Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-09-12
WOODENPAVEMENTS
Are Positively Dangerous to Public
Health-TestimOny OF Experienced
European and American SaDita-
rians and Experts.
PutrefactiVe Fermentation, White Fun
gus and the Absorption Of Horse Urine
and Manure are Among the Dele
FERROUS Results.

The APPEAL has on several occasions en-
tered It's protest against putting down any |
more wooden pavement in Memphis, believ-
ing, as it does, that the Totting Nicolson
payement has had much to do with the for
mer unhealthfulness of the city. Wood Is
a vegetable and cannot be changed by tar, as
the Nicolson pavement on Second and Pop
lar streets proves; and everybody knows That
decaying vegetables are deleterious to health
and the potent cause OF disease. Verifying
our assumption we present to-day the testl-
mony of experts, as follows:
ADAsGER FROM WOODEN PAvEMENTs.
DIR. o. W. Wight, health officer OF De-
troit. in a report to the City Council on the
bealthfuluess of wooden pavements, presents
a considerable body OF quotations, from
several authorities, to prove the unhealth-
fnlness of such pavemenls. NJ. Tousss grlyes,
professor of hygiene at Montpelier, Objects
to them because they consist OF porous
substance, capable of absorbing organic mat
ter. and BY its own decomposition giving rise
to noxieus missma, which, proceeding from
an large a surface, cannot be regarded as'in-
significant. / am convinced that city with
a damp climate, paved entirely with wood,
would become a city OF marsh fever"
In 1873 the opinion was expressed by the
secretary of the Society for the Encourage
ment of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce,
| that absorbing mere moisture Is oil itseli
had. When the surface of the pavement
| abssrbs and retains putrescent matter, such
| az horse dung and urine, tbs highly no1lous:
| The blocks of pavement with this material
are separated by conclusion, and are thus
| rendered permeable to the surface moisture
General Gilmore says that "the joints oil
| a block pavement constitute fully one-thlrd
of its entire area; and under the average
care the surface o. filth exposed TO evapora-
ton covers three-fourths of the entire street.
The foul organic matter, composed largely oil
| the urine and excrement of different animals
ia hidden in the joints, ruts and CUTTERS
| where it uudergoes putrefactive Fermentation
in warm, damp water, and becomes the
| fruitful source OF noXlous ehtuVlum, or II
floats in the atmosphere and penetrates the
| dwelling in the form of unwholesome dust
irritating to the eyes and poisonous 10 Int
organs of respiration"
| Prof. Brewer, Of Yale College, says tina
seven in the free air and sunlight, alonE
with the putrescence a white fungus growtf
begins on the surface of the wood, which
rapidly becomes Shiny. This forms muci
more rapidly on the ends of the grain OF thu
wood than on the radial or tangential sides
The fungus growth goes on, modlheo,
course, BY the temperature and the degree o
concentration, and it continues offensive 10
an unknown period, or until the decay ma
, become complete Heartwood and sapwoo'
act essentially alike in this matter; the dill
J ference is one of degree rather than charae
ter"
Dr. Wright concludes with the followin
remarks:
"On sanitary grounds, therefore, L mu;
earnestly protest against the use OF wooden
block pavements. Such blocks, laid endwIs'
not only absorb water which dissolves OF
| the albuminoid matter that acts as putrt
factive leaven, but also absorbs an iniusio
of horse manure and great quantity {
horse urine dropped in the street. The lowe
ends OF the blocks, resting on boards, clay c
sand, soon become covered with an abundar
+ fangoid growth. Thoroughly saturated wit
albuminous extract and the excreta of an
mails in a liquid, prutrescible form, thes
| wooden-block pavements undergo decompt
| sition in the warm season and add to the Ill
! | wholesomeness of the city. The streets,
fact, might as we'll be covered foot dee
| with rotting barnyard manure, so far as vi
| wholesomeness is concerned. Moreover, III
interstices between the blocks and the pc
forations of decay allow the foul liquids
The surface to flow through, super-saturatir
the earth beneath, snd constantly adding
| the putrefyins mars"