deflected upwards through a number of tapered holes cut in a moveable wood or metal disc, which is placed above the last-mentioned screen. The size of the holes may vary, but as a rule the minimum diameter is about half an inch.

Both the muslin screen and the perforated disc are removable at will. In the down draught shaft between the ceiling and the glass or porcelain cup at foot is placed a regulating valve for obvious reasons. The inlet mechanism which surmounts the roof may be either a blowdown, a fixed cowl, or a mere ordinary extinguishershaped cap, so as to prevent the admission of rain or snow. It will be seen from the foregoing that this inlet is calculated to perform effective work. The variations of pattern arranged for by Mr. Buchan without interfering with the principle are numerous, and can be studied at full in his specifications. Suffice it to say that here is a chandelier action inlet which possesses all the luxurious requirements of modern life as regards furnishing the means of cooling, medicating, or scenting the air, and yet can be deprived of them at a moment's notice and made to introduce the air in its pristine purity.

A PARLIAMENTARY return has been issued which shows that whereas, three years ago, the total number of pauper children boarded-out within the limits of their respective unions was 2,546, it has now risen to 8,874. In the same time the number of those boarded-out at a distance from their own unions, and under the special regulations applicable to this class, has increased from 218 to 368. Hence the total number of the two classes of boarded-out children in England and Wales now amounts to 9,242, being an increase of 6,478.

DISINFECTING APPARATUS.

WILL you kindly help me to ascertain the best form of stove and apparatus for the removal and disinfection of infected bedding, linen, etc., for the public use of the borough. M.O. H.

[What you require can be procured of Goddard & Massey,

Engineers, Nottingham; Nelson & Sons (Briggate), Leeds; Bradford & Co., Manchester; or Thomas & Taylor, Market Street, Manchester.-ED.]

APPOINTMENTS OF HEALTH OFFICERS, INSPECTORS OF NUISANCES, ETC.

BENNETT, Mr. Norman, has been appointed Clerk to the Chapel-enle-Frith Guardians and Rural Sanitary Authority, Derbyshire, at 75% per ann. as Clerk to the Guardians, 20l. per ann. as Clerk to the Rural Sanitary Authority, 257. per ann. as Clerk to the Assessment Committee, and 20l. per ann. as Clerk to the School Attendance Committee, vice Mr. William Bennett, resigned. BULLOCK, Mr. Charles, has been reappointed Inspector of Nuisances for the Warwick Urban Sanitary District, at 527. for one year. COLEMAN, Mr. John, has been appointed Surveyor to the East Ham Local Board and Urban Sanitary Authority, at 120l. per ann. EWART, John, M.R.C.S. Eng., has been reappointed Medical Officer of Health for the Accrington Urban Sanitary District, at 40%. per ann. for three years.

FRANEY, Edward, M.R.C.S. Eng., L.S.A. Lond., has been re appointed Medical Officer of Health for the Banbury Rural Sanitary District, at 100/. per ann. for three years.

JONES, Leslie, M.D.C.M. Qu. Univ. Irel., L.R.C.P. Edin., has been reappointed Medical Officer of Health for the Blackpool Urban Sanitary District, at 150l. for one year.

JOHNSON. Mr. Thomas Lewis, has been appointed Surveyor at 70l. per ann., and Inspector of Nuisances at 50%. per ann., to the East Barnet Valley Local Board and Urban Sanitary Authority, vice Cooper, resigned.

KENDALL, Walter Benger, L.R.C.P. Edin., M.R.C.S. Eng., has been reappointed Medical Officer of Health for the Kidsgrove Urban Sanitary District, Staffordshire, at 2cl. for one year. LEACH, John Comyns, M. R.C.S. Eng., B.Sc. Lond., S. Sc. C. Cantab., F.C.S., has been appointed Public Analyst for the Borough of Weymouth and Melcombe-Regis, at 10l. per ann. and 10s. 6d. per analysis.

LINDUP, Mr. Alfred, has been reappointed Inspector of Nuisances for the Worthing Urban Sanitary District, at 40% per ann. for three years.

