The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-01-31 00:00:00

LIVERPOOL POLYTECHNIC SOCIETY.

(Concluded from the Standard of Tuesday.
The subject of the burial-of the dead in the interior of large
towns was next brought under notice, and some extracts were
read from a work treating on the subject, " Walker's Gather-
ings from Grave Yards," from which it would appear, that
the mephitic gas generated by the decomposition of animal
matter is one of the most frightful sources of disease. Some
of the remedial measures were then suggested.
The first (says Mr. Cunningham) and most important
improvement that I could suggest would be to establish a
complete scavenging system, whereby the collective filth of
the town, the ashes, the vegetable and offal animal matter,
and other impurities produced the preceding day, might be
removed every morning or evening, by a sufficient number of
dust ants, to a distance 'of one or two miles from the town,
so as not to corrupt the salubrity of the atmosphere. This
would form an excellent compost for agricultural purposes, as
at London, Edinburgh, &c. where the annual revenue arisin.;
from the sale of it is very considerable.
" Secondly—The sewers should be immediately used for
carrying off the soil from the water closets, and carried through
every street in the town. The eye's to, the sewers, as I have
already mentioned, should he- trapped.
" Thirdly—A sufficient.supply of-water, when little rain
flag, shouldhe Made-to flow, at least twice a week, copiUnsly
through the gutters of every street, and thence .through the
common sewers.

" The result of this irregular and, unsystematic arrange-
ment, (if it can be so termed,) independently of the narrow-
ness of the streets, must be a complete preventive to any
thing like a free circulation of air.
" The courts from those narrow streets are rendered still
worse, in regard to that essential provision of nature, by their
small entrances and high surrounding walls. By these means,
also, the light of day is nearly excluded, a full supply of
which is almost as important as the air, for the health of
human beings.
" This want of a free circulation of air and a full supply
of light must, therefore, be highlyprejudicial to the health of
the inhabitants, who are compelled, by their circumstances,
to reside in those places ; but these are aggravated tenfold in
their fatal effects by the putrid exhalations which arise from
the decomposition of the immense quantities of filth, mixed
with the offal of animal and vegetable matter, that are trea-
sured up in their privies and ash pits for months together.
" It is an ascertained fact, that the decomposition of animal
and vegetable matter produces gaseous poisons of a most
virulent character to the human system. The unhealthy
condition of marshy districts• in this.and other countries is
attributed entirely to this cause.
" When such places, therefore, having at all times a full
supply of free air and light, are so obnoxious to human ex-
istence, how much more must those confined abodes be where
the poison is inhaled in a comparatively concentrated form.
" This putrifying and poisoning process, however, is not
confined entirely to the narrow streets and crowded courts,
but is spread over the whole town, though in a greatly modi-
fied state, in the more respectable portions of it, where the
streets are wide and the population less dense ; still its de-
structive influence is at work, more slow in its operation
probably, but certainly not the less sure in its consequences.
" The effects nf this poisonous matter on the animal sys-
tem have been proved by Dr. Majendie, some of whose
experiments I beg to read to you."
The extracts referred to were then read, wherein was
shown that the putrid matter, arising from animal decompo-
sition, was collected and condensed by this celebrated phy-
siologist. He could produce with this matter so collected
typhus fever in all its gradations, in proportion to the con-
centrated state in which it was injected into the veins of the
different animals experimented on, whereas, the putrid
matter arising from vegetable decomposition, injected in a
similar manner, produced all the stages of tertian fever.
Mr. Cunningham then proceeds,—
" I have endeavoured to arrive at an approximate extent
of surface giving off those poisonous exhalations in this
town, by taking the number of inhabitants at 250,000,- (which
I believe, is considerably under the actual number,) and
allowing eight individuals as an average number for each
family, and for each family a privy and ash-pit, together 6
feet by 3, we have an active pestilential generating surface of
62,500 superficial yards, or nearly 13 imperial acres.
" This surface of masses of corrupting matter is, in hot
weather, sufficient of itself to evolve malaria enough to de-
stroy the whole inhabitants ; and when we reflect that tens
of thousands are immured in it, without the smallest chance
of escaping its deadly influences, deprived also of an adequate
supply of air and light, we cannot be surprised at the great
mortality that must be produced by such a combination of
evils.

" Mr. Duncan, who has been engaged for several years
in collecting information on this subject for government, has
kindly furnished me with a list of streets and courts where
diseases are most prevalent.
" During two years (1837 and 1838) 7469 patients ill of
fever were visited by the officers of the dispensaries. Of
this number about 2800 (considerably more than one-third)
resided in courts, and about 1900 (more than one-fourth) in
cellars ; the remaining 2700 or 2800 living in houses, or
houses in streets, chiefly in lodging-houses, where a number
of families or individuals are crowded together.

" ' The streets in•which the greatest.number of cases oc-
curred are exactly those which are the filthiest and worst ven-
tilated, and in which the greatest number of inhabitants are
compressed into the smallest compass. But that you may
judge for yourself. I give you a list of some of the worst.
" Fourthly—New and wide streets should be opened
through the crowded parts of the town. Squares should also
be formed in several places sufficiently large for the inhabit-
ants, particularly children, to exercise themselves in. Hot
and cold baths could, in many of those squares, be erected,
at a very small expense, especially in the neighbourhood of
steam engines.
" Parks also, for the inhabitants to promenade in, or, in
other words, for equestrian and pedestrian exercise, similar
to those in London, Edinburgh, and, in towns on. the conti-
nent, should be formed by the corporation, and not in.stinted
surfaces, but containing two or three thousand acres.
" The only places at present appropriated to such purposes
are the Prince's and George's Pierheads, St. James's Walk
and Cemetery—the latter, however, being altogether unfit,
from the causes already explained ! But how few, compara-
tively, of the inhabitants can avail themselves of those places,
being removed to such distances from their residences : thus,
then, the necessity of making such improvements is at once
manifest.

" Fifthly—The church yards should also be shut up ; con-
sequently, new cemeteries would,.be required ; these should
be formed at a distance of two or three miles from the town.
" Lastly—ln the allotment of land for building purposes,
the streets should never be less in width than 40 feet, and
laid off in straight lines and right angles. The leading streets
should, as much as possible, be conformable with the pre-
vailing currents of wind ; nor should the houses be allowed
to approach from back to back nearer than 20 yards. The
sewers should all be formed previous to any of the houses
being built ; and each house should be amply supplied with
water-closets.

" No courts in cul de sac should be tolerated ; in short,
nothing but thorough streets of a sufficient width should be
erected.

" In order to have all this done properly, it is only neces-
sary for the corporation of Liverpool to have a correct sur-
vey of the town and environs made, and a plan of the whole
laid out in a manner consistent with the general interests of
the community ; and, by obtaining an act of parliament, the
whole could be carried into execution*with little or no diffi-
culty This has been done in other towns, and why not
here ?
" This may be objected to by many on the score of ex-
pense; but I maintain that, in the long run, it would more
than repay it all, and in many ways. Poor rates would be
lessened—the amount of crime would also be reduced ; but,
above all, the life and health of the inhabitants, why.' at
present appear to be a matter of the utmost indifference,
would, by adopting the measures proposed, be protected and
prolonged."
The paper was followed by some observations by Drs.
Bryce and Sutherland, who entirely concurred with the view
of the subject taktn by Mr. Cunningham. They also men-
tioned some facts connected with their own medical expe-
rience of Liverpool, as compared with other large towns in
England and on the continent, tending to corroborate the
fact that the health of large towns, in a great measure, de-
pended on the sanitory measures adopted by its municipal
authorities.