THE ARCHITECTURE OF TOWN-HOUSES. 381 



Comfort and convenience of arrangement, ample light and ventila- 

 tion everywhere ; protection from damp and miasma, impure and un- 

 healthy smells ; warmth, freedom from draught ; pure air, pure water, 

 general cleanliness, and attention to all laws of sanitation, are first of 

 all to be considered in every house. The architect or artist can so 

 fashion the external clothing of a good framework as to make it agree- 

 able in its outline and general constructive decoration ; but the eleva- 

 tion should be subservient to the plan and constructional requirements 

 necessary to provide all these desiderata, and should not be made the 

 paramount feature in the design of a new house, or in the rebuilding 

 of an old one, 



I have lately been reading a powerfully written article by Dr. 

 Richardson, in which he sets forth, in vigorous but not exaggerated 

 language, the various communicable diseases which are " promoted or 

 introduced by the errors of construction in the dwellings of our com- 

 munities " ; and I have been much struck by the number of prevent- 

 able ills which he associates with bad ventila "don, damp, bad drainage, 

 impure water-supplies, want of light and through draught, uncleanli- 

 ness and foulness, or stuffiness of modern dwellings ; and I hope you 

 will permit me briefly to refer to and quote some of his remarks. 



To begin with, typhus, typhoid, relapsing and scarlet fevers, are 

 mainly due to foul air, impure smell, or water, or closely packed and 

 unventilated rooms, while the poisons thrown off by these diseases are 

 retained in the walls and flooring, if badly constructed ; while impure 

 air arising from dust and dirt accumulations, and bad sanitation, tend 

 to other illnesses in a minor degree, such as dyspepsia, nervousness, 

 and depression, " during the presence of which conditions " (to quote 

 Dr. Richardson) "a person is neither well nor ill." Another of our 

 worst English diseases, "pulmonary consumption, or consumjition of 

 the lungs, has been largely promoted by the presence of unchanged 

 and impure air in the dwelling-house," while " neuralgic and miasmatic 

 diseases " are brought about by the same causes, assisted by atmos- 

 pheric moisture or damp, so often to be found in houses built either 

 upon clay or in moist situations, where the ordinary precautions of 

 covering the whole surface area with concrete or some other damp 

 preventive has not been carried out. 



Dampness is more or less directly the cause of all the malarious 

 diseases — ague, neuralgia, and rheumatism — and here the speculative 

 builder comes in, with venom certain and incurable, with soft, spongy 

 bricks which absorb a large amount of water, with mortar composed 

 of road drift or scrapings, foul and unhealthy ; with damp and un- 

 seasoned timber, ingredients in the plague-spots which warmth of fires 

 bring out in vapor, and wherein moisture seems ever present, dimming 

 the mirrors or condensing on painted walls, or absorbed in paper or 

 distemper, which, on eveiy damp day, becomes a visible barometer, 

 marking plainly the change of temperature. 



