A letter to the Chairman of the Board of Guardians of the Sheffield Union, on the prevention of cholera / by J.C. Hall.

  • Hall, John Charles, 1816-1876.
Date:
1853
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A letter to the Chairman of the Board of Guardians of the Sheffield Union, on the prevention of cholera / by J.C. Hall. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

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    and night soil, great care should be used to prevent the extrica- tion of large quantities of poisonous gases; such gases always existing in accumulations of animal and vegetable remains. Such removals should always take place between the hours of twelve at night and six in the morning. Certain metallic salts— for example, green and blue copperas, chloride of zinc, nitrate of lead, and chloride of lime—have been used at Newcastle for this purpose. Chlorine is, however, in my opinion, far the best for this object. It is cheap, can be prepared in a short time, and is highly efficacious. It is obtained by mixing the black oxide of manganese with common salt, and pouring upon it the oil of vitriol and water. This should be poured upon heaps of filth during their removal, and also used in the cleansing of privies, the evils arising from which just now are very great, and will demand immediate attention. Another evil must also at once be attended to : I allude to the grates in the different parts of every street connected with the sewers ; they are generally without “traps, and the stench arising from many of them most disgusting. A visit to many of the courts and back lanes will discover them, and the houses in them to be very filthy, and the privies disgusting. The lime washing of these houses, and the washing out from time to time of the courts and lanes with the fire-engine, as very wisely proposed by the Clerk of this Union, will be found most useful. It has been resorted to at Newcastle, with the best results. It is hardly necessary to suggest that the greatest care should be taken to inspect provisions of every kind brought into our various markets, and that the sale of such as may be found unfit for human food should at once be prohibited. Pigs, when kept in yards near the abodes of the living, are often a great nuisance, one that will require the attention of the Inspector. The same remark will apply to Butcher’s Shops and Slaughter Houses. The practice of throwing the entrails