MUNICIPAL
WORK
A
453248
IN
INDIA
JS
700
584

ARTES
1837
SCIENTIA
VERITAS
LIBRARY
OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
FLORIOUS UNDE
P
TUEBOR
SI QUAERIS PENINSULAM AMOENAML,
CIRCUMSPICE




•
1
MUNICIPAL WORK IN INDIA.
JS
7007
.S84
:
1

MUNICIPAL WORK
IN INDIA;
OR,
HINTS ON
SANITATION-GENERAL CONSERVANCY
AND IMPROVEMENT IN MUNICIPALITIES, TOWNS, AND
VILLAGES.
BY
REGINALD CRAUFUIRD STERNDALE,
VICE-CHAIRMAN OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF THE SUBURBS OF CALCUTTA.
CALCUTTA:
THACKER, SPINK, AND CO.
1881.

}
7.
72-2-31
1750 $2,5
ΤΟ
FREDERICK BARNES PEACOCK, ESQ.,
BENGAL CIVIL SERVICE,
FORMERLY MAGISTRATE OF THE TWENTY-FOUR PERGUNNAHS, AND
EX-OFFICIO CHAIRMAN OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF
THE SUBURBS OF CALCUTTA,
THIS VOLUME
IS INSCRIBED IN RESPECTFUL RECOGNITION OF THE INTEREST TAKEN
BY HIM IN ALL QUESTIONS OF MUNICIPAL IMPROVEMENT,
AND IN GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE OF MANY KIND-
NESSES RECEIVED AT HIS HANDS BY
182161
1
THE AUTHOR.

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PREFACE.
To indicate all the numerous insanitary conditions
of Indian towns and villages, varying as they neces-
sarily do according to local circumstances, the habits
peculiar to the people of different districts, and the
amount of sanitary supervision to which they are
subjected, would require much more space than could
be devoted to the subject in a work of this kind, and
a much deeper knowledge of sanitary science than the
author can pretend to. It will be sufficient to point
out the principal of them, their causes, their effects,
and, so far as may lie within the usually limited means
of mofussil municipal bodies or other local authorities,
their remedy.
In dealing with the following subjects the author
desires to give his readers the results of an experience
gained during a period of upwards of twenty years'
residence in India, and especially during his twelve
years' incumbency as chief executive officer of the
largest mofussil municipality in Bengal ;-a municipal
district which had been described by the Army Sani-
tary Commission as "a permanent focus of malaria
and contagion," the environs of a city the inhabitants.
of which a well-known medical authority, some years

viii
PREFACE.
ago, declared to be "living for the past half century
at fearful disadvantages, in the midst of scandalous
sanitary arrangements, and in the concentrated atmos-
phere of its own excrement and refuse;"—a suburban
district of which a late Sanitary Commissioner
of Bengal wrote in 1868 (the year in which the
author's official connection with it commenced),—
It is very evident that interference on the part of
Government is much required, indeed all the suburbs
are in a most uncared for state, and I hope the matter
will be speedily taken up"-and of which, ten years
later, his successor reported, that, "judging from the
remarks of Dr. D. B. Smith in his first Sanitary Report
of Bengal in 1868, the Municipality is to be con-
gratulated on the great improvements effected since
then. Much however: remains to be done; all these
improvements cannot be effected at once, but I am en-
couraged to suggest them, because so much has been
done that I am sure further progress is not only pos-
sible but comparatively easy."
Having had, in addition to the ordinary duties of the
head of a Municipal office, to perform, unaided, through-
out a series of years, the duties ordinarily appertain-
ing to a health officer and to an executive engineer, the
writer has, of necessity, been brought into constant
practical contact with the subjects of which he has
treated in these pages, and has had, so far as in him
lay, and means were available, to educate himself to
keep pace with the growing sanitary requirements of
the age. Whilst fully conscious, therefore, of the force
of Dryden's trite remark, "that he who purposes
to be an author should first be a student," he has him-
PREFACE.
"
ix
self, whilst comparatively a novice in sanitation and
questions of engineering, so often felt the want of
some book of reference on the multifarious matters
composing the daily work of a municipal official in
this country, that he ventures to hope that the results
of his experience and study of these subjects may be of
use to others similarly situated, but whose oppor-
tunities may not perhaps have been so great of ac-
quiring the simple and practical knowledge required
for the efficient conduct of their duties.
Since the days of long afflicted and patient Job
whose aspiration was "Oh! that mine adversary would
write a book," no man who is bold enough to venture
on authorship, in however unpretending a manner, may
hope to escape criticism, for
"Those fierce inquisitors of wit
The critics spare no flesh that ever writ."-Butler.
Yet do I deprecate the criticism of the Medical
Profession and the Civil Engineer. These pages do not
presume to be for their guidance, but for that of simple
people like myself who have to deal with common
nuisances, combat common dangers, and construct com-
mon necessary structures with simple means, little
knowledge, and small expenditure; unless, peradven-
ture the medical man, whose duties may sometimes
extend to general municipal supervision, may find
some simple hint on matters foreign to his own
profession, or the Civil Engineer, similarly situated, may
find some light thrown on a question of sanitation
with which he is brought into contact. I have care-
fully avoided putting forward any crude theories of
X
PREFACE.
my own, remembering always that "a little know-
ledge is a dangerous thing;" but where I have stated
the results of my own experience, I have supported
them with the opinions and experience of the most
reliable modern authorities to which I have had access,
and knowing from experience how inaccessible sani-
tary literature is to the majority of officials on the
same footing as myself, I have not hesitated to give
ample quotations and extracts from the published
works or manuscript writings of known sanitary authori-
ties and well-known and experienced Indian mediçal
men, to which I have had occasion or opportunity to
refer.