MELLARD, Mr. R., has been reappointed Inspector of Nuisances for the Stafford Rural Sanitary District at Icol. for one year. PENTON, Atweek, Esq., has been appointed Treasurer to the West Cowes Local Board and Urban Sanitary Authority.

STOCKS, Mr. Frederick, has been appointed Assistant Surveyor to the Corporation and Urban Sanitary Authority of Accrington, at 917. per ann.

VINES, Henry Jeckell 'Kendrick, F.R.C. P. Edin., M.R.C.S. Eng., L.S.A. Lond., has been appointed Medical Officer of Health for the Littlehampton Port Sanitary District at a retaining fee of 51. 5s. per ann.

WHITESIDE, Mr. James, has been reappointed Inspector of Nuisances for the Blackpool Urban Sanitary District, at 80l. per ann. for one year.

Health: 75 for one year. Application, 5th inst., to Richard Newman, Clerk to the Authority, Hadleigh.

CHURCH URBAN SANITARY DISTRICT, Lancashire. Medical Officer of Health.

LLANIDLOES URBAN SANITARY DISTRICT, Montgomeryshire. Medical Officer of Health: 20l. per ann.

MILTON RURAL SANITARY DISTRICT, Kent. Medical Officer of Health.

MILTON-NEXT-Sittingbourne, Kent. Certifying Factory Surgeon. MILTON-NEXT-SITTINGBOURNE URBAN SANITARY DISTRICT. Medical Officer of Health: 40%. per ann.

MORPETH LOCAL BOARD AND URBAN SANITARY AUTHORITY. Surveyor, Inspector of Nuisances, and Collector (one person). OSWESTRY, CORPORATION AND URBAN SANITARY AUTHority of. Surveyor and Inspector of Nuisances.

STAPLETON LOCAL BOARD AND URBAN SANITARY AUTHORITY, Gloucestershire. Surveyor-Collector.

ST. GEORGE-THE MARTYR, Southwark. Medical Officer of Health: 150l. per ann. Application, 8th inst., to A. Millar, Vestry Clerk, Borough Road.

NOTICE.

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Original Paper.

THE CONTAMINATION OF POTABLE WATER IN DOMESTIC CISTERNS. BY DR. STEVENSON MACADAM, F.R.S.E., F.C.S., F.I.C.,

Lecturer on Chemistry, Edinburgh.

THE contamination of water in domestic cisterns is a subject which has forced itself upon my attention on many occasions during the last ten years, and the longer I study the matter and become practically acquainted with it, the more I become convinced of the importance in a sanitary point of view of greater attention being directed to the cleansing out of house cisterns at short intervals, and of the desirability of educating the public to the necessity for periodically attending to this cleanly measure. I am decidedly of opinion that not only is the water in cisterns rendered more or less impure from imbibing noxious gases led by waste-pipes, etc., from drains, sewers, traps and cesspools, but also from contact with the sediments or deposits lying in the cisterns themselves, and that in many cases the evil effects of impure watersupply are directly traceable to the contamination of the water by its being retained in domestic cisterns containing deposits which may have been lying there for lengthened periods.

It is a pity that the water for household purposes should be stored in cisterns placed in almost inaccessible places, where it requires more agility and acrobatic power than most of us possess to get at, and, when we do reach them, where the dust of years, if not of ages, lies accumulating, and where small animals, such as mice and possibly rats, not to speak of cats, delight to roam.

Of course, the cisterns must be placed high, so as to command water all over the house, but why should they be situated where they are practically out of reach of daily inspection? No housewife would ever think of storing bread or butcher's meat in such more than attic regions, undusted and unwashed from year to year, and yet the bread and the meat are not such absorbers of noxious gases as the water is. None of us would take water at table were it presented to us in decanters and glasses which were uncleansed from the day of their purchase till the day of their breakage, and yet such would be simply in detail and retail what is done in the cisterns of the majority of houses by slump quantity and wholesale.

