London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Wimbledon 1895

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Wimbledon]

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10
thick layer of odourous dust, caused by dry rot and the
occupancy by many generations of rats
Matron's The odour complained of in both these rooms is more
Room and noticeable when fires are lighted, as the cellar air is then
Large °
Ward. drawn into them through the crevices of the boards, and
the occupants are then living in an atmosphere of warm
moist and foul air which can only be prejudicial to
health.
Sanitary The Sanitary arrangements are not as they should be.
Arrange- An attempt has been made to reconstruct a portion of
ments- drainage, but still a good deal remains to be done to
render them satisfactory.
For instance:—The drip sink on the passage floor
leading to the kitchen, down which the bath water is
thrown, has an untrapped waste pipe directly connected
with the drain which, therefore, acts as a ventilator to it,
thus there is direct communication between the drain
and the interior of the Hospital. Again, in one of the
upstairs roo;ns a bath is used, with an outlet which
discharges into a long length of untrapped, foul zinc
pipe; this pipe is broken off at the lower end, so instead
of discharging over the gully as it is supposed to do, the
soapy water has been soaking into the earth against the
walls and has rendered it a sodden mass. This pipe also
acts as an inlet ventilator to the house and the air on its
passage through must become foul; then, the rainwater
pipe which takes the water from the roof of the bay
window of the Matron's room discharges into an old
large sized dip-trap which is full of black, stagnant
water.
The servants' water-closet is of the wash-out type and
foul. I have not had time to complete my inspection of
the drainage.