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

moderate cost. Out of 182 cities and towns, comprising
upwards of 2,000,000 of town population under the Public
Health Act, 126 have had surveys made, the first step for
weffoerks
effecting
aivme improved
laidedworkous.t, lannd7Oin towns
i more
theplans
mfor.
.ai such
or
public works have been completed. It is expaqed 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,
earvsforgoceayypeinnseg outof
ltll2l.,heise
works,.,
andconfernn
has
been. t h
te powers
at theo era
that is, at little more than a 12th part of the average ex-
pense of.a local act.
e obtainedregu i s
i
" In the towns in which the works are the most ad-
vanced, and which snap be taken as average examples of
the whole, the public works of drainage have been com-
pleted at the average cost of ld. per week per house.
- .‘ The supply of wafer, 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 2d. 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 is 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
I effected in some of the worst localities, the removal of tho
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
I threatened pestilence.
" But 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
i
both of cleanliness and of the amount of breathing space.
These dwellings are considered as private houses, and son.
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 villages and towns, local outbreaks of the pestilence
must be expected, and preparations must be made to 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 on 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 Tynernouth, where the local au-
thorities exerted themselves with extraordinary energy,
no case 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, wait 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.
"At 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. °lithe
affected population; whereas in a neighbouring settlement,
in which no measures were adopted, the mortality ranged
from 12 to 20 per cent.
" At Baltimore, 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 iii so
clean a state. For ther'space of three weeks or a month
premonitory diarrhoea 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 lame mass of putrefying filth had
been left uncleaused, 99 be
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 mi•
nent physician of the United States,—
" 'the Anthor of ture has kindly - ;

__ 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 Health.'!

SOCIETY OF ARTS.

-...--
A meeting of the members of the Society of Arts was
held at the society's rooths, 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 he 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 Rivet 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 nt
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-patenti3e (Mr. Hanson) the full
credit of having originally designed what their joint
labours had since matured and perfected—addressed
himself to certain objections which be anticipated might
be made upon a cursory examination of the instrument,
and then pointed out what he conceived to be its chief
advantages. It would 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 stated that
a large number of these meters had been made, and that
they had given universal satisfaction.
Mr. SIEMENS explained the meters of his own inven-
tion, and the improvements which he has lately made in
them. These instruments, it was stated, had also stood
the test of practical experience, and had met with gene-
ral approval, and one was particularly mentioned ashav-
ing been in use at the St. Giles's baths and washhouses,
and to the mutual satisfaction of the committee and the
water company.
Mr. YATES placed upon the table a couple of Harri-
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, instead of for the quan-
tity of water actually copsumed, and of giving to the
water conipaniesan eiMuceniefit; which they do not now
possess,
to improve the quality of the article which they
supply.
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 continnoust and non-intermittent ;
and while opinions appeared to differ as to the compara-
tive merits of the several inventions which had been
specially brought before the meeting, there was a very
gtheanteraa Imifetenro,t I%a.hitienhansihmoouulds
nasostent to the
ionly
be
ea proposition,ccurate
but
reasonably economical, would be a substantial public
benefit. The question of economy was put very praer
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 while the (rental was in many cases
as low as 10s. per annum, Wcould not be expected that
meters, which at the lowest 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,
unrstnAltevarinealeetSed:uo
oopitl
enhbdesceouw "ownerrate deady',ur
drained—at
they must look out for an instrument which might be
made_r for 14s. or 155., and fixed for 2s, or 3s. more.
innedt—hiast tthhaet meoestte,rsinshtohueldfirbsept
ioutlay—an
tenantarrangepmayeinntgw
ahictuhod
would
be found, in the tot be mutually advantageous.
Mr. ADAMS stateh
with the he result of his experience in con-
nection Amsterdam. .The constructionwh of new waterworks at
200,0001. but had been foundostof the works would be
to every house,which they had -bee
that to supply meters
possible, would cost 3!., per
house n anxious to do if
for each of 24,000
houses, and would thus increase thereof
•
72,CJ00Z. eir expenditure
At the conclusion of the conversation several new
members were balloted for; thardis were voted to Mr.
nn and Mr. Fothergill, as well as to the noble chair.
man, and the meeting separated.

DEPARTURE OF THE AMERICAN MAlLS..Yesterday
afternoon, about three o'clock, the United States mail
Captain Nye, sailed from the Mersey
York, with the usual mails for the United
fsotream New
wip Pacific,
States and Canada, 147 passengers, and a full cargo.
Copies of the London journals of that morning were
placed on board prior to her departure, by Messrs.
Willmar and Smith, of Liverpool, for the -press and
news rooms of the Western Continent.