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53
Unpaved
Channels
and the
spread of
disease.
from being disturbed every time a road is repaired. Channel
paving is of much greater importance than this; it prevents
small pools of stagnant water which with the best road making
will always occur in McAdamised roads, owing to the softness
of the subsoil which is caused by the openings for gas and water
supplies. In these small pools the low forms of life germinate,
and when dry are blown over the neighbourhood. It may be
that no disease germ is incubated in these small deposits of
decaying matter once in a thousand cases ; but anything which
produces objectionable smells at all times affeds the health of
the inhabitants, and by so doing may render them susceptible
to disease.