46 



DR. R. ANGUS SMITH ON ANCIENT AND 



out of the town ; still, I am not aware of any method of 

 teaching them their work, and they were thus kept up to 

 a higher standard of duty than those who paid them. The 

 plan in Manchester, when gas is fitted badly, is to fine the 

 gas-fitter, and if he continues to fit in such a way as to 

 allow the dangerous and unwholesome gas to escape, he is 

 suspended. 



In Rome, there were some laws with a merely sanitary object, 

 clearly enough expressed, for example* — "The Prastor took 

 care that all sewers should be cleaned and repaired for the 

 health of the citizens; for uncleaned or unrepaired sewers 

 pollute the atmosphere and are dangei-ous, if not repaired. 

 This is for private sewers; public sewers have the public 

 care." A sewer is defined — **A hollow place through which 

 any impurity flows." (Cloaca autem est locus cavus,per quern 

 colluvies qucedum fiuat). Also a tube or pipe is said to be 

 comprehended in this definition — " Cloacce appellatione et 

 tubus et fistula continetur." 



It is forbidden, also, to throw refuse on the roads,f either 

 offal or animal refuse, (or to quarrel in the streets is added 

 as a similar nuisance.) 



''Idem ait, Si odore locus pestilentiosus fiat "% so that smell 

 itself was considered unwholesome or pestilentious. 



We have, then, in these early times, the elements to be 

 worked out, a point scarcely worth proving, because the senses 

 of men in all ages might be supposed to teach them to avoid 

 an atmosphere obviously unpleasant, as well as to seek a 

 pleasant or a wholesome one ; but the truth is, we had gone 

 back a great deal, and did not believe these things. Ascetic 

 habits — solemn protests against self-indulgence of all kinds — 



* " Curavit autem Praetor per haec interdicta ut cloaca? et purgeutur et refi- 

 ciantur: quorum utrumque et ad salubritatem civitatium et ad tutelam pertinet ; 

 nam et coelum pestilens et ruinas minantur immunditias cloacarum ; (item) si non 

 reficiantur."— (Ulpian, Digesta Just. Lib. xlliL Tit. 23.) 



t Lib. xim. Tit. 9. X Lib. xliii. Tit. 9. (29.) 



