one would be so foolish as to deny that pipes in a house should be water-tight, that they should be laid so as to enable water to run through them, that the trap should form a seal. No one denies at the present day the necessity of ventilating these pipes, and cutting off the drinking-water from all possible connection with the foul water of the house. The differences that do exist are upon very minor points. Some say one man's trap is the best; others another man's. The fact is they are probably both good. The main point really is to find out the gross faults which unfortunately do exist in many houses.

The moderate sanitarian suffers much from the enthusiasm of his more fanatical brother, who says that unless everything is done out-and-out it had better be left alone; so it is in everything. In politics we find the man who cares for no one Bill, but who wants everyone to be rich-everyone to be happy. He corresponds to the sanitarian who says that unless you take every pipe out of your house, remove every carpet, cover all your walls with tiles, and wash them daily with distilled water, and remove your home from clay to a gravel soil, you had better do nothing. This is the man who stops all progress. In any association with which I am connected, there is nothing of that kind. We recommend only what plain common sense would suggest to yourself if you only knew the facts of the case.

I will now read some extracts from reports of inspections actually made by the engineer of the London Sanitary Protection Association, which show that in some cases the house-drains had been found entirely stopped up; in others the soil-pipes had been found eaten through with sewer-gas; while, again, in many cases, there were no disconnecting traps, and no ventilation for the drains. In some other cases even the bell-traps have been found in cellars dry, from one of which in particular there was a blast of sewer-gas sufficient to extinguish a candle. Another instance, a soil-pipe built into a wall was discovered by the peppermint test to be in a very bad condition.

About 6 per cent. of the houses inspected so far, in London, have been found not to be drained at all, that is to say, that the drain going from the house was in these cases found completely choked. But where, then, does the matter go? The joints of the pipe are imperfect, and all the liquid oozes out, the solid matter remaining in the pipe, choking it more and more; and this may go on for several years before anyone in the house is aware of the stoppage, unless someone becomes ill.

About one-third of the houses inspected have had holes in the soil-pipes through which sewer-gas was blowing into the houses. I think I am hardly violating confidence when I say that in two of the houses of our own members of council this was found to be the case. About 40 per cent. of the houses have connection between the cisterns of drinkingwater and the soil pipes. I think that these figures alone are sufficient to show that inspection is a desirable thing, even if it were limited only to the first inspection; but I trust anyone who has his house inspected for the first time will not stop there.

There are stronger reasons for shirking the first inspection than any other. The first inspection is almost sure to disclose some faults, and then people are forced, not certainly by the association, but by their own consciences, to incur the expense of putting it right, and the fear of this deters, no doubt, a considerable number of people from having their houses examined. I must say I do not understand their diffi

culty, because, when they get their reports, it is for them to judge whether they act upon them or not. In each case it is for the householder, using his common sense, to decide whether the particular change recommended is worth making or not.

The truth is, I apprehend, the chief obstacle that stands in the way of the introduction of this system of inspection is a sort of disbelief in the people who are to carry it out, and that is a subject upon which it does not become me to speak in as strong terms as, perhaps, I should like to do. At any rate, associations which have been started try as far as they can to give the members a guarantee. The guarantee is this, you have a dozen leading citizensmen who have paid some attention to this subject. They select an engineer who is to lay down the principles according to which these inspections are to be made, and inasmuch as he does not take the trouble to go through the houses, but merely lays down the principles, and looks through some of the reports it is not necessary to pay such a man very highly, although he may be a man of position. Then they appoint an actual inspecting engineer. They see his reports from time to time, and I think the householder has a better guarantee than he would if he merely went to some young engineer and said, ‘I will trust to you to come and inspect my house, and point out what is wrong.'

If it is certain that he does know his work, no doubt it is safe to go to the independent engineer. He can give his client the whole of his money's worth, and I would not deter any one from going to him. But, suppose one do not know such a man, probably every one knows Professor Huxley or Sir Joseph Fayrer, and know that they are, to a certain extent, responsible for their engineer. This is the only reason for having associations. You have the guarantee that the appointments are at any rate intelligently made. If you employ an engineer of sufficient standing to be known, say Mr. Rawlinson, you must pay him engineer's fees, whereas by taking advantage of the association you have a guarantee that the principles applied are those of an engineer of standing, and you save money by the principle of co-operation, and by employing a corresponding young man to do the practical work. This is just what is done in every engineer's office. All the details are done by young resident engineers, employed by the heads of firms. The principle is exactly the

same.

