Dr. Parsons's report to the Local Government Board on an epidemic of diphtheria in the Sowerby Bridge Urban Sanitary District, Yorkshire / [H. Franklin Parsons].

  • Parsons, H. Franklin (Henry Franklin), 1846-1913.
Date:
[1889]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Dr. Parsons's report to the Local Government Board on an epidemic of diphtheria in the Sowerby Bridge Urban Sanitary District, Yorkshire / [H. Franklin Parsons]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    2/8 (page 2)
    Closets* Byelaws. Water supply. Iigfg as elsewhere usually broken or out of place, so us to allow drum uir to- como up inbo the house. In purticulur instunces ulso where the slopstone pipe seemed ut first sight efficiently trapped, opportunity was found to exist for the escape of drain air into the house below the trap, from holes in the imperfectly-soldered seam of the leaden pipe, or from faulty connexion between the latter and the drain. One of the disadvantages of the back-to-back plan of building houses as practised in Sowerby Bridge is the objectionable position in which the slop- stone is often placed in houses of this kind. In Sowerby Bridge the usual positions are : 1st, in a cupboard next the fireplace ; here the warmth pro¬ motes decomposition of any putrescible matter which may cling to the slop- stone, and effluvia therefrom can pass to the upper shelves of the cupboard, which are used for keeping such things as plates, cups and saucers, and some¬ times articles of food. 2nd, in a cellar head or stairfoot at the back of the house against the centre party wall: these places are dark and unventilated ; the pipe cannot be made to discharge in the open air, and any effluvia from the sink find their way into the living rooms or bedrooms or into the places where food is kept. 3rd, in the cellar; a position more or less liable to similar objections. Owing also to the way in which the houses are built one above another, the waste pipe from the slopstone in an upper house is often carried through a lower one. The newer houses in Sowerby Bridge are mostly provided with separate waterclosets. The usual place for the watercloset is in the cellar or basement, often under the pavement or ground in front of the house. The lighting and ventilation of the closet are often very defective. The older houses have mostly midden privies, which, owing to the limited space, are often in un¬ suitable positions, as under or abutting against houses, or in narrow confined spaces to which little light and air can reach. Pail-closets have in some instances been substituted for midden privies. There was formerly muck difficulty in procuring the removal of the contents of privies and ashpits ; farmers did not care to take the stuff away owing to the quantity of useless rubbish mixed with it, and the steepness of the hills up which it had to be* carted; but the Local Board now undertake'the removal of the refuse, and have applied for a loan for the erection of a “ destructor ” to burn it. The byelaws at present in force within the district with respect to new buildings are of an obsolete type. The question of revising them upon the basis of the Board’s model series has been under consideration for the past three years, but is not yet decided. The difficulty, I understand, is as to the provision of external space about houses. Water from the- Halifax Corporation Waterworks is in general, use in the district. It is received into a service reservoir at Cote Hill in the upper part of the district and delivered on a constant service. I have no reason to suppose it to have been contaminated in distribution.. Only a few outlying houses are supplied from other sources., Diphtheria. Before the present outbreak Sowerby Bridge appears to have been free from: Previous diphtheria for some years. On looking through the file of annual reports of the late Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Britton, I find that no deaths from diphtheria were registered in the Sowerby Bridge district in the six years; 1870-81,. and only three in that period from croup. In 1882 and 1883 four and seven deaths respectively occurred from diphtheria; in his annual report for 1882 Dr. Britton says, “ There have been scattered cases of this fatal disease- “ during the last four months, principally on the hill sides, and due, in my “ opinion, to sewer gas finding its way into the houses, The weather has “ been of that character that the pressure of sewer gas in the upper portions “ of the district lias- been very great and more than ordinary traps could, “ withstand.” In his- report for 1883 he says, “ There were a number of “ cases of this fatal disease scattered about during the. first half of the year: “ There was. no special cause-for these cases that I could ascertain, unless-it “ was the want of ventilation of the sewers on the kill side-, from which ** sewer gas was forced into- the houses, even where drams were properly “ trapped. Since then several ventilators have been put in.” In his report for- 1885 Dr.. Britton says,, “■ Croup (diphtheritic). Of this, disease there have been ii ii i miiiiiiiiiii nun ii ii 22502882137