1 848. J 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHlTECrS JOURNAL. 



ass 



functions of these former and latter are entirely distinct, they may 

 be stated separately. 



The Central Board of Health consists of three commissioners, 

 and the President is the first Commissioner of the Woods and 

 Forests for the time being. These commissioners, upon the peti- 

 tion of one-tenth of the rated inhabitants of any town, may direct 

 an examination as to its sewerage, drainage, supply of water, &c. ; 

 and after hearing the representations of parties locally interested, 

 may report to lier Majesty. An order in Privy Council may then 

 be made, directing the application of tlie Act in cases wliere 

 existing local Acts are not infringed upon, and the local boundaries 

 are intended to remain unaltered. This order simply directs that 

 the Act, or any part thereof, is to be put in operation. 



Where, however, it appears necessary to alter the constituted 

 local boundaries for the purposes of the Act, or to apply it in cases 

 where local improvement acts already exist, the order in council is 

 not made ; but the General Board of Health have power to make 

 such a /jrnvisional order for tlie application and execution of the 

 Act as they may deem fit. This provisional order cannot be carried 

 into effect until it have been sanctioned by Parliament. The orders 

 issuing either from the Privy Council, or from the General Board 

 of Health may, from time to time, he amended or extended, after 

 due notice to ])crsons locally interested. 



The only other functions of the General Board are to determine 

 appeals from certain decisions of local general boards, and to regu- 

 late intra-mural interments, by certifying upon the representation 

 of the local boards, tliat certain places of interment are dangerous 

 to liealth, and appointing a time after which it ceases to be lawful 

 to bury in such places. 



The Local Boards have much more diversified duties. When 

 the whole of a district formed under this act is within a corporate 

 borough, the corporation constitutes the local board. In other 

 cases, it is selected by rate-payers. The offices assigned to it are 

 principally these — to appoint inspectors of nuisances and officers of 

 health — to prepare maps exliibiting a system of sewerage — to as- 

 sume the control of public sewers, and purchase private sewers — 

 to alter, exteiul, and cleanse the same — to cleanse and water public 

 streets — to provide public necessaries — to register or provitle and 

 regulate slaugliter-Iiouses — to prevent (subject to an appeal to 

 the general board) the establishment of noxious manufactures, 

 and the erection of churches, hospitals, factories, or any other 

 large building, without proper means of ventilation — to register, 

 and if necessary, cleanse, or disinfect common lodging-liouses — 

 to restrict the use of under-ground cellars as dwelling-rooms — to 

 level and pave streets — to move water or gas pipes, provided tliat 

 their use and efficiency be unaft'ected — to prevent (subject to ap- 

 peal to the General Board) the laying out new streets of ob- 

 jectionable width and level — to purcliase premises for tlie jiurpose 

 of widening streets — to provide public walks and pleasure-grounds 

 — to construct water-works — to compel occupiers of liouses to 

 receive a proper supply of water — to supply cisterns and conduits 

 for gratuitous use — and to levy rates for the purposes of tliis act. 

 In cases of damage by the acts of the Local Board, compensation 

 is to be made ; and if its amount be disputed, it is to be settled by 

 arbitration. The bye laws of the local boards are to be sub- 

 mitted to tlie Secretary of State for the Home Department for his 

 approval. 



It will be seen that in the actual administration of the act, little 

 or nothing is assigned to the Central Board. The power is almost 

 entirely in the hands of the Local Board, which is not amenable 

 to the (Jeneral Board for acts of omission or commission, except 

 in one or two instances above referred to, in which appeal may be 

 made. And as the Local Boards are popularly selected, the power 

 of putting the act in force ultimately belongs to the great body 

 of inliabitants of the districts affected. There seems, tlierefore, 

 little reason to fear that people will be compelled to be ck»an, and 

 drink wholesome water, and breathe fresh air, against their own 

 free-will and consent. 



On the Continent, however, tlie popular voice is not heard on 

 these questions ; and the power of enforcing measures for public 

 health, is vested almost exclusively in central or government 

 boards. It must be acknowledged that, notwithstanding the 

 greater stringency of sanitary regulations with France and Ger- 

 many, the practical effects of them have been even more imperfect 

 than in England. In Paris and Vienna, the sewerage, drainage, 

 paving, lighting and cleansing of streets, are far less complete than 

 in London. On the other hand, our neighbours have local advan- 

 tages wanting here. The boulevards, and other public walks of 

 Paris, are far more extensive in relation to the number of the 

 population, than the parks of London ; and are also more easily 

 accessible on iiccount of the leas size of the former city. There 



are no cattle markets within Paris, and the slaughter-houses are 

 removed to the suburbs. Vitriol iii:;nnfactorie.s, and similar 

 abominations, are not suffered to pour their pestilential vapours 

 into the very heart of the city, nor consume human life and vege- 

 tation as they do in the close vicinity of this metropolis. Intra- 

 mural burials have long been prohibited in Paris, and are of very 

 rare occurrence. 



