The Sun.
London, England, 1854-04-20 00:00:00

TEE CROLEBA.,

The following notification, dated April 17, has been
issued by the General Board of Health, Whitehall .
" Tbe General Board of Health deem it their duty to
warn boards of guardians, local boards of health, parochial
boards, and other local authorities against placing a false
security in the present apparent disappearance of epidemic
cholera.
"It is of the last importance to bear in mind that a simi-
lar decline of the pestilence took place itt corresponding
periods of its progress on both its former visitations.
" The attack of 1831 was premonitory of a more severe
and wide-spread outbreak in 1832.
"The epidemic of 1818, which in the autumn of that
year numbered nearly 1,000 victims in the metropolis,
almost wholly disappeared in the spring, yet returned with.
redoubled -violence in the summer, destroyed nearly 2,000
persons weekly for several weeks in succession, and pro-
duced, including deaths from diarrhoea, a total mortality
of more than 17,000.
"In like manner the outbreak of last autumn, which
commenced with greater virulence than the epidemic of
1848, and destroyed in the metropolis during the first
months of its course double the number of victims, has
been followed by a lull which has been more complete than
that of 1849. But within the last month the disease has
again become mei-elective, and a gradual increase has taken
place in the number of deaths, raising for this month the
total deaths in England and Scotland to twice the amount
of the corresponding period of 1849. The analogy of the
preceding visitations therefore justifies the apprehension
that the disease, instead of having ceased, is in its period
of incubation, and that the-epidemic, in its decided form
and full force, is yet to come.
The modifications in its chareiter which the pestilence
has recently exhibited are of a nature to render it doubly
necessary that the first indications of its appearance in a
locality should be vigilantly watched. In the majority of
the places which it has hitherto attacked is has seized its
victims more suddenly, and hurried them through its fatal
course with greater rapidity than on any preceding visite-
eion.
"One stage of the disease, formerly well marked, and of
the utmost value with reference totheopportnhity afforded
for the application of the means of prevention,es now gene-
rally much shorter in duration, and often
Cholera-'
• - I namely, that denoted by the term,
diarrlacea does still indeed exist,but that also:
.Premenharer
:creel ~is commonly. of shorter duration, and passes more 'directly
‘eien'sl rapidly into cholera, and cholera itself into collapse.
hue Daring its first visitation in 1831 and 1832, the attacks
.318 it :Of the epidemic, with few exceptions, were confined to the
ileefeeel poorer portions of the population residing in the most
„xi/ iii neglected and unhealty districts. In 1848 and 1849 it was
fatal to larger numbers of the middle classes inhabiting
better-conditioned localities and houses. As far as the
tgata: disease has yet advanced; the proportion of the better class
eer.-Tele attacked is still greater than in 1849.
lit "In that year among the total number of persons who
;• r perished by the epidemic in the metropolis 81 per cent.
were labourers and artisans, and 15 per cent. were trades-
men
vailed the proportion of deaths among labourers and arti-
,e7°7:' sans has been only 72 per cent , while the mortality
among
i .1114 tradesmen has reached 24 per .cent. In like manner in the
epidemic of 1849 the proportion of the deaths of the gen-
fL try and professional persons to the total deaths was 2.6
.„;leeeie per cent., but recently it has risen to 3.2 per cent. In other
eee e countries the disease has not spared the highest classes,
s' - and if the safeguards against i
• tare neglected, there is no
reason why it should in our own.
"It is further indicative of an increasing activity and
. intensity in the pestilence that, while the interval between
its first and second visitations was 16 years, the interval
between its second and third visitations has been only four
' •
years ; and that its second visitation was far more eaten-
sive and mortal than the first. In the absence of more
..es- efficient precautions against it, there appears no reasonable
T ground for the expectation that the third will be less ex-
tensive and mortal than the second.
" Besides the loss of life, the pecuniary loss occasioned by
these local outbreaks demands attention. Irrespective of
the permanent expense entailed on towns both by public
rates and private contributions for the maintenance of
widows, orphans, and others pauperised by the epidemic,
the losses sustained by individual tradesmen, from the in-
terruption, and in some instances the almost total suspen-
sion of commerce, are most severe. In some recent in-
stances the sums thus lost would have sufficed to defray
a very large proportion of the outlay required to place the
town in a permanently safe and satisfactory sanitary con-
dition. It is estimated that the total cost of the visita-
tion of 1848 and 1849 to England and Scotland, exclusive
of the cost to Ireland, could, not have been less than
2,000,0001.
" From these considerations the board have learnt with
great regret that since the lull in the epidemic local autho-
rities in numerous instances have suspended the preventive
measures which they had actively commenced, under the
asanneption that the visitation of cholera is over, and that
therefore the occasion for farther watchfulness and effort
has ceased.
" While it is satisfactory to state that a great and grow-
ing number of local autherities now manifest en earnest
desire to carry into effect every practicable means of pre-
vention, there are some who show the same reluctance as
formerly to admit the plainest facts evidencing the
near approach of an outbreak. Instead of preparing to
meet the danger, they shut their eyes against it. Cases
of diarrhcee. occuring in unusual intensity, in unusual
numbers, and at an unusual season, they regard
as of no real significance. Successive deaths, with the
symptoms of malignant cholera, they call deaths from Eng-
lish cholera, as if changing the name altered the evil. They
suppress, as far and as long as possible, the knowledge of all
local forewarnings, whence a false security is maintained,
which, on the outbreak of the pestilence, gives place to panic.
On the arrival of one of the board's medical inspectors,
who, under such circumstances, is usually sent for, he finds
the union medical officers distracted with the sudden de-
mands made upon them—demands greater than they could
possibly satisfy were they to devote day and night to the
service, which indeed many of them do, to the peril and
some to the loss of their own lives. Thus occupied with
the treatment of cases, they are wholly unable to devise,
organise, and superintend measures for preventing the
