ordinary public places excepted--toilet lavatories are produced at Lambeth to any design, with handpainted tile decorations and valve mountings in chosen Doulton ware.

Perhaps the most useful appliance in a house, is a well-constructed housemaid's slop sink; at all events the residence which lacks one is full of miseries to proprietor and servant alike. Use is also made too often of leaden sinks, which splash the person unnecessarily. In the ordinary No. 36 slop sink, for upstairs use, manufactured by Messrs. Doulton, this is avoided, and moreover they are provided with a

hinged cover, which permits of a can being placed over it for refilling purposes. This pattern can be obtained so as to fit in angles, if so desired.

Among the more advanced kinds of production in this article, may be noticed the combined slop sink, wash-up sink, and lavatory, No. 33, specially designed for hospitals, unions, and the like, but suitable to any large building.

The slop sink portion is here fitted to receive the contents of the bed-room pails generally, being trapped at the bottom above the floor level. This trap will always be kept full of more or less cleanly water, which is drawn from the draw-off taps, and finds its way there. And here ought to be pointed out, that, unlike most other sinks, the draw-off taps are not situated over the slop-emptying receptacle-a matter of considerable moment anywhere—and, furthermore, there is a wooden grating provided under the taps to prevent breakages against the slate bottom. The lavatory itself has a tip-up basin which discharges directly into the sink, and the whole combination is cleanly, durable, and cheap.

It would serve no useful purpose to multiply my illustrated notices of these goods, as not only would much room be taken up in our columns, but the articles can themselves be seen in the Albert Embankment Show Rooms, in all their varieties. And if the owners of houses would only study these articles, there or elsewhere, more frequently, much good would accrue to the community. Often, for want of a bath, for instance, and a ready means of hot immersion, a little patient is lost; and more often, it may be said that for want of a proper housemaid's

Improved Urinal. No. 17.

slighted with impunity, as many know; and it is a fortunate thing that these conveniences can now be fitted even inside the house without giving the least offence. In gentlemen's closets, and servants' resorts,

the value in point of use is the same, though they greatly differ in the matter of monetary cost.

I give a specimen here of a plain slate urinal for two persons, with white flat back-lipped basins, the usual discharge junctions, and with a treadle arrangement for flushing out. Of course, the slate can be enamelled, or replaced by marble or tiled walls, and with a valve instead of a treadle form of flushingout arrangement. In my opinion, no urinal should be fixed, save in a far-off yard-certainly not in, or near, the house precincts-without a self-acting treadle apparatus, thus providing a continuous flush to the convenience when in use.

THE

worth Bridge, at an outlay of above £53,000; of Putney Bridge at an expense of £58,000; and of Hammersmith Bridge at the cost of £112,500. Battersea and Putney Bridges are, however, so old that they must be rebuilt. A considerable outlay has also been required for the maintenance of the bridges previously purchased.

The Parks, Commons, and Open Spaces now under the control of the Board comprise an area of 1,676 acres, or rather more than two-and-a-half square miles out of the 122 square miles included within the area of the metropolis. As, however, there are parks and other open spaces not under the supervision of the Board, there is a much larger acreage open for the use of the public. There are certain private rights over some of the commons, so that the Board has arranged to purchase the rights of the lord of the manor over the Hackney Commons for the sum

open spaces cost nearly £18,000 during the year. The Board has opposed several Bills in Parliament, chiefly the Sea Water Supply to London Bill', which would have interfered very considerably with the streets and sewers of the metropolis, but, however, has now passed; the South Metropolitan Gas Company, the Southwark and Vauxhall Water Company, some Tramway Bills, the Alkali Acts Amendment Bill, and obtained some

BOARD OF WORKS.

ALTHOUGH the Metropolitan Board of Works is scarcely classed among the sanitary authorities of London, yet the amount of sanitary work performed by that body is very large. During the past year there has not been so much of this kind of action taken as usual, because, in consequence of the enormous expense attending on the Board's operations under the Artizans' Dwellings Act, they have ceased to receive new schemes. They also decided in August last not to take action as regards fourteen areas which had been represented as unhealthy, by reason of the limited size of the area or of exceptional circumstances, so that there are only eight official representations now under consideration. One of these was dated September 1875, and others bear date in 1876, 1877, 1878, and 1879, so that they can scarcely be found fault with for too speedy action. Owing to the restrictions imposed by the Act, almost the only purchasers of the cicared ground have been the Peabody Trustees, who have bought five sites for £86,300. As regards the new streets projected by the Board, partly from financial reasons, but chiefly on account of the difficulty in providing accommodation for the working-classes displaced by the improvement, no large works have been carried out; and one notably, the new street from Tottenham Court Road to Charing Cross, is deferred until an amended Act can be obtained. During the year the Board has completed the work of freeing the metropolitan bridges from toll by the opening of the bridge Deptford Creek at a cost of £44,800; of Wands