The sediments or deposits in domestic water cisterns are primarily formed from the clayey and earthy matter carried by the water into the cisterns, and where, on settling, the suspended matter is deposited as an earthy-looking sediment. If these deposits consisted solely of earthy matter, there might be no serious objection to their remaining in the cisterns, but the analyses of a number of the deposits have shown that the earthy matter is intermixed with lead compounds and organic matters. The examination of the sediments has been too long neglected, and the notion held by some people that the deposits tend to clarify the water, and are,

* Reprinted from the Pharmaceutical Journal of March 29, 1879.

therefore, more beneficial than otherwise, must be reckoned both unsafe and dangerous.

In order to test the subject thoroughly, I arranged for the collection of a number of sediments taken from cisterns in different cities, towns, and populous places in Scotland and England. Great care was taken in the collection that the surface of the lead lining of the cisterns was not disturbed, and, indeed, the deposits were removed with the last portions of water, so that the surface of the lead might not be scraped or injured.

The analyses of a number of these samples gave as follows:

The insoluble silicious matter, as well as the oxide of iron, with traces of albumina and phosphates, are obtained from the earthy matter carried in by the water into the cisterns-much of the oxide of iron being doubtless got from the iron mains which have either not been coated with Smith's composition or pitch, or which have lost their protective coating. The carbonate of lime or chalk is principally derived from the lime or plaster of the roofing above the cisterns, though probably also, in the case of hard water, from the precipitation of the carbonate of lime from the water, owing to the escape of the carbonic acid gas, which is its solvent. Some of the carbonate of lime may also be obtained from earthy matter, suspended in the water when it enters the cistern.

The carbonate and hydrate of lead is undoubtedly derived from the lining of the cistern. The compound stated in the table is given as two equivalents of the carbonate of lead in combination with one equivalent of the hydrated oxide of lead (2PbCO3, PbH,O). Of course the lead was precipitated from the acid solution of the deposits by sulphuric acid. and the sulphate of lead so obtained was calculated into the carbonate and hydrate of lead, as previous trials demonstrated that the lead in the deposits existed there in that condition. The formation of the lead compound in the water cistern is easily accounted for. The carbonic acid dissolved in the water acts slowly on the metallic lining, forming a white film on the surface, especially at the point where the water and air-lines meet. In cisterns where covers are used, and especially where the cover is lined with lead, the formation of this film of

lead compound is much expedited by the water vapour-practically distilled water-rising from the water in the cistern and condensing on the lid or upper part of the sides, where it readily forms the carbonate and hydrate of lead. The latter compound, becoming detached from time to time on drying up, falls as a powder into the water, and mingles with the earthy sediment on the bottom of the cistern.

The corrosion of the lead cistern, and consequent formation of the lead compound, is also much increased by the falling of lime into the cistern, and the introduction of organic matter, such as street or house dust; insects and animals (mice, etc.), likewise facilitate the action of the water upon the lead, and the formation of the lead deposit. The result of the combined action of the water, lime, and organic matter upon the lead of the cisterns is the formation of much carbonate and hydrate of lead which goes to make up from 5:22 to 1007 per cent. of the dried cistern deposits, equal to 418 to 8:06 per cent. of metallic lead when calculated into the metal.

So long as the deposit lies in the bottom of the cistern, and is not disturbed, the minute particles of lead compound may not do much harm, but when the water is run off from the cistern in quantity, especially for baths, the rapid entrance of the fresh supply of water into the cistern must disturb the sediment, and tend to raise the deposit, including the lead compound in mechanical suspension, and as such, float on the noxious material into the pipes, from which it is drawn off for dietetic purposes. This process is much promoted by the placing of the house supply-pipes leading from the cistern about an inch or two above the bottom of the cistern, so that the sediment lies accumulating from time to time on the bottom of the cistern, and hence, when disturbed by the rush of fresh water, a considerable proportion is thrown into mechanical suspension. The experience of every householder, at intervals, proves that the sediments in the cisterns are thus raised more or less in suspension and floated on with the water; and as the lead compound forms part of the sediment, it necessarily follows that lead must flow out of the cistern in suspension in the water. Indeed, I have encountered several cases of slow lead poisoning which could only be accounted for by the water becoming contaminated with the lead in the manner stated.