I trust, therefore, that these pages will be found
useful to those who, without professional training or
special education for the duties of sanitary supervision
and minor works of engineering, are placed in posi-
tions where such duties have to be undertaken by them;
and if I have not been so successful as I could desire,
it must never be forgotten that
'No part of conduct asks for skill more nice,
Though none more common than to give advice.”
R. C. S.
.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE OF MOFUSSIL MUNICIPALITIES.
Municipal work in India
The Hindu township
Municipal self-government
Sir George Campbell's Municipal Bill
Municipal Commissioners
The present regimé
Election by rate-payers
Consequences of election
Future of Municipalities
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CHAPTER II.
ASSESSMENT, COLLECTION, AND SUPERVISION.
Money, the first necessity
Sources of income
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Assessment and collection
Supervision of conservancy work
Shortcomings of native overseers
Qualifications of a good overseer
Objections to European overseers
Results of State education
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CHAPTER III.
ORIGIN AND PRINCIPLES OF SANITARY LAWS.
Sanitation and natural laws...
Hindu neglect of sanitation
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Customs of the Hindus
Hindu ideas of cleanliness
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Foundation of sanitary law
CONTENTS.
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Broad principles of sanitary law
Use and mis-use of property
State interference
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Sanitary reform where most required
CHAPTER IV.
MALARIA, ÆRIAL IMPURITIES, AND CONSEQUENT EVILS.
Malaria
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Nature of malaria
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Component constituents of malaria
Deleterious gases
Effects of malaria
Atmospheric air
Aërial impurities
Habitations of the poor
Bengali homesteads
The Austakoor
Apathy of natives
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Filth diseases
Disinfection of privy vaults.
CHAPTER V.
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BURIAL-GROUNDS, THEIR EVILS, AND REMEDIAL MEASURES.
Burial-grounds
Putrefaction defined
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Danger of urban cemeteries
Fatal effluvia
A Mahomedan burial-ground
Treatment of old burial-grounds
Period of decay
Process of decomposition
Utilization of space
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CHAPTER VI.
OFFENSIVE TRADES AND MANUFACTORIES.
Offensive trades and manufactories
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Brick-burning
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CONTENTS.
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Bi-sulphuret of mercury
Leather-japanning, &c.
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Super-phosphate works and tanneries
Sanitary supervision
Sheep and goats
Hackney stables
Pigs and pigsties
Sheep-pens and cow-byres
Gowalla cow-byres..
Mortality among milk cattle
Rinderpest
Unwholesome milk-supply
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Milk as a carrier of disease...
Adulteration of milk
Source of aqueous adulteration
Medical evidence
Danger greater than in Europe
Difficulties in the way
Remedial measures...
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CHAPTER VII.
SLAUGHTERHOUSES.
Slaughterhouses
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Injurious to public health
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Construction and management
Manner of slaughtering
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CHAPTER VIII.
RANK VEGETATION AND JUNGLE, AND HOW IT SHOULD BE
DEALT WITH.
Rank vegetation and jungle growths
Action of living vegetation ...
Growing vegetation, a benefactor
Injurious action of vegetation
Jungle-cutting
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CONTENTS.
CHAPTER IX.
STREET SWEEPING AND CLEANSING AND DISPOSAL OF REFUSE.
Cleansing of streets
Deposit of garbage...
Disposal of sweepings
Use of sweepings for tank-filling
Tank-filling not objectionable
Operations of tank-filling
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Municipal aid
Advantages gained
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Reclaimed lands as building sites
Street-watering and sweeping
Objections to street-watering
Watering vs. Sweeping
Waste and unoccupied lands
Prevention of nuisances
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CHAPTER X.
DRAINS AND DRAINAGE.
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Drains and drainage
Obstructions in drains
Elongated cess-pools
Insufficient outfall ...
Dangerous to public health
1
Insanitary characteristics
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CHAPTER XI.
FAULTY DRAINAGE AND REMEDIAL MEASURES.
Remedial measures
Levelling
Mischief of irregular excavation
Retaining walls and drain bridges
Encroachments on drains
Sewage flow in drains
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Inclination and scouring action
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Drainage outfall
Drainage of fen lands
Sluice-gates or tide valves
Liability to derangement
Causes of obstruction
Side drains in streets
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CHAPTER XII.
REMOVAL, DISPOSAL, AND UTILIZATION OF EXCRETA.
Removal, disposal, and utilization of excreta...
Theory of utilization
No profit to be looked for
Native aversion to change
The sanitary trinity
The precepts of Moses
Dry earth system
The Bombay system
Nuisance of existing system
The Système Goux
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Advantages of the Système Goux
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Dr. Haviland's evidence
Enquiries by Dr. Haviland
Defects of Moule's earth-closet
Mr. Moore's evidence
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Goux system at Aldershot
Water-closets less trouble
CHAPTER XIII.
EXCRETA, ITS ECONOMIC UTILIZATION.
Consideration of question of disposal
The Rochdale system
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The Poonah or sun-drying process
The trenching system
Remarks of Army Sanitary Commission
Necessity for cultivation
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CONTENTS.