spread of the pestilence among the population as yet unat-
tacked. Additional medical assistance has now to be sought
from a distance ; properly qualified house to house visitors
to perform the service of bringing the premonitory cases
under immediate treatment are to be obtained ; houses of
refuge are to be procured; dispensaries are to be opened—
in short, the whole preventive system has to be organised,
and before these arrangements can be made, which ought
to have been completed befOre. a' single case of the disease
occurred, the pestilence is at its height.
" One consequence of this neglect of the proper period
of preparation is, that in the actual presence of the epide-
mic, some of the most powerful predisposing causes of the
disease cannot be removed without the risk of increasing
the evils intended to be remedied. Cleansing operations,
which at all times require caution, are then hurriedly and
precipitately resorted to, and are sometimes performed in
such a manner as to produce positive aggravation of the
disease. In some instances cesspool matter has been dis-
charged even into the kennels of the streets, and the contents
of foul ditches, in a state to give off poisonous exhalations
on the slightest agitation, have been spread on the banks
close to habitations. The board deem it necessary again to
cautionlocal authorities against such a culpable mode of pro-
ceeding, which even in ordinary seasons would be attended
with imminent danger ; but that danger is greatly in-
creased at an epidemic period. Though accumulations of
filth may be removed with perfect safety, with the proper
use of disinfecting suhetanoes, and under the superinten-
denceof persona of competent knowledge, yet in an epidemic
season the emanations from deeomposine- animal and vege-
table matter acquire so much potency that, at that time,
it is better to leave collections of foul lase fundisturbed,
and to cover them temporarily wita re
layers of quicklime or
of fresh earth.
" Wherever it has not been already dome, an efficient
scavenging staff should be immediately organised and kept
in unremitting action. The mortality from the epidemic
in towns well scavenged has in some instances ben only
one-half of that in ill-scavenged towns, both being in other
respects in similarly imperfect sanitary conditions.
" It is sometimes observed, as a ground for inaction,
that extraordinary epidemics merely take the place ordi-
nary epidemics, and only destroy, in a shorter space of
time, those who would have perished, probably within the
year, by some form of zymotic disease.
" But even if this were true, it cannot be too strongly
impressed on local authorities that ordinary epidemics,
which may take the place of an extraordinary epidemic,
are themselves preventible, and are in great measure
prevented by proper sanitary arrangements, as is
seen in the comparative immunity from these diseases
among the inmates of well-managed union houses and
prisons, of well-regulated lodging-houses, and of improved
dwellings for the labouring classes- If, therefore, from the
favourable state of the weather, or from some unknown
cause, the disease should return only with diminishes
force, or should not recur at all as a general epidemic, no
properly directed effort can fail to be of benefit equivalent
to the expense incurred. It should not require the occur-
rence of an extraordinary disease, terrifying the imagina-
tion by the suddenness of its attack and the rapidity of its
course, to call forth such efforts ; •they are called for by
ordinary epidemics, which, though less alarming as being
always present, are for that very reason far more mortal
than extraordinary epidemic.
"It is, however, so far from being true that an extraor-
dinary epidemic does not , increase the averaee mor-
Wale that it sometimes swells that mortality nearly-by
the whole number of pars' ens who perish by it. This was
the case, to a considerable extent, in the epidemic of
1849. Out of its 72,000 victims,j_ 40,000 were added to the
mortality of that year. there is no ground toy 'ho.pe thuiajtginag
.from past experience,
enxeetrttaioknesparlaeceminadtehethapproachingsstimimilmarerl,oss of life will
unless timely
erevent the calamity, and it is now
only that timely
that the exertion
can be made. It i 8 at the pre-
sent juncture t
extraordinaryenf powers conferred by
the order in Council for
cleansineci e and for the remoovraelinge external and internal
•activity, vigilance,
with the utmost ')
nuisances' should be
genes. t and stria-
"Ncr should it bo forgotten that within the time of
(le-
prepa „ ion which may yet beplaaleloeswiendX, in the actual
onl
condition of great numbers of
y, palliatives that can be applied.
there s no
whoeurr towns, e
i it is
e local
nothing
epeleted.
drainage, no proper water supply, no waterclo
but foul cesspools, only limited benefits can
on be
al
" For this reason the board would urge
of health, whose works under the Public Health
Act
.• the most advanced, the great importance of haateninc,aoren
the completion of such operations as are necessary for the
abolition of cesspools, and the substitution of the water-
closet apparatus, by laying. clown, wherever possible, espe-
cially
in
epideeele districts and localities, impermeable
and self-cleansing house drains, and- by providing ample
supplies of water. Hitherto, almost exclusive attention
has been given to the construction of main sewers, but ex-
perience has shown that these alone, without systematized
connexion with self-cleansing house drains and ample
supplies of water, .are of little avail iu the prevention of
. disease, but that where foul
e
cipal sanitary evil, as from houseesWools have been the pin-
to house thc,ie have been
filled up, and the water-closet substituted, thte.,oulti.
outbreak
and spread of fever, and other forms of zyme.a..
se,
have Leen at once arrested.
" At the same time that theme works are proceeded with,
the damp arid miry surface in front and at the back of
houses should be removed by paving. There are instances
in which this single improvement has apparcut'y pro-
tected the inhabitants of courts and streets from the re-
currence of ordinar epidernicA. A flagged surface fur-
ther affords the moans of more effectual cleansing by the
hose 'anti jet. Paving may be done in many instances
without waiting for the completion of drainage works,
and, where the principle has been adopted of draining from
the backs of houses, instead of through them into sewers
in the front streets, there will lee comparatively few in-
stances in which it \via be necessary, on the completion of
the works, to break up the pavements, in order to put
in house drains.
" The board regard with satisfaction the progress made
by some local hoards, in spite of much opposition and mis-
representation, in carrying into effect in their respective
towns a combined and complete system of sanitary works at

