1866. | The Sanitary Condition of Bristo’. 4838 
And well they may, for although Bristol does not at present 
show a high rate of mortality as compared with some large towns, 
its internal condition is such as to render it nationally dangerous, 
for it must not be forgotten that, like Liverpool, it isa large seaport 
at which vessels are continually arriving from foreign parts. 
No hospital exists there for the reception of epidemic or 
contagious diseases. The Bristol Royal Infirmary and the Bristol 
General Hospital are authorized by their rules to refuse admission 
to all cases of this kind. 
A temporary fever hospital was erected last year, but when 
typhus disappeared this wooden shed was demolished. A large 
building was placed at the disposal of the city by the liberality of 
one of the Corporation of the Poor (H. W. Green, Esq.) for the 
reception of cholera patients, but owing to the opposition of one of 
his tenants he was compelled to withdraw the gift. 
Formerly, St. Peter's Hospital was devoted to the reception of 
medical cases, and was, in effect, the fever and lock hospital of the 
city; but on the day when the Corporation of the Poor became 
subservient to the Poor Law Commissioners, the citizens of Bristol 
lost the accommodation of St. Petez’s as a public hospital; it is now 
a simple “ Union.” 
We now approach a subject which, from its repulsive nature, has 
occupied but little of the attention of sanitarians, but which we 
believe to constitute one of the chief elements in the consideration 
of the mortality rate of large towns, namely, the removal of night- 
soil and refuse. 
In Liverpool, at the time of the publication of our last article, 
a large portion of it was deposited on wharves, on the banks of the 
canal, and in the heart of the vast fever district of the borough; and 
although the local authorities managed not to see it in that light, 
there can be little doubt that the endemic typhus there has to a 
great extent resulted from that cause; or at least it tended largely 
to its maintenance. 
In Bristol the night-soil is removed by the sewers; partly by 
the old systems, which are small and inadequate, and partly by the 
new sewers, not yet fully completed; and even where completed, 
they are not sufficiently brought into use, as the private sewers 
have not been extensively jomed to the large common trunk 
sewerage canals. Many of the old sewers open into the river 
Froome, which runs through the city and even opens into the 
floating-harbour, which is a stagnant body of water, partly tidal, 
partly fresh, and in the very heart of the city, and at times most 
offensive from heat and decomposition of fcecal and animal matter, 
This water is changed only once a fortnight, even m summer 
time, and less often in winter. The commercial interests at stake 
prevent the change of this festering ditch bemg more frequent, 