The noxious influence of the cistern deposits on the quality of the water does not, however, end in the impregnation of the water with lead compounds; for the organic matter of the cistern deposits or sediments gives rise to the disengagement of noxious gases, which more or less influence the sanitary condition of the water. Moreover, the decay and putrescence of the organic matter lead to the formation of soluble organic compounds, which become dissolved in the water, and thus affect its purity. The analyses of the sediments collected at my instance showed that they yielded from 0.36 to 0.81 per cent. of nitrogen as ammonia, derived, in great part at least, from the organic matters present, and proving the putrescent character of such. The best evidence of the influence of the organic matter of the deposits upon the purity of the water was obtained, however, by taking a sample of Edinburgh water direct from the main, and dividing it into two equal parts, retaining one of the portions by itself in a large open-mouthed glass vessel, whilst the other portion was placed in a similar vessel which con

These results prove that the water suffers severely in quality from being retained in vessels containing cistern deposits, there being a decided increase in the organic matter in solution and in the saline and albuminoid ammonia, whilst there is a marked decrease in the proportion of oxygen gas dissolved in the water.

The foregoing results demonstrate that the watersupply of a town or populous place, which may be everything that is desired at the fountain-head, and even at the supply-pipe as delivered to the householders, is liable to very serious contamination when retained in house cisterns containing deposits or sediments which are composed in part of finelydivided lead compound and decaying or putrescent organic matter; and I am confident that in many cases the water-supply of both towns and mansion-houses is rendered unwholesome from being retained in dirty cisterns. The remedy for the evil lies in the periodic cleansing of the house cistern, which should be regularly done every month or two, according to its position and liability to become impregnated with dust and sediment. The cleansing should be carried out with a very soft brush, and every care must be taken that the natural skin of the lead be not disturbed. A wire or perforated zinc cover might be placed over the cistern to keep out mice, pieces of plaster, etc., but a tight cover, which hinders the aeration of the water, should not be used. In ordinary cases it is seldom or never that cisterns are purposely cleaned out, unless there is occasion to run off the water in order to execute repairs, and probably not even then, unless special instructions be given to clean out the cistern. Many towns and populous places are specially favoured with water of excellent quality, as delivered into the towns and into the cisterns, and indeed each house is placed on the same footing for water-supply as if the foundations rested on the hills or other country district from which the water is drawn ; and it is matter of regret that gross inattention to the condition of house cisterns should lead to these receptacles being sources of contamination of the water, which otherwise is of the most wholesome and suitable quality for all domestic purposes.

THE

and that of the medical officer of health, certain improvements were effected, and this may perhaps account for the couleur de rose statements of Mr.

FRIDAY, APRIL 11, 1879. !

The Editor will be glad to receive, with a view to publication, announcements of meetings, reports of proceedings, and abstracts or originals of papers read before the members of any sanitary or kindred association.

THE FEVER NEST OF BLACKHEATH. THE report of our Special Commissioner, if it has done nothing else, has had the effect of drawing local attention very particularly to the way in which the Greenwich Board of Works conducts its sanitary business. Notwithstanding the manner in which the report was treated by the Board of Works at their meeting of December 18 (Vol. X., p. 10), the Board deemed it expedient to require a report on the subject of the Bowater Estate from their medical officer of health. This report it has taken Mr. Pink some ten weeks to prepare; and, now that it is issued, we have no hesitation in describing it as without any value whatever. It will be remembered that even Mr. Richardson was obliged to confess that there was a great deal of truth in our article, and that he himself had already given attention to the subject. Mr. Pink, whilst naturally desiring to relieve his authority from the odium which they had locally incurred through the state of things revealed by our Commissioner, goes far beyond his brief, and, oblivious of Mr. Richardson's admission, absolutely states that the sanitary condition of the estate is generally good. He utterly ignores the instances of insanitary circumstances reported by our Commissioner, and contents himself with stating that 'the streets are wide, airy, and open, and that as the whole property is detached and far separated from any thickly-populated district, it at once is calculated to be one of the most healthy localities in the district.' Mr. Pink makes a vague and helpless allusion to the want of a definition of overcrowding, and then proceeds to offer the selfsame recommendations for the improvement of the estate that were made by our Commissioner! It is impossible to treat this irrational report seriously, although it seems to have been completely satisfactory to the Board of Works.

