MODERN STREET-PAVEMENTS. 8i 



street and alley should drain as promptly and thoroughly as the 

 houses erected on it. A proper observance of these maxims has ma- 

 terially contributed to the reduction of the annual death-rate of Lon- 

 don within the last two centuries from forty-two to twenty-two per 

 thousand, notwithstanding the unprecedented increase in the num- 

 bers and density of the population. An average decrease of thirteen 

 per cent, in the death-rate has been traced directly to the influence 

 of modern sanitary works, introduced into cities mostly during the 

 last twenty years ; and a thorough reform in pavements must give 

 still more striking results. 



The material for pavements is mostly decided upon by non-profes- 

 sional municipal authorities, and upon these an enlightened public 

 opinion must exert a beneficial influence. A condensed review of the 

 subject, in the light of history, technical science, hygiene, and finance, 

 will help excite reflection, and to mature rational views, and will fur- 

 nish a timely contribution to the literature of the day. Manufactur- 

 ing industry, commerce, and railroads, those important motors of mod- 

 ern civilization, have combined to increase the number and size, and to 

 concentrate the internal trafiic of large cities, so that horses and ve- 

 hicles have steadily increased, absolutely as well as in proportion to 

 the population. Under the same influences an enonnous wealth, for- 

 merly unknown, has been amassed in the cities, and whole streets have 

 risen, lined by majestic buildings, in uninterrupted succession ; while, 

 even in the older or less pretentious streets, houses of a mere utili- 

 tarian character disappear, to make way for structures with an ele- 

 vated standard of architecture. What at an earlier epoch was the 

 proud privilege of the famous capitals of Italy, the exceptional luxury 

 of their dwellings and mansions,, is now to be found in most modern 

 cities, though the effect be not as overpowering, on account of a want 

 of harmony in the style. 



Simultaneously with the higher wants resulting from greater 

 wealth and closer contact, whole cities have been transformed from 

 loose aggregates of irregularly-scattered houses into well-organized 

 systems, all the elements of which, though serving individual pur- 

 poses, are intimately connected by the complicated net-works of pipes 

 supplying fresh water, discharging waste water and soil, and furnish- 

 ing light during the night to the streets as well as to the houses, from 

 cellar to roof; to which, perhaps, the inventive genius of the age may 

 add, before long, the supply of heat for domestic necessities and per- 

 sonal comfort. In such a complex organism, the roadways and side- 

 walks are not merely spaces set apart for light, air, and traffic, but 

 they are component parts of the wonderful machinery devoted to these 

 purposes, and bear close relations to the dwellings which they separate 

 and connect, and the restorative veins of which they cover as a pro- 

 tecting crust. 



Of all these cooperating agencies, the least attention, until recent- 



VOL. TII. 6 