over

in those Bills which passed during the year. They also took important action as regards some Railway Bills, especially in the matter of the Metropolitan and District Metropolitan Extension Bill. The Board has also done good service to the public by continuing during the year the lighting of the Victoria Embankment and Waterloo Bridge by electricity, thus assisting in proving the practicability of giving a brilliant light at a cost comparatively little in excess of that of gas lights, viz., of 21⁄2d. per light per hour.

By the Contagious Diseases Animals Act the Board is constituted the Local Authority in the metropolis, and employs a large staff to carry out its provisions, viz., eleven veterinary surgeons to act as cattle inspectors, and nine other officers who, however, also act under the Dairy, Cowsheds, and Milkshops order. In 1880 there was not much disease amongst cattle, as only 378 were slaughtered by order of the Board's inspectors for pleuro-pneumonia, 13 for foot and mouth disease, and 90 pigs for swine disease. The expenditure under this Act was above £7,000. A very important work has been done under the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Act, by inspecting the premises occupied by cowkeepers and dairymen, to see that the cowsheds and dairies are kept clean, properly lighted, etc., and also have a sufficient watersupply, and for securing the cleanliness of milk stores, milk-vessels, and for protecting milk against infection. Under this order 8,003 persons have been registered, of whom 1,044 are cowkeepers. In carrying out their powers, the Board succeeded in abolishing

nearly 300 of the worst cowsheds, and obtaining alterations amounting almost to reconstruction of many others. As many as 10,596 inspections of cowsheds, and 12,975 of dairies, milk-stores, and milk-shops were made during the year. It is, however, unfortunate that the Board was unable to shut up or amend the objectionable cowsheds without exceeding the powers conferred upon them by the Act and the Order in Council, as by opposing the renewal of the licences instead of summoning the offenders for the £20 penalty, they assumed the authority possessed only by the boards and vestries of the metropolis. The Board has also, year by year, assisted in reducing the number of slaughter-houses in London from 1,429 to 903, and has not sanctioned any application for a new slaughter-house during the year. The premises occupied by knackers, soapboilers, and tallow-melters, manure manufacturers, blood-boilers, tripe-boilers, bone-boilers, blood-driers, glue and size makers have been inspected, so that it is evident that the Metropolitan Board of Works should be looked upon as a sanitary authority, independently of the beneficial effects on the community exercised by the sewerage works which have been, with a few exceptions, so successfully carried

out.

As paved streets impervious to rain have, to a very large extent, taken the place of fields and gardens since 1856, the main sewers have in many cases failed to carry off the storm waters, and many low-lying places have been consequently flooded. The Board, therefore, decided to make seven supplementary sewers, at an estimated cost of about £700,000, and obtained powers in their Money Act to borrow the sum of £300,000 for these additional main-drainage works. The necessary plans and specifications are being prepared for two sewers to take the overflow-water of the high-level sewer, and thus relieve parts of Brixton, Stockwell Park, and Loughborough Road from flooding, and the same course will be taken for other districts. This is a

very necessary work, because not only has great injury been done to property, but also to health, by the overcharging of the sewers. The report also contains an interesting account of the causes of the formation of three banks in the Thames, which were attributed to a deposit of sewage matter, but which were chiefly produced by dredging operations, carried on by, or under the sanction of, the Conservators of

the Thames.

Messrs. W. Smeaton and Sons, of the Eddystone Sanitary Engineering Works, have been informed that their exhibit at the Melbourne Exhibition has gained an award of the first class.

NOTES OF THE MONTH.

OVERCROWDING IN WHITECHAPEL.

