THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



LAoerow 



posed manufactory is suhmitted to him before the commencement 

 of the building, and on its completion, he inspects the details of 

 the workshops, furnaces, chimneys, and other ])arts, and deter- 

 mines whether the laws and prescribed conditions have been strictly 

 observed in their construction. He must also also assure himself, 

 as far as possible, of the stability and security of the buildings, 

 both internally and externally, and ascertain whether the arrange- 

 ments and situation agree with those indicated upon the plan pre- 

 viously deposited with him. M. Trebuchet, who speaks from 

 practical experience as chief of the office in the Prefecture of 

 Police which takes cognizance of establislimcnts affecting public 

 hcaltli, remarks, that this verification by the plan would be greatly 

 facilitated if all plans were required to be laid down to the same 

 scale; for instance, five niillinietres to the metre. The Architect- 

 Commissary has another very important duty. Whenever it be- 

 comes necessary to classify an altogether new manufactory, he is 

 consulted as to the class in which it is to be placed. Upon all 

 complaints against existing manufactories, his opinion is also 

 required. 



The actual execution of the laws respecting manufactories is 

 assigned to the Mayor of the commune. His vigilance must be 

 exercised to see that they are never infringed or evaded ; and it is 

 his especial office to maintain a sur\eillance, so that no manufac- 

 tory be established without the requisite license. 



To the Prefecture of Police the supreme municipal power be- 

 longs. The Prefecture institutes periodical inspections of author- 

 ised manufactures, and on its authority the execution of all official 

 acts depends. 



Steam-engines are put under a peculiar system of regulation as 

 the ordinary laws respecting classified manufactures are not en- 

 tirely applicable to them. As a general rule, stationary engines 

 are ranked in the third class of manufactories. The rules for high- 

 pressure steam-engines have been so greatly altered from time to 

 time, that it is scarcely worth while to refer to more than one or two 

 of the most important. All high-pressure engines are, or used to 

 be, tested hydrostatically to tri])le their intended working pressure 

 which is then marked upon them by a government stamp. Every 

 new steam-boat is inspected by a commission of engineers ap- 

 pointed by the prefecture of police, and is required to have on 

 board a person duly qualified to superintend the machinery, and 

 see that it is in proper working order. Captains of steam-vessels 

 are compelled to register the limit of their numbers of passengers, 

 and are made personally liable for accidents arising from over- 

 crowding or excessive speed. 

 _ The sewerage of Paris has been made the subject of that scien- 

 tific atul systematic inquiry which characterises the public ad- 

 ministration in France of all matters relating to the acts. It ap- 

 pears from the Hi/ijiiiw Piihliqne of Parent Duchatelet, published 

 in 183(>, that the total length of sewers in Paris, was 



Before 1830 ... ... 43,340 yards. 



From 1830 to 1834 ... 23,790 



In 1835 ... ... 5,460 



In 1836 ... ... 4,040 



76,630 



Some of these sewers are of great size, and have been excavated 

 at great expense. Tliat of the Rue Rivoli was excavated at an 

 expense of £32,000, and with a solidity and excellence of work- 

 manship which appears extravagant. Another of the largest 

 sewers, that under the Rues St. Denis and Du Poncean, contains 

 the pipes of pure water which supply the fountain of the Place 

 des Innocens. Napoleon took great interest in this work, on ac- 

 count of the novelty of the application of the sewer to the pur- 

 pose of conveying water, and examined it in all its details. 



Paris stands on a gravelly alluvial soil ; and the level above the 

 bed of tlie Seine, is so small as to render inundations of frequent 

 occurrence. This circumstance increases the difficulties of 

 emptying the sewers of which the river is the general recejitacle. 

 The impetuosity of the current during winter has, however, the 

 effect of preventing a permanent accumulation of impurities in its 

 channel. 



