The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-01-13 00:00:00

VENTILATION OF SEWERS.

In connection with this subject, which is one of more
than momentary interest, the following letter has been
sent to The Times for publication :
Before the subject of sewer ventilation is put aside and
altogether forgotten by the public, until it is again re-
suscitated by another catastrophe, will you allow me to
bring to notice the principle upon which alone safety is to be
insured I

The numerous communications which have recently ap-
peared in your columns have not dwelt much upon this point,
which should be steadily kept in view In dealing with the
subject.
I bad any attention most forcibly drawn to this matter in
the year 1854, when I ventilated the drains of my own house,
anti the principle I then adopted experience now shows to
bc the only correct method. Since that time I have brought
the subject prominently forward by communicatione to the
journals, as well no at the ordinary meetings of the Croydon
Local Board. It is, therefore, with much gratification that I
find a general acceptance of the necessity of some action being
taken not only in thk district, but all over the country. After
a crusade of some years the Croydon Local Board appointed
an engineer competent to deal with the matter, and with
ability enough to cope with the necessary details by which
means alone success was to be obtained. That successful
point has now been reached. 10 the year 1865 I induced the
Local hoard to make a liv-law adopting the principle of veuti-
lotion which I have stremmaly advocated. It was carried
out as far as could be done by persuasion in all new houses.
It is asserted, however, that the Board has no power to com-
pel the complete adoption of the principle. 'the result has
been that the frequent exceptions which have been made by
builders and not enforced by the Board have still More con-
clusively proved the truth that the principle I advocate is
the right one, that any departure from it in a good system of
sewerage Is attended with danger, while perfect safety re-
sults from its adoption.
The principle involved was submitted to the notice of the
Health Department of the Social Science Associatio in a
paper which I read In the early part of the year 1880, and
which paper I regarded manic answer to one read some time
before at a meeting of the Society of Arts, in which the
beauties of traps were set forth, and all necessity for venti-
lation altogether Ignored.
It has been fully proved In this district that no cases of
typhoid fever of an indigenous character have arisen in any
houses so treated .pare water being supplied), while no cases
of typhoid have occurred which could not be traced to
neglect of the principle, whether stoppages have occurred in
the sewers or not.
- - - -- • • - -

The principle inculcated is, that it shall not be possible for
stagnant air to be ever present in any part of a system of
sewers or In any part of a house drain. At certain times
and in some seasons a very rapid development of sewer gas
occurs. It is most likely to happen In sewers containing de-
posit (or so-called elongated cesspools), but It does occur
In sewers which are comparatively clean. Any portion of
a sewer or house drain in which there is stagnant air lain

a condition for Its rapid development This production
is often coincident in point el time *Air -a heavy rainfall
and a low barometer, or at a time when otne is not
to be found in any quantity in the atmosphere. If, then,
impermeable sewers have their tower ends flooded by excess
of sewage or by flood, or by high tides, the outside traps are
newly charged by the rain, the Joints are sealed by the wet
soil, and there is no outlet for the gases developed but into
the houses. If this discharge occurs in the night, it
necessarily follow, that the inmates are exposed to the in-
fluence of the sewer products at a time when it is generally
acknowledged that 11111111 M beings are least able to resist the
influence of malaria.

The condition is not in present circumstances limited to
towns or systems of sewerage: ft Occurs in the drains of single
houses, altogether detached from others : it is a constant
source of danger to the village as well as to the town, to
single houses as well as to an extensive terrace.
I will riot now enter upon the d,batable ground as to
whether the typhoid series of diseases are eapablmof being
produced tie nom, or whaller some corresponding matter
must have already found admission to the sewer. It is of
no consequence whether the matter is a germ product:4.lloy
sonie former ease of the disease, or is an action set up in
the human economy independently of any germ of a similar
kind. It is certain that the sewer gases may be conveyed
into the house in the mariner described, carrying matter
Which will set up the diseases ill question unless precautions
are taken to prevent the possibility of Ito occurrence. lhe
means necessary for prevention are easy of application and
simple In the extreme.

