A hand book of house sanitation : for the use of all persons seeking a healthy home

Front matter

ROYAL SANITARY INSTITUTE

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Preface

This Treatise on House Sanitation is published for the following reasons : —

In 1876 a series of Lectures, embracing the treatment of the Dwelling, was delivered by Mr. Bailey-Denton before the School of Military Engineering at Chatham, and published under the title of “ Sanitary Engineering ; ” and that work having met with a ready sale its publication is now exhausted.

Since the delivery of those Lectures a more general interest in Sanitation than then existed has grown up, and the desire to occupy houses of a healthful character being strongly manifested, has called forth many advisers and a multitude of devices to meet that desire. Under these circumstances the Editor, with Mr. Bailey-Denton’s consent, has determined to issue, in a much cheaper form than the Lectures referred to, a Revised Edition of such portions as treated of “ The Dwelling,” and its Sanitary requirements.

There has long been felt the want of a Hand Book which — freed as much as possible from trade technicalities — should be so comprehensive in its character as to enable the house-owner and the house-holder, as well as the architect and builder, to understand and appreciate the arrangements and appliances which will best secure that healthy condition which is daily becoming more

IV and more a sine qua non in dwellings of all descripfions, the recognition of which has, in fact, called into existence the ‘“sanitary engineer” of the present day. It is with a view of supplying this want that the Editor has undertaken not only to reprint from the original text of “ Sanitary Engineering,” 1877, those portions bearing on “ The Dwelling,” but to describe and pourtray in a classified manner those arrangements and appliances or devices which have been brought before the public since those Lectures were given. He begs that it may be borne in mind that in the following pages the term “Dwelling” means every structure occupied by human beings, whether it be a palace, mansion, cottage, factory, or shop, and that in each the same obligations for the preservation of health exist.

“The Dwelling” forms the unit of Towns and Villages, and in that character and position it suffers not only the drawbacks necessarily attending all habitations in which human beings are collected, but the evils arising from combined sewerage, made obligatory by the Public Health Acts. By the construction of common sewers, a means of conveying infection and gases from one part of a district to another has been afforded, and individual injury has followed a general benefit. To disconnect the Dwelling from the common sewer in a manner to secure an outlet for its liquid refuse, while excluding the emanations from the sewer, is a matter of necessity.

To render this treatise as practically useful as possible, its contents have been divided into two parts, entitled “ Air ” and “Water.” To the pure or impure condition of these essential elements of life is to be traced the freedom from or the existence of those zymotic or ferment diseases which, Hygienic Statistics show, constitute more than half the ailments to which humanity is subject.

It is only within very recent years that we have realized the fact that in the most costly houses of the Metropolis and other

V large cities, where vast sums of money have been spent in decorating and beautifying them and in securing comfort and luxury to their occupiers, and that in the spacious mansions of our rural districts, where nature herself contributes so much to health, the very first conditions essential to pure air and pure water have in the majority of instances been neglected. In many of these highclass dwellings, in fact, the domestics exist in ill-ventilated basements and attics, in which the “air” is often as corrupt as air can well be, whilst all the inmates alike — principals and domestics — consume “ water ” obtained from wells or tanks, and cisterns, which impart to it injurious qualities.

If this is the condition of the dwellings of the higher and wealthy classes, the sanitary state of the houses of the middle and lower classes, though in many respects not worse, is certainly not better. If examined, they would be found faulty in some particulars, though the evils which really exist are often greatly exaggerated. With house holders whose incomes govern the rent they pay for their dwellings, — which is necessarily greatly the case with the middle and lower classes,- — little or no thought is given to sanitary arrangements, nor is any examination into their sanitary condition ever made. In a majority of instances where defects would be discovered on examination, a very small outlay would suffice to effect the necessary rectification, whilst the outlay would be speedily recovered in the saving of medical advice.

Fortunately for the people of this country the advance recently made in sanitary science has led to the recognition of the value — the necessity — of a periodical examination of all dwellings by properly qualified persons, and this will inevitably lead to the compulsory rectification of evils, the removal of which, unfortunately, now remains optional.

In designating the present treatise a “ Hand Book,” the Editor is perfectly cognizant of the fact that the term is too wide to be correctly applied to it. To treat of all points bearing upon

VI healthy homes, a ha?id book should not only include the duties of the sanitary engineer, the architect, and the builder, but it should deal with medical and legal considerations, extremely interesting to both landlord and tenant, but which would extend the work far beyond the limits now contemplated. They are, therefore, omitted.

