The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1879-07-30

Health OF our city and Its Enemie

MesSrs. EditorS,-It is gratifying TO see in
recent communications to your popular
journal evidences that the people OF this
city ore beginning to be aroused to the vital
importancr Of IFS sanitary condition. Fari-
Gus rIaring evils and defects have been point
ed out and remedies for them suggested.
But the two sources Of danger and disease,
which in magnitude exceed all others, have
as yet received little or no attention. al
ludc TO the poisonous gas constantly emitted
from the open mouths OF the city sewers 1T
nearly every corner OF the streets. and the
nearly equally peStilentia, though less con.
densed, eXhalations caused by filth in the
streets, kept steadily fermentlng and putre-
tying by the water from the street-SprnkIer
ard The heat OF the SUP. No one OF any in
telligence and information at this day
doubts tue deadly effects to the public
health OF either OF these ciuses.
Just in proportion TO the extension Of our
system OF sewers has been the accumulated
volume and condensation of sewer-gas in
our city. In other cities with similar svs-
TENS OF sewers means have been pre-
yidcd for preventing its emission into the
streets and for providing for its escape
through tall flues or otherwise t. the higher
strata OF the air, where it would be rarlfied
and dispersed by the winds. But IN Rlcll-
mond it is allowed freely to rise, as it does,
from being pent up in the sewers, at their
open mouths ut nearly every crossing OF the
streets. Let no one be dcluded by the idea
that this is prevented by the construction
-undcr those mouths OF what are called
"traps,' in which water is supposed TO
stand, for the purpose OF arrcstng, or ut
least of checking, this gas from passing out
OF the sewcr-mouthS. This may to some
extent be true in spells OF wet weather, but
4 few days OF hot. dry weather are suiil-
cient to empty by evaporation all the water
in these "traps," leaving free and unob-
structcd passage for the gas into the streets.
OF this any one will be convinced who will
90 near any OF them IN such weather as we
have recently had. Indeed, it has been
most pcrceptible and offensive in the air.
coming into the windows OF many OF the
dwellings in the city Especially in the west.
ern portion OF III, whenever easterly winds
prevail, driving it in at the main mouths OF
the principal sewers opening OH Shockoe
creek and the river.
For this great nuisance and source OF
Destile nee the present practical and easy
remedy can be readily found in frequent
flushing daily if possib!e) Of the sewers
from the street tire-pIugs, and, where they
arc OIL too low Il level for this purpose, by
carving water from them to these traps in
the strcet-SprlnkllnS machines, which are
themselves, as already mentioned, the other
chief source OF malarial disease. Let it not
be said that the city supply OF water is in.
sufficient for this purpose. Far more than
enough for it is worse than wasted in
shrinking the streets, not to mention the
constant waste day and night through pri-
yate fountains and hEdrants neglected by
their owners and by the police. A system
o7 water-metcrs, II established in this city,
would diminish this waste probably seven
tv-tiye per cent. at least.
The volume OF noXiouS vapors caused by
this practice OF strect-sprinkling is enor'
mously increased in this city by the noto'
rious fact that in Richmond there are proba-
bly, five times, and perhaps ten times, a.
many horses and other animals In proper
ton to its wealth, business, and population
as there are in any other city in the world
| The filth accumulated in the street from
this cause, il allowed to be dried and kept
dry by the heat Of the sun, would be com
parativelv inuocuous. But being by The
street-sprinklers kept constantly moist anc
| heated by the sun, it constitutes mass y
offensive and Misunderstanding an(
| putrefying matter. than which few cause
could be more fatal to human health an(
| lie.s There is no sanitary substitute foI
sweeping the streets and carrying ava.
what is so collected, to the relief Of the cit!
from pestigential eXhalasion and the enrich
| ing of the soil, as it might be, of the neigh
boring farms and market-gardens. The
cost of doing this would be insignifcan
compared with what is squandered in open
ing dead-leycl streets and excavating ship
canals through vacant fields around th'
city, promoting ruinous speculation in so
called suburban city lots"
II the crying demands OF the people o.
our city upon its public officials to protect
them from the sources Of pestilence nov