Sanitary inspection of houses / by W.K. Burton.

  • Burton, William Kinninmond.
Date:
1883
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Sanitary inspection of houses / by W.K. Burton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    kind, and see what it will lead to. Sewage matter finds its way into it. As we all know, this matter depends on water to carry it forward. It is probable that, while the drain is new and the ground compara- tively solid around it, sufficient water will remain in it to carry the greater part of the sewage to the sewer. But this state of affairs will not last. Before long, some unusually heavy or obstinate matter will get into the drain. It will be carried only so far, and will then stick. Any water now coming behind it will ‘ back up/ to a certain extent, and will very soon find its way into the soil, from one or more points behind the obstruction—not yet amounting to a stoppage. As a consequence, sewage now passing into the drain, loses its carrying power, and gets no farther than a certain distance. Before long, a com- plete stoppage takes place, and all the sewage of the house soaks into the ground under the basement. After this, things go from bad to worse. The satu- rated ground no longer properly supports the pipes, which, as a consequence, will become more and more irregular, and all hope of the drain clearing itself is lost. It is only a question of time, with a drain such as I have shown, and the inmates of the house will be living over a cesspool. As a matter of fact, total obstruction or stoppage has been discovered in 6 per cent, of the houses which we have inspected. The next point worthy of attention is the soil-pipe ; this term being at present used to signify the vertical portion of the drain only, although it very often is also used as meaning the almost horizontal drain under the house. It will be seen that the. soil-pipe is of lead. This is an excellent material if the pipe be properly arranged, but here it is not. The great fault is that there is no ventilation. As a consequence, the upper part of the pipe will always be filled with sewer gas, which tends to rise in a somewhat concentrated state. Now, sewer gas has a powerful action on lead, and, therefore, a soil-pipe arranged without ventila- tion never stands many years before it becomes ‘ holed/ that is to say, is worn through at its upper