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11
when the yards arc closed in and contracted, and when
there is no free interchange of air the emanations from the
dust bin must have an effect far from salutory upon the health
of the inhabitants of those houses. The nuisance does not
end here. At the fortnightly or monthly period, when the
contents of the dust bin arc removed; the disturbance of
the noxious accumulation and its conveyance through the
dwelling house arc operations of a most inconvenient and
insanitary character.
"The vapour from decaying organic matter contains numerous
microscopic organisms or putrefactive microbes, these,
gaining access to the food stored in a receptacle which has
a place in the back addition of the greater number of the
houses to which I have referred, bring about a fermentative
change and an early decomposition, and cause the food
affected to be unwholesome or even unfitted for consumption.
"Children are especially liable to the injurious effects of
food which has undergone a fermentative change of this
character. It is from this causc that the death rate from
diarrhoea is augmented in the thickly populated districts.
"Whether or not the system advocated by Mr. Andrew
can be practically carried out in Lambeth, I will not give an
opinion, but I am aware that the dust pail has already been
successfully introduced into many large towns and populous
parishes, and that it is highly appreciated by the inhabitants of
those places. And I recommend, in the interest of public health
and of household cleanliness, that the introduction of the
dust pail be made the subject of experiment, in the first place,
upon a limited scale and in a circumscribed district; and if
the working of the system be found practical in operation,
and beneficial in its results, that it be extended to the parish
at large."