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15
without either trouble or expense by the exercise of a
small amount of organisation at the Vestry Hall.
All carts used for the removal of dust should be
provided with a lid or covering ; this is a rule too
frequently neglected by the contractor.
Ventilation of Sewers and Drains.
Comparatively few sanitary matters have been
the subject of so much recent debate as this. The
present system allows communication between the
sewers and the atmosphere, with the object of preventing
the air in the former from acquiring a greater
tension than that of the latter, and also for the
dilution of the sewer gases by means of fresh air.
It is contended that in unventilated sewers the
gases generated by decomposition of organic matter
force the weak traps or house drains and pass into
the houses.
In a sanitary point of view we may regard a
perfectly open sewer as really less objectionable than
one which is open at a limited number of points,
when the emanations are cooled through openings at
certain distances, such as road ventilators or manholes,
as in this parish.
Mr. Baldwin Latham, a great authority on
sanitary engineering, states " that large quantities of
air entering a sewer displace equivalent amounts of
foul air, which must escape somewhere." He also
considers that too much stress is laid upon the subject
of ventilation of sewers, and expresses an opinion
that it is only necessary to give the air sufficient vent
to obviate pressure on the traps of the houses.
The ventilating openings in the streets are naturally
objected to by those living opposite or near them,