. .
moderate cost. Oat of 182 cities and towns, compnaing
upwards of 2,000,000 of town population under the Public
Health Act, 126 have hail surveys made, the first step for
effecting improved works. In 70 towns p ans for such
works have been laid out, and in 13 more the main or
public works have been completed. It is expo ed that in
about 35 other towns similar works will be in operation in
the course of another year.
" The act itself, constituting the necessary authority,
and conferring the requisite powers for carrying out these
works, has been obtained at the average expense of 1121.,
that is, at little more than a 12th part of the average ex-
pense of a local act.
" In the towns in which the works are the most ad-
vanced, and which may be taken as average examples of
the whole, the public works of drainage have been com-
pleted at the average cost of -Id. per week per house.
The supply of water, including the works within the
house, the service pipes, sinks, watercloset and house drains,
has been afforded, with principal and interest, at a rate
under 2Ad. per week per house, making the total expense for
the whole of these works 3id. per week per house.
" Sanctions for the execution of such works, after careful
examination of their efficiency, economy, and completeness,
have been given to the amount of upwards of 1,000,0001.;
and it ifr estimated that there will be required for the towns
already under the act the further sanction of upwards of
6,000,0001.
" Though the most advanced of these works are as yet too
recent for the development of their results on the public
health, the diminution of sickness which has already been
effected in some of the worst localities, the removal of the
sense of depression, which was before so generally felt in
these districts, and the cleanliness and comfort experienced
by the inhabitants, justify the hope that these amendments
will act, in some degree at least, as safeguards against the
threatened pestilence.
" Rut no external works, however perfect, can prevent
the operation of the causes of disease which arise from re-
sidence in dwellings unfit for human habitation, such as
underground kitchens and cellars, in which no families can
maintain health. Nor can the most perfect external works
stop the diseases caused by internal filth and overcrowd-
ing. The Common Lodging-houses Act, indeed, which en-
forces certain conditions of internal cleanliness and pre-
vents overcrowding, reaches the latter evils for the class of
houses under its control ; but there are hundreds of thou-
sands of the people who live in tenemented houses, placed
back to back ; each house being divided into many rooms,
and each room being, in fact, the house of the entire
family, in which there is a total and habitual disregard
both of cleanliness and of the amount of breathing space.
These dwellings are considered as private houses, and con-
sequenty the Common Lodginghouses Act does not touch
theM.
With these and other conditions favourable to the genera-
tion and diffusion of epidemic disease, too ,common in all
our
ust villages local outbreaks of the pestilence
m
and preparations must be made to miti-
be expected,a ndto
miti-
gate the calamity as far as may be practicable. With a
view to assist local authorities in the preparation of pre-
ventive measures, the board has issued revised instructions,
particularly with reference to the organisation of the sys-
tem of house-to-house visitation, and experience has shown
that the saving of life in an outbreak of epidemic cholera
will mainly depend ou the promptitude and efficiency with
which the measure is carried into execution.
"The board would call the earnest attention of boards of
guardians and local boards of health to the evidence which
has been adduced of the surprising and almost incredible
success that in some instances has attended well-directed
exertion, even under circumstances in which temporary
measures only were available, and when an outbreak seemed
inevitable. Recently, at Tyuemouth, where the kcal au-
thorities exerted themselves with extraordinary energy,
no else of cholera occurred, though neighbouring towns
were devastated by the pestilence.
-" Within the barracks at Newcastle, where all the
means at command for cleansing, for the removal of nui-
sances, and for the avoidance of overcrowding, were em-
ployed with great promptitude and energy, no case of
cholera occurred, though premonitory diarrhoea, was so
prevalent among the garrison, that out of 519 men, form-
ing its total strength, 451 suffered from this affection ;
while in the town there were upwards of 1,500 deaths
from cholera, and nearly 45,000 persons received relief at
the public expense.

