114 '^^^ Essentials of House Sanitation — 



" nominally," because the so-called yard trap is but a trap 

 in a very equivocal sense. It does not trap off the foul air, but 

 it entraps the poor worker into the idea that it does. You 

 will find that the yard trap is a loose metal contrivance 

 that collects all kind of filth in and about it, thereby failing in 

 one elementary principle, namely, " the thorough removal of 

 filth." Lift it out of its timber frame, and you will find a 

 filthy receptacle below it, and. above all, you will find that 

 the open mouth of the town sewer is belching its foul and 

 poisonous breath, to blanch the cheek, check the vigour, and 

 destroy the health of the humble household. A contrivance of 

 this kind is in direct violation of the elementary laws of sani- 

 tary science, for it not only creates a mischievous local pollution, 

 but it freely admits the town sewer gas. Where this is so, 

 I would strongly recommend the tenant to call upon 

 his landlord to remove the abomination, and to substitute a 

 glazed earthenware trapped gully, properly connected with the 

 town sewer, so that at all events from that point there need be 

 no fear of sewer gas. Another defect is the badly-paved yard, 

 with a broken and irregular surface, saturated with accumulated 

 filth. Every yard surface should be solid and impervious to 

 fluids, and the even surface should have a quick fall to the 

 trapped gully, with no corners, or hollows, or other catchments 

 for filth, so that a bucket of water can wash the surface with 

 an " immediate and thorough " discharge. 



Mr. Gray then pronounced his strongest condemnation of 

 another defect — the common open privy ; and proceeded: — In 

 the country, where the free air of heaven scatters the foul air and 

 counteracts the influence of the unhealthy and deadly vapours, 

 the common privy may be tolerated, but in towns like Belfast, 

 where dwellings are crowded into narrow spaces, it is wrong for 

 the health authorities of the town to allow the continued use of 

 the common open privy, where animal and vegetable refuse 

 create the most deadly forms of disease. It is almost criminal 

 for any tenant in Belfast to occupy a dwelling that has not a 

 properly trapped closet, with a good water flush. Manufacturers 



