1866. ] The Sanitary Condition of Glasgow. 489 
are taken away, and thoroughly washed, and dried at a high 
temperature ; the straw is also taken away and burned; and the 
house is fumigated and disinfected by means of chloride of lime and 
sulphuric acid. After the house is whitewashed and otherwise 
cleansed, the bed is supplied with fresh straw, and the clothes 
are returned. It may here be mentioned that the medical officers 
have power, under the new Police Act (1866), to enter suspected 
houses during an epidemic period, and inspect the sanitary arrange- 
ments, and if a condition of things exists that is favourable to 
the spread of disease, they can order renovating measures to be 
performed forthwith at the expense of the landlord. This liberty 
is not granted to the police officers, as in their hands it would 
be liable to be abused. It should also be mentioned that, for 
the proper working of the sanitary scheme, which is only now 
beginning to get into shape, each district medical officer has under 
him a person to whom is deputed a good deal of the house 
visiting. He is expected to be a person of some discretion and 
good sense, and must have had typhus fever. He should call 
daily on his superior to report and receive his orders. The 
medical officer is guided very much in his inquiries. by the death 
entries which the Registrar for the district supplies to him daily. 
If he finds deaths registered from houses in suspected localities, and 
from no assigned cause, or from some epidemic disorder, as small- 
pox, scarlet, typhus, or typhoid fever, or diarrhceal diseases, 
measles, &c., his subordinate officer visits them immediately, 
prosecuting his inquiries, and, if need be, he calls in the services 
of the cleansing officials. It is not errmg much, if at all, to 
say that the whole power of the police establishment is at the 
command of the medical officers of health to keep disease in 
check. 
The foul condition of the river Clyde is undoubtedly the chief 
nuisance in Glasgow. It could be abated or entirely removed if 
the sewerage were entrapped and carried away from the city, as it 
might easily be, by special channels; but public opinion is scarcely 
ripe yet for that very radical measure, and zealous as the authorities 
are for sanitary reform, this is rather too great a leap for them to 
take. The authorities are disposed to wait a little, so as to see what 
result attends the London movement with respect to the Thames, 
before launching into any operations that would involve a great outlay 
of money. With all their zeal, they have not yet learned to appreciate 
the value of human life. There are, likewise, various chemical works 
engaged in the production of nuisances. The chief of these is the 
famous establishment of the Messrs. Tennant, at St. Rollox, im the 
north quarter. Alkali, bleaching-powder, soap, acids, &c., are made 
in it in immense quantities, and the sewage from it emits a horrible 
stench of sulphuretted hydrogen on meeting the liquid town sewage 
