Reports of Dr. Parkes and Dr. Sanderson on the sanitary condition of Liverpool / by E.A. Parkes and J. Burdon-Sanderson.

Date:
[1871]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Reports of Dr. Parkes and Dr. Sanderson on the sanitary condition of Liverpool / by E.A. Parkes and J. Burdon-Sanderson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    We met in our enquiry with the most cordial assistance from every officer of the Corporation, and we desire to express our grateful thanks for the help so constantly and so cheerfully given to us. Section I. On the practice of filling up inequalities of ground with Cinder-refuse. Liverpool is built for the most part on a bed of clay lying over red sandstone rock. The clay is very stiff and impermeable and has been largely removed for brick making. The inequalities thus arising, were formerly filled up with refuse derived from chemical works, and in other ways. The pits produced by the excavation become usually half full of water and naturally receive the refuse of the neighbourhood. Dirty stagnant ponds or unsightly pits with refuse occupy several of the suburbs, and for the sake both of health and appearance, and for the utilization of the ground require to be filled up. The filling up is being done by builders refuse, by the rubbish got rid of by private persons, and by the cinder-refuse of the town. It is quite clear that these inequalities of ground must be got rid of, and the question is how this may be best done without injury to health. The use of cinder-refuse is said by its advocates to have the advantages of giving a dry firm subsoil, in which all organic matters are gradually got rid of by slow de- composition, so that on sanitary grounds alone they advocate its employment. But the plan has, they allege, an immense collateral advantage; it enables the Town to get rid of its ashes and house refuse, and in this way to meet a difficulty which is every year becoming greater. In London the ashes and refuse from houses are disposed of with little difficulty; the cinders are used by brick makers, the other articles are sorted and find a market. In Liverpool where coal is cheap the cinders are unsaleable and useless. Since the introduction of water-closets, no excrement is mixed with them and tiiey have therefore no agricultural value. They must be transported from the town at the expense of the town, and as the cost is already great any additional expense of carriage would increase a burden already felt to be very heavy. On the other hand the use as foundation for houses of cinders supposed to be largely impregnated with animal and vegetable refuse, though not with excre- ment, is considered by some to be dangex-ous in a high degree to the public health, and it is supposed that the welfare of generations to come may be im-