8 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 
weight of opinion appears to place asphalt first, wood second and stone third, for 
all streets except those habitually crowded with heavy traffic, in which case stone 
would rise to the first place and asphalt drop to the third. 
A practical and general recognition of the fact—so well known in the medi- 
cal profession, and indeed among all ranks of cultured people—that the pave- 
ments of a city exert a direct and powerful influence upon the health of its inhab- 
itants, has never been secured. Most people claim simply that a street surface 
should be hard and smooth without being slippery, and, asa measure of economy, 
that it shall be durable and easily cleansed; but they go no further. 
The advantages of noiselessness are recognized by many upon various 
grounds; by the large majority as simply conducive to comfort, but by few as 
conducive to health; while the kind of material used, provided it satisfies the 
foregoing conditions, and the character of the surface is satisfactory with regard 
to continuity and impermeability, is far too generally considered to be a matter of 
small moment. 
The hygienic objections to granite, are first, its constant noise and din, and 
‘second its open joints which collect and retain the surface liquids, and throw off 
noxious vapors and filthy dust. 
Dr. A. McLane Hamilton; Assistant Sanitary Inspector of the city of New 
York, in an official report dated October 19, 1874, says, ‘‘a quiet and noiseless 
street pavement would advance the health of the population to a great extent. 
The sufferer from nervous diseases would find relief from the noise of empty om- 
nibuses and wagons rumbling or rattling on the rough stones, in the event of a 
removal of this nuisance. In fact there would be many more sanitary benefits 
resulting from a change than I can here detail.” 
_ It is not deemed necessary to enlarge further upon this point. The writings 
of eminent medical practitioners are full of testimony to the pernicious influence 
of street noise and din upon the health of the population, particularly upon inva- 
lids and persons with sensitive nerves. 
The noisome and noxious exhalations emanating from the putrescent matter, 
such as horse dung and urine, collected and held in the joints of stone pave- 
ments, constitutes another sanitary objection to their use in populous towns. — Ex- 
ceptions to wood may be taken upon the same, and even upon stronger grounds, 
for the material itself undergoes inevitable, and, sometimes, even early and rapid 
decay, in the process of which the poisonous gases resulting from vegetable de- 
composition are thrown off. 
The joints of a block pavement, whether of wood or stone, constitute, after 
enlargement by wear, fully one-third of its area, and under the average care, the 
surface of filth exposed to evaporation, covers fully three-fourths of the entire 
street. This foul organic matter, composed largely of the urine and excrement 
of different animals, is retained in the joints, ruts and gutters, where it undergoes 
putrefactive fermentation in warm, damp weather, and becomes the fruitful source 
of noxious effluvium. In dry weather this street soil floats in the atmosphere and 
penetrates the dwellings in the form of unwholesome dust, irritating to the eyes 