That the state of things described by our Commissioner actually exists does not rest upon his unsupported testimony alone, but is corroborated in every particular by the vicar, the relieving officer, and others who know well every one of the 140 houses in question. It is true that during the interval between the inspection of our Commissioner

officer, the whole of the sewers were flushed, the roof of a house was here and there repaired, No. 8 Lisbon Street was in part papered and whitewashed, as were some other houses; the man with the donkey having died, his manure heap and donkey were finally removed and his house swept and garnished; one of the cowsheds and all the cows were removed from the end of Russell Place; the landlords had been aroused, and many houses were in consequence more or less tinkered. But notwithstanding these minor improvements, so many evils still remain that the only way in which the character of Mr. Pink's report is at all explicable is that many of the tenement rooms were not entered by that gentleman. When the vicar, who speaks from an intimate knowledge of the place for six years, fully endorses our Commissioner's description, we leave it to our readers to decide whether he or the medical officer, who has a casual acquaintance with the place of about as many days as the vicar has had years, is likely to be the more accurate. In the course of his report Mr. Pink declares that the subject is 'a great public grievance' at Blackheath. We confess we entirely fail to see how he can fit in this statement with the rest of his report, which indeed is one to be regretted for its lack of candour. No doubt his task was unpalatable and difficult, but the report is by far too general to be of any real value. The report of our Commissioner was written after a personal and careful inspection of the Bowater Estate. Chapter and verse are given in it, and each case ought certainly to have been dealt with by Mr. Pink, and either admitted or rejected. Instead of this, the medical officer refers to the place as a sort of sanitary paradise, speaking of the wide, airy, and open streets, and of the houses as structurally good throughout. We can only remark on this that the notions on the subject of Mr. Pink and ourselves radically differ.

Looking at all the facts, that the description given in these columns has been amply supported by unimpeachable testimony, and that beyond a general contradiction, which is worth nothing, the special cases of insanitary conditions referred to by our Commissioner have not been denied, we are compelled, in the discharge of a plain public duty, to declare that the present condition of the Bowater Estate is a scandal to the parish, a disgrace to Blackheath, and a standing censure upon the health arrangements of the Greenwich Board of Works. We have sifted the question carefully and impartially, and we fail to find any grounds for assuming that what our Commissioner has written is not literally and entirely correct. The allegation of high colouring is an easy one to make; but when it is remembered that a gentleman in the position of the vicar of the parish in

which the estate is situated has expressed his complete concurrence with the description given, the argument of exaggeration falls at once to the ground. Our only desire, in the publication of reports by our Special Commissioners, has been, and always will be, to help on the cause of sanitary reform in cases where vis a tergo is clearly necessary. Evidently some spurring of the local authorities was and is wanted in the case of the Bowater Estate; and since their own medical officer has endorsed the recommendations of our Commissioner, we trust the Greenwich Board of Works will deal with this 'fever nest' without any further delay. The absence of any outbreak of malignant disease, or of any epidemic,' so confidently referred to by Mr. Pink, is an argument which will not hold water for a moment. All the conditions for an epidemic exist on the estate if infectious disease should once get a hold there; and it behoves the authorities not to wait till the mischief is done before they cleanse their Augean stable.

ADULTERATION OF FOOD ACT.

