HYGIENE AS A BASIS OF MORALS. 71 



houses, which secure an equal distribution of the population fixed, at 

 the time of building, at one hundred thousand people, domiciled in 

 twenty thousand houses, which are scattered over an area of four thou- 

 sand acres. Crowded alleys in the immediate rear of streets lined with 

 spacious dwellings are wholly avoided ; neither are tall structures, over- 

 shadowing the streets (a veritable shadow of death), anywhere per- 

 mitted, four stories, aggregating sixty feet in height, being the limit 

 with which all must comply. Every house has its foundations on solid 

 arches of brick, through which air freely flows, and down whose slopes 

 all currents of water are carried away this arrangement preventing 

 the entrance of ground-air into the house an unavoidable mischief in 

 the present style of architecture, the air of all our houses being more 

 or less contaminated from this source. When the soil, naturally impure 

 from the presence of carbonic-acid gas, is honeycombed, as in this city, 

 with cesspools, and saturated with leakage from sewer-pipes, gas-pipes, 

 and the soakings of filth-laden streets, the danger of contamination 

 of houses from ground-air assumes considerable importance. 



The liberal extent of territory occupied by our model city allows 

 room for several broad boulevards, which constitute the chief thor- 

 oughfares, beneath each of which is a railway operated by electricity, 

 where the heavy traffic of the city is carried on ; while all the streets 

 are so broad as to be always thoroughly ventilated, and at times 

 flooded with sunlight. In the city of Hygeia, as described by its pro- 

 jector, the streets run from east to west and from north to south, as in 

 this, our own favored town ; but in the founding of Ethica, while 

 keeping to the right-angled plan (though at a considerable sacrifice of 

 artistic effect), I would choose the diagonals of these directions as 

 tending to secure a more equal distribution of sunlight to both sides 

 of the streets, and to all sides of the houses ; since in at least one 

 European city the death-rate has been found uniformly higher on the 

 shady side than on the sunny side of the streets. All the open spaces 

 in the rear of the houses are occupied as gardens, and all public build- 

 ings, including warehouses, stables, etc., are surrounded with gardens 

 or open lawns, which add no less to the beauty than to the health of the 

 city. The streets are paved, not exactly with gold, but with something 

 equally impermeable to moisture, and far more agreeable to the eye, 

 hence more conducive to comfort and health a material comparatively 

 noiseless and as susceptible of a clean sweep as Philadelphia at the last 

 election. At present, concrete combines these qualities in a higher de- 

 gree than any other material thus far employed, but even this leaves 

 much to be desired, and there is room for invention in this direction. 

 Surface-railways are not permitted in Hygeia, the underground roads 

 being regarded as sufficient for all purposes ; but in the proposed 

 city of Ethica, underground roads will be used for merchandise only ; 

 passenger-railways will be elevated, thus reducing to a minimum the 

 number of employes compelled to spend their working-hours under- 



