230 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



by a single movement, into the sewers, and at the same time, flush them to 

 the receiving reservoirs, thus saving manures for agricultural purposes, 

 •without raising a particle of offensive dust, double in value, for what is 

 now paid for the water, preventing disease, suffering and death. There 

 are certain adjustments established between the organic and physical king- 

 doms, and between the two great divisions of the organic kingdom, which 

 we ought to bear in mind in the practical consideration of this matter. 

 We are certain that atmospheric air is necessary, in an equal degree, to 

 the life of animals and plants, but that they produce opposite changes in 

 the construction of the air, chemically speaking : the plant gives off, as 

 excrementitious, that principle of the air on which the animal subsists, 

 and lives upon that part of it the animal rejects as excrementitious ; while 

 the animal, in turn, restores to the atmosphere the principle which consti- 

 tutes the pabulum of the plant, and subsists upon that which the plant has 

 rejected as of no further use to it. In this peculiar manner these two 

 great classes of organized beings renovate the air for each other, and for- 

 ever maintain it in a state of richness and purity. 



On this magnificent adjustment depends the further principle, equally at 

 the foundation of all proper sanatary regulations, to wit : that the refuse 

 of the substances which have served not only for food but clothing to the 

 inhabitants of the city, and which is permitted to accumulate there, inevi- 

 tably taint the air, and render it thoroughly pestilential, promptly removed 

 to the rural districts, would avert disease, promote abundance, cheapen 

 food, and increase the demand for beneficial labor. The Legislature should 

 prohibit, under certain penalties, the letting of any dwelling in which the 

 Croton is not let in, and sewer arrangements made from the cesspool to the 

 main. A good supply of water, and cesspool so constructed as to be 

 readily cleaned, are absolutely essential to the preservation of the public 

 health and morals. The humanizing influence of habits of cleanliness has 

 never been sufhciently acted upon. A clean, well ordered house, exercises 

 over its occupants a moral and physical influence, which has a tendency to 

 make the members of the household sober, peaceable and considerate of 

 the feelings of each other, besides imbuing them with a respect for pro- 

 perty, for the laws in general, and even for higher duties and obligations, 

 the observance of which no laws can possibly enforce. Whereas, a squalid, 

 filthy, unwholesome dwelling, devoid of water, and other necessary com- 

 forts, tends to make every dweller regardless of the happiness and feelings 

 of each other, sensual and selfish, leading them to form habits of dis- 

 honesty, idleness, violence and debauchery, besides training them to every 

 degree of rufluanism and brutality, the truth of which may be easily 

 demonstrated from the fact, that these districts always send forth thieves, 

 pickpockets, reckless and violent men, who perpetrate deeds in cold blood 

 that fill the city and country with disgust and horror. I know of 

 places in the great city of New York that it would be utterly impossible 

 to convey by description any conception of their poisonous and disgusting 

 condition ; they must be seen to be understood, and when seen, you would 