Rotation of crops
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Cultivation of bananas
Effect on rose trees
Will it pay?
Example of China
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Example better than precept
Impoverishment of the soil...
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Mr. Mechi's views
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Advice of Lord Bacon
CHAPTER XIV.
WATER FOR DRINKING AND DOMESTIC PURPOSES.
Sources of watersupply
Want of wholesome water
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Pollution of water in rural tracts
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Pollution in towns...
Mr. Pedler's analysis
Defilement forbidden by the shastras
Bengali classification of water
Conservation of tanks
Average rainfall supply
Soil and surroundings
Filtration and percolation
A filtered supply
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Water-plants suited for reservoirs
Fish for stocking drinking tanks
Construction of wells
A simple filter
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Benefits of using rain-water
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Use of rain-water in Calcutta
CHAPTER XV.
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ARBORICULTURE IN TOWNS, ITS OBJECTS AND ADVANTAGES.
Objects of tree-planting in towns
Transpiration of plants
CONTENTS.
Effects of disforesting
Interception of malarious air-currents
Protective influence of trees
Ornamental flowering trees ...
Trees suitable for road-side planting
Fruit trees
Useful timber trees
Planting road-side trees
Encouragement to planting
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DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD, CREMATION.
Disposal of the dead
Practice of throwing corpses into rivers
Errors as regards cremation
Cremation as practised in Bengal
Comparative cost of cremation
CHAPTER XVII.
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UNWHOLESOME AND UNSOUND FOOD.
Unwholesome and unsound food
Damaged rice
Decomposed fish
Danger of eating decomposed fish
Unsound and decomposing meat
Mortality among eaters of dead meat
Unwholesome tinned provisions
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CHAPTER XVIII.
DISINFECTANTS AND DEODORISERS.
Disinfectants and deodorisers
Carbolic acid
Sulphurous acid gas, &c.
Ferric chloride, &c.
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xviii
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XIX.
INDIAN DWELLINGS, EUROPEAN AND NATIVE, REMODELLING OF
BUSTEES AND PREVENTION OF FIRES.
Dwellings and damp
Effects of nitrous salts
Damp-proof courses
Material for damp-proof courses
Damp houses never healthy
Temperature
Improved roofing
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Construction of Indian dwellings
An improved dwelling
Well-raised habitations
Ordinary hut construction
Comfort and health vs. Danger from fire
Calcutta in 1780
Conflagrations in crowded areas
Causes of conflagrations
Remodelling of bustees
Fire-brigade appliances
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CHAPTER XX.
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ROADS, EMBANKMENTS, AND BUILDINGS.
Roads in Bengal
Cutcha or earth roads
Jhama roads
Construction of jhama roads
Repairing old roads
Stone or macadamized roads
Construction of stone roads
Shade trees beneficial or hurtful?
Faulty construction of embankments
Height and formation of embankments
Silt deposits
Action of spurs
Turfing and grassing
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Protection of embankments
Building and bricklaying
Bricklaying
Arches and centering
CONTENTS.
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CHAPTER XXI.
CONSERVANCY CATTLE AND THEIR TREATMENT.
Conservancy cattle
Sorebacks and their treatment
Bulls, ponies, and mules
Diseases and precautionary treatment
Feeding
Tricks of cart-men...
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MUNICIPAL WORK IN INDIA.
!
CHAPTER I.
He that goeth about to persuade a multitude that they are
not so well governed as they ought to be, shall never want attentive
and favourable hearers; because they know the manifold defects
whereunto every kind of regimen is subject but the secret lets and
difficulties which in public proceedings are innumerable and inevitable,
they have not ordinarily the judgment to consider."-Hooker..
As the improvement of our Municipalities is the main
object of this book, it will not be out of place if a few
introductory pages are devoted to a consideration of
what our municipal system is, how far it is suited to
the circumstances of the country and the idiosyncracy
of the people, and the causes why municipal bodies
generally do not succeed better in their attempts to
improve the condition of the towns and villages over
which they preside. It is not uncommonly asserted that
municipal institutions are foreign to and unsuited to
the country, but those who thus argue ignore alike
tradition, history, and facts. On the contrary, municipal
institutions, pure and simple, were amongst the funda-
mental systems of Government laid down by Menu, the
earliest of Hindu lawgivers.
2
The Hindu Township.
The following description of a Hindu township in
early ages, its privileges and administration, is given by
Elphinstone in his History of India (Hindu Period) :—
""
A township is a compact piece of land, varying in
extent, inhabited by a single community. The bound-
aries are accurately defined and jealously guarded. The
lands are divided into portions (analogous to the hold-
ings of the present time), the boundaries of which are
as carefully marked as those of the township: and the
names, qualities, extent, and proprietors of which are
minutely entered in the records of the community
(i. e., the assessment registers). "Each township conducts
its own internal affairs. It levies on its members the
revenue due to the State, and is collectively responsible
for the full amount" (a fact which Sir John Strachey,
no doubt, had in remembrance when he provided for the
levy of the Imperial License Tax of 1878, through the
agency of the Municipalities). "It manages its own
police, and is answerable for any property plundered
within its limits. It administers justice to its own
members as far as punishing small offences and deciding
disputes in the first instance. It taxes itself to provide
funds for its internal expenses, such as the repairs of
the walls and the temple, and the cost of public sacrifices
and charities, as well as of some ceremonies and amuse-
ments on festivals. It is provided with the requisite
officers for conducting these duties and with various
others adapted to the wants of the inhabitants, and
though entirely subject to the general government, is in
many respects, an organised commonwealth complete
within itself. This independence and its concomitant
privileges, though often violated by the government, are
Municipal Self-Government.
