Cottage Sanitation. 
GG7 
ground damp, which is generally too costly to be applied to 
cottages already existing — a damp-proof course in the walls. 
In building new houses there should always be such a 
course, just below the floor level, but above the level of the 
ground outside, so as to prevent the ground water from rising 
in the walls. There are several forms of this, and amongst the 
best is a course of glazed bricks or slate set in cement, or a 
layer of asphalte. 
A. damp-proof course may be inserted in the wall of a stand- 
ing cottage, when it is a valuable one, by the method of “ under- 
pinning.” The measures available against damp sites are also 
of service against ground damp where a cure is impossible. 
(5) Wet walls. — Where rain penetrates the walls simply by 
beating against them, it can be kept out by slating, or boarding, 
or by coating the wall with tar or paint or a layer of cement, 
on the outside. Cement, rather than mortar, should also be used 
for pointing w'alls which are specially exposed to the weather. 
To line damp walls internally with wood is worse than use- 
less. The boarding conceals the stain, and retards the drying of 
the wall. 
II. The Disposal of House Refuse and Nightsoil. 
Indifference to this matter is far too common. The fresh 
air in which country people live all day so lessens the evil effect 
of the foul air within and round their dwellings that they can 
scai'cely be got to believe, 
even when fever breaks out, 
that the cause is so near 
them as it evidently is to 
the eye of the physician and 
the sanitarian. 
(1) Slop water. — One of 
the commonest sanitary de- 
fects in cottages is the want 
of a proper method of dis- 
posal of the slop waters. 
These are often thrown into 
an open drain dug in the 
soft soil, where they in time 
wash out a hole, which re- 
mains always full of the foul and fermenting liquid ; or they 
are thrown on the top of the midden, causing a similar 
nuisance. 
It is a question for discussion whether sinks should be pro- 
(See page 638.) 