The attention of the Whitechapel District Board of Works has been called to various complaints made to their sanitary department respecting the overcrowding and indecent occupation of houses in the district by the lodgment of emigrants who are in the course of transit from the Continent to America and other places. It appears the emigrants are consigned in large companies, numbering hundreds at a time, to agents in London, who, pending the departure of the Atlantic steamers, undertake to provide the people with food and lodging at a fixed price per head. The result is a great overcrowding of both sexes in the purlieus of Whitechapel, adjacent to the docks. Mr. Isaac Battram, Sanitary Inspector, has reported to the Whitechapel Board of Works that in company with the police authorities, he had visited several houses in which the emigrants were lodged and found them much overcrowded, there being in some instances as little as 190 cubic feet of space for each person. In a room at No. 19, Grace's Alley, he found a quantity of straw upon the floor, and upon this a number of emigrants of both sexes had been sleeping, at 4d. per head per night. There was not a particle of furniture in the room. Notices were ordered to be served upon the various persons who 'accommodate' these emigrants that each room only be permitted to be used by the number allowed by the law, and that a breach of the Lodging-house Regulations will involve prosecution by the local authorities. At a time like the present, when small-pox has assumed an epidemic form, it is doubly important that such a state of things should be put an end to at

once.

JERRY BUILDINGS.

Confirmation comes to us, from several parts of the country, of the truth of the description we recently gave of the 'houses that Jerry builds'. Amongst other towns, Manchester unexpectedly appears as a sinner in this respect. A correspondent, writing with reference to certain cottages now being erected in a certain part of that city, says 'that cottages are being erected on undrained clay, which was positing a large quantity of street sweepings; that used the year before last by the Corporation for deno excavations have been made, but the flooring boards are only a few inches above the surface of the land; that the foundations (so-called) are only a few courses of brickwork set in trenches, which trenches, from the nature of the soil, at once fill with water, and thus the foundations are really laid in a ditch full of water; and that the Health Department, although admitting that such buildings must be unhealthy, say that they have no power to prevent their being erected. It is added that the Surveyor's Department of the Corporation stated that all requirements, both of the Act of Parliament and the Bye-laws had been complied with, so that it would appear to be in accordance with their ideas that houses should be built in this fashion. The Manchester Building Bye-laws seem, indeed, to be

contain no clause as to the construction of buildings on a site previously used for depositing night-soil, refuse, or other offensive material, or any clause for

damp and providing ventilation below the floors of the new buildings. It is much to be feared also that there exists some supineness on the part of the Surveyor's Department in enforcing even the small powers the bye-laws give. The ‘jerry building' interests would seem to be too well represented in the City Council to reform and enforce the Building Bye-laws without a strong and determined expression of public opinion. The Manchester Society of Architects have indeed made for many years past efforts to rouse the attention of the Council to the necessity of consolidating and amending their bye-laws relating to building, but, as they state in their last annual report, they have found their efforts so coldly treated by that body, that they have unwillingly come to the conclusion that there exists neither a knowledge of the shortcomings of such regulations, as are to be found here and there in various local Acts of Parliament, etc., nor a willingness to accept assistance towards remedying their defects from those who are qualified to advise; and that further efforts in this direction must be spared till some combination of circumstances arises giving a fair hope of success'. It is greatly to be wished that a Building Act could be piloted through Parliament which would make the principles of the model bye-laws of the Local Government Board of universal application throughout the country.

NEWCASTLE INVALID LOAN SOCIETY.

One of the greatest hindrances to the convalescence of poor patients, often regretted by medical men, is the want of those comforts and conveniences which so materially assist invalids in restoration to health. The want is most urgently felt in our large towns. In Newcastle-on-Tyne an effort is being made to meet it, through the efforts of Miss Anna Proctor of Gosforth, who has been an invalid herself for many years, and is therefore but too well able to judge of the requirements of suffering humanity. A society has been formed to lend out to the deserving afflicted poor, free of cost, articles which would otherwise be beyond their reach. A depôt has been opened at the Newcastle Industrial Dwellings, under the charge of the wife of the agent, and a useful if not large collection of articles has been formed, comprising easy chairs, water-proofs, sheets, and cushions, bed-rests, tables, air-cushions of various sizes, apparatus for enemas, bed-pans, crutches, and clothing of every description, books and tracts on sanitary matters, and toys for children. The society is supported by subscriptions, and all the offices are honorary.

UNWHOLESOME FEEDING-BOTTLES.