"'AI a settlement in the Bahamas, in which energetic
measures of cleansing were promptly effected, the mor-
tality from the disease scarcely reached 1 per cent. of the
affected population; whereas in a neighbouring settlement,
in which no measures were adopted, the mortality ranged
from 12 to 20 per cent.
„ .

" At B tltimore, in the United States, during the epe-
demic of 1849, which ravaged neighbouring cities, neither
money nor labour was spared to purify the town, and the
cleansing operations were so energetically performed that
it was admitted that the town had never before been in so
clean a state. For the space of three weeks or a month
premonitory diarrhce,t and other symptoms, denoting the
presence of the cholera poison, were as prevalent through.
out the city as in the barracks at Newcastle; yet no out-
break of the pestilence took place, though at the Balti-
more Almshouses, situted about two miles from the city,
and close to which a large mass of putrefying filth had,
been left uncleansed, 99 deaths occurred from cholera out
of a population of less than 600 souls.
" These results recall the observation of a great physi-
cian of that country, made nearly a century ago, with re-
ference to another epidemic, but which is equally applicable
to this To all natural evils,' says Dr. Rush, the emi-
nent physician of the United States,—
" `the Anthor of nature has kindly prepared an anti-
dote. Pestilential fevers furnish no exception to this re-
mark. The means of preventing them are as much under
the power of human reason and industry as the means of
preventing the evils of lightning and common fire. lam
so satisfied of this opinion that I look for the time when
our courts of law will punish cities and villages for per-
mitting any of the sources of malignant fevers to exist
within their jurisdiction."
" T. TAYLOR, ,
Secretary, General Board of lie- lth."

-gat
SOCIETY OF ARTS.

