46 Suggestions for a System of 



place at the same time, will sufficiently instance the amount 

 of decaying matter contributed from the source mentioned. 



Bad as the case thus appears, it will present itself in a far 

 worse light when the cesspools that form adjuncts to every 

 house in Melbourne are taken into consideration. What 

 their effect must be may be easily estimated. On each side of 

 Collins-street, for instance, at intervals of 20 feet, are not 

 less than 200 heaps of the most offensive material, each mea- 

 suring, say 25 cubic feet, constantly moist, and unintermit- 

 tingly generating the most foetid exhalations. These lines of 

 pestilent matter are repeated in each of the main streets, and 

 again by others on the numerous intersecting cross streets, 

 and further increased in similar accumulations by the innu- 

 merable small courts and bye-ways. This offensive matter, 

 it is true, is not in heaps above the surface, but in holes sunk 

 in the ground — its moisture does not run into the channels — 

 but it soaks into the soil, percolating into the cellars and 

 foundations of houses, and the vapor given off, although 

 diluted and disseminated by filtration through the soil, is just 

 as dangerous as though it were generated above ground. 

 People act as though they were scarcely aware of this cir- 

 cumstance, for they will protest most vigorously against a 

 temporary deposit of mere rubbish in front of their dwel- 

 lings, whilst they patiently bear the continuous existence of a 

 filthy cesspool in their back-yard. 



The baneful influence upon the health and longevity of the 

 people, inevitably resulting from such causes, is too well- 

 known to demand either explanation or comment upon the 

 present occasion. The connection traced by common expe- 

 rience, between sickness and a foul atmosphere, indeed all 

 the researches of science in reference to the cause and pro- 

 gress of miasma, have, over and over again, demonstrated 

 this point with unerring precision.' I content myself, there- 

 fore, by a mere allusion to the fact, but I would beg permis- 

 sion to enumerate the consequences — epidemic disease, fever, 

 and that scourge of humanity, cholera — these have invaria- 

 bly followed like a shadow, wherever the necessity of drainage 

 has been ignored ; and to remind you that these evils are 

 liable to become intensified here by our peculiarities of cli- 

 mate. "Without further dwelling upon the necessity existing 

 for drainage, I proceed to my second point : — 



That drainage of an adequate description for the city of 

 Melbourne is not too costly for the means at our disposal ; in 

 short, that we can afford it. 