It ls probable, also, that there is the greatest amount of
danger In the smaller house drains, and it is certain that
animal refuse is most dangenms when recent and before
putrefaction Is established, so that the decided stink is not
there to warn the inmates of their danger.
. _

- -----
The principle which I advocate i 5 that it should become
obligatory upon the owner of every house to have ventilat-
ing openings for the protection of every trap ; that traps
should be forbidden unless so protected, and each should
be so constructed 118 not to be capable of easy removal. The
extension of the soil pipe of the water-closet upwards above
the level of tin parapet of the house would provide the
most important part, awl it the principle advocated was
carried out,in its integrity it would prevent the possibility
of hidden danger, even if there should happen "to be
something wrong with the drains." Overflow or %este
pipes, the traps of which may get dry, should never on any
pretence be nllowed to communicate directly with the sewer
at all

If this principle is carried Out in a district containing
0,000 houses, and if each house averages about five distinct
and independent communications with the house drain, it
follows that 40,000 openings will existwhich should rise above
the level of the highest windows, but not on a level with
the tops of the chimneys. These 40,000 openings will insure
a positive circulation in all the in, drains by reason
of natural laws which are always in operation such as
the tendency of air at different temperatures and at
different degrees of saturation as regards moisture to
commingle ;of gases of different densities to diffuse them.
selves, which action will be constantly assisted Isy the motion
of the external air. These motive imwers will be assisted
by the constant changes of temperature caused by the influx
of hot water, and alto by the varying rise or fall of sewage
in the bottom of the sewer. These forces will together compel
a circulation and prevent the possibility of that stagnation
which allows of fungoid growth, upon which the develop-
ment of sewer gas sometimes depeuds, and the concentra-
tion of the latter in a matter dangerous to those who
come in contact with it when they are prone to take on a
typhoid action. The principle I advocate simply requires
that pores shall be made in the tops of the sewers and at
the extremity of every junction, which shall correspond
with the sweat glands in the human skin, and the steniata
which exist under the leaves of trees. If we make these
openings numerous enough, Nature will establish a eircula-
tion sufficient for perfect safety, dilution and oxidation will
then quickly dwarf and destroy the causes of disease, what-
ever they may be, arid „stop the progress of infection from
such sources hi a niarvellous manner.

It follows that if these numerous outlets are provided it
will be necessary for air to enter somewhere. The openings
already provided for cleansing and examining the sewer will
become inlets, and these gratings in the public streets, often
giving out most pestiferous odours, only now rendered safe
by immediate oxidation and extensive dilution, would be-
come in a great many instances inlets for fresh air. If they
are outlets, the neighbourhood may be perfectly protected
by charcoal trays, 011 the principle suggested by Dr. Sten-
house, and ably applied by Mr. It. Latham to the sewers of
Croydon. . . .

-..ali'M:amination of these trays in dry weather easily shows
which way the wind blows. If the openings are inlets, the
charcoal is seen to he covered with a coating of dust, and the
tray is practically unnecessary, while if there is an escape of
air from the sewer the charcoal will continue to be as black
as jet.
. . . .

e have on two or three occasions had complaints of
smells from these openings, 11.11ki en earls occasion the com-
plaint fins been coincident with the removal of the tray and
its non-restoration from some temporaty cause. The re-
storation of the tray has at once removed all cause of COM.
plaint.
The principle I advocate is simple in Its application ; it
does not necessitate an inunediate and sometimes dangerous
turning up of old drains, but allows them to be left in
safety to a more convenient season. It does not eall for
any of those suggested shafts, assimilated gas lamps, or
curiously constructed furnaces for the destruction of the
sewer products. It simply requires that a sufficient num-
ber of breathing pores shall be rnade at the extreme ends
of each drain, and nature then will establish a circulation
which, by rapid oxidation and continuous dilution, shall
reduce the chance of danger toast infinitesimal degree. The
owners of a considerable number of houses in this district
have carried out my suggestions, F.llll a growing experience
of 16 years has convincingly proved the success of the plan
when it has not been marred by the ignorance of those to
whom the work lagoulided. The workmen often do every-
thing calculated fij destroy its efficiency isy refusing to re-
cognise the simplicity of the design, the pipes are often
hiserted along distance from and below the trap, as many
right angles are made as can possibly be brought out, and
the size of the pipe is often ridiculously small ;wlule. to be
perfectly efficient. the pipe should be straight upwards, or
nearly so, and its diameter nearly equal to the pipe it is in-
tended to protect.

Notwithstanding these drawbacks, it can be incontestably
proved that perfect safety results to those houses to which it
Is applied, sod if the work is done moderately well the
typhoid series of diseases will not ilnd a resting place under
that roof, while the neglect to provide efficient sewer venti-
lation is certain to bring mischief the more perfectly any
given house is fitted up, and the more studiously fresh air is
excluded from entering by natural channels, so that the rich
and luxuriously-inclined will suffer, while the poor com-
paratively eseapv.—l am, ftc., ALFRED CARPENTER, M.D.
Croydon, Jan. 0.