326 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



for their uncleanliness and foul odors, and as the prolific source of 

 pestilential disease. All such cellars have since been vacated, and 

 the use of apartments below the street level for lodgers is now 

 prohibited. Without a permit from the Health Department a 

 lodging-house can not be maintained, and permits are granted 

 only after a careful survey of the premises, and upon official re- 

 ports that the buildings and fixtures conform to the laws and to 

 the Sanitary Code. The number of lodgers allowed in each room 

 is proportioned to the air space, four hundred cubic feet being the 

 minimum for each person; and the overcrowding of lodging- 

 houses is prevented, and the condition of the permits and proper 

 sanitary rules are enforced by frequent official inspections, often 

 made after midnight. In no particular is recent sanitary work 

 more commendable than in the improved condition of the prem- 

 ises which for a pittance harbor with decency from night to night 

 those unfortunate persons who, from want of employment or 

 some other more deplorable cause, lead a precarious and nomadic 

 existence, but have not yet become objects of public charity. 



4. Slaughter-houses. In 1865 there were one hundred and 

 seventy-three slaughter-houses in New York, and many of them 

 were located in the most populous parts of the city. After a long 

 controversy they were removed from below Fortieth Street, and 

 at a later period to limited districts on the North and East Rivers, 

 and the business is now conducted without public or indecent ex- 

 posure, in suitable buildings or abattoirs constructed especially 

 for the purpose, with tight floors and proper sewer connections, 

 and with the most improved appliances for utilizing all parts of 

 the animals slaughtered, or disposing of them without offense. 

 Cattle are not driven in the public streets, but reach the slaughter- 

 houses directly from boats, and the adjacent cattle-yards are 

 properly paved and drained. The daily and weekly inspection of 

 these establishments by sanitary officers have secured habitual 

 cleanliness and the observance of the necessary rules and regula- 

 tions. By these changes and improvements an important indus- 

 try, which for several years was threatened with banishment, has 

 been retained within the city limits, with benefit to the food-sup- 

 ply and without detriment to the public health. The number of 

 slaughter-houses or abattoirs in the city is now about thirty, and 

 many of them are model establishments in construction, appli- 

 ances, and management. 



5. Stables and Stable Refuse. The connection of stables 

 with the street sewers, formerly the exception, is now the rule, 

 and cleanliness and the regular and frequent removal of manure 

 are required. Manure-vaults are only permitted as temporary 

 receptacles ; stable refuse is not allowed to be loaded in carts upon 

 the sidewalk or from openings in vaults beneath ; the carts are re- 



