“ WESTMINSTER FEVER. 
247 
plotting against Church and State, and forthwith communi¬ 
cated with the police, with the result that the suspicious 
quartet were closely watched. When the Dean of West¬ 
minster, who dearly loved a joke, heard the story subse¬ 
quently, he was highly delighted with the impression they 
had made on the quidnuncs of Bridgewater.” 
In May 1S48 Buckland and two of his daughters were 
attacked with typhoid, or “ Westminster fever,” as it was 
called, for it did not spread beyond the precincts. Every 
one was taken ill on the same day. Some workmen, in 
making alterations in Little Dean’s Yard, accidentally 
opened some old drainage, and neither Buckland, who was 
superintending the work at the time and saw the mischief 
done, nor any one who was conversant with the facts, had 
any doubt as to the origin of the outbreak. Several deaths 
occurred : the unusual sound of the tolling of the Abbey 
bell drew attention to the fever, and caused great gloom 
throughout the neighbourhood. As soon as Buckland was 
restored to health, he lost no time in applying his scientific 
knowledge to the thorough cleansing and making of sewers. 
The system of pipe-drainage which he introduced was the 
first of its kind ever laid down in London. It proved 
completely successful. “This experiment,” he says, “on 
the drainage and sewage of about fifteen houses and an area 
of about two acres affords a triumphant proof of the efficacy 
of draining by pipes, and the facility of dispensing entirely 
with cesspools and brick sewers throughout London.” 
The experiment—for such it then was—succeeded most 
triumphantly. He was, therefore, deeply wounded when 
this outbreak of fever was ascribed to his sanitary reforms. 
That the charge was most unfounded is proved by the 
