Health of Town's Association. Unhealthiness of towns, its causes and remedies / [William A. Guy].

  • William Augustus Guy
Date:
1845
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Health of Town's Association. Unhealthiness of towns, its causes and remedies / [William A. Guy]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    partly by doing; a little direct good and partly by setting an example. May they be prosperous in both ways ! I have already explained to you the objects of the Health of Towns' Association, as those objects are embodied in theii prospectus ; I have only to add that one very im¬ portant kind of instruction, and a great and valuable faci¬ lity offered to the public, is about to be provided in the form of a depot at which may be seen all the cheapest and best forms of apparatus approved by the society, for -effecting the great objects of ventilation, drainage, and sewerage. I may mention here what will both surprise and gratify all who take an interest in this subject, that the estimated cost of all the great sanitary improvements—water-pipes, and an ample supply of water, main sewers, secondary drains, house-drains, water-closets, ventilating apparatus, scavenging, widening of streets, rent of public parks and gardens, salary of inspectors of health, interest and fund for the repayment of capital—all may be well and tho¬ roughly done for an additional weekly expense over and above the rent of— what think you per week ? 3M Yes, improbable as it may seem, all these health-preserving blessings, ail these appliances of decency, all these aids of vii tue (may I not justly say, of religion too?) may be pur¬ chased for 3±d. per week per house. It only remains that I should say a few words of the power which Government has in this matter. Legislation can do much—very much—so much that no efforts of in¬ dividuals or associations can avail without its help. We are dependent upon legislation for our supplies of water, and the construction of sewers. Unsound legislation may place a thousand obstacles in the way of both, but a good and comprehensive measure may carry these cheap bless¬ ings into every court and alley in the kingdom. To legis¬ lation, again, we must look for a good system of super¬ vision and inspection, the abatement of nuisances, the closing up of crowded churchyards, the removal of cattle markets and slaughter-houses from the centre of our large towns, the consumption of smoke, the purification of our rivers, and the application of the valuable refuse of towns to its proper use, and, what is doubtless more difficult, the regulation of the hours of work, and the enforce¬ ment of ventilation in public buildings, churches, schools, barracks, factories, shops and workshops. The task, in some respects, will be difficult, and the statesman who makes up his mind to earn the old Roman crown of him who had saved the life of a citizen, must be prepared to