3
never denied; they afford some little protection against
a tyrannical ruler, and maintain order within their own
limits, even when the general government has been
dissolved."
Now in the above we have the unmistakable essence
of municipal institutions, of the body corporate, self-
elected, self-taxing, self-governing, the Municipium, or
free town, governed by its own laws, but possessing
equal rights of citizenship with the rest of the State.
In the above we find a proof of the truth of the remarks
made by Sir George Campbell, when Lieutenant-Gover-
nor of Bengal and President of the local Legislative
Council: "I am myself convinced," said he, "that, in
spite of difficulties and objections, municipal self-govern-
ment is not foreign to this country, but inherent to it,
being the ancient rule and habit of the Hindu race.
But times change and old institutions become extinct,
and before the advent and passage of successive waves
of conquest, the ancient Hindu forms of civil govern-
ment disappeared, and the municipal body corporate
was a thing unknown in our day until revived on wes-
tern models by that liberal-minded administrator, the
late Sir Cecil Beadon, during his lieutenant-governorship
of Bengal.
#
It is not the purpose of these pages to trace minutely
the causes which have contributed to render the muni-
cipalities in the mofussil at the present day something
very different to what their name implies; but that
such is the case is patent to every one acquainted with
their present constitution. How far the undoubtedly
repressive legislation of recent years, and its interpreta-
tion by the powers that be,' are responsible for this state
.
4
Sir George Campbell's Municipal Bill.
of things, I am not prepared to say; but there are other
causes which must be remedied before these restrictions
can safely be relaxed.
Those who desire to see a liberal measure of self-
government granted to the citizens of our Bengal town-
ships, will consider it perhaps unfortunate that Sir
George Campbell's Municipal Bill for Bengal was vetoed
by the then Viceroy, Lord Northbrook, being as it was
a bill which had for its object" the enlargement of
the powers of municipal commissioners, to lay less
municipal work and responsibility on the shoulders of
Magistrates, to make municipal commissioners elec-
tive, and in other ways to make more scope for muni-
cipal self-government." This was a measure framed by
a truly liberal statesman, whose object, to use his own
words, was "not an increase of taxation, but the intro-
duction of a system of self-government.”
"I hold,"
said he, “very earnest views on the subject of local self-
government. I believe that the position of foreigners
like ourselves in India is a somewhat false one. I be-
lieve it is our duty to educate the people, so far as is in
our power, to govern themselves. I believe that the power
and the habit of self-government must come from below
upwards, that it must come from municipal institutions
first going upwards to higher and larger institutions."
"If municipal commissioners are to have no power
but to consult and advise, you cannot expect the people
will take a real interest in representative institutions."
"If you are gradually to bring the people to appreciate
the system of self-government, to lead them to take
an interest in their own affairs, they must have real and
practical power in their own affairs;" and in a com-
<<
The Present Regime.
5
munication to the writer in 1880, Sir George repeats :
"I have always been very anxious to promote self-gov-
erning institutions beginning from below and working
upwards." But, unfortunately for the carrying out of
these views, Sir George Campbell was, as he himself said,
a stranger and a sojourner in the land," and his utter-
ances are now pronounced in the same legislative cham-
ber to be the "views of a somewhat doctrinaire Lieute-
nant-Governor in the first flush of provincial independ-
ence, political cant,' 'shibboleths' of so-called progress,
which may prove. to be mischievous when they cease
to be only meaningless." It is there declared that,
"whatever may be the future of this country, it is ab-
surd to pretend that as yet any such theories hold good;
that Bengal is an advanced province in many ways, but
it is not after all quite on the same platform as Great
Britain yet," and that "the people must learn to walk
before they can be allowed to run." It must be confessed
that these arguments are somewhat on a par with the
action of the faded maternal beauty who clings to her
youth and keeps her grown up daughters in short frocks,
for fear people should guess how old they are and draw
conclusions; but still I fear we must admit that they
have reason, as things are at the present. Before any
change can be hoped for in the present regime, before the
Government can safely loose the reins of control, a ra-
dical change must come over the spirit of the dreain.
Purely ornamental commissioners, whose line of busi-
ness goes not beyond saying "ditto to Mr. Burke," as
well as noisy agitators, meddlesome self-seeking intri-
guers, and flatulent orators, must give way to honest,
intelligent business-men, who will meet to work, to
-
F
6
Municipal Commissioners.
guide, and to improve, and not simply to practise speechi-
fying and roll out "resistless streams of oratory,"
"With art scholastic, and theatric grace,
Unmeaning gesture, passion out of place.
