by pouring paraffin or other strong smelling volatile substance 

 down them from the roof. In a large number of cases this test 

 reveals the existence of one or more defective joints through 

 which sewer gas may make its way inside the house ; and in 

 most houses built previous to the last eight or ten years, the 

 examination discloses faulty construction or arrangements in one 

 or other particular. In due time the member receives a detailed 

 report, and a sketch plan of the house, showing the position of 

 the drains, closets, &c, with suggestions, if needed, for improve- 

 ments. These the member can make or not as he may choose, 

 and by whom he may choose : — the Association does not under- 

 take them, or derive any profit from the works. These suggestions 

 further distinguish between the more or less necessary alterations. 

 Should the member decide upon making changes, the engineer 

 will visit them during progress, or on completion, and advise as 

 to their efficiency. No less important than to have the sanitary 

 arrangements of a house set right as described above, is it to be 

 assured that they remain so. Here it is that the advantage of 

 continuous membership is to be found. During each year a 

 person remains a member of the Association he is entitled to at 

 least one visit and inspection as thorough as the first, to ascer- 

 tain whether any of the complicated arrangements of modern 

 sanitation have got out of order through decay, settlement of 

 pipes, action of rats, weather, or other causes, thus giving the 

 member a guarrantee not merely his house has been put into a 

 fairly healthy condition, but that it remains so. 



Should a member require inspection of more than one house, 

 he pays for each a separate annual subscription, but no further 

 entrance fee. Special buildings, or those at a distance, are dealt 

 with according to arrangement, or by a tariff fixed upon terms as 

 moderate in proportion as those above. 



Two simple arguments may be given in favour of such associa- 

 tions. 



The first is that of example : they have already been instituted 

 in Edinburgh, London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Glasgow, 

 Newcastle, Bradford, Brighton, Dundee, Wolverhampton, 

 Gloucester, Cheltenham, and Bedford, which, as their scope takes 