On

Some feeding-bottles having a fetid odour were lately brought by Dr. du Mesnil from a crèche to the Paris Municipal Laboratory for examination. M. Fauvel found that the milk remaining in all smelt badly, was acid, and half coagulated; the globules were malformed, and numerous very lively bacteria, together with some vibrions, were present. cutting open the caoutchouc tube throughout its length, coagulated milk with small organisms was met with; but a still more important fact was the presence in the nipple of a mass of vegetation of cryptogamic nature. Sown in whey, this developed considerably in a few days. A visitation of all the crèches was arranged by the police and medical authorities, and the following was the result:-Of 31 feeding-bottles examined in 10 crèches, 28 contained, in the nipple, the caoutchouc tube, and in some cases

in the glass bottle, vegetations of the kind indicated, as well as bacteria, etc. Several that had been washed carefully, and were considered ready for use, still contained these cryptogams. Two feeding-bottles in a very bad state were found to contain pus and blood corpuscles; the children who had used them had injuries in the cavity of the mouth. It is thus probable that saliva enters the feeding-bottle, and its ferments are added to those of the milk. The acidity of the milk is attributed by M. Fauvel to the bacteria present. The influence of this condition of things in the development of intestinal affections, of which so many young infants become the victims, seems to call for serious investigation. Nothing requires the most scrupulous cleanliness more than feeding-bottles.

THE MOTION OF AIK IN DRAINS.

important question whether the air of the drains, For the healthiness of dwellings it is obviously an charged with vapours and small organisms, moves upwards or downwards. At the instance of Professor made experiments as to this point in the Ludwig and von Pettenkofer, Herr von Rozsahegyi has recently Max suburb of Munich, using sometimes vapour of sal ammoniac, sometimes smoke from flames, sometimes sulphuretted hydrogen gas, as indicators of the direction of the air-motion, while the strength of the draught was measured with a Recknagel anemometer. The principal results of the inquiry are these. The motion of the air in the Munich drains is much more downwards than upwards. The draught in the lower portion of the drain-system is stronger than in the upper. Upward currents occur but very seldom, and they are limited to very short portions of the drains. The prevailing direction of the wind has no marked influence on the direction and velocity of the air-current in drains. The temperature of the drainair was, on an average, 3.2 deg. to 5.6 deg. Cent. lower than that in the open air, but the observed air movements in the drains are not explained by this. Where house-drains join street-drains the air goes oftener outwards than inwards, and this partial movement is also independent of the prevailing wind direction. The out and in motion at such places is not constant, but variable. Through these junctions, when near the houses, an exchange of air may occur between one house and another, if efficient watertraps are wanting. The predominant downward aircurrent appears to be due simply to the current of liquid matter. The experiments are to be repeated in winter, when the temperature in the drains is higher that in the open air.

THE SANITARY CONDITION OF MADEIRA. In the United States National Board of Health Bulletin is printed a report from Dr. Julius Goldschmidt, a medical practitioner in Madeira, giving a statement as to the sanitary condition of the island for 1880, which may interest those who look to Madeira as a health resort. The general sanitary condition of the island, and especially of Funchal, we learn from the report, is very satisfactory, though there is an utter absence of public and private hygienic regulations. The average death-rate for the whole island per annum does not exceed 20, or for Funchal 24.4 per 1,000. Epidemic diseases are very Six years ago small-pox prevailed, and there were altogether 1,000 deaths from it, which was not surprising, as the people are generally opposed to vaccination, either through ignorance or prejudice. Scarlet fever and diphtheria appear only sporadically,

rare.

PP

and in much milder form than in other climates. Measles and whooping-cough have been occasionally observed, but are very seldom fatal. In spring and in autumn gastric and typhoid fevers often appear, chiefly among the poorer classes, who live in very crowded habitations and drink the water from the irrigating canals, polluted by the drainage of houses. Heart diseases are frequent, as steepness of the roads prevents the general use of vehicles, and burdens are usually carried up and down the hills by men. Acute lung diseases are also observed among the people of the mountain districts, who are exposed to great changes of temperature and atmospheric influences in their daily journeys. But, notwithstanding the many predisposing causes of consumption to be found among the poor, even that class is not very liable to the disease in Madeira. Among the foreign residents who live in comfort, but are mostly descended from phthisical parents, only one death from consumption has been registered in 15 years. The death-rate among children is high in proportion to the general mortality, mainly caused by the poverty of the people. Leprosy was supposed to have been introduced by the first settlers, and is still found in the southern and western parts of the island. The hospital for this disease usually contains from seven to fifteen patients, but it is estimated that between 400 and 500 persons on the island may be affected with leprosy.

