1867.] Manchester : its Sanitary and Social State. 203 



The rain, so abundant here, falling upon the ashes, is by them 

 conducted to the feculent matter, of which the rapid decomposition 

 is further promoted by the position of these conveniences. In 

 an immense proportion of the smaller houses, in all, in short, 

 of those more recently built, the ashpit is in contact with the 

 wall of the house, and its fecal contents thus receive the heat 

 from the house-fires ; or, as in an instance recently made public, 

 they may have the benefit of the heat from some adjacent 

 furnace. Most of the ashpits are now drained, but the opening of 

 the drain is not in every instance on a level with the floor of the 

 pit, but several inches above it ; and where level with the floor, it is 

 table to be choked by the ashes or other matters, and consequently 

 the water often stands in the pits to the depth of several inches, or 

 even a foot or two. As the pits are in no case water-tight, 

 their fluid contents often percolate the wall of the house, and enter 

 the cellar where the people keej) their food, and even the ground- 

 floor rooms in which they cook and eat their meals. What the 

 fluid is, and what the exhalations from it, need not be said. To 

 prevent this annoyance, the people sometimes make a hole in the 

 outer wall of the ashpit, which allows the water to flow out into 

 the entry behind. Another portion of the water passes through 

 the floor, and sinks into the subsoil. No wonder, therefore, that 

 pump-water in Manchester and the neighbourhood has long been 

 unfit for use. The underlying strata are a reservoir of a solution, 

 ever becoming more and more concentrated, of the compounds re- 

 sulting from the decomposition of human excrementitious matter. 

 The city stands over one vast secondary cesspool. That it will 

 some time make its presence felt, far more even than now — that the 

 Nemesis of the violated laws of health will one day arise in her 

 strength, and, possibly by some new form of pestilence, sweep from 

 the earth by thousands a people so reckless and infatuated, who 

 that has considered the subject can doubt ? Even our vaunted 

 water-supply may fail us. The water-pipes, however strong, 

 will not for ever withstand the perpetual action of the fluid by 

 which they are externally bathed. They are not always full. 

 Inward leakage from the surrounding earth may take place, 

 and the water, which flows from the hills so pure, may then 

 enter our houses charged with poisonous elements. That this is 

 no imaginary danger is proved by what has sometimes occurred in 

 London. There the gas, escaping from the mains, has made its 

 way into the water-pipes, and a light applied to a tap has caused it 

 to emit flame. Do such thoughts as these never trouble the repose 

 of our rulers ? or, imitating a late famous statesman, do they say, 

 " It will last our time, apres nous la peste ? " 



But what becomes of the portion of the rain-water, entering the 

 pits, which neither leaks through into the houses, sinks into the 



