Connecticut western news., 1873-04-04
The Cellars of New York.

4 report was sent to the Board of Health of New York, and the following extract will show the horrible condition in which many people live in that city :
 Inspectors Morris atid Strong have completed the cellar inspection of the 4th Ward, and made thereon an elabor- ate report, from which it is seen that of these cellars 176 are occupied as dwell ings; of this number 137 are declared to be unfit for such occupancy, and orders made that they be vacated as such be- fore the first of April. This ward con- tains some of the worst cellars in the city-many of these lodging house eel lars of the lowest tdescrip6ion-some di- vided in small apartments by pieces of curtain, while in others the beds are arranged alongside of each other, with- out such partitions, and occupied pro- miscuously by both sexes. The rate of crowding in these lodging cellars is such as to allow from PA to 195 cubic feet of air space only to each individual, and this often in the same room in which many of the inmates "cook, wash, smoke, and perform all their physical | functions"
 The largest room found contained 931. 6, and the smallest about 136 cubic feet of air space. The latter was occu- pied as bedroom for three or four children, the occupants of the cell con- sisting of family of persons and 10 | lodgers to this closet there was no cross-ventilation - the door affording the only egress for the foul air, and for tunately the only inlet for probably fouler air. Generally, where there were over two or three rooms, no ventilation was attempted for the sleepingrooms. In many, especially the dance cellars, the only ventilation attempted was by a small transom window over the door. Where thorough ventilation was pro- vided, the rear window generally opened into narrow area or well-hole, where the air was "so damp and heavy as to be more predisposing cause of disease than pabulum to the blood" The most frequent disease met with in these eel lars was alcoholism, due to the large number of rum-shops and rum-cellars In the ward. The Inspectors also encoun- tered large number of cases of catarrh and bronchial affections, though these were found to prevail as extensively among people living above ground as with the cellar population. Gases ot rheumatism were also frequently found. The greater part of this ward being or iginally swampy or marshy ground, it was seldom that any sub-cellar or open space beneath the floor was found ; and the floors resting directlyon the ground their condition was, as might be expect. ed, rotten and bad. The only floors found in good repair being those of the "dance cellars, (which were kept in or l dor for ohvious reasons large num- Der of the cellars of this ward have al ready been vacated as human dwellings,, through the efforts of the Inspector ot the district, and these were found by the Inspectors either closedsor occupied for other purposes. The report con cludes by calling attention to the "moral aspect of this question, and the great good which will be established by closing forever these filthy dens of i'm morality and disease"
 Dr. Endemann, Assistant Chemist, has made an examination of the air in some of the lodging cellars of this ward, and reports the proportion of carbonic acid found to be from 15 to 20 parts in 10, 900 of air, or from nearly four to five times the normal quantity. These ex- aminations were made early in the night, soon after the arrival of the lodg- CTS and when the atmosphereis so rap idly deteriorated, it is fearful to imagine what will be its condition before morn ing, or after receiving from to hours the carbonic acid from the lungs and the animal exhalations from the bodies of the filthy and sweltering masses ot humanity confined within it's marrow limits.