We fall in a certain measure between two stools. We meet with people who do not care about these subjects at all, and so will not be inspected, and those who think they know all about them, and who think they require no advice. I do not think that people should be their own lawyers, doctors, or engineers. I think a man should not undertake the engineering of his own house if he can get an engineer to do it for him. I trust that when the work of this association becomes known, the same sort of confidence will be felt in London as in Edinburgh, and that it will become almost as much a matter of course to have one's house annually inspected, as to have it insured against fire. The charge is a very trifling one. Our first inspection costs two guineas; after that, one, for every house of rental under £400 a year.

The association also gives help on ventilation and heating. I shall conclude, by mentioning a few of the public buildings which have been placed in our hands in the North, and this will, I think, show you that there the association has thoroughly secured the confi

dence of the public: The New University Extension Buildings; part of the New Royal Infirmary; the Cumberland Infirmary, Carlisle; the Sunderland Infirmary; Chalmers' Hospital; Longmore Hospital for Incurables; the Maternity Hospital; Royal Sick Children's Hospital; Convalescent Hospital, Gilmerton; the Cripples' Home; British Linen Company Bank; Union Bank; branch, Union Bank, Downie Place; branch, Royal Bank, Portobello; branch, Clydesdale Bank, Mid-Calder; offices of Heriot's Hospital; offices of the Scottish-American Investment Company; offices of the Scottish Equitable Life Assurance Society; offices of the Royal Society; offices of the Edinburgh and Leith Gas Company; and the offices of the Training College, Chambers Street; and Merchiston Castle.

POSITION OF THE PARLIAMENTARY BILLS COMMITTEE OF THE BRITISH MEDICAL ASSOCIATION

WITH REFERENCE TO LOCAL LEGISLATION AS TO INFECTIOUS DISEASES.

By ERNEST HART, Chairman of the Committee. THE following is the abstract of a statement made to Mr. Dodson, President of the Local Government Board, at a recent deputation :

The Parliamentary Bills Committee, in its duty of watching all bills introduced into Parliament touching the medical profession, has had its particular attention drawn to the very extensive and important alterations in the general public health law of the country which are being made under cover of local bills, necessarily passed through Parliament with the very smallest opportunity of public discussion.

The Committee freely admits the deficiencies of the Public Health Act of 1875, and some of the alterations of it made in these local bills meet with its cordial approval.

On the other hand, it has observed with distrust the evident desire of Sanitary Authorities who can afford the expense of a local Act to make all kinds of unnecessary and confusing alterations in an enactment which, when passed, was intended to be general in its application, and not to be locally altered at the caprice of any Sanitary Authority.

Many of the clauses which have received the assent of Parliament in these local Acts are of a singularly unpractical nature, and a manifest tendency has been shown on the part of certain authorities to shift the responsibility of checking infection from themselves to individuals.

Before an authority has any moral right to impose restrictions upon individual movements in the case of epidemics, it clearly ought to have fulfilled its own duty of providing the necessary appliances, such as hospital accommodation, disinfection apparatus and the like, for checking the spread of the disease.

Numerous authorities have neglected to see matters in this light, and whilst taking powers for requiring the notification of all cases of infectious disease, for closing schools, shops, dairies and similar places, for making stringent regulations as to infected houses, etc., have practically nullified the usefulness of these powers by neglecting to provide the sanitary appliances without which any attempt at the exercise of these exceptional powers must prove largely futile.

The Parliamentary Bills Committee wishes to see

order in these matters. It desires that authorities should not have such large powers over individual action without performing a corresponding and precedent duty of their own. It considers that inasmuch as detailed local opposition to these bills in Parliament must needs be expensive and precarious in result, it is its duty to submit to the Local Government Board the necessity of providing for some effective | supervision over such bills.

The Committee desires to see the provisions of these Bills more uniform. It regards the manifold but petty differences in local clauses having the same object as unnecessary and embarrassing; and, seeing the dimensions which local legislation of this sort is assuming, it thinks that the time has clearly come when the Local Government Board should review their present position in the matter, and take such steps as seem to them needful to ensure reasonable uniformity and reasonable consistence in local bills.

