Draining for Profit, and Draining for Health Part 18

The voluminous reports of various Committees of the English Parliament, appointed to investigate sanitary questions, are replete with information concerning experience throughout the whole country, bearing directly on this question.

Dr. Whitley, in his report to the Board of Health, (in 1864,) of an extended tour of observation, says of one town that he examined:-

"Mr. Nicholls, who has been forty years in practice here, and whom I was unable to see at the time of my visit, writes: Intermittent and remittent are greatly on the decline since the improved state of drainage of the town and surrounding district, and more particularly marked is this alteration, since the introduction of the water-works in the place.

Although we have occasional outbreaks of intermittent and remittent, with neuralgic attacks, they yield more speedily to remedies, and are not attended by so much enlargement of the liver or spleen as formerly, and dysentery is of rare occurrence."

Dr. Whitley sums up his case as follows:-

"It would appear from the foregoing inquiry, that intermittent and remittent fevers, and their consequences, can no longer be regarded as seriously affecting the health of the population, in many of the districts, in which those diseases were formerly of a formidable character. Thus, in Norfolk, Lincolnshire, and Cambridgeshire, counties in which these diseases were both frequent and severe, all the evidence, except that furnished by the Peterborough Infirmary, and, in a somewhat less degree, in Spaulding, tends to show that they are at the present time, comparatively rare and mild in form."

He mentions similar results from his investigations in other parts of the kingdom, and says:-

"It may, therefore, be safely a.s.serted as regards England generally, that:-

"The diseases which have been made the subject of the present inquiry, have been steadily decreasing, both in frequency and severity, for several years, _and this decrease is attributed, in nearly every case, mainly to one cause,-improved land drainage;_" again:

"The change of local circ.u.mstances, unanimously declared to be the most immediate in influencing the prevalence of malarious diseases, is land drainage;" and again:

"Except in a few cases in which medical men believed that these affections began to decline previously to the improved drainage of the places mentioned, the decrease in all of the districts where extensive drainage has been carried out, was stated to have commenced about the same time, and was unhesitatingly attributed to that cause."

A select Committee of the House of Commons, appointed to investigate the condition and sanitary influence of the Thames marshes, reported their minutes of evidence, and their deductions therefrom, in 1854, The following is extracted from their report:

"It appears from the evidence of highly intelligent and eminent gentlemen of the medical profession, residing in the neighborhood of the marshes on both sides of the Thames below London Bridge, that the diseases prevalent in these districts are highly indicative of malarious influences, fever-and-ague being very prevalent; and that the sickness and mortality are greatest in those localities which adjoin imperfectly drained lands, and far exceed the usual average; and that ague and allied disorders frequently extend to the high grounds in the vicinity. In those districts where a partial drainage has been effected, a corresponding improvement in the health of the inhabitants is perceptible."

In the evidence given before the committee, Dr. P. Bossey testified that the malaria from salt marshes varied in intensity, being most active in the morning and in the Summer season. The marshes are sometimes covered by a little fog, usually not more than three feet thick, which is of a very offensive odor, and detrimental to health. Away from the marshes, there is a greater tendency to disease on the side toward which the prevailing winds blow.

Dr. James Stewart testified that the effect of malaria was greatest when very hot weather succeeds heavy rain or floods. He thought that malaria could be carried _up_ a slope, but has never been known to descend, and that, consequently, an intervening hill affords sufficient protection against marsh malaria. He had known cases where the edges of a river were healthy and the uplands malarious.

In Santa Maura and Zante, where he had been stationed with the army, he had observed that the edge of a marsh would be comparatively healthy, while the higher places in the vicinity were exceedingly unhealthy. He thought that there were a great many mixed diseases which began like ague and terminated very differently; those diseases would, no doubt, a.s.sume a very different form if they were not produced by the marsh air; many diseases are very difficult to treat, from being of a mixed character beginning like marsh fevers and terminating like inflammatory fevers, or diseases of the chest.

Dr. George Farr testified that rheumatism and tic-doloreux were very common among the ladies who live at the Woolwich a.r.s.enal, near the Thames marshes. Some of these cases were quite incurable, until the patients removed to a purer atmosphere.

W. H. Gall, M. D., thought that the extent to which malaria affected the health of London, must of course be very much a theoretical question; "but it is very remarkable that diseases which are not distinctly miasmatic, do become much more severe in a miasmatic district. Influenzas, which prevailed in England in 1847, were very much more fatal in London and the surrounding parts than they were in the country generally, and influenza and ague poisons are very nearly allied in their effects. Marsh miasms are conveyed, no doubt, a considerable distance. Sufficiently authentic cases are recorded to show that the influence of marsh miasm extends several miles." Other physicians testify to the fact, that near the Thames marshes, the prevalent diseases are all of them of an aguish type, intermittent and remittent, and that they are accompanied with much dysentery. Dr. John Manly said that, when he first went to Barking, he found a great deal of ague, but since the draining, in a population of ten thousand, there are not half-a-dozen cases annually and but very little remittent.