Mouthing, false emphasis, and labored leer,
With all superfluous, and in nought sincere."
or from a pure spirit of obstructiveness oppose and
hamper the executive in carrying out schemes of im-
provement, the utility of which they will not take the
trouble to endeavour to comprehend. It is true that
such spirits are in a minority; but a little leaven lea-
veneth the whole lump, and it is in the power of a very
small number of the members of a body corporate to
obstruct business and weary out the patience of the
working majority. There are many good men and true in
the ranks of the Municipal Commission throughout Ben-
gal, and there would be many more but for the undoubted
fact that business-men are deterred from giving their
time, their talents, and their experience to the service of
local municipalities, partly from the notorious waste of
time and temper involved in sitting out the interminable.
harangues inflicted on their colleagues by men who de-
light in long-windedness and the sound of their own
voices, who are proud of reading their speeches in the
daily papers, and who, while they will split hairs and
detain a meeting for hours on some petty personal
question, will pass over the expenditure of lacs, or the
settlement of some question of vital importance to the
health or comfort of their fellow citizens, either from
ignorance of the question at issue or real indifference to
the true interests of the town; and partly from the know-
ledge that the commissioners as a body corporate have
Election by Ratepayers.
7
no real substance, but are simply a medium through
which to register the decrees of government. But that
any change for the better would be effected by a system
of election is a fallacy, and it is a fallacy which no body
honestly believes in. The people do not seek it, nor desire
it. They are in fact utterly indifferent on the subject, and
the sensational stump oratory of a few self-seeking, self-
nominated, would-be representatives of the rate-payers,
no more represents the real and true aspirations of the
mass of the people of Bengal or of any town in the
province, or of the intelligent and respectable portion
of the populace, than the three tailors of Tooley Street.
did those of the people of England.' The spurious
popular agitations that from time to time become a local
nine days' wonder, are like the working of beer in a
brewer's vat,—the froth and scum all work to the top,
while the only part that is of any worth lies hidden for
the time beneath the evanescent bubbles, but it is only
the ignorant and inexperienced who consider that the
goodness and strength of the liquor lies in the froth;
the knowing ones blow it off the surface before quaffing
the amber liquid; and so with the bulk of the sham
representatives who pose as exponents of the popular
feeling at people's rights and rate-payers' association
meetings. As old Congreve says truly—
“Dull rogues affect the politician's part
And learn to nod and smile and shrug with art:
Who nothing has to lose, the war bewails,
And he who nothing pays, at taxes rails.”
Such men are no more to be regarded as representatives of
the popular voice than Dr. Kinealy and his rabble follow-
ers were as those of the English people, or the Police
C
8
Consequences of Election.
News' and other 'Penny dreadfuls' are to be considered as
fairly representing the British Press; and amongst no class
are their pretensions treated with greater scorn and con-
tempt than by the really sound and thinking portion of
their own countrymen, who see through their motives,
and understand the worthlessness of their pretensions.
Yet these are the men who would be elected were the
Government weakly to give way to the clamour raised
and fomented by themselves and the small and insigni-
ficant section of the Press with which they are connected,
or are able to influence; and this not because they are
the fittest men, or that they would be the chosen of the
people, but simply because none but themselves would
care to canvas an apathetic constituency, who, caring
nothing about the matter, would give their votes
to the first man who asked for them, and without
comprehending what they were asked for, or what they
were giving. The consequences would be such as neither
the Government, nor the intelligent portion of the in-
habitants, could contemplate with satisfaction, for instead
of the management of municipal affairs being in the
hands of men of standing, position, and respectability,
men to whom the people of the towns would look up
to with respect, it would fall into those of designing
intriguers, office clerks, idlers, and the third-rate legal
practitioners of the local courts. This would be a con-
summation certainly not to be desired.
But, in spite of all the drawbacks, I think few can
doubt that there is a better future in store for our Ben-
gal municipalities. Apart from any system of election,
and despite the cavillings of disappointed would-be
administrators of local affairs, let the Government, aided
Future of Municipalities.
9
by its local authorities, continue to choose the best men
available for the office of municipal commissioners; and
having done so, entrust them with the fullest powers
within the laws in force for the time being, refrain from
undue interference or official pressure, and if the selec-
tion has been judicious, there is little fear but that the
local interests will be fairly consulted, the views of the
Government deferred to, in all necessary matters of sa-
nitation and improvement, the business of the several
municipalities carried on in a proper and straightfor-
ward manner, and the Government and the people alike
satisfied.
:
1
10
Money, the First Necessity.
CHAPTER II.
"Pecuniæ obediunt omnia."
As in all other undertakings, the first necessity for
municipal improvement is that most important of the
sinews of war—Money. When the municipal treasury
is full, it is easy to project and carry out sanitary
improvements and works of public utility, but, as a
rule, Bengal municipalities are sadly crippled for want
of funds, and those who have the care and responsibility
of their affairs are expected to do a great deal with very
limited means.
The first duty, therefore, of the executive head of any
municipality is to secure a proper assessment and regular
collection of the income of the corporation. The muni-
cipal fund in Bengal is usually derived from the fol-
lowing sources:
First-Direct taxation in some one or more of the
following forms, viz. :-
(a) A tax upon persons occupying holdings within
the Municipality according to their circumstances
and property.
(b) A rate on the annual value of all holdings
situated within the Municipality, known as a house-
rate.
L
י
t
Sources of Income.
11
(c) A tax on carriages, horses, and other beasts of
burden or draught, known as the wheel-tax, or
horse or carriage-tax.
(d) Registration-fees on carts.
(e) A cess on occupied holdings for scavengering
purposes, or house-service cess.
(f) Tolls on ferries, bridges, and metalled roads.
Secondly-Miscellaneous revenue, such as-
(a) Fines for offences under the various Municipal
Acts and bye-laws, and the conservancy clauses of
Police Acts.
(b) Warrant and peon's fees.
(c) License fees on slaughterhouses, cattle and
sheep pens, and piggeries.