The two reports presented to the Committee by its Chairman abound with instances where wrongheadedness is apparent in requirements which are now law in the places affected, and which cannot be reversed without the trouble and expense of another local Act. It submits that the Local Government Board should be able to exercise more effectual control over clauses in these local Acts that are either mischievous or unnecessary, and it suggests whether, in every case of the kind, the Board could not be heard by Council against such clauses.

The Committee desires, at the same time, to draw the attention of the Local Government Board to the need for an early revision of the present public health law. It especially indicates, as worthy of attention, the giving of power to sanitary authorities to require cases of infectious disease to be reported to them, without the expense of a local Act. This might easily be done if the Local Government Board were able, on the application of an authority, and after inquiry by an inspector, to declare such notification in force within the district. Other matters needing attention are (1) the power of closing schools, shops, and other similar places, upon proved local necessity, (2) greater distinctness in the provisions relating to compulsory removal to infectious hospitals, and (3) the appointment of a minimum height of rooms. The Committee refers to these questions as specimens of the difficulties at present felt by local authorities in carrying out their functions, and asks that the amendment and strengthening of the Public Health Act may receive the early attention of the Government.

In the Report on the London Water Supply, from January 20th to February 19th, presented by Mr. Crookes, Professor Odling, and Dr. Meymott Tidy to the President of the Local Government Board, it is stated that, although many of the samples examined were more or less turbid from finely-suspended clay and sand, nevertheless the water supplied during the month was wholesome, of good quality, and well oxygenated. The examiners account for the turbidity, at any rate in part, of many of the waters by unavoidable conditions consequent on the severe frosts.

Herr Friedrich Siemens, of Dresden, has devised a gas-burner of remarkable intensity. He maintains a high temperature by introducing air previously heated by the waste heat of combustion. A burner of 500-candle power has been produced, and it is stated the quantity of gas used is small.

DRAIN-PIPES, &c.*

WITH respect to the quantity of articles of one kind manufactured at a large sanitary establishment, drain-pipes always take the lead, and the reason is very evident. It would not be hyperbolic, therefore, to say that on the banks of the Thames at Lambeth millions of this commodity might be counted, the interior diameters of which would range from two to twelve inches, whilst a very considerable number of them would range between twelve and thirty inches; and such are the facilities now commanded, that there can be no question that, were such a thing needed, pipes of twice this last sectional area would be turned out of hand at Messrs. Doulton's drainpipe manufactories.

The criterion of a good drain-pipe lies in its straightness, in its absence from warp, and in the trueness in which the end of one fits into the socket of another. I am now alluding to glazed and socketed drain-pipes, as any other class would be applicable solely to agricultural purposes, or for subdraining the sites of houses about to be built on somewhat too damp a ground. The usual practice, as everyone knows, is to cement the joints, luting them all round, and carefully cleaning out the inside of the pipe, so as to avoid fringes which would impede the flow of the wastes. It is also wise, when laying down a pipe-drain, inside or near a house, to allow it to rest upon a bed of concrete, and when duly and well laid to surround it with a few inches of the same material. The non-performance of this necessary rule has done much to bring drain-pipes into disrepute, and some advanced engineers are seeking to replace earthenware pipes by pipes of iron. The latter may be advisable when the pipes must perforce stand exposed in a basement; but if an ordinary well made glazed and socketed drainpipe be laid in a workmanlike manner, there is no occasion to revert to the use of a gas or water pipe calculated to withstand great pressures.

In order to prevent the evils possible to a badly laid down drain--and these evils ought to be entirely eliminated, even when an ordinary drain-pipe has been used-many kinds of improved joints have been introduced to public notice. The one mostly in use is that of Mr. Stanford, manufactured by Messrs. Doulton. This pipe may be briefly described as a pipe which has been turned in a lathe, a suitable substance being added on the inner lip of the socket, and on the outer edge of the plain end of the pipe, so that when two pipes are put together they fit so closely as to form a perfectly tight joint, and certainly so, if a little prepared grease has been added, and a cement luting outside as well. These

* For Doulton's new Pipe-joint, see 'Sanitary Patents', No. 3567.