The sanitary state of the capitals of France, Austria, and Eng- 

 land, is partially indicated by the rate of annual mortality. It 

 appears from the returns of the Registrar-General, published in 

 18 15, that the average annual mortality for every hundred inha- 

 bitants of 



Vienna, is about 4-898 per cent. 



Paris (department of the Seine) ... 3'038 

 London 2-392 



But, of course, the rate of mortality is influenced by many other 

 considerations besides sanitary regulations; the vicissitudes of 

 climate and the habits of the people having important effects on 

 the duration of life. 



It is comparatively recently, that Paris assumed the appearance 

 of a well-lighted and well-paved city. The idea of paving it is 

 said by Foedere', a copious writer on the hygiene of France, to have 

 originated with Philip Augustus, who, looking out of his palace 

 windows one rainy morning, and surveying the marshes in which 

 his capital was built, conceived the brilliant idea that it would be 

 a convenience to himself and subjects to walk upon dry ground. 

 So early as 1486 an ordonnance of the Prevot of Paris prohibits the 

 erection of noxious and offensive manufactories within the town ; 

 and the records of French municipal law refer to many subsequent 

 regulations of a similar kind. No very effectual or important 

 measures seem, however, to have been taken till after the great 

 revolution ; and to Napoleon, the most uncompromising of re- 

 formers, is due the credit of founding the present system of law 

 regarding public health. His attention having been directed to 

 the insufficiency of the existing laws on the subject, the Academy 

 of Sciences was consulted, and the class of physical and mathema- 

 tical science reported to the Government, on the effects of various 

 manufactures on the health of the people. On this report was 

 founded an imperial decree of 1810, subsequently confirmed by a 

 royal ordonnance of 1815, which, with some modifications suggested 

 by subsequent experience, constitutes the modern sanitary code of 

 Paris. For an account of it we have consulted, amongst other 

 works, that of Fa>dere, last cited ; Trebuchet' s Code Adminislratif 

 des Establisscnienn dangtreusen et insnlulires (8vo., Paris, 1832); 

 Parent Dur.hatelet' s Prostitution dans te Ville de Paris (8vo., Paris, 

 1836) ; and the Hi/yi'ne Publique, of the same author. 



The principal feature of the decree of 1810 was the division of 

 noxious and offensive trades and manufactures into three classes, 

 the first consisting of those so prejudicial to life and vegetation as 

 to be required to be moved to a distance from human habitations ; 

 the second and third of those noxious in the less degrees. The 

 distinctions between these three classes are carefully defined, and 

 the exactness of the definition is practically of great importance, 

 as the mode of applying for licenses for their establishment are 

 different for each. The formalities necessary previous to the erec- 

 tion of a manufacture of the first or most dangerous class are very 

 numerous and stiingent. After notice publicly advertised of the 

 intended application for license, the Mayor of the commune (or in 

 Paris tlie Commissai-y of Police), reports on the nature of the 

 localities infected, the distance of habitations, and the character 

 of the processes to be employed. This investigation is technically 

 termed the inquiry de commodoet incommodo. His report is referred 

 to the Conseil de Salubrit •, a body which takes cognizance of the 

 establishment of all manufactures, whicli are " classified," or 

 included in either of the classes above-mentioned. The Conseil de 

 Salubrity delegates a sub-commission of its own members, to 

 examine the locality of the proposed manufacture, in company 

 with the Mayor, and to report upon the nature and importance of 

 the manufacture, its salubrity, or inconvenience, the rate of flow 

 of water required in its processes, the sufficiency of the apparatus, 

 the merits of the principles on which it is constructed and applied, 

 and lastly, on the admissibility of the application, and the con- 

 ditions on which license should be granted. This report of the 

 sub-commission is presented to, and discussed by, the general 

 board. Among the other functions of the Conseil de Salubrite 

 included the inspection of barracks, prisons, markets, and other 

 public buildings. Besides the Conseil de Salubriti' at Paris there 

 are similar bodies at Marseilles, Lille, Bordeaux, and other large 

 towns. 



The ArcMtect-Cortimissarfi is another public officer who discharges 

 most important and valuable duties, A detailed plan of the pro- 