An important object to remember in sanitation is the aptitude of all persons to run to extremes of prevention and remedy, whenever their minds are aroused to personal danger. It is hardly necessary to say that such extremes should be avoided, for all expenditure not absolutely necessary must, sooner or later, have a deterring effect, and operate disadvantageous^ to a science recognised as one of the most important of the day.

CONTENTS OF CHAPTER I.

AIR CHEMICALLY AND PHYSICALLY CONSIDERED

Section I. Air in Relation to the Dwelling

,, II. Constituents of Normal Air,

„ III. Of Foreign Polluting Matters,

,, IV. Of Counteracting Agencies.

,, V. Attainable Standard of Air.

,, VI. Quantity of Air Respired by Human Beings.

,, VII. Of Oxygen.

,, VIII. Of Carbonic Acid.

., IX. Carbonic Acid the Measure of Impurity of Air.

,, X. Ground Air as affecting the Dwelling.

Chapter I

I. Air in Relation to the Dwelling. — It is well understood by sanitarians that in order to secure the best hygienic conditions in every dwelling, the primary object to be aimed at is to distribute throughout both the living and sleeping apartments the purest air obtainable from without, and by the best known internal arrangements to counteract, as far as is possible, (i) the vitiation of air caused by, and inseparable from, the respiration of its inmates ; (2) the existence of corrupt organic matter consequent on most of the diseases which befall humanity ; (3) the dissemination of the products of imperfect combustion of materials used for lighting and warming ; (4) the dispersion of the solid particles and offensive gases evolved from trade processes, and in the preparation of food; and (5) the decay and putrefaction of both vegetable and animal matter of which that food consists.

Upon the careful admission and circulation of fresh air to correct the impurities generated in the dwelling, — if the arrangements be associated with an ample supply of unexceptionable water, — will depend its character as a healthy home, for it will only be by the maintenance of pure air and pure water that the old, the young and the weak will be relieved of many of those maladies to which they are specially sensitive.

AIR CHEMICALLY AND PHYSICALLY CONSIDERED. [AIR.

As the benefits of house sanitation become more fullyrecognised, the renting value of dwellings will necessarily depend upon the arrangements made to secure a healthy condition. Thus it will become a matter of increasing importance to architects, surveyors, and builders, when designing and constructing dwellings, and in a greater degree to owners and lessees, who have to let them, that they should possess such appliances as will render them acceptable to tenants, who will become more and more alive every day to what their landords are bound to supply.

II. Constituents of Normal Air. — Air in its normal condition consists of about four-fifths by volume of nitrogen and one-fifth of oxygen mixed with a very small proportion of carbonic acid.* Speaking more precisely, it has been ascertained by the valuable researches of Dr. Angus Smith, that very pure air contains not less than 20 -99 per cent, of oxygen, and not more than *03 of carbonic acid

Taking the mean of these experiments, 1 cubic foot weighs 536-6 grains. Air is therefore 14-45 heavier than hydrogen, and 816 times lighter than water.

The average pressure of the air on the surface of the earth and at the level of the ocean is equal to 15 lbs. on the square inch, that is, the air is capable of supporting a column of mercury of 30 inches, or a column of water of 34 feet. — Meyniott Tidy .]

III. Of Foreign Polluting Matters.— Excluding from consideration the watery vapour that exists to the extent of 40 per

* Nitrogen is a gas devoid of either colour, taste, or smell. It acts chiefly in diluting the oxygen. In pure nitrogen animals cease to live. Its weight is a thirty-sixth part less than common air.

Oxygen is without either taste or smell. Of all elements it is most abundant, forming eight-ninths by weight of the water, one-fifth by volume of the air, and one-third of the solid matter of the globe. Though absolutely necessary to the life of man and animals it is too strong to be breathed for any length of time in a pure condition without fatal results. Oxygen is one-ninth part heavier than common air.

Carbonic acid is a gas which, unlike oxygen and hydrogen, possesses a perceptibly sour taste. It is described as a compound of carbon and oxygen, and is the result of the combustion of carbon. It was called “fixed air by our older chemists, and to coal-miners and well-sinkers it is known as “ choke damp.” For plants it is essential, being the source from which the carbon of their tissues is derived.

[Weight of Air.

100 cubic inches weigh (Prout) ..

(Bist and Arago)

• • 31 '°74 „

Mean of four observations... 31-053 n

O

AIR.] AIR CHEMICALLY AND PHYSICALLY CONSIDERED.

cent, of saturation in the driest, to complete saturation in the dampest air, and which may therefore be considered, though varying in quantity, to be almost a normal constituent, the foreign matters to which I have before referred, and which impart to the air those impurities which vitiate its normal condition, are — (i) the gases which rise in the shape of ammonia from organic matters, as decay and putrefaction take place; (2) those acids or gases which emanate from inorganic matters in their natural state, or when brought into use by man ; and (3) mechanically suspended impurities, i.e., those substances consisting of particles of the soil or dust, the pollen and seeds of plants, decaying tissue, &c., which float in the air, are of minute size, and may be partially seen by the eye in any ray of light. It is these suspended and floating particles that have been shown by Professor Tyndall to reflect and scatter light itself.

The amount of watery vapour which in this country is considered most congenial to health, is from 65 to 75 per cent, “of saturation. [More than this checks evaporation from the body, while less causes too great evaporation, parching the mouth and drying the skin. It has been noted that in certain places, - remarkable as health resorts, the degree of saturation is singularly uniform. — Meymott Tidy .]

IV. Of Counteracting Agencies. — These deteriorating foreign materials, however, are counterbalanced by natural agencies, winds and currents, diffusion, oxidation, and the very powerful influences of vegetation. Beyond these, there is the action of that substance known as ozone. This valuable element is described by Dr. de Chaumont as a modification of oxygen with which more than the usual number of atoms are brought together. “ Ozone,” he says “ oxidizes (burns, in fact) organic matter in great rapidity, much more rapidly, in fact, than ordinary oxygen. In this way it may be considered the great scavenger of the air.” Dr. Cornelius Fox describes the sources of ozone to be “ the oxidation of metals, the decomposition of rocks, the germination of seeds, the growth of plants, the falling of dew, rain, hail, and snow, the collison between air currents of different degrees of humidity proceeding from opposite quarters with one another, or with the the earth ; the evaporation which is continually proceeding from saline fluids, such as oceans, seas, and lakes ; the dashing and splashing, the smashing and crashing of the restless waves on the rocky coast ; ” which, he says, “ are all concerned in the simultaneous development of electricity and ozone.” This description expresses not only the sources of ozone, but includes, in fact, the several agencies which counteract air pollution.

[More ozone is found at high than at low levels. — Meymott Tidy.]

B 2

4 AIR CHEMICALLY AND PHYSICALLY CONSIDERED [AIR.

V. Attainable Standard of Air. — According to Dr. Angus Smith a favourable, though not the purest specimen of air, may be taken to contain by weight of oxygen 20^96, of nitrogen 79’oo, and of carbonic acid *04 per cent., with a varying quantity of watery vapour.

We may take these figures as representing a fair attainable standard of pure air, and may therefore conclude that directly these proportions are altered by an increase of carbonic acid and a mixture of other foreign matters involving a reduction of oxygen the quality of the air is lowered.

[Air in fact “with a very small loss of oxygen is perceptibly deteriorated, if the place of the oxygen is occupied with carbonic acid and exhalations from the person, although we are not able to say how far this is the case when carbonic acid alone is substituted for this small amount of oxygen.” — Angus Smith.\

The diminution of oxygen is, however, very sensibly felt directly its quantity is reduced as low as 2075 per cent.

VI. Quantity of Air Respired by Human Beings. — To understand to what extent the loss of oxygen, and an excess of carbonic acid mixed with deleterious foreign substances may effect the health of human beings, it should be understood that Professor Huxley states that in respiration about 350 cubic feet of air pass through the lungs of each individual per diem. “ In passing through the lungs the air would lose from 4 to 6 per cent, of oxygen, and gain 4 to 5 per cent, of carbonic acid.

“ During 24 hours there would be consumed about 10,000 grains oxygen, and produced about 12,000 grains carbonic acid corresponding to 3,300 grains of carbon. During the same time about 5,000 grains or 9 ozs. of water would be exhaled by the lungs.

“In 24 hours such a body would vitiate 1,750 cubic feet of pure air, to the extent of 1 per cent, or 17,500 cubic feet of pure air to the extent of 1 per 1,000. Taking the amount of carbonic acid in the atmosphere at three parts, and in expired 470 parts in 10,000, such a body would require a supply per diem of more than 23,000 cubic feet of ordinary air, in order that the surrounding atmosphere might not contain more than 1 per 1,000 of carbonic acid (when air is vitiated from animal sources with carbonic acid to more than 1 pei 1,000 the concomitant impurities become appreciable to the nose). A man of the weight mentioned (n stone), ought therefore to have at least 800 cubic feet of well ventilated space.”

Upon this subject Dr. de Chaumont says that each adult consumes in food from 3,5°° t° 4,000 grains of carbon in 24 hours, t.e., from 8 to 9 ozs., and he exhales as carbonic acid about the same quantity, which is equal to 17 cubic feet of the gas to

AIR.] AIR CHEMICALLY AND PHYSICALLY CONSIDERED.

vitiate the atmosphere. In addition to this gas, a quantity of watery vapour is given off from the person varying according to circumstances from 6 to 27 ozs.; and Dr. de Chaumont adds, “ an assemblage of 2,000 persons will give off in two hours (in vapour) 17 gallons of water, and nearly as much carbon as would be extracted from a cwt. of coals.”

Dr. Parkes says in his “Practical Hygiene ” that “an adult man in ordinary work gives off in 24 hours from 12 to 16 cubic feet of carbonic acid gas, and also emits an undetermined quantity of carbonic acid gas by the skin.”

VII. Of Oxygen. — [“The ’mean quantity of oxygen in the extremely pure air at the sea shore, and on the heaths of Scotland, is represented to be 20-999 per cent., while the mean of the low marshy places (Scotland) is 20-922.” — Angus SmitJi\. From these figures it will be seen that the better air of the sea shore and the heaths contain *039 per cent, of oxygen above that expressed in the standard of purity which I have quoted, while the worse air of the marshes contain *038 per cent, below it. It will be observed, however, that although the sanitary conditions of the two are very different, that difference is limited to '077 of one part in 100 parts, or, in other words, to rather less that 7f- parts in 10,000 parts. '

To show how the loss of a small portion of oxygen indicates a very great reduction of salubrity, the quantities of oxygen collected from various authorities, which have been found to exist in different places under different conditions are appended —

Oxygen. — Standard 20-96 Per Cent.

Front of Glasgow Exchange...

Kirk Street, Glasgow...

Regent Street, London, November...

Hackney

Chelsea...

Middle of Hyde Park...

Metropolitan Railway, Underground Sitting Room ...

Small Room, petroleum lamp burning Pit of Theatre..

Gallery of Theatre

Oxygen,

More or less than

attainable Standard,

per cent.

per cent.

20-895

20-875

•085 ,,

20-865

■095 >.

20-835

'125 ,,

20-810

21-005

20-600

20-890

•070 ,,

20-840

•120 ,,

20-740

•220 ,,

20 -620

‘,33° ,»

VIII. Of Carbonic Acid. — An increase of a very minute proportion of carbonic acid in the air, with a corresponding loss of oxygen, is quickly perceptible to the senses, although the difference (if accurately ascertained by analysis) will be indicated by figures in the second or even third place of decimals.

6 AIR CHEMICALLY AND PHYSICALLY CONSIDERED. [AIR.

[“ Some people will probably inquire why we should give so much attention to such minute quantities — between 20*980 and 20*999 — thinking these small differences can in no way affect us. A little more or less oxygen might not effect us : but supposing its place occupied by hurtful matter, we must not look on the amount as too small. Subtracting 0*980 from 0*999, we have a difference of 190 in a million. In a gallon of water there are 70,000 grains ; let us put into it an impurity at the rate of 190 in 1,000,000, it amounts to 13*3 grains in a gallon, or 0*19 grammes in a litre. This amount would be considered enormous if it consisted of putrifying matter, or any organic matter usually found in waters ; but we drink only a comparatively small quantity of water, and the whole 13 grains would not be swallowed in a day, whereas we take into our lungs from 1,000 to 2,000 gallons of air daily. The detection of impurities in the air is therefore of the utmost importance, and it is only by the finest methods that they can be ascertained in small quantities of air, even when present in such quantity as to prove deleterious to health.” — Angus Smith.']

It is needless to point out that the amount of carbonic acid associated with contaminating foreign matters will necessarily be found to increase, and the amount of oxygen to decrease in a greater degree in “ confined spaces ” than in the open country. I am not at this moment treating of the air of rooms within dwellings, with which the architect has more to do than the engineer, but of the outside atmosphere upon which the inmates of all dwellings depend as a source from which to dilute the inner air when it has become polluted by the respiration and combustion constantly going on in all human habitations, mills, factories, &c., and in the stables, outbuildings, &c., occupied by domestic animals. With this outside atmosphere the engineer has everything to do.

That we may, however, appreciate the differences between the attainable standard of pure air, which I have quoted, and the fairly good atmosphere of open spaces, and compare both with the air of confined inner spaces, I will give the quantity of carbonic acid as it is found to exist in the air of a variety of places.

Carbonic Acid. — Standard *04 Per Cent.

Open Spaces [Manchester).

Per cent.

Old Trafford

... *0432 .

99 •**

*0291

Churchyard, All Saints

*0323

Smithfield Market

... ... *0446

More or less than standard, per cent.

AIR.] AIR CHEMICALLY AND PHYSICALLY CONSIDERED.

Confined Spaces {Manchester).

Per cent.

More or less th standard, per c

Factory Mills ....

•2830

School Room

•0970

•0570

y y

Theatre Royal (pit)

•2734

•2334

y y

Open Spaces {London).

Cheapside ... ... ...

•0352

Lower Thames Street ... ....

•0428

Top of Monument ...

•0398

Hyde Park

•0334

*0066

yy

Oxford Street

•0344

•0056

yy

Regent’s Park

•0304

'0096

yy

Confined Spaces {London)*

Chancery Court (shut) ,

•193

•0507 yy

Strand Theatre (gallery, iop.m.)

*101

■0610

yy

Surrey Theatre (boxes, 12 p.m.)

•218

•1780

yy

Olympic Theatre (11*55 p.m.)-..

•1014

•0614

y y

Standard Theatre (pit, 11 p.m.)

•320

•2800

yy

Metropolitan Railway between Gower Street

and King’s Cross

*338

•2980

yy

Open Spaces {Foreign).

Lake of Geneva . ,,, ...

•0439

•0039

yy

•0460

■0060

y y

Munich

•0500

•0100

yy

IX. Carbonic Acid the Measure, of Impurity of Air. — If the exact measure of impurity of air was simply that expressed by the increased amount of carbonic acid, or the reduced amount of oxygen which it contains, it would not be long before the engineer, as well as the medical officer, could ascertain the exact condition of the air of any locality. But it is not exactly so. Though the increased amount of carbonic acid is some guide to the extent of impurity existing in the air, it gives no clue to the quality of that impurity, nor can we accept, as a rule, the assumption that as the quantity of carbonic acid increases, so will be the reduction of oxygen.

Dr. Parkes, however, gives the following reasons for taking carbonic acid as the index of impurity : “ The carbonic acid which an adult man adds to the extent of about -^ths of a cubic foot in an hour is not, within certain limits, an important impurity, but as it is practically in a constant ratio with the more important organic matter of respiration, and as it is readily determined, it is taken as a convenient index to the amount of the other impurities.

“Taking the carbonic acid as the measure of the impurity of the air vitiated by respiration (and by respiration alone), we have to ask what is to be considered the standard of purity of air in dwelling rooms ? We cannot demand that the air of an inhabited

8 AIR CHEMICALLY AND PHYSICALLY CONSIDERED. [AIR,

room shall be absolutely as pure as the outside air ; for nothing short of' breathing in the open air can insure perfect purity at every respiration. In every dwelling room there will be some impurity of air.” .... “ It appears from experiments made by Dr. de Chaumont and myself, that the organic impurity of the air is not perceptible to the senses until the carbonic acid (i.e., the initial and the respiratory carbonic acid) rises to the ratio of •6 per 1,000 volumes ('o6 per cent.), or -0006 in each cubic foot.”

u Pettenkofer has now adopted the limit of 7 measures of COo, and Degen ’66 measures per 1,000, as the amount when the organic matter simultaneously present becomes .perceptible. I would propose then to adopt the amount of '6 cubic feet per 1,000 volumes ('06 per cent.) of total carbonic acid (initial and respiratory) as the limit of impurity. I admit that I am not able to show by direct evidence' that impurity, indicated by 7 or ’8, or even one volume of carbonic acid per 1,000, and organic impurities in proportion, is injurious to health. We possess no means of testing such small quantities. Such a standard must be adopted, first, on the general evidence that large aerial impurities are decidedly hurtful, and that . smaller amounts may be presumed to be so in proportion, although we cannot measure the action ; and, secondly, on the fact that we have an obvious and simple measure in the effect- produced on the senses, which gives us a practical line of demarcation we could not otherwise obtain.”

But to ascertain the amount of carbonic acid in the air seems to the uninitiated not to Be a very easy matter, even in the hands of chemists. To the engineer who is not acquainted with chemistry it is practically beyond reach, although Dr. Angus Smith ( Air and Rain , p. 192) details several means of effecting what he terms “ simple ” tests, and which he calls the “ minimetric ” method. It is to be hoped that some self-recording instrument to correspond with the barometer, the thermometer, and the hygrometer, may yet be invented, by which the amount of carbonic acid in the air may be read off with simplicity.

X. Ground Air as affecting the Dwelling.— -All air existing in and emanating from soil is rich in carbonic acid, associated with effluvia and organic gases, governed in quantity by the amount of animal and vegetable substances existing in the soil. Sulphuretted hydrogen is found under special circumstances. These emanations are the result of the very remarkable disinfecting powers of soil, which Dr. Angus Smith says will purity by oxidizing “ sulphuretted hydrogen water, or its compound with ammonia, on a few inches of soil in a few minutes.” — (“Air and Rain.") They will continue to be given off from the surface so long as there exists beneath any organic matter to be oxidized.

AIR.] AIR CHEMICALLY AND PHYSICALLY CONSIDERED. 9

Soils have different powers of decomposing organic substances without lessening the amount of carbonic acid gas evolved. Some soils, in fact, are purified by the air existing in them at the expense of the air incumbent upon them. Fleck, of Dresden, in his experiments on ground air, found that with an increase of carbonic acid there was a corresponding decrease of oxygen, and that the rate of decomposition is very much slower in clay (as every one would expect) than in sands and gravels, while the amount of carbonic acid given off by the slower decomposition taking place in clays was very much greater than from the more rapid decomposition in sands and gravels, though the latter was effected in half the time. [The unhealthiness of houses built on made soils for some time after the soils are laid down is no doubt to be attributed to the constant ascent of impure air from the impure soil into the warm houses above. The diseases which have been attributed to telluric effluvia are — paroxysmal fevers, enteric (typhoid) fever, yellow fever, bilious remittent fever, cholera, and dysentery. — Parkes.\

CONTENTS OF CHAPTER II.

THE SITE OF DWELLINGS.

Section XI. Ruling Considerations in Selecting Sites.

,, XII. Naturally Dry and Wet Soils Compared.

,, XIII. Wet Soils Injurious to Health.

,, XIV. Capillary Attraction in and Evaporation from Soils.

,, XV. Capacities of soils for Retention of Water and Air, and the Special Influence of Wet Soils upon the Sanitary Condition of Cellars and Inhabited Basements.

,, XVI. Improvement of Temperature consequent upon Under- Drainage.

,, XVII. Mode of Under-Drainage required to dry the Sites of Dwellings.

,, XVIII. Country Houses specially considered.

Chapter II

XI. Ruling Considerations in Selecting Sites. — The architect rather than the engineer is generally the person consulted upon the sites of dwellings wherever they are erected, although there is no single object upon which the services of the sanitary engineer could be more usefully employed. In towns and villages, the sites of additional or substituted dwellings are generally fixed irrespective of the advice of any one.

In the case of isolated dwellings, however, where selection can be made, it is unnecessary to point out that adverse conditions in the site may render the best designed and best built structure unhealthy, for, as stated by Bacon, whose wisdom condescended to such social questions “ he who builds a fair house upon an ill seat committeth himself to prison,” to which he added the equally quaint but true remark, that he did “ not reckon it an ill seat only where the air is unwholesome, but likewise where the air is unequal.”