(d) Fees for the removal of trade refuse.
(e) Sale of hides and carcasses of animals dying
within the town.
(f) Payments for town refuse for filling up tanks
and low grounds, and for the services of the conser-
vancy establishment in cleansing tanks and filling
lands, being private property.
(g) Fees and penalties from the cattle pounds.
(h) Miscellaneous rents and royalties.
As a rule, the backbone of the municipal fund is the
house-rate, and in order that it may yield the fullest
possible amount of revenue, while at the same time its
incidence shall be fairly and equitably distributed, so as
not to press unduly on any class of the rate-payers,
the assessment must be carefully and equably conducted;
and to this end it is essential that every Municipality,
large or small, should have an assessor, a distinct and
responsible officer answerable for the entire assessment
12
Assessment and Collection.
of the town. Assessment by a local committee is a most
undesirable procedure; and where a large Municipality
is divided into wards, each having its own local com-
mittee, local assessments by these committees are to be
carefully avoided. No real economy is to be effected.
by an assessment of the rates by an unpaid and irres-
ponsible agency, and there are, as a rule, too many local
influences brought to bear on members of such committees
to secure equitable and impartial assessments. The paid
and responsible officer, whose assessments are subject to
the revision of the head of the Corporation, as well as
of the Court of appeal provided for by the law (vide
sec. 108, Act V of 1876, B.C.), is always to be pre-
ferred.
The assessment being satisfactorily completed, the
next question for consideration is the collection. The
agency employed for this purpose may be either con-
tract or salaried, and after experience of both modes,
I am decidedly in favor of the former. Where the col-
lector receives a fixed rate of commission payable only
on the amount of the bills actually realised by him, it
becomes, as a matter of course, his chief aim and object
to realise as many rates as possible, and to return to the
warrant officer as few unrealised bills as may be. With
a salaried agency, on the other hand, there is no incen-
tive to take trouble to collect the rates; and it requires
but little acquaintance with native agency of this kind
to know that trouble is the very last thing a native of
this country will take upon himself so long as he can
shuffle through his daily task without endangering his
salary. It is quite another thing when money is to be
made by exerting themselves, and the takka, or rupee,
Supervision of Conservancy Work.
13
is quite as potent a stimulant in this country as the
almighty dollar is amongst our American cousins. But
whichever class of agency be employed, sufficient in-
ducement must be offered if you expect a satisfactory
return, and it will be found that, in remunerating muni-
cipal servants, as in every other branch of the public
service, judicious liberality is in the end the truest
economy.
No sanitary arrangements will work satisfactorily in
this country unless there is constant and careful super-
vision in every department; and this can hardly be
secured without European or Eurasian agency in the
supervisors', inspectors', and overseers' grades.
Natives of this country are far too heedless and apa-
thetic in matters of the kind. Caste and social prejudices
will hardly permit really respectable Bengalees to accept
employment in a department where they are necessarily
brought into immediate personal contact with mehters,
haris, nightsoil carts, and the like; or if they do enter
the service, their duties are almost sure to be unsatisfac-
torily performed, and they will shirk giving that close
personal attention which alone can secure efficiency.
After a long experience in municipal administration
during which I have had to work almost entirely with
native subordinates, and while gladly admitting that
they possess many admirable qualifications for work in
many departments, such as assessing, collecting, ministe-
rial and other office work, as well as in the roads and
works department, I am convinced that they are con-
stitutionally and morally unfitted for the duties of sani-
tary and conservancy officers. As a rule they are effe-
minate, timid, and of indolent temperaments, unbusiness-
14
Shortcomings of Native Overseers.
like and perfunctory to a degree; they seldom take any
real interest in their work, but too often look upon it as
an irksome task, to be shuffled over with as little dis-
comfort to themselves and as distant a contact with its
disagremens as possible. They are unobservant! having
eyes, they see not; having ears, they hear not; neither
will they understand; they are utterly wanting in
emulation or any feeling of pride in their work; they
will muffle their noses in their chudders, and pass by
a foul odour a dozen times in the week without troub-
ling themselves to investigate the cause. They will
allow holes and gaps to work up the road surface,
or railings and fences to go to ruin before their eyes,
without taking the initiative to hinder destruction by
timely repairs. They will work cattle with sore backs
and unshod feet till they go dead lame, and ricketty
carts till they drop to pieces; and they are wilfully
and negligently blind to the shortcomings and neglect
of their subordinates, and culpably silent as to their
misdeeds. In fact, they hate and despise their duties
whilst accepting the honorarium attached to them,
and they are too often wanting in the moral courage
necessary to enable them to do their duty in a straight-
forward, fearless, and impartial manner.
I fear this will be considered too sweeping a con-
demnation of the class from which these men are re-
cruited, but it is not intended to be so; I speak only
with reference to their fitness for a particular class
of duties, and that not of the most pleasant or desir-
able character.
A conservancy officer will never be a popular character
if he does his duty throughly. It is impossible that
Qualifications of a good Overseer.
15
he should be, nor is it necessary. He should be
always among the people, but not of them. A good
overseer must be a man with tact and good temper,
mild but firm, not to be turned aside from his duty by
promises, threats, or abuse; but not given to retorts,
vituperation, harsh language, or threats of reprisals.