...
A meeting of the members of the Society cf Arts was
held at the societyie rooms, in John-street, Adelphi, last
evening ; Lord Berriedale in the chair.
Mr. GLYN, F.R.S., read a brief but interesting paper
on "Water-meters," descriptive of the various contri-
vances which have from time to time been suggested for
measuring and registering the exact quantity of water
supplied by every service pipe, whether to dwelling-
house, counting-house, or factory. and so keeping an
accurate account between the consumer and the com-
pany. He was followed by Mr. Chadwick, of Sal-
ford, who produced and explained a model of a
water-meter, of which be is joint patentee with
Mr. Hanson, a working plumber ; but which has
not yet been brought into general use. One only
has been put up by way of experiment, upon the
works of one of the London water companies (we be-
lieve the New River Company) ; and Mr. Glynn, who
had an opportunity, in the course of theday, of seeing it
in operation there, observed that it did not appear, when
actually at work, to present the difficulties which at
first sight would seem to be attached to it. Mr. Chad-
wick, whose attention had been called to the subject of
water-meters in consequence of his official connection
with the water works at Salford, where the want of an
efficient instrument of this kind had been much felt, and
who awarded to his co-patentee (Mr. Hanson) the full
credit of having originally designed what their joint
labours had since matured and perfected —addressed
himself to certain objections which he anticipated might
be made upon a cursory examination of the instrument,
and then pointed out what he conceived to be its chief
advantages. It v.-ould register any quantity of water
which might pass through it, however small that quan-
tity might be, and he believed it to be the cheapest
meter that could be made.

A paper prepared by Mr. Fothergill and descriptive
of the meter invented by Mr. Taylor, of Manchester,
was then read by the secretary, while Mr. ,Fothergill
himself explained the drawings in detail, and state-1 that
large number of these meters had been made and that
they had given universal satisfaction.
Mr. SIEMENS explained the meters of his o inven-
tion, and the improvements which he has latel'
.nade in
them. These instruments, it was stated, had :so stood
the test of practical experience, and had met ith gene-
ral approval, and one was particularly mentio' ed as hav-
in,, been in use at the St. Giles's baths and washhouses,
and to the mutual satisfaction of the cornzattee and the
water company.
Mr. YATES placed upon the table a couple of "Irani-
son's meters, and bore testimony to the simplicity of
their construction, and to the success with which they
had been worked. The descriptions given in all these
cases were of course purely technical, and could not be
made intelligible without the models and diagrams with
which they were accompanied. The discussion occupied
some time, and was not without interest.
Mr. CHESTER made some very pertinent remarks on
the importance of good water meters to the public,
as a means of putting an end to the present most unfair
system of charging at per room, in§tead of for the quan-
tity of water actually consumed; and of giving to the
water companies an inducement, which they do not now
possess,
to improve the quality of the article which they
supply.

r Other speakers referred to the want of an efficient
meter as an impediment in the way of making the supply
of water in all cases cone us' and non-intermittent ;
and while opinions appears ) differ as to the compara-
tive merits of the several ventions which had been
specially brought before the meeting, there was a very
general if not a unanimous assent to the proposition,
that a meter, which should not only be accurate but
reasonably economical, would be a substantial public
benefit. The question of economy was put very prae-
tically by Mr. Wright, who suggested that while
the average income of the London water companies
from each service pipe was not more than 30s. per annum
at the outside, and ',sill° the (rental was in many cases
as low as 10s. per : .um, it could not be expected that
meters, which at th 6 t'owest estimate would cost 3/. per
house, besides the cost of fixing them, would be brought
into anything like general use. If meters were to be
provided for every house, so that every consumer might
pay for the quantity of water supplied, and no more,
they must look out for an instrument which might be
made for 14s. or 155., and fixed- for 2s. or 3s. more.
Mr. SCOTT observed upon this that meters should be
t . -t uii)eonththeeenodutltaoy
provided, as land was drained—at the cost, in the first i
!bnn:etfa.roeiutscand,,of the owner, the tenant paying a moderate
an
eamn uatiuTaalnlygeandlevia"ntwagheicolui
Mr. ADAMS stated the result of his experience in con-
nection with the construction of new waterworks at
advantageous.
Amsterdam. The whole cost of the works would be
house, which had
0001 but it had been found
200,
beebeen
taonxt-itio,u)pslytomdeoterisf
that • '
to every
possible, would cost 31. they
houses, and would per. house for each of 24,000
72,000/. thus increase their expenditure
At the conclusion of the conversation
severalt •
members were balloted for; thanks
were new
voted to Mr.
Glynn and Mr. Fethergill, as w 'I •et as to the noble chair-
man, and the meeting separated.

DEPARTURE OF THE AMERICAN MAlLS.—Yeaterdav
(
afternoon, about three o'clock, the United States mall
stearn-ship Pacific, Captain Nye, sailed from the Nieney
for New York, with the usual mails for the United
StatesN and Canada. 147 passengers, and a full cargo.
Copies of the London journals of that morning were
placed on hoard
~;-,::r to her departure, by Messrs.
Williner and Sulitti 'Liverpool, for the press and
news rooms of the rn Continent.