II. THE PUBLIC HEALTH.

On the Sanitary Condition of Hull, Bristol, Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester; and on The Sanitary Act, 1866.

IN resuming the consideration of the all-important subject of the present article, it will be convenient that we should refer cursorily to our remarks on the Mortality of Liverpool, published in the last number of this Journal.

We there showed that the high rate of mortality in that important seaport was the index to a sanitary, or we should rather say an insalubrious condition, highly favourable for the importation of Cholera into England; inasmuch as Liverpool is the chief station on the high road for emigrants and others likely to convey the infection from abroad into Great Britain.

Quoting the Report of the Local Medical Officer, we stated the causes of the high mortality to be zymotic diseases arising from overcrowding, drunkenness, and other forms of immorality which lead to poverty and destitution.

When we came to inquire into the means taken by the authorities for ameliorating the condition of the poor, we found these to be the most meagre and insignificant, for whilst very large sums had been expended to benefit the gentry and the wealthy tradespeople, miserable grants were doled out for the improvement of closed courts and untenantable houses, and the interests of the public were found to be sacrificed to those of private individuals, to the whims of local cliques, or to the exigencies of local politics.

These startling revelations carried us to the inevitable conclusion, that it would be necessary to appoint a special Committee of the House of Commons to deal with a matter of such grave national as well as local importance.

But whilst we penned these remarks, severe as they may have seemed to many of our readers, and just as they were acknowledged to be by the Liverpool journals, we were little aware of the sad and culpable neglect of which the local authorities, not only in Liverpool but in many of our other large towns, have for years past been guilty towards their defenceless poor; and when, to the reports of credible informants, we added a close personal inspection, we found a state of things so revolting that we rejoice not to have known it previously, for we should else have been tempted to print in these pages an account of facts, which at the present day would be deemed shameful, and which to posterity will appear incredible.

The anticipated Public Health Bill, to which we shall refer presently, and other causes have conduced to the amelioration of those conditions in Liverpool and Leeds, and it is our intention to refer to them only, so far as it may be necessary for awakening

shame in those towns which obstinately refuse to remove similar stains from their municipal escutcheons, and who persist in setting their poor denizens an example of slovenliness and filth.

Deplorable as it may appear, it is nevertheless true that the only efficacious agents in sanitary reform are terrible visitations of disease, or stern compulsory legislative enactments. Both those agents are at present in active operation amongst us. Cholera, of which, in common with our cotemporaries, we predicted an outbreak during the summer, is committing havoc among our people; and before the prorogation of Parliament the Conservative Ministry wisely sought the co-operation of the Liberal framers of the Public Health Bill, and with their aid pressed it rapidly through Committee, under a cross-fire of obstructives, whom we should hardly have expected to find amongst our enlightened legislators.

We have to thank Providence for a visitation of Cholera, and to pray that the nation may not only be patient in enduring it, but ready to profit by the infliction; and we have also to be grateful to one who has had the decision and wisdom to insist upon sanitary reformation in all our towns and villages, to the Right Honourable Henry Austin Bruce, who (assisted by the late Home and Irish Secretaries) introduced the Public Health Bill, and who, whilst in the cold shade of opposition, was patriotic enough to see that it should became law.

Of the salutary effect of a severe outbreak of disease upon the inhabitants of a neglected town, it would hardly be possible to find a more striking illustration than the first on our list, Hull.

In the year 1848-9 Hull was visited by Cholera of more intense severity than any town in England. Lying low, and bordered on one side by marsh-land, it added bad drainage and a defective water-supply to its natural disadvantages; but about the time of the visitation it possessed a mayor of peculiar ability and merit, who rendered such services to the town in the matter of sanitary improvements, that when Her Majesty visited Hull, she knighted Mr. now Sir Henry Cooper, and in conferring the honour she announced to him that she had done so at the express wish of the inhabitants for the services to which we have referred.

The death-rate of Hull in the year 1851, when the Improvement Act was passed, was 36, whilst in July, 1866, when that of London was 22, Leeds 36, and Liverpool 37-6, that of Hull was less than one-half the last named, 18.3. The average mortality of the borough is however not so favourable, as will be found hereafter.

By the time our readers have accompanied us to the end of our task, they will understand the feelings of pleasure with which we record the facts that the Hull Board of Health, presided over by the Mayor, is composed of energetic men, who have effectively organized themselves for sanitary purposes; that the night-soil of

the town is collected before nine o'clock in the morning, and deposited either close to the boundary, or in the case of the most important parish, Sculcoates, beyond the boundary, and the depôts are shortly to be still farther removed.

It is to be regretted, however, that there, as in all other large towns from which we have gathered information, it is not the practice to use disinfectants.

Hull was formerly ill-provided with water, but we believe its wants are now tolerably well met. Its low situation is very disadvantageous for sewerage, but, as far as we can learn, its arrangements in that respect are good. Very extensive drainage works are being carried on, and the sewers of the old town are flushed by the docks from which a sufficient fall is obtainable, and in the remaining parts of the town they are cleansed by the admission of the tide; the whole being periodically swept out.

Formerly the town had to suffer much from the boiling of whale-blubber, but with the departure of what was at one time its staple trade, the whale-fishery, the nuisance referred to has disappeared, and in its place the visitor experiences the healthy and not disagreeable odour of its numerous seed-oil and cake manufactories.

Let not the inhabitants, however, relax their exertions to keep their homes healthy, for even there it would not be difficult to point out unhealthy courts, alleys, and streets. Hull does not, however, suffer from any monstrous evil, or train of nuisances, which is more than can be said for Bristol.

