126 - J, H. CARDEW. 
sand: it is probable that in 1665 the death rate increased, 
as the plague carried off 685,000 of the inhabitants, but 
thereafter, probably due to the cleansing effects of the Great 
Fire of London and the rebuilding of the city, the reduction 
of the death rate progressed very rapidly, until in 1750, it 
had reached what may be considered for those days the 
low rate of 42°5 per thousand: in 1801 it was reduced to 
28°1, and in 1851 it had reached 24°2, (see diagram fig. 2), 
but it was not until 1841 that any decisive steps were taken 
to provide a system of sewers, and until 1848 the discharge 
of house sewage into the sewers was forbidden and people 
were compelled to construct cesspools. 
in 1843 a Commission known as ‘*‘ The Health of Towns 
Commission,’’ comprising many eminent men, amongst 
whom were two celebrated engineers, Mr. Robert Stephen- 
son, M. Inst. c.p., and Mr. W. Cubitt, m. mst. c.z., was appointed 
by Her Majesty Queen Victoria, to report on the sanitary 
condition of large towns in England. This commission in- 
vestigated the state of the Metropolis and 50 large towns, 
and issued a report in 1844 describing the deplorable insani- 
tary conditions of the inhabitants owing to the absence of 
sewerage for house drainage, the only drainage works in 
existence being principally for surface waters; in some of 
the largest and most populous towns all connections with 
the sewers by house drains or cesspools or water closets 
was prohibited under a penalty. In the metropolis the 
connection of house drains was deemed a privilege only to 
be obtained at considerable expense, which restricted the 
use of the sewers to the wealthy. Cesspools, usually of 
inferior construction, were provided for the reception of 
foecal matters, the liquids usually escaping into the sur- 
rounding earth or escaping by means of surface water 
Sewers: these cesspools were fearfully offensive, and were 
sometimes situated beneath the houses even in fashionable 
. 
. 
