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23
That too many of our drains are badly trapped, and
that sewer emanations often pass into our houses was
made very obvious, when by order of the Metropolitan
Board of Works, for the purpose of deodorizing the
offensive condition of the rivers, McDougal's preparation
was introduced into some of the main sewers.
One of the stations was Tottenham Court Road, the
course of the sewers brought this powerfully smelling
fluid down St. Martin's Lane, whenee it penetrated
into many of the houses, showing how inefficient at
present is the trapping or other means to disconnect
house drains from the common sewers. A very simple
expedient will in all cases effect this at a very small
expense, and whenever sewer smells get into a house it
should be adopted. Where the drains pass out of the
house towards the sewer, that is on the outside of the
walls of the house, an open pipe should be carried up
from the drain into the open air, and thus all smells
and. gases from the sewers will pass away before they
can rcach the dwelling.
In the table of deaths at different ages, we do not
get a just idea of the real sanitary condition of a
district, nor of the value of life at different ages. The
large proportion of deaths in children under five years
may in some cases be unusually large, and consequently
the death rate of the district gives the appearance of
unhcalthiness to a locality. From some cause the
infant mortality of the West End parishes of this great
metropolis is greater in proportion to the number of
deaths than in many poorer localities where we should
have expected a large infant mortality. During the
last three years in St. Martin's Parish the number of
infant deaths was more than a third part of the whole
mortality, and of these a large proportion were infants
under one year.
Beyond the age of 60, the number of deaths was
130, which does not give an unfavourable idea of the