The following Extract is taken from the testimony of Sir Culling Eardly, Bart.:

"Chairman:-I believe you reside at Belvidere, in the parish of Erith?-Yes.-Ch.: Close to these marshes?-Yes.-Ch.: Can you speak from your own knowledge, of the state of these marshes, with regard to public health?-Sir C.: I can speak of some of the results which have been produced in the neighborhood, from the condition of the marshes; the neighborhood is in one continual state of ague. My own house is protected, from the height of its position, and a gentleman's house is less liable to the influence of malaria than the houses of the lower cla.s.ses. But even in my house we are liable to ague; and to show the extraordinary manner in which the ague operates, in the bas.e.m.e.nt story of this house where my men-servants sleep, we have more than once had bad ague. In the attics of my house, where my maid-servants sleep, we have never had it. Persons are deterred from settling in the neighborhood by the aguish character of the country. Many persons, attracted by the beauty of the locality, wish to come down and settle; but when they find the liability to ague, they are compelled to give up their intention. I may mention that the village of Erith itself, bears marks of the influence of malaria. It is more like one of the desolate towns of Italy, Ferrara, for instance, than a healthy, happy, English village. I do not know whether it is known to the committee, that Erith is the village described in d.i.c.kens' _Household Words_, as Dumble-down-deary, and that it is a most graphic and correct description of the state of the place, attributable to the unhealthy character of the locality."

He also stated that the ague is not confined to the marshes, but extends to the high lands near them.

The General Board of Health, of England, at the close of a voluminous report, publish the following "Conclusions as to the Drainage of Suburban Lands:-

"1. Excess of moisture, even on lands not evidently wet, is a cause of fogs and damps.

"2. Dampness serves as a medium for the conveyance of any decomposing matter that may be evolved, and adds to the injurious effects of such matters in the air:-in other words the excess of moisture may be said to increase or aggravate atmospheric impurities.

"3. The evaporation of the surplus moisture lowers the temperature, produces chills, and creates or aggravates the sudden and injurious changes or fluctuations by which health is injured."

In view of the foregoing opinions as to the cause of malaria, and of the evidence as to the effect of draining in removing the unhealthy condition in which those causes originate, it is not too much to say that,-in addition to the capital effect of draining on the productive capacity of the land,-the most beneficial sanitary results may be confidently expected from the extension of the practice, especially in such localities as are now unsafe, or at least undesirable for residence.

In proportion to the completeness and efficiency of the means for the removal of surplus water from the soil:-in proportion, that is, to the degree in which the improved tile drainage described in these pages is adopted,-will be the completeness of the removal of the causes of disease.

So far as the drying of malarious lands is concerned, it is only necessary to construct drains in precisely the same manner as for agricultural improvement.

The removal of the waste of houses, and of other filth, will be considered in the next chapter.

CHAPTER XI. - HOUSE DRAINAGE AND TOWN SEWERAGE IN THEIR RELATIONS TO THE PUBLIC HEALTH.

The following is extracted from a report made by the General Board of Health to the British Parliament, concerning the administration of the Public Health Act and the Nuisances Removal and Diseases Prevention Acts from 1848 to 1854.

"Where instances have been favorable for definite observation, as in broad blocks of buildings, the effects of sanitary improvement have been already manifested to an extent greater than could have been antic.i.p.ated, and than can be readily credited by those who have not paid attention to the subject.

"In one favorable instance, that of between 600 and 700 persons of the working cla.s.s in the metropolis, during a period of three years, the average rate of mortality has been reduced to between 13 and 14 in 1000.

In another instance, for a shorter period, among 500 persons, the mortality has been reduced as low as even 7 in 1000. The average rate of mortality for the whole metropolis being 23 in 1000.

"In another instance, the abolishing of cess-pools and their replacement by water-closets, together with the abolishing of brick drains and their replacement by impermeable and self-cleansing stone-ware pipes, has been attended with an immediate and extraordinary reduction of mortality. Thus, in Lambeth Square, occupied by a superior cla.s.s of operatives, in the receipt of high wages, the deaths, which in ordinary times were above the general average, or more than 30 in 1000, had risen to a rate of 55 in 1000. By the abolishing of cess-pools, which were within the houses, and the subst.i.tution of water-closets, and with the introduction of tubular, self-cleansing house-drains, the mortality has been reduced to 13 in 1000.

"The reduction of the mortality was effected precisely among the same occupants, without any change in their habits whatever."

"Sewers are less important than the House-Drains and Water-Closets, and if not carrying much water, may become cess-pools. In the case of the Square just referred to, when cess-pools and drains of deposit were removed without any alteration whatever in the adjacent sewers, fevers disappeared from house to house, as these receptacles were filled up, and the water-closet apparatus subst.i.tuted, merely in consequence of the removal of the decomposing matter from beneath the houses to a distant sewer of deposit or open water course.

"If the mortality were at the same rate as in the model dwellings, or in the improved dwellings in Lambeth Square, the annual deaths for the whole of the metropolis would be 25,000 less, and for the whole of England and Wales 170,000 less than the actual deaths.

"If the reduced rate of mortality in these dwellings should continue, and there appears to be no reason to suppose that it will not, the extension to all towns which have been affected, of the improvements which have been applied in these buildings, would raise the average age at death to about forty-eight instead of twenty-nine, the present average age at death of the inhabitants of towns in all England and Wales."