There is no want of sanitary government at Bristol, but rather the reverse; and a certain old proverb concerning an excess of chefs-de-cuisine is verified. There is a Board of Health, and also a Committee of Health. The former constitutes the "Sewer Authority," and has performed much useful work in sewerage, the erection of drinking fountains, public boxes for the reception of refuse, &c The other sanitary body, the "Health of Towns Committee," emanates from the Corporation of the Poor, and has an officer of health for the whole city with the somewhat meagre salary of 2007. or 300l. a-year; besides, there are subordinate health officers in each district, medical men, who, if we understand aright, have no salaries beyond those dependent upon their inadequate poor-law appointments. The Clifton Union have also appointed an officer of health for that district, with a separate salary.

The Health of Towns Committee is prompt and energetic in emergencies, such as visitations of typhus or cholera, but, as our readers will doubtless have anticipated, the two Sanitary Corporations here (as elsewhere under divided authority) are often at variance. And when this article was written it was found that the Privy Council order affecting towns such as Bristol, would create greater confusion and squabbling.

And well they may, for although Bristol does not at present show a high rate of mortality as compared with some large towns, its internal condition is such as to render it nationally dangerous, for it must not be forgotten that, like Liverpool, it is a large seaport at which vessels are continually arriving from foreign parts.

No hospital exists there for the reception of epidemic or contagious diseases. The Bristol Royal Infirmary and the Bristol General Hospital are authorized by their rules to refuse admission to all cases of this kind.

A temporary fever hospital was erected last year, but when typhus disappeared this wooden shed was demolished. A large building was placed at the disposal of the city by the liberality of one of the Corporation of the Poor (H. W. Green, Esq.) for the reception of cholera patients, but owing to the opposition of one of his tenants he was compelled to withdraw the gift.

Formerly, St. Peter's Hospital was devoted to the reception of medical cases, and was, in effect, the fever and lock hospital of the city; but on the day when the Corporation of the Poor became subservient to the Poor Law Commissioners, the citizens of Bristol lost the accommodation of St. Peter's as a public hospital; it is now a simple "Union."

We now approach a subject which, from its repulsive nature, has occupied but little of the attention of sanitarians, but which we

believe to constitute one of the chief elements in the consideration of the mortality rate of large towns, namely, the removal of nightsoil and refuse.

In Liverpool, at the time of the publication of our last article, a large portion of it was deposited on wharves, on the banks of the canal, and in the heart of the vast fever district of the borough; and although the local authorities managed not to see it in that light, there can be little doubt that the endemic typhus there has to a great extent resulted from that cause; or at least it tended largely to its maintenance.

In Bristol the night-soil is removed by the sewers; partly by the old systems, which are small and inadequate, and partly by the new sewers, not yet fully completed; and even where completed, they are not sufficiently brought into use, as the private sewers have not been extensively joined to the large common trunk sewerage canals. Many of the old sewers open into the river Froome, which runs through the city and even opens into the floating-harbour, which is a stagnant body of water, partly tidal, partly fresh, and in the very heart of the city, and at times most offensive from heat and decomposition of focal and animal matter. This water is changed only once a fortnight, even in summer time, and less often in winter. The commercial interests at stake prevent the change of this festering ditch being more frequent,

as the whole of the naval commerce of Bristol is dependent upon this floating-harbour.

The Froome has been an open ditch from the formation of this harbour, and is filthy in the extreme; it has been partially covered over within the past three or four years. In its vicinity the former outbreaks of cholera occurred and the fever nests of the city exist. The Froome is the principal cause of pestilence in Bristol, as it is a grand system of open sewage still in use, unfortunately, as it is at times nearly stagnant, and always foul. The new sewers open in two places into the tidal river Avon, and have no connection with the floating-harbour.

One at the Underfall Dam in St. Philip's, near the Great Western Railway Terminus, and the other below St. Vincent's Rocks. One (the first) will cause the sewage to pass through the New Cut, part of the Hotwells, and below Clifton, to mix with the second mass of focal matter and run to the Severn together, and both will render it liable to be washed back by the rising tide to Bedminster and other districts, and even into Cumberland Lock and Floating Harbour. It is the opinion of persons well qualified to judge on such matters, that a great mistake has been made here, and that the engineers of the work are to blame for this breach of hygienic laws. This extensive sewerage work has produced considerable disturbance of the ground, and in many instances has fatally damaged the wells of Bristol, some of which have become so highly charged with animal matter as to be extremely deleterious. But the Bristol waterworks have supplied most of these districts with a very pure river water, rising on the Mendip range of hills, generally sufficient for the demands of the public, except in the height of summer and in very dry seasons, when it fails sadly. At night, too, there is no supply even for fires until the company turns it on! When the reservoirs are full, there is sufficient pressure to send the water even to the top of Clifton, an elevation 280 feet above the sea level. The Bristol Waterworks Company should be compelled by Act of Parliament to considerably increase their sources of supply, and the landlords should also be compulsorily obliged to obtain an adequate water-supply from the Company for their various tenants, especially in the poorer districts, where the wells are shallow and bad."

No disinfectants are anywhere used to decompose the sewerage matters.

In addition to the local nuisance occasioned by the great open sewer, the Froome, there are many objectionable factories, all of which vomit forth volumes of smoke into the atmosphere, no provision having been made for the consumption of this material. The atmosphere is very impure from this circumstance, and at times impervious to actinic power.