63 
Professor Brown, of Yale College, says that ‘‘even in the free air and 
full sunlight, along with the putrescence, a white fungous growth begins 
on the surface of the wood, which rapidly becomes slimy. This forms 
much more rapidly on the ends of the grain of the wood than on the radial 
or tangential sides. The fungous growth goes on, modified of course by 
the temperature and the degrees of concentration and it continues for an 
unknown period, or until decay has become complete. Heartwood ana 
sapwood act alike in this matter; the difference is one of degree rather 
than character.” 
The Legislature of New South Wales (Australia) appointed a board to 
“inquire into the alleged deleterious effects of wood pavements upon the 
public health. The board examined specimens of wood pavements as laid 
in the city of Sidney, taking up blocks at different points. In all cases 
the concrete bed underneath was moist; in three cases a large amount of 
slimy mud was found, giving off an ammoniacal odor. The blocks were 
chemically examined to determine whether they had absorbed organic 
matter, with the result that some were found impregnated with filth to. 
the very center, while.others were comparatively free from it. The board 
comes to the conclusion that wood is a material which can not safely be 
used for paving unless it can be rendered absolutely impermeable to mois- 
ture. * * * So far as the careful researches of the board go, the porous, 
absorbent and destructible nature of wood must, in its opinion, be de- 
clared to be irremediable by any process at present known; nor were any 
such processes discovered, would it be effectual unless it were supple- 
mented by another which should prevent fraying of the fibers. Still less 
can the defects of wood be considered of less consequence than the de- 
fects of other kinds of materials. * * * Your board therefore recom- 
mends that the paving of the streets of this city with wood should be dis- 
continued, and desires to add that this recommendation is extended to ap- 
ply not to the particular mode of construction here adopted alone, but to: 
the material itself and to every known method of construction.” 
On the other hand, a comparison of the death rate in cities using wood 
pavements with that in cities where little or no wood is employed seems to 
show that wood pavements do not cause an increase in the death 
rate, i. e.: 