The branch of the Art of Drainage which relates to the removal of the fecal and other refuse wastes of the population of towns, is quite different from that which has been described in the preceding pages, as applicable to the agricultural and sanitary improvement of lands under cultivation, and of suburban districts. Still, the fact that town and house drainage affords a means for the preservation of valuable manures, justifies its discussion in an agricultural work, and "draining for health" would stop far short of completeness were no attention paid to the removal of the cause of diseases, which are far more fatal than those that originate in an undrained condition of the soil.

The extent to which these diseases, (of which typhoid fever is a type,) are prevented by sanitary drainage, is strikingly shown in the extract which commences this chapter. Since the experience to which this report refers, it has been found that the most fatal epidemics of the lower portions of London originated in the choked condition of the street sewers, whose general character, as well as the plan of improvement adopted are described in the following "Extracts from the Report of the Metropolitan Board of Works," made in 1866.

"The main sewers discharged their whole contents direct into the Thames, the majority of them capable of being emptied only at the time of low water; consequently, as the tide rose, the outlets of the sewers were closed, and the sewage was dammed back, and became stagnant; the sewage and impure waters were also constantly flowing from the higher grounds, in some instances during 18 out of the 24 hours, and thus the thick and heavy substances were deposited, which had to be afterwards removed by the costly process of hand labor. During long continued or copious falls of rain, more particularly when these occurred at the time of high water in the river, the closed outlets not having sufficient storage capacity to receive the increased volume of sewage, the houses and premises in the low lying districts, especially on the south side of the river, became flooded by the sewage rising through the house drains, and so continued until the tide had receded sufficiently to afford a vent for the pent-up waters, when the sewage flowed and deposited itself along the banks of the river, evolving gases of a foul and offensive character.

"This state of things had a most injurious effect upon the condition of the Thames; for not only was the sewage carried up the river by the rising tide, at a time when the volume of pure water was at its minimum, and quite insufficient to dilute and disinfect it, but it was brought back again into the heart of the metropolis, there to mix with each day's fresh supply, until the gradual progress towards the sea of many day's acc.u.mulation could be plainly discerned; the result being that the portion of the river within the metropolitan district became scarcely less impure and offensive than the foulest of the sewers themselves. * * * * * *

"The Board, by the system they have adopted, have sought to abolish the evils which hitherto existed, by constructing new lines of sewers, laid in a direction at right angles to that of the existing sewers, and a little below their levels, so as to intercept their contents and convey them to an outfall, on the north side of the Thames about 11-1/4 miles, and on the south side about 14 miles, below London Bridge. By this arrangement as large a proportion of the sewage as practicable is carried away by gravitation, and a constant discharge for the remainder is provided by means of pumping. At the outlets, the sewage is delivered into reservoirs situate on the banks of the Thames, and placed at such levels as enable them to discharge into the river at or about the time of high water. The sewage thus becomes not only at once diluted by the large volume of water in the river at the time of high water, but is also carried by the ebb 26 miles below London Bridge, and its return by the following flood-tide within the metropolitan area, is effectually prevented."

The details of this stupendous enterprise are of sufficient interest to justify the introduction here of the "General Statistics of the Works" as reported by the Board.

"A few statistics relative to the works may not prove uninteresting. The first portion of the works was commenced in January 1859, being about five months after the pa.s.sing of the Act authorising their execution. There are 82 miles of main intercepting sewers in London. In the construction of the works 318,000,000 of bricks, and 880,000 cubic yards of concrete have been used, and 3,500,000 cubic yards of earth excavated. The cost, when completed, will have been about 4,200,000. The total pumping power employed is 2,300 nominal horse power: and if the engines were at full work, night and day, 44,000 tons of coals per annum would be used; but the average consumption is estimated at 20,000 tons. The sewage to be intercepted by the works on the north side of the river, at present amounts to 10,000,000 cubic feet, and on the south side 4,000,000 cubic feet per day; but provision is made for an antic.i.p.ated increase in these quant.i.ties, in addition to the rainfall, amounting to a total of 63,000,000 cubic feet per day, which is equal to a lake of 482 acres, three feet deep, or 15 times as large as the Serpentine in Hyde Park."

A very large portion of the sewage has to be lifted thirty-six feet to the outfall sewer. The works on the north side of the Thames were formally opened, by the Prince of Wales, in April 1865.

In the hope that the immense amount of sewage, for which an escape has been thus provided, might be profitably employed in agriculture, advertis.e.m.e.nts were inserted in the public journals asking for proposals for carrying out such a scheme; and arrangements were subsequently made for an extension of the works, by private enterprise, by the construction of a culvert nine and a half feet in diameter, and forty miles in length, capable of carrying 12,000,000 cubic feet of sewage per day to the barren sands on the coast of Ess.e.x; the intention being to dispose of the liquid to farmers along the line, and to use the surplus for the fertilization of 7000 acres, (to be subsequently increased,) which are to be reclaimed from the sea by embankments and valve sluice-gates.