In supplying Paris with water, the conduits from the great aque- 

 duct pass through the sewers. The practicability of rendering 

 the sewerage servicealile for the ])ur|)oses of agriculture, is recom- 

 mended in a memoir presented to the prefect of police in 1835, by 

 a sub-commission of tlie Cniis-eil ric Suluhnl' It a|i|)ears from 

 the saine authority, that the quantity of f'upcal matter deposited 

 in the Seine, is so small as to have no appreciable influence on the 

 purity of its waters; and in a report of ihe Anuli-nnj of Sdences, 

 it is stated that the volume of water supplied by the liowing of the 

 Seine, in a given time, is 9,600 times that of the utmost amount 



of impure substances which can be deposited in it during the 



e per iod. /"■ 



In Austr' the sanitary institutions of the whole empire are 

 placed under one general system, which appears to be cairied out 

 in an effectual manner. The laws relating to public health belong 

 to the best part of the imperial code ; and there are few countries 

 in the world of which the medical institutions are conducted on 

 such a magnificent scale. The administration of them is entrusted 

 by the Austrian (Jovernment to a duly qualified corps of officers 

 at the head of whom, in every province, is a chief officer, called 

 the Proto-Medicii.s ; and in every circuit there are sub-officers 

 who constitute boards of health for their own districts. The 

 functions of the Froto-Mi-xlmix are to inspect medical institutions, 

 hospitals, lunatic asylums, and prisons, to regulate tlie medical 

 police, and report on epidemics. The poor-law system of Austria 

 provides for the gratuitous supply of medicine to the poor, and 

 the attendance upon them by the district medical officers. 



The Austrian police inspect all food exposed for sale, and have 

 the power of examining houses and lodgings to ascertain that they 

 are in good and healthy condition. All burial grounds are required 

 to be at a distance from towns, and the instances in which burial 

 in family vaults is permitted are exceedingly rare. 



The vicinity of Turkey renders the quarantine laws of Austria 

 very strict. A military cordon of 4,200 men is always maintained 

 on the Turkish frontier, and the number can be increased to ten 

 thousand on occasions of danger. Owing to the vigilance thus 

 exercised, it is asserted that the plague has not crossed the frontier 

 for upwards of a century. 



On the whole review of the Continental and English sanitary 

 systems, the essential distinctions between them appear to be that 

 the former are administered by central, the latter by real, govern- 

 ment ; the former makes public health a matter of state policy, the 

 latter of popular discretion. Our own system has the advantage 

 of pleasing the governing power in the hands of those whose per- 

 sonal observation renders them the best judges of local wants, and 

 generally the most zealous protectors of local interests. The ques- 

 tion whether they will prove also the most strenuous promoters of 

 sanitary improvements, must be determined by experience alone. 

 In numerous cases, the intelligence of the beople will dictate, that 

 public health be regarded as the paramount object. Other local 

 bodies, from motives of false economy, may refuse to tax them- 

 selves for providing the means of health, or from apathy, may 

 decline to exercise vigorously the powers of the most confided to 

 them. Yet, these cases will be exceptioned ; for the most preju- 

 diced and the most indifferent must learn, sooner or later, that 

 sordid neglect is never cheap. Health is wealth ; for health gives 

 energy and hope ; and these beget industry and frugality, which 

 are the sources of all wealth. But squalor and disorder are life- 

 consuming, and the very canker-worms of social existence : they 

 beget sloth and indifference — and these are spendthrift: they 

 beget crime and disease — and these destroy. 



WATERLOO EXTENSION OF THE LONDON ANI> 

 SOUTH-WESTERN RAILWAY. 



The extension of the London and Soutli-Western Railway from Nine-EIm« 

 to Waterloo. liriilgeroad, was operiefl on tlie 11th iillimo. It appears to u> 

 that it would have been far better if the Waterloo Station had been made on 

 the vacant ground adjoining, north of the present Waterloo terminus, and the 

 principal entrance in York road. The entrance to the railway would then 

 have been as near to Westminster and Hungerford-liridges as it is now to 

 Waterloo-bridge, without increasing the distance to the latter place, or (he 

 length of the railway. This alleraliun niiglit now be easily made ; it would 

 save nearly half-a-mile, and eight minutes' walk, to foot passengers from 

 Westminster and Chariiig-crnss; the present approaches might be retained 

 for a goods depot — and if a steam-hoat pier were made adjriining to the 

 Surrey approach of lltingerford-bridgc, and arrangements made with the 

 steam boats to come direct from London-bridge to the pier, the extension of 

 tlie railway to London-bridge might be ahandoneil, and thereby nearly a 

 million sterling saved. This would, weaie sure, enhance the value of the 

 shares, an.l give confidence to those ca|iitalists in the city who are nmv alarmed 

 at the apparent reckless manner in which funds are being expended by rail- 

 wavson branches and extensinns. 



" The works of tliis undertaking were commenced in July 184C, by 

 Messrs. Lee, the contractors, who engaged to complete the woiks 