IT has been left for an Act of Parliament to achieve the honour of proving the abstract. It is of no use any longer for philosophers to insist that every idea is concrete. The lawyers have won the day. Grave doubts existed on the construction of the Adulteration Acts, which required before conviction that goods adulterated must be sold to the prejudice of the purchaser, whether it could be said that the purchaser, when a public officer, paying for the goods with public money, would in any case be prejudiced when he bought an article simply for the purpose of analysis and not for consumption. Indeed, it might well have been argued that instead of being prejudiced he would be advantaged, for, in certain contingencies, if the article proved to be adulterated, he would get a share of the penalty. But all our doubts are swept away by the decision of the Court of Queen's Bench. It is nothing whether the individual purchaser be prejudiced or not; there is behind him the abstract consumer. Not the purchaser, but a purchaser, any purchaser, every purchaser, and it is to the prejudice of this general being representing the whole community that flour should be half made up of plaster of Paris, that chocolate should consist of arrow-root, cocoa, sugar, and perhaps red lead; or that gin or whiskey should have 50 per cent. of water added to it to render it a little under proof. Milk must no longer be milk and water, and even sulphur must not be milked, mustard diluted, or any substance mixed with an article foreign to the article of food asked for. To do this is adulteration and to the prejudice in future of the purchaser, whether he consumes the article or not, and whether he purchases with his own or with public money. We hope this may prove to be a heavy blow and sore discouragement

to practices which, too generally in vogue, are prejudicial equally to health and morality.

Notes of the Week.

THE IMPORTATION OF RAGS FROM RUSSIA.

THE papers relative to plague promised to Mr. Waddy by Mr. Sclater-Booth some time since have at length been issued. Amongst them is a minute by Mr. Simon, on the importability of morbid infections from the East by means of the materials of commerce, which has a very interesting bearing on the recent action of the Privy Council with regard to the ship Prima. Mr. Simon, writing in 1875, when there was question as to the advisability of prohibiting the importation of wool from Mesopotamia (plague being then very prevalent at Bagdad) said that the branch of trade which ought to be regarded as most open to the suspicion of danger (if danger is to be suspected of any branch whatever) is undoubtedly the rag trade. In regard of many infectious diseases, it is well known that certain sorts of things used by the sick-such as their clothing, bedding, towels, handkerchiefs, napkins, etc, get imbued with infective matters, and are thus rendered for a longer or shorter time capable of conveying infection. In places where great epidemics are prevailing, and where often, in consequence of death, households are more or less broken up, articles such as the above are very apt to pass into the hands of rag collectors, and to form part of their general merchandise. It is not possible at present to measure at all accurately the quantity of danger which this merchandise represents to communities eventually receiving it, but certainly it would not be uniform for all diseases. Some infective products of disease—for instance, the discharge from small-pox pustules-can, quickly dried, retain for a long time their infective power, while of others apparently the power soon ceases; and according to differences of that sort, the rag trade would of course be more open to suspicion in regard of some diseases than in regard of others. Some years ago measures were taken by Government to procure information as to the then state of experience in England on this subject; and the result of an extensive inquiry was that, except to some extent in regard of small-pox, no accusations were made against the rags in any of the eighty-six paper-mills visited by the Government inspector. Mr. Simon's opinion was that the history of plague makes it not probable that that disease gives a long-lasting infectiveness to absorbent articles which have

been in use by the sick, but he did not feel himself entitled to say that danger in that respect could under no circumstances arise in the commercial relations of Europe to the East. Mr. Simon suggested in his minute that the Turkish and Egyptian Governments should be invited to consider, apropos of plague, but not exclusively in relation to it, whether they, by appropriate police arrangements in their respective territories, could provide some sort of security for Europe that infectious rags (i.e., rags which may have been exposed to infection) shall not at any time be exported from places where dangerous infections are prevalent. Bearing in mind the recent case in the Tyne, it would seem eminently desirable that the Kussian Government should now have their attention drawn to this matter of rag importation in the sense indicated by Mr. Simon.

THE SANITARY STATE OF SWADLINCOTE. THE length of time which some local authorities take inconsidering' necessary improvements is well illustrated by the case of Swadlincote, in Staffordshire. The local board for this district came into existence in 1871; but it was not until 1876 that they were able to make up their minds to undertake works of sewerage and water-supply.