He should be active, methodical, and observant, tak-
ing note of every little defect, and remedying it at
once. Thoroughly imbued with the truth of the maxim
that " a stitch in time saves nine," he should never get
into the habit of overlooking trifles, for it is, as a rule,
the aggregation of trifling nuisances that go to make
a neighbourhood untidy and uncomfortable. He should
take a real interest in his work, and a pride in keeping
his ward, if possible, cleaner and tidier than the others.
He must do things, and not be always going to do
them. He should never put off till to-morrow what can
be done to-day; procrastination is one of the curses of
this country. If you order anything to be done by
almost any class of workman, however trifling it
may be, the invariable answer is "atcha, kal korebo"
(very well, I will do it to-morrow). He should possess
the faculty of organization, otherwise his available labor
will be frittered away without any useful result, and
he should have sufficient firmness of character to control
his subordinates, take from them their full share of
work, and insist upon their obedience to orders and rules,
and bring them to punishment if they misconduct
themselves. That he should be thoroughly upright and
honest, 'cela va sans dire.'
An overseer who fulfils all the above conditions would
be as valuable as he is rare.
.
16
Objections to European Overseers.
The objections to the employment of Europeans as
overseers are, that the salaries allotted for this class
of work are seldom sufficient to secure good men;
and a badly paid overseer cannot be expected to render
either efficient or honest service. Really respectable
men will hardly accept such service unless under the
pressure of actual want and to keep the wolf from
the door for the time being, and the only class from
which European overseers may be obtained at the
rate of salaries usually considered sufficient,-viz., pen-
sioned or time-expired soldiers,-seldom acquire the
language sufficiently well, or understand the people,
or they them, and they are thus apt, ignorantly and
unintentionally it may be, to offend the prejudices or
wound the feelings of the native population. That
this is the case is not to be wondered at when we con-
sider the only experience they have had of native life
and character. This has, as a rule, been restricted to
the bazaars in the cantonment, and the purlieus of
the barrack, where they have been brought into con-
tact with only the very lowest, most disreputable, and
most abandoned specimens of the natives of the country,
male or female. They thus imbibe erroneous views
of native life and character and prejudices, which are
sure to bear unpleasant fruit. in after years when a
transfer to civil employment in the country brings
them into wider and closer connexion with the people.
The dislike is mutual, the Bengalee naturally resents the
domiciliary visits of the European or Eurasian over-
seer much more than he does those of his own
countryman, especially if he be one of the superior
castes; and when to the fact of the intrusion on his
Results of State Education.
17
privacy is possibly added harsh language, or what he
may consider insult, arising most likely from imperfect
knowledge of the vernacular, his indignation is aroused,
and complaints are preferred to the higher authorities.
Europeans of this class are also too often given to
intemperate habits, and this, combined with insuffi-
cient pay, lays them open to manifold temptations, which
their native subordinates are too ready to take advantage
of to their own profit, and the ultimate ruin of the un-
fortunate tools of their rascality.
On the whole, therefore, we must depend on Eurasians
and on natives of the country principally as overseers,
and we can only hope that, by careful selection and good
training, we shall, in time, secure a better class of
men than we have at present. It is true that the
country now swarms with the alumni of our local
colleges; the outcome of that system of State educa-
tion which bids fair to leave Bengal without tillers
of the soil, artizans, and traders, while swamping the
professions, the public offices, and every department
and business, where a knowledge of the three R's is
a
necessary qualification, with B.A.'s or B.L.'s, or
holders of some degree or another. Indeed, so impressed
is the native mind with the open-sesame powers of
a little learning, that, a by-no-means-uncommon quali-
fication of many who now apply for clerkships and
other appointments, is, "that they have studied at the
so-and-so institution, and failed to pass the Entrance
Examination." If they are not the rose, they have
been near the rose.”
B
18
Sanitation and Natural Laws.
CHAPTER III.
"Naturam expellas furca, tamen usque recurret.”—Horace.
(Though you should expel or restrain nature by force, she will
still resume her sway.)
It is an incontrovertible fact, that "the more man
follows nature and is obedient to her laws, the longer
are his chances of life; and the further he departs from
following them, the shorter and more troublous will
be his existence." Equally true is it, that the bulk of the
insanitary evils with which we are afflicted arise from
neglect of, or departure from, those laws of nature.
"which govern and support the mighty frame of univer-
sal being."
No doubt, of late years, there has been a great awaken-
ing of sanitary science as applied to the surroundings
of our everyday life, but that this is so must be as-
cribed to the increasing artificiality of our modern
ways and habits, which, departing more and more from
the simple paths of nature, carry with them or create
an attending train of evils, and, as a consequence, neces-
sitate their remedy by artificial means.
The unwritten laws of sanitation are as old as the
beginning of the world, but the first written precepts
on the subject are those of Moses, the great Hebrew law-
giver, which he delivered to the Israelites when they
came up out of the land of Egypt.
Hindu Neglect of Sanitation.
19
In fact the keynote of all our modern systems of con-
servancy of towns and encampments is to be found in
the 23rd chapter of the Book of Deuteronomy.
//Ancient, however, as sanitary laws may be, they do
not seem to have been in vogue at any time among
the Hindus; and this, although the Hindu shastras teem
with laws for the purification of the body and household
cleansing. Mill says that, in spite of the frequency
and care with which Hindus perform religious ablutions,
few nations are surpassed by them in the total want
of physical purity in their houses, streets, and persons."