PUBLIC PARKS.

Prof. S. E. Baldwin recently gave a lecture at the Sheffield Scientific School, New Haven, U.S.A., in which he said that a large city needs both squares and parks. The square is a breathing hole, a necessary part of a city. The park is an interruption of the city, a playground. Every city is a sort of gigantic human being. It has its own individuality, history, ambitions, life—a hard driven life, in which business and pleasure are generally kept quite separate. A dirty life, too. The modern city is built on coal. It is a great smoker. Happy is the city which is wise enough to have a broad wholesome park, where it can take its ease and be clean. Every park is a preacher, and the sermon may be none the worse because we don't know that we are listening

to it.'

THE SALICYZATION OF FOOD. There has been much talk about the French ministerial circular of 7th February 1881, which prohibits the sale of any alimentary substances containing salicylic acid. It is generally considered by the public that salicylic acid in small doses has no important action on the animal economy, and that it may prevent the fermentation of liquids which, without its addition, run great risk of change. Lately wine and beer have been treated with large doses of salicylic acid. In the Revue d'Hygiène, M. Vallin has written an excellent article in defence of the Conseil de Salubrité which brought in this measure. His arguments are, specially, that it is possible to do without this salt; that it is especially products of very inferior quality which necessitate its employment; that if the producer and the vendor add it at their pleasure, it is used in enormous quantities; frequently more than 1 gramme, in one case 3 gr. 50 per litre of wine. If, therefore, the provisions consumed by the working classes be taken into account, it will be seen that a French workman might absorb with his food 4 grammes daily of

salicylic acid; therefore, far from being inoffensive, the use of salicylic acid is injurious, especially as its anaphrodisiac action is very pronounced. If these data be accepted, the decision of the Conseil de Salubrité must meet with entire approbation. Still, while regretting not to have seen a maximum fixed which would permit of the employment of useful doses, Dr. Galippe embodies the following opinions in a long article in the Journal des Connaisances Medicales intended to refute M. Vallin's article. According to him the salicyzation of wine is not so useless as M. Vallin asserts. It may be done usefully with moderate doses not injurious to the consumer. M. Galippe thinks that the enormous amount of salicylic acid contained in food may have some relation to errors in certain processes of dosage. Finally, it may be asked if it would not be wiser, not to decree the absolute suppression of salicylic acid, but to regulate its employment.

SANITARY WORK AT HARBORNE.

In his annual report to the Harborne Local Board, Mr. Worrall, the sanitary inspector, reports satisfactory activity in the repression of nuisances and in the removal of night-soil. A total of 338 nuisances were dealt with during 1880, as compared with 163 in the previous year, and the quantity of night-soil carted away amounted to about 1,400 tons. Mr. Worrall recommends more efficient ventilation of the sewers, in which there is often much pressure of gas in consequence of the connection with the Birmingham sewers, and he urges scrutiny by householders of the sanitary arrangements of their houses.

EFFLUVIA FROM SEWER GRATINGS IN SOUTH HACKNEY AND HOMERTON.

On Friday, the 28th ult., an influential deputation, including the two members for the Borough of Hackney, waited upon the Metropolitan Board of Works respecting the noxious effluvia which are large (Wick Road) sewer under the control of the very frequently given off from the gratings of the Board. The smell, which was said to be of a most offensive and penetrating character, is not only given off at the gratings, but finds its way into the houses through the traps. Mr. Fawcett, who addressed the Board, said that he had been informed by Dr. Tripe that this subject had been under consideration by the Board on several occasions, and that persons had been appointed to watch the sewers, during the whole of which time the smells had ceased, but had recurred again on the watch being discontinued. The memorial, which was signed by 1350 persons, was reported to the Works Committee, where it is to be hoped it will receive due attention, especially as the smell is said to affect from 6000 to 7000 people. The Metropolitan Board some time since ordered the gratings to be trapped, shutting in the smell, instead of erecting ventilating shafting shafts to carry it off above the house-tops. It certainly seems strange that a nuisance of this kind should go on for years without the chemist or engineer to the Board being able to ascertain from what manufactory it is poured into the sewer. The penalties are sufficient to check the practice, if the offenders could be detected.

The Crown Princess of Germany has accepted the position of patroness of the Sanitary Association, presided over by Doctor Falk, the former Minister of Public Worship.