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26
morning, is readily detected, and practically speaking,
the foul sewer is as dangerous as an open ditch,
and quite as familiar in smell, as the nuisance of an
unsewered town.
It has been doubted whether sewer gases are
dangerous to persons breathing them, and the Metropolitan
Board of Works once collected evidence, which
appeared to them to prove freedom from danger to the
men employed on their works; but no one at the
present day doubts that there is generally, or may be
at times a compound, capable of producing sickness,
or under some conditions bring absolute pestilence
amongst us.
I have evidence of this malaria affecting the health
of delicate and susceptible constitutions of persons
living in mansions contiguous to foul gullies, and have
known the damp air in the evening when charged with
this miasmatic poison to produce vomiting whilst
walking past, and breathing it only a few seconds.
I, therefore, as your officer of health, insist upon the
removal, if possible, of these under-ground nuisances,
and it is for that reason that I have endeavoured to
inform myself upon everything that relates to their
nature and causes, and even investigated them by
personal examinations. The result of my inquiries is
embodied in three reports, containing suggestions and
recommendations, all tending to strengthen the hands
of the Surveyor, and those who have the control of the
sewers, and are responsible for the removal of the
nuisances connected therewith.
The question to determine is, either to prevent the
gas and smells from water-closet sewage from being