In support of his views he quotes Mr. Forster, "whose
long residence in India and knowledge of the country
render him an excellent witness," and who, speaking of
the narrow streets of the sacred city of Benares, says:
"In addition to the pernicious effects which must proceed
from a confined atmosphere, there is, in the hot season,
an intolerable stench arising from the many pieces of
stagnant water dispersed in different quarters of the
town. The filth also which is indiscriminately thrown
into the streets and there left exposed (for the Hindus
possess but a small portion of general cleanliness) adds
to the compound of evil smells." The author whose
duties at one time required him to patrol the streets
of Benares from ten at night till gunfire in the morning,
can confirm what is said above of the streets of that
city, although it is probable that municipal improve-
ment has now somewhat remedied the old state of
things. In 1864, the Hon'ble John Strachey, then
President of the Sanitary Commission for Bengal, wrote
of the northern or native part of Calcutta, which con-
tains some hundred thousand people, that it was
(C no
20
Customs of the Hindus.
figure of speech but the simple truth to say, that no
language can adequately describe its abominations. In
the filthiest quarters of the filthiest towns that I have
éver seen, either in other parts of India or in other
countries, I have never seen anything which can be for
a moment compared with the filthiness of Calcutta."
The authors of the Universal History, also quoted
by Mill, describe with pure and picturesque simpli-
city a custom of the Hindus, which must be pretty
familiar to an old Indian resident "The women
scruple no more than the men to do their occasions
in the public streets and highways, for which pur-
pose they go out in droves to some dead wall in the
city, so that it is ill taking the air either in the streets
or without the towns near the river and ditches."
And an old medical writer on the endemic fever of
Bengal says: "The banks of the sacred Ganges, which
supplies alike drink for the living and a final recep-
tacle for the dead, presents, particularly about the rising
and the setting of the sun, a motley group of all classes,
and sometimes both sexes, sacrificing to the Goddess
Cloacina, in colloquial association; and in some places,
where eddies prevail, a whole vortex of putrid corpses
may be seen circling about for hours together, and from
one hundred to one hundred and fifty of these disgust-
ing objects may be counted passing any one point
in the course of a day.”
The late Dr. Cutcliffe, whilst Civil Surgeon of Dacca,
wrote of the condition of that ancient city:
<<
It must be admitted, I conceive, that, in Dacca, for
ages past, the excreta from the entire population has
been allowed to remain in and about the houses and
Hindu Ideas of Cleanliness.
21
the compounds of the people; that no conservancy sys-
tem has ever existed; that the water in the wells is
horribly polluted, no means being taken to prevent
the filth and excreta from finding their way into the
wells, and that the river-water is fouled by excreta
and dirt cast along the banks of the river.
"In short, that no one can deny that the air which the
people breathe is dangerously impure; that the soil on
which they reside, besides being porous, damp, and un-
drained, is made up very greatly of the decomposing
excreta of the present, and the more or less decomposed
remains of the past, generation."
Dr. Kanai Lal Dey, Rai Bahadur, in a paper on
Hindu social laws and habits, viewed in relation to
health, says: "The Hindu practice of household clean-
liness is rather a strange compound of anomalies, for
while they will have their rooms cleaned by sweeping,
by scraping, and by sprinkling of water for more than
once a day, they will suffer the sweepings and the
scrapings, and the refuse of the house, to accumulate
and to putrify under their noses, contaminating the very
air they breathe."-(Journal of British Medical Associa-
tion, March 1860.)
In fact, Hindu ideas of cleanliness go little further
than the personal cleanliness inculcated by their religion.
The washings, sweepings, and plastering with clay and
cowdung are all more or less ceremonial observances.
bound up with the religious system which proclaims the
indefileability of the sacred stream, and which declares
that, "pure or impure, clean or muddy, stinking or
odoriferous, its water may be drunk with everlasting
benefit to the human soul; and that a man should not
22
Foundation of Sanitary Law.
scruple if he found any filth mixed with his drinking
water, when that water was drawn from the Bhagi-
rutty, but separate the filth from the water, and drink
the latter with a light and gladsome heart."-(Dr. K. L.
Dey's address.)
We must not, however, overlook the fact that the
Hindus are most conservative in their adherence to
their old systems of ceremonial cleansings, and that
these were inculcated in the earliest ages, when men led
much more primitive and natural lives than they do now,
when their habitations were scattered amidst groves
and gardens and fields, and not crowded into close,
confined, and therefore, necessarily, filthy streets and
gullies. There was then not the same necessity for close
attention to the removal from the vicinity of human
dwellings of excretal matters and filth of all kinds.
Men living in thinly populated countries, following an
agricultural or nomade life, would not suffer from these
causes. The sewage matters would be desiccated by the
sun, deodorised by the soil, and, in return, fertilising the
latter, be a benefit to man, and not a danger. "It is only
when men collect in communities that the disposal of
excreta becomes a matter literally of life and death
(Dr. Parkes); and thus the laws of cleanliness and puri-
fication laid down by the early Hindu lawgiver had
reference to the person and the private dwelling only,
and not to public hygiene as applicable to the congrega-
tion of men in towns, cities, or camps. //
The foundation of sanitary law is that which is com-
mon to all law whatsoever,-viz., expediency, the neces-
sity of things. Necessity requires that certain restraints
should be imposed on all classes of the community, from
Broad Principles of Sanitary Law.
23
the wealthy landowner to the meanest peasant, and
that individuals should occasionally be called upon to
make certain sacrifices for the good of all. But when
it is considered to what end these sacