Dangers to health: a pictorial guide to domestic sanitary defects

Front matter

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Preface

TO

THE THIRD EDITION.

Were any testimony needed to shew the increasing interest taken by the public in such common-place matters as drains and waste-pipes, it is to he found in the fact, that in two years and a half two editions of such a work on the subject as the present have been exhausted.

The interval which has elapsed since the publication of the first edition has given me increased opportunities of acquiring information about drainage defects. In fact, I have been a sort of centre to which such information has gravitated, and many of my friends and professional brethren tell me with pride and evident satisfaction of their sanitary discoveries, feeling that they were conferring upon me a welcome favour by telling me of some “ new fault ” for my hook.

In this manner the material has been gathered for the increase of the number of plates from 55 to 70, and for the replacement of six of the old ones by new ones. Some additional “ defects ” which I could not render in picture without increasing the price of the hook, some also which defied my attempts to translate into a picture, are described at the end of the hook, catalogue fashion. By these additions I hope to have in some measure achieved the

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object which I set before me, and to have made the work a nearly exhaustive catalogue of sanitary defects, so that if ever a householder, architect, or sanitary engineer, having searched for ordinary defects, has failed to detect the fault, he may use this book as a sampler by which to test the presence or absence of extraordinary ones.

If in any case my reader or critic knows of important defects which are not here recorded, or has better advice to give, let me say with Horace :

Or in the words of my friend the late Dr. Andrew Wood:

‘ ‘ If precepts better you should know,

“ On me them candidly, I pray, bestow ;

‘ ‘ But if with my instructions you agree,

“ At once adopt and practise them with me.”

Lastly, let me express my great obligations to those who have kindly contributed information on which this enlarged edition is based, to Mr. Burton the lithographer, whose skill and care have again been at my service, and to my friend Mr. It. N. Hartley, who has given me much help and many suggestions in carrying this edition through the press.

Leeds, June, 1881.

Introduction To The First Edition

When, two years ago, yielding to the urgent request of the Rev. J. H. McCheane, President of the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society, I undertook to read a lecture before that Society and chose as the subject “ Dangers to Health in our own Houses,” I little thought of publishing a book, still less an illustrated book, on a subject which at first sight may appear to be outside the lines of my strictly professional work.

However, the truth of the matter is this, that having discovered and rectified one by one numerous defects of drainage in my own house, and in property under my charge, and having further traced illness amongst my patients to scandalous carelessness and gross dishonesty in drain work, I became indignantly alive to the fact that very few houses are safe to live in. Moreover, the conviction struck deeply into my mind that probably one-third, at least, of the incidental illness of the kingdom, including perhaps much of childbed illness, and some of the fatal results of surgical operations in hospitals and private houses, (“surgical calamities” Sir James Paget would call them,) are the direct result of drainage defects, and therefore can be and ought to be prevented. “ Preventive medicine” has long been proclaiming such facts, and long have we turned a deaf ear, and we of the medical profession in general are only just beginning to see the great reality of her teaching.

If any one challenges this assertion in reference to my own profession, I will reply by the inquiry—How many medical men can he tell me of who understand the sanitary condition of their own house , or have adequately ascertained that those conditions are, as far as our knowledge at present goes, free from dangers to health P If by any possibility it could be

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brought about that every medical man in the kingdom should realise the necessity for looking into the state of his own house, and act upon that conviction, I feel certain that the discovery would be made in so great a proportion of instances that they were living over pent-up pestilence that we should at once have an army of sanitarians earnest and keen to ferret out unsuspected sources of illness. I take it that not a little of the lively interest recently aroused in Leeds in sanitary work may be traced to the fact that many of the medical men of this town have recently gone into the question of the sanitation of their houses, and have thereby become more keenly alive to possible sources of illness among their patients.

Hence it came about that the lecture was given which was the forerunner of this book. The lecture was delivered by request six times in Leeds, once in Knaresbro,’ and once in Shipley. It was published by request of the Leeds Philosophical Society, and has had an extensive circulation.

The interest taken in the lecture and the comments and discussion to which it gave rise taught me two tilings:

Firstly , that if we are ever to have sound sanitary legislation, if Ave are ever to have our sanitary arrangements carried out in first-rate workmanship, it must be by the education of the public in the details of domestic sanitary matters , so that, realising their vital importance, knowing what ought to be avoided, and able to judge of the correctness and quality of Avork done, they may demand and so obtain first-rate workmanship.

When disease arises Avhich Ave call “ preventable,” depend upon it some one ought to have prevented it.

This book will shew work defective from ignorance , and work defective from dishonesty. Probably no Avork done throughout the kingdom is so badly done as Avork in houses, drains, and pipes, which is out of sight. Probably no work is better done in the kingdom than the locomotives turned out for our railways, or the machinery Avhich Ave send to all parts of the world. Are the working men less honest in the one case than

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in the other ? I trow not. The difference is this : Necessity in the one case compels good work; indifference and ignorance in the other case allow bad work to pass unchallenged. If the platelayer were so to fix his rails that they would not correspond, and the next engine were thrown off the line, and death were the result, an inquest would be held, and that platelayer would he committed for manslaughter. Is there any great difference in the case where one drain pipe misses another, or ends in nothing, and in a few weeks, is the cause of death from typhoid fever? The excuse at present is that the drain layer does not know how certainly he is laying the foundation of illness and death. Disperse that ignorance, and the excuse will he gone. If the tire of the locomotive breaks, and throws a train off the line, the railway company goes to the maker of the engine, the maker of the engine to the maker of the tire, the maker of the tire to his hooks, and there learns the name of each foreman, and, I believe, of each workman, through whose hand the tire passed. Why can we not achieve the same connected responsibility about our drains ?

