Report to the General Board of Health on a preliminary inquiry into the sewerage, drainage, and supply of water, and the sanitary condition of the inhabitants of the township of Broughton, in the county palatine of Lancaster / by Robert Rawlinson, Superintending Inspector.

  • Rawlinson, Robert, 1810-1898.
Date:
1850
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report to the General Board of Health on a preliminary inquiry into the sewerage, drainage, and supply of water, and the sanitary condition of the inhabitants of the township of Broughton, in the county palatine of Lancaster / by Robert Rawlinson, Superintending Inspector. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    u ids are here contained in -real abundance, which now rnn to waste ri.e irweU probably brings down twice as much as the Medloci< ot all <^Vhe';r^^^^^^^^ acid at present brought down by the Medlock alone is sufficient to supply 95.000 acres of ordinary wheat crops, 184,000 acres of clover, 258,000 ;cres of potatoes, or 280,000 acres of oats. ¥he sVlica in soUUion in the waters of the Medlock would supp y ?0 000 acres of wheat, and the other elements would respective y sup^^^^^^ a still larger extent of cultivation. The whole refuse f th^^'f;'^^ would, if applied, supply the vital prmciples of manure to 285 000 a^^^^^^^ of ordinary wheat crops, 552,000 acres of clover, 774 000 acres ot ootatoes or 840,000 acres of oats, and the silica in solution m all the waters ;f the Medlock and Irwell would supply 150,000 acres of ^^Sil^I^are a few statements relative to this most vital question. There is economy in improvement, there is a large income to b^f^'^^fflZ proper loorks, and there is present sickness, misery, death, and heavy poor's-rates in neglect. Haw long should the Committee of the Cor- poration of Manchester continue to watch with interest the ope- rations and experiments that may be elseiohere undertaken.^ The information contained in Appendix B. will show the result of the cesspool system carried to the greatest possible pitch of perfection. It may be summed up as costly in the first instance, troublesome, offensive, and dangerous to health in use, and in every respect inferior to a proper system of tubular drainage. Manchester, Salford, and Liverpool have each a cesspool system, most rude and imperfect as compared with that of Pans, and con- sequently more costly in management, and likely to be more dangerous to health. The cesspool system serves this purpose ; refuse is retained until it ferments and passes into the dwelhng- houses gases of the most destructive kind, and the whole matter which would silently, at once, and without cost, float away in tubular drains to some prepared outlet, must at great inconvenience and cost be removed by human labour at intervals. Cesspools are dangerous when full, but when empty much more so, as there is°a larger area, in the foulest sides and bottom, for evaporation, and a larger reservoir for deadly gas. Appendix B. The Cesspool System in Paris. [ Being on Extract from a Paper drawn up by Thomas Webster Rammell, Esq., Civil Engineer and Superintending Inspector.'] It is the practice in Paris to dispose of all the solid refuse of the houses, with the exception of frocal matter, by depositing it in the streets at night, whence it is removed between midnight and dawn by the Bcavent^crs. During all this time, however, the heaps are carefully