Chapter I: Preface

This work is intended not merely to point out certain common defects in the Dwelling House, and to show how evils more or less necessary in towns may be avoided in the country, but to call attention to the fact that our modern methods of sanitation, and the heavy taxation of the dwelling, inevitably increase overcrowding, and the moral and physical ills which follow in its train.

An attempt is made to review the great subject of the disposal of house refuse in its political and scientific aspects, rather than from the point of view of the tradesman or patentee.

The greater part of the ensuing chapters has been previously published. Addresses delivered before the Royal Institution of Great Britain, the London Institution, the Sanitary Institute, and the Medico-Chirurgical Society of Nottingham, together with short papers communicated to the British Medical Association, the British Institute of Public Health, and the 'Practitioner,' have been incorporated with the text.

The author is greatly indebted to his friend, Mr. Thomas W. Cutler, F.R.I.B.A., for much valuable advice and assistance in the preparation of some of the illustrations; and he is similarly indebted to Mr. Arthur Blomfield-Jackson and the editors of the 'Lancet' and 'Practitioner.'

For permission to use the diagram illustrating the Model By-Laws of the Local Government Board (p. 109) the thanks of the author are due to Messrs. Knight & Co.

From Mr. George Pernet, B.A., M.R.C.S. &c., the author has received much assistance and many valuable suggestions during the passage of the work through the press.

32 Wimpole Street,

_July 1897_

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. Defects in Planning 1

II. The Sanitation of the Isolated Dwelling 32

III. Slop-water 69

IV. Overcrowding: Its Causes and Effects 90

V. The Circulation of Organic Matter 125

VI. The Soil in its Relation to Disease and Sanitation 152

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FIG. PAGE

1. } 2. } Typical London House 4, 5 3. }

4. } Combined Staircase and Ventilated Lobby 10, 11 5. }

6. House with Staircase forming Ventilated Cut-off from
Kitchen and Lavatory, &c. 12

7. Bungalow facing South 14

8. Convalescent Home 16

9. Stove with Air-inlet Underneath 17

10. Ventilating Panel in Door 17

11. Bedroom Window 22

12. } Cellar Window 29 13. }

14. Andover Houses and Garden 35

15. Garden at Andover 38

16. Section of 'Dry-Catch' Privy 40

17. Earth-closet with Ventilated Lobby 46

18. Section through Earth-closet and Dry Catch 47

19. Section of Dry Closet Pan 48

20. Urine Filter 51

21. Dry Urinal 57

22. Plan of Well, showing its relation to Paths and Hedge 65

23. Section of Well, showing Concrete Lining and position
of Pump 65

24. Rustic Arch 77

25. Use of Arch for getting Waste Water clear of House 77

26. Filtration Gutter 79

27. Filtration Gutter on Bank 80

28. Kitchen Sink with Duplicated Outside Filter 82

29. Arrangement for Small Tenements 87

30. Section of Small Tenements 88

31. Building Estate 92

32. } Illustrations of 'Model' By-Laws for Regulation of 33. } Buildings 109 34. }

35. Curves of Unmanured and Manured Barley Plots 139

36. Map to Illustrate Marylebone Small-pox Outbreak 145

THE DWELLING HOUSE