Secondly , it struck me that there was need of some work of which the aim should he to teach in as simple, telling, and unmistakeable a way as possible the faults of sanitary construction which it is within the power of landlord and tenant, as distinct from the public authorities, to remedy and avoid. This latter point was pressed upon me by friends who took interest in the original lecture.

The design therefore which I have set before me is this, to represent pictorially every important fault to which domestic sanitary arrangements are liable, so far at least as my information avails me, or, in the words suggested by a medical friend, to produce “ a clinical history of the defects to which drains are liable,” and to point out the consequences of such defects by instances of the illness produced thereby.

In designing the illustrations one object has been kept steadily in view, viz., to give the most forcible expression I

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possibly could of the fact which had to he told, even at the sacrifice, if need be, of correct proportion, correct drawing, or cor¬ rect perspective. This must be my general apology for the many points in which the drawings are open to unfavourable criticism.

The points in each illustration to which attention has to be attracted are drawn in strong lines, so that the eye may fix upon them first, and the lines which complete the story are drawn more faintly. The course and escape of sewer gases are indicated by blue arrows. Water in traps, water rendered impure by access of sewer gases, sewage matter in drains, and matter escaping from drains is also in blue.

If it should seem to anyone that the book is defective in that it rarely teaches how the various defects ought to be rectified, my answer is this :—

Firstly , that, when we have discovered what is wrong, we are more than half way to what is right.

Secondly , that in pointing out what is wrong, I am dealing with matters which cannot be questioned—with established and accepted principles. No one can question the fact of “a leaky joint,” “ a broken pipe,” or “ a drain running up-hill ” being faulty. But in advising what ought to be done, I should be in danger of going beyond my depth, of trenching upon the province of experts, officers of health and sanitary engineers, and I should be touching on matters concerning which there may be various solutions, various opinions, and changes in course of time. What is best to-day may be superseded by what is still better to-morrow. If in any case I point out the remedy for a fault it is rather with the object, either by contrast to produce a more vivid impression of the original fault, or to give a standard below which the remedy ought not to fall. Moreover, in most instances where a remedy is suggested, a standard authority is cited for the practice.

The illustrations are planned so that each as a rule , represents a single defect, and they are arranged so that the more common and obvious faults of ordinary drains come first, those which are less obvious, more rare, and more difficult to

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discover come next, then some of the rascalities of dishonest builders are portrayed, lastly there are added drawings as hints on ventilation, and on the exclusion of dirt from town houses and closed cases.

It is hut just that I should acknowledge the kind aid without which I could not have obtained the knowledge or have produced the quality of illustrations contained in this hook. My thanks are due—

Firstly , to Mr. C. R. Chorley, Architect, of Leeds, who has superintended the sanitary alterations of my own house, has informed me of many common defects, and contributed some of the sketches from his own experience.

Secondly , to Mr. Robert Slater, Sanitary Inspector, of Headingley Hill, who has executed all my sanitary plumbing, has instructed me in the defects of plumbing and drains, and has informed me of defects which he has discovered in the various houses, which, owing to illness and other reasons, he has been called upon to inspect.

Thirdly , to Mr. Gr. W. Foster, Artist, of Headingley, who has thrown some of my sketches into an artistic form : and lastly, to Mr. Wm. Burton, Lithographer, who has executed the drawings on stone with the greatest pains and care, and has given an artistic finish to my otherwise crude sketches.

If the object aimed at has been in some degree achieved, it may he hoped that this work may he of service—

To the householder , who is anxious to learn whether his house is safe from drainage dangers or not, so that, aided by the diagrams, he may test every sanitary point, one by one, and, as he goes round book in hand, may catechise his plumber, his mason, or his joiner. This is the chief aim of the hook.

To the landlord , who may learn thereby, if he does not realise them already, his responsibilities as to the health and lives of his tenants, and may feel that to save money by scamping drainage is “ manslaughter under an alias.”

To the medical attendant , who may point to the pictures in the hook, in order to strike conviction into the

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minds of his patients of the sure connection between bad drainage and ill health.

To the architect who may learn how by every sanitary detail which he designs amiss, or by oversight allows to be badly carried out, he is opening a door for illness to the future occupant of the house.

To the officer of health , who may appeal to the drawings to enforce his warnings of the dangers involved in faulty drains.

To those entering a new house, that they may be forewarned of the risks they run if they take the sanitary arrangements of a house on trust.

To those about to build, that they may know Avliat to avoid, and what to look after, and may be able to discuss intelligently with their architect, builder, and plumber, those vital points of construction on which the health of themselves and their family will depend.

To Toion councillors and members of local boards of health, that they may checkmate any of their colleagues who may have been elected to office in order to hamper or impede expenditure on sanitary work.

To public opinion, as one agent among many by which it is rapidly being matured, and prepared to support when the proper time arrives genuine sanitary legislation, and to demand of architects, builders, and plumbers, honest trustworthy drain work—work in matters affecting health as sound and as perfect as is now demanded and obtained in locomotives, machinery, and engineering.

Finally, let me say how fully aware I am that it is impossible in this book to include all known defects of drains, and that many omissions, probably important ones, will be discovered. Still, I trust, in a future edition, to be able to remedy any serious omissions which friends or critics may point out to me.

Leeds, November 1878.

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Table Of Contents

Plate. -

1. —House with every sanitary arrangement faulty.

2 . —House with faulty arrangements avoided.