MOBEBM IDEAS OF SAMITABT ECOHOMT. 



75 



in a small closet out of the lobby. The whole of this has 

 been done for £10. Water-closets have been put up in 

 England, water supply introduced, and drainage effected, at 

 about £4. for each cottage. In several cases at Rugby, 

 Croydon, Barnard Castle, and Tottenham, quoted in a Report 

 of the Board of Health, the combined expense of all the 

 work did not amount to above Hd, per week in the highest. 



Even in large houses silver cannot be kept in certain parts, 

 generally at the back of the house, because if a water-closet 

 exists, it is not for sanitary purposes, but simply as a luxury, 

 whilst the j-ard is made as bad as that of a house even of the 

 poorest classes. Indeed the water-closet is often a decided 

 nuisance, draining, as it does, into a cesspool. I was looking 

 at a row of houses the other day, about twenty in number, of 

 a good appearance, and with many modem improvements, but 

 I was surprised to find that every one bad a large cesspool 

 behind, so that there were twenty cesspools all in a row, just 

 below the bedroom windows, beside the middens. This was 

 not enough : there were also for every four cesspools a pump. 

 It would not be convenient without this arrangement, as the 

 cesspool would fill up too rapidly, if not pumped out. 



Now I wish to speak very distinctly on the water-closet 

 system, that the subject may be more attended to here ; and 

 as the early supporters of the name of this Society have great 

 weight, I shall give some of their opinions on the opposite 

 system. In a communication made to the Manchester Board 

 of Health in 1796, Dr. Percival, whose tablet stands behind 

 our President's chair, says — " The first object of the Board 

 of Health is to obviate the generation of disease. Under this 

 head are comprehended — The inspection and improvement of 

 the general accommodation of the poor; the prohibition of 

 such habitations as are so close, noisome, or damp, as to be 

 incapable of being rendered tolerably salubrious ; removal of 

 privies placed in improper situations; provision for white- 

 washing and cleansing the houses of the poor twice every 



