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either of the above-named premises. These several premises are, however,
used as store-houses for bones, and when there is a large accumulation
of bones in a decomposing state, the smell is very offensive. I have
repeatedly informed the respective owners that they must remove the
bones every second or third day, and use carbolic acid or chloride of lime
to lessen the effluvium from the bones, while they are being carted away.
The nuisance is now greatly abated, but nevertheless, it will be necessary
to keep a constant watch upon all these premises.
COW HOUSES AND SLAUGHTER HOUSES.
All the cow-houses and slaughter-houses in the District have been
inspected either by myself or by the Inspectors. It appears, that 23
persons have applied for licenses to keep cows, and 39 for licences to
slaughter cattle.
As regards the cow-houses in the District, 1 may say that generally
they are not well conducted. Some of them are badly ventilated, and
the proprietors, regardless of my advice, have kept more cows than their
premises were capable of holding, consistently with the health of the
neighbourhood and the health of the cows.
It requires no argument to prove that there must be a limit fixed to the
number of cows which should be kept in any cow-shed. The only point
wherein a difference of opinion can exist is, that respecting the amount
of spaco each cow ought to have in a properly ventilated cowshed. It is
estimated by Dr. Letheby that an adult man produces 1,084 cubic inches
of carbonic acid per hour, and a cow 14,750 cubic inches, or about 14
times as much. Therefore, if the minimum space of 1,000 cubic feet,
which I have suggested, should be allowed to each cow, it surely cannot
be considered too large when 300 cubic feet is the minimum space, which
can be safely allowed for each man or woman. It must also be borne in
mind that in the London cow-sheds, the cows are seldom, if ever, taken
out for exercise, but they are confined night and day in the same place,
so that the air in these cowsheds, is never completely changed. Moreover,
the cows' dung which, in ill-regulated sheds, is allowed to remain
two or three days in or near the cow-shed, vitiates the air, and the poor
animals are compelled to breathe the air so contaminated. The smell also
from the grains and other food supplied to the cows, when kept in the
cow-shed, as is sometimes the case, is very offensive, and is injurious to
the health of the animals. In short, some of the cow-houses stink
abominably.
In the District of St. Giles's, there is no cow-shed that has not less
than 1,300 cubic feet for each cow. The regulation adopted by that Board
is, that every cow-house shall give to each cow a space of 12 x 6 superficial
feet, exclusive of gangway and channel, and that the cubic space for each
cow shall in no case be less than 1,300 cubic feet, and when there are
more than 10 cows in a shed, the dung shall be removed from the premises
daily.
The minimum space for each cow in the cow-sheds of St. Pancras
District, is fixed by the Justices at 1,000 cubic feet.