New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1865-06-16


July of last year. Another instance is Of the
house close by the outlet of the INSTRUCTED
sewer, corner of West and Gansevoort-sts. ETY.
phoid fever had prevailed almost continuously
during the preceding Winter, and found three
several cases of dysentery at the time OF my
visit" The Inspector Of the Sixteenth District
says that in consequence Of the raising OF
dock at the foot of West Ffteenth-st, that street
" for 100 feet or more east Of Eleventh-aye.
is and has been, constantly covered with this
obstructcd sewerage for the past three years"
The Inspector Of the Thirteenth names 81
nuisances and 81 special localities Of malignant
diseases. He also, quoting l6 streets without
sewers, remarks at length upon the sewerage,
with few extracts from which we close the
subject, calling attention, however, to the sug-
gestons commencing elsewhere on page 23l.
"The sewerage of each house must be esti-
mated before it enters the common sewer Of the
block, and that sewer must be Of sufficient
capacity for all the houses feeding it. Perpetual
motion and sufficient outlet are the grand prn-
cples of good sewerage. Nor is il sufficient
to plan and execute complete system Of sewer
age for New.York as it is, but rather as ltwlll
be; if sewer, conduit or drain is sufficient
to-day, it will be impossible tomorrow, for
there will be another house to drain. The orig'
nal plan of sewerage was adapted only to a
village; that plan, barely sufficient at the out
set, has never been enlarged nor considerably
improved. Additions merely have been made
from time to time, which have resulted in the
greatest confusion. One district has been
drained by contractor who was utterly lg
norant of the condition of the sewer
age Ia the adjoining district, and the sewer
from one block has been let into that OF another
without thought Of the capacity OF the latter
to perform its double function. large amount
of water is led into conduit entirely too small;
sewers are constructed on level, or even on
an inclined plane. A sewer IA feet III depth
ompties into another Of but II feet, and SIX
houses are 50 drained that, it an obstruction Is
caused by one house, the other FIVE are not
drained at ALL" What a pity our City Hall
Fathers cannot stop stealing for few years,
that the few millions thus annually saved might
purchase O better system OF drainage!
The Importance of the view Just presented
cannot be oyer-estimated. As I'll Illustration Of
sewer-poison, take the following account OF a
case occurring in Filtioth-st, between Eighth
and Ninth-ayes.: Two children were sick, appa'
rently from blood poisoning, and one died
"They were both much Frustrated, and their
tongues presented a siagu!ariy dark cpPeararce.
In investigating the cause, the attending physi.
clans were shown 10 t.e cellar, the ground OF
which was wet and exhaled IN offensive od)r.
These physicians appear to have beer ignoran;
of the peculiarly Of the drainage of these
houses, though satisfied that they lad ascer-
tanned the cause Of the disease
A few noteworthy facts more must be cited
out of the abundance. The Inspector of the
Twenty fourth District notes ~ nuisances,
among them beng slaughter-housc from when
the offal ia dumped into the river direct, close
by the Wechawkon Ferry landing. AT q
house in Tortic,h-st., between Broadway AID
thS pa. 10 situAe'' ~ w AVN
the door, and there is another on line 10 feet
from the first, and still another 10 feet from
the aforementioned. making pryies within so
feet, two Of them belonging to houses fronting
on Broadway. This house in Fortie.h-st. is
actually unfit to 1--we IN" Three ieyer-nests III
the fifteenth District show q mortality il six
months respectively of in 10, ] in :, in 11i;
or in year, | in >, in 4, in - of their In
habitants-lj cases of smallpox and typhus
fever being found in two Of the houses.
The Importance Of the subject must excuse
prolixity. Even now We have been able TO
quote only small number of the passages We
noted in this terrible book, and must defer to
third and brief article what we have to say on
the topic of communicable diseases aud public
exposure to them.