Securities against Fire, fyc. 295 



of cemeteries may be rendered trifling. In effect, bodies in cemete- 

 ries are often placed in tombs ; worms also soon devour the soft parts 

 of the corpse, or lime may be used for the same purpose, where tombs 

 are wanting ; cemeteries also, occupy only small portions of a city, 

 whereas privies are spread throughout the whole of it; lastly the dead 

 body of a man is an object of small bulk, whereas the living man 

 contributes daily, and it may be, during many years, to the mass of 

 offensive accumulations which are not always immediately removed. 



But to return to our subject, we say that the preventive or remedial 

 expedients offered in cases like that before us, appear to be four. 



1st. The most direct is the establishment of common sewers for 



t 



carrying off that filth, by which wells and springs of towns in circum- 

 stances like New York, are polluted. The utility of the sewers 

 in Rome, beginning from the time of the Tarquins. is well known ; 

 and they may be adopted every where ; a rush of water, however, 

 being always provided for their being occasionally cleansed. The 

 course of these drains will necessarily be short ; but to be durable, 

 like those of Tarquin, they should have a bottom paved, with solid 

 sides and a solid roof. It is said that a loaded cart of hay might 

 have been drawn through those of Rome. f 2d. The next measure 

 to be proposed under the present head, is to bring good water into a 

 city, when it ceases to have good water of its own ; and this was a 

 second resource employed by Rome, which abounded in aque- 

 ducts, so as even to supply baths and fountains.^ In our day, how- 

 ever, we may confine ourselves to the introduction of water for 6ef- 

 erageznA cooking; for what regards the washing of our houses and 

 meaner objects, may be accomplished by the aid of water that is al- 

 ways at hand. — Sometimes river water is used to great advantage for 

 drinking ; or water from a powerful spring may be introduced by 

 an open channel, (as is the case of what is called the new river water 



* In some places, vaults under churches, have been found very offensive, owing 

 to local causes, and particularly so in the case of graves dug in a ehiyeysoil, and hold- 

 ing water running into them from the roof of the church. But this is a very limited 

 object. — For a most revolting account of some of the vaults in the city of Rome, see 

 Dr. Hosack's quotation from Mr. Theodore Lyman, Junior's account of the " Politi- 

 cal state of Italy !" Boston, 1820 ; chap, xvii, p. 210. 



1 Dr. Hosack says that such sewers have lately been introduced into Philadelphia, 

 and they have long been known in London and other cities in Europe. 



t See Fabretti de aquis and aqueductibus Veteris Romoe. Romoe 1680. 



