The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1893-07-11
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A Bostopian sishsFor Rubber Tired wheel
and the Abolition Of Church Bells.

A 8ostopian sirhs For Rubber Tired wheels
and the Abolition Of Church Bells.
The British Medical Journal, In an article
calling attention to the effects of the noise
Of cities on the nervous system, sets forth
in detail some of those noises and suggests
means for their extinction or amelioration
without sacrifice of the industries which
produce the various kinds OF din. 1t Is
pointed out, for example, that the railway
companies and factories on the continent
use. horns Of not Emphasizing sound In place
of the hideous steam whistle.
The church bells Of England are COM
pared with those OF other portions of Europe,
to the disadvantage Of the former, and 1t is
held that In an age when every room has
its clock and every adult his watch the
frequent bell ringing throughout the day,
which now offends the peace Of Christian
folk, seems unnecessary. AT night there are
the shouting, screaming and singing people
about the streets to cheat decent we'll folk
of their rest, and worse yet to retard the
curative process of sleep in the case of those
, who are i'll. With the dawn comes the
milkman and his rafting cans
\ The catalogue 30 far Of disturbances for
| the London citizens ears is about the same
: as with us. In London they have other
nuisances which are not known here. With
UfuB rDHllhn COuStTNhlisu thlc hhcN0N. -
! still used, and this continuance, long ban
lished from American front doors, is vigor
D ously piled by the postman or any one els'
3 who has certain right to demand speedy
= attention to his signal. They have found II
) England, as we have found here, that witt
every new continuance for mans comfort OF
convenience there is introduced the poisor
n of new noise. The din of the bells on thu
!. street cars has been stopped on Sundays b,
municipal order, but 1t is heard on othel
days and is none the less irritating becaus,
, it is raised amid the rattle of every sort o
!, vehicle. A recently added noise in Ameri
J. can cities is the buzz and whir of the trolie!
on the electric railroad wires.
1t Is a common expression and a common
y belief. too, probably, that one grows uset
to all these noises. That is fatal blunder
N As one whose sense Of smell is dulled b.
d familiarity with the poisonous efhuvia o
Y tobacco may be nauseated by an excess o
% the odor in close room as quickly a
p though the senses were still acute, SO on
y who fancies himself proof against tn
y nerve destroying effects Of noise may afte
y. long living amid a din continuous or irreg
d ular suddenly find himself the victim of a
i fine q case OF shattered nerves as n neurc
. path would like to have in hand. IL tn
insidiousness of din and racket were ono
" generally recognized, there would be de
mand upon the inventive capacity of me
'g chanics to devise means Of prevention.
is because this recognition and this deman
are not general in certain cases that th
complaints of the sensitive are met by tn
query, How are you going to help itP
Id propounded with the air of submitting
,ss problem impossible of solution.
n. But when it is recalled what wonder
hax liSha IN Of an railroad
p in the way of stopping or at least of lesser
ing noise (ballasted roadbeds, connecte
is rails and the Miller platform have a
helped in this direction) there Is nothin
unreasonable in hoping that some of II
: distracting noises of our city life may |
On scattered through the kindly Offices of il
IF. genious men.
en- For instance, there is the rattle Of whee
~ over pavements. Much of that can be pr
W vented by setting the tires over inner tir'
of of rubber. while for some light vehicles Il
IN, pneumatic tire of the bicycle is possibl
Poor wheelwright's work is responsible fl
much OF the rattle caused by drays and e
at press wagons. A frightful din is made
wagons loaded with metal rods or pipe la
in as though the several pieces were on
so many logs of wood. 10 prevent til
Ia noise it is only necessary to separate eat
(D piece with block and each stratum wit
led strips of wood OF course all prevent
'a' means of noise will cost money, but
!, many cases the first cost will BIS all.
= those who are responsible for ths persis
ence in the noisy ways Of accomplishir
much OF the work of life cannot be co
WINGED of their lack of humanity publ
Day opinion may yet crystalline itself into law
''' but it is mean sort of civilization tn
has to be stirred to performance Of du
:. toward ones neighbor by statutes and I
of lice regulations. Boston Transcript.