Modern sanitary requirements have lately pointed to a necessity for using a bend, in some cases, with an inspection aperture above, which can be closed over with a cap set in mortar. Such a bend, with the wished for inspection hole, can be seen in Fig. 28 above (Doulton's list), and inasmuch as the cost is only about double that of an ordinary bend, it will shortly come into almost universal use in laying down drains where many curves obtain.

Inspection of a drain-pipe formed in a straight line is equally necessary at times, and, therefore, the pipe to be laid bare, without having recourse to means have been taken to arrange for a portion of

breaking the pipe open. Among pipes of this description the opercular or lidded pipe, patented some years ago by Messrs. Doulton, is the best for the purpose, forasmuch as a small top segment can be removed, thus allowing the pipe to run nearly full during the time occupied by the inspection. It is now quite a common practice to make a free adoption of these lidded or capped pipes in a line of drain, so as to be able to remove any obstruction readily, either by the hand or by the aid of jointed sweeps'

rods.

It would of course be easy to predict that no good drain could practically be laid down in or around a house unless proper junctions of all kinds were forthcoming. Fortunately, these are to be had of all

imaginable kinds, and that is saying a great deal. Figs. 4 to 6 show single junctions, the common pipe, that is to say, with square, oblique, and curved outlets. There are also double junctions, with two out

Fig. 4.

tri

Fig. 5.

FIC.6

Taper Pipe.

lets, which are largely used in house drainage. There are also the T-shaped, the Y-shaped, and the U-shaped junctions, and they all fulfil some part in drainage economics.

When the drain has been laid as far as the sewer or outfall, it becomes necessary to fix a flap or valvetrap of some kind. In the case of a sewer entry, this prevents the return of any foul air there, and when the outfall is in the open air it prevents a draught and air-compressing current up the pipe

when the wind is in the direction of the drain. It will also serve to keep out rats and other vermin, and in sporting counties effectually bar out foxes. Figs. 16 and 17 illustrate stoneware pipe and valve

traps used in ordinary drain-laying. They are excellently well made, with ground surfaces upon which the galvanised iron flaps fall, and with gunmetal eyes. Their adoption is made compulsory in all London sewers; but this portion of the work, technically called 'putting the eye in', is executed by the Parish Authorities themselves, and with every propriety too. When the drain is a long one, and debouches into a piece of suitable land, the flap is occasionally wedged back until some accumulation of sewage matter has collected in the pipe, whereupon the wedge is withdrawn, and the sewage turned into a channel pipe for distribution over the land.

Patent Conduits.

channels for sewage irrigation is figured above, and, as will be seen, moulded copings, cast hollow, to render them less ponderous, and flanged to provide a footway, if necessary, are provided. The channel can also be deepened by the insertion of intermediate hollow tiles between the coping and the top of the socketed or butt-jointed half-round pipe; and, in order to stop, regulate, or divert the sewage distribution, Messrs. Doulton supply stoneware sluice valves of very easy adaptation to the conduits which are supplied by them. These stoneware conduits are much more serviceable than any form of trampled earth or brick; the former being apt to be trodden down, and the latter to become fouled by encrustation and fucoid growths, giving off an offensive smell, especially in the summer time.

It would be tedious, if not quite superogatory, to figure and describe all the combinations of pipes and connections used in sanitary work, for they are well known; neither would the perusal of a paper treating solely upon them prove interesting reading. Suffice it to say, that every sort is manufactured by Messrs. Doulton & Co., many kinds being special manufactures. I cannot, however, close this section of the Lambeth productions without a mention of the pipes used for lining or forming flues for fireplaces. The use of these pipes is to provide a

Flue-Pipes.

cleanly flue, to avoid the necessity for parging, which frequently decays with damp or is burnt up. These pipe flues are also most useful in increasing the draught, and are easily swept. They are made in socketted, with the sides, however, cut off, or with sizes having a bore of 9, 10 and 12 inches, and whole plain butt joints. Their adoption ought to be uni

versal with architects and builders.

Ask for MARGERISON'S Registered White Windsor SOAP, Preston, 4 d. pound. Court Journal says, 'Possesses all the qualities desired in a good soap, and is unrivalled for all household purposes.' The Bazaar says, 'A very good and economical soap, we can strongly recommend it.' Try also our Superfine Toilet Soap. ad. tablets.-(Advt.)