31 



even admit of being partially guarded by the oldfashioned, 

 and too often inefficacious, trap of the ordinary plumber. 

 Other defects were found to exist in very much the same 

 proportion as recorded in the case of London. 



A paragraph from the report of one of the annual meetings 

 of the Edinburgh Association describes a principle of action 

 on the part of most of these Societies, well calculated to recom- 

 mend them to the confidence of the public. It says " the 

 Association did not exist for making employment for plumbers. 

 They advised people, told them what was wrong, and left them 

 to employ whoever they liked. They had also guarded against 

 touting for the employment of patents. The number of patents 

 which claimed to put sanitary matters right was legion, and if 

 they were to take up any one of these, they would raise a pretty 

 nest of hornets about their ears for overlooking the special 

 patents of others." 



In conclusion, it may be pointed out that these Associations 

 occupy an intermediate position between that period of darkness 

 when prince and peasant were by the universality of ignorance 

 alike exposed to a foe as deadly as it was treacherous, and that 

 happy time when, by the enlightened action of municipal 

 authority, such a thing as an unsanitary house shall be an im- 

 possibility. During that interval, which, if human nature does 

 not radically change, bids fair to be a long one, these sanitary 

 associations are likely to fill a place the value of which can 

 hardly be over-estimated. 



