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35
are acquainted with the nature of these foul deposits,
it will at once be seen that a great source of
disease has thus been cleared away from the
Parish. In the year 1868 only three cesspools
were filled up, and in 1867, there were seven;
whilst in 1857 there were fifty-six, and in 1858
sixty.four. I mention these facts to shew that the
nuisances removed have effected a permanent good
for all future time.
I may illustrate this remark again from the
sanitary works executed with regard to the draining
of houses. However well supplied with a water
closet apparatus, and however free from cesspools,
no household is safe with a defective drain. From
imperfect drains those gasses escape which containing
the germs of fever, lays a whole family
down with what to the ignorant is a very mysterious
disease. Whenever there is a smell in the house
there is danger, and no man, woman, or child, is
safe in that house till the smell is removed. I
have often had to call your attention to the scandalous
way in which all the drainage of our houses is
executed. In the majority of houses the whole
of this most important part of its arrangements is
left to the most ignorant and negligent of workmen.
It frequently happens that the terrible neglect of
the builder on whom the responsibility ought to