APPENDIX II. clxi 



of reports and plans what is wrong, and suggest a remedy ; but, as 

 remarked by Professor Jenkin, 'it has not been the practice for 

 leading engineers to advise individuals about their house arrange- 

 ments, except where large outlay is in contemplation.' A point of 

 very considerable importance in -such a case as that now supposed. 



The problem was to ensure to the great body of the citizens sound 

 professional advice concerning their houses, such as had hitherto 

 been only obtainable at great cost but 'with due regard to econo- 

 mical considerations.' 



The advantages of co-operation are patent to all. Everyone 

 can understand how, if a sufficient number of persons combine, there 

 are few luxuries or advantages that are not within their reach, for a 

 moderate payment. The advice of a first-rate engineer regarding 

 a dwelling-house was a palpable advantage ; but within the reach 

 of comparatively few. One has heard of a winter in Madeira being 

 prescribed as the cure for a poor Infirmary sufferer. 



Like most good plans Jenkin's scheme was simple in the extreme, 

 and consisted in combination and a small subscription. 



' Just,' he says ' as the leading physician of the day may give his 

 services to great numbers of poor patients when these are gathered 

 in a hospital, although he could not practically visit them in their 

 own houses, so the simple fact of a number of clients gathered into 

 a group will enable the leading engineer to give them the benefit 

 of his advice.' 



But it was his opinion that only ' continual supervision could 

 secure the householder from danger due to defects in sanitary- 

 appliances.' He had in his eye a case precisely similar. The fol- 

 lowing passage in one of his first lectures, afterwards repeated fre- 

 quently, conveys the essence of Professor Jenkin's theory, as well as a 

 graceful acknowledgmenl of the source from which this happy idea 

 was derived : 



'An analogous case occurred to him,' he said, 'in the "Steam Users' 

 Association," in Lancashire. So many boilers burst in that district 

 for want of inspection that an association was formed for having 

 the boilers under a continual course of inspection. Let a perfect 

 boiler be bought from a first-rate maker, the owner has then an 

 apparatus as perfect as it is now sought to make the sanitary appli- 

 ances in his house. But in the course of time the boiler must decay. 

 The prudent proprietor, therefore, joins the Steam-boiler Association, 

 which, from time to time, examines his boiler, and by the tests they 

 apply are able to give an absolute guarantee against accident. This 



