by persons living in the vicinity
of the factory, and have been made the subject of complaint to your Medical Officer
of Health.
The chemical works in Buck's Row, where Mr. Gibbs carries on the manufacture
of sulphate of soda from the refuse of the distillation of nitric acid, have been a
source of annoyance to the inhabitants in the vicinity of the works. The sulphurous
aeid vapour which is given off during a portion of the process of the manufacture is
exceedingly irritating to the lungs, and is injurious to the health of those persons
who have a tendency to disease in those organs.
Complaints have also been made of the offensive smell from the reburning of
animal charcoal, and of the nuisance from marine store shops, where fat, bones, and
old rags are kept. As some of the sugar bakers reburn animal charcoal without
occasioning a nuisance, it is obvious that in those premises where a nuisance arises,
the best practicable means are not used to destroy the offensive vapour. The
nuisance arising from the marine store shops might be greatly mitigated if the several
articles from which an offensive smell was likely to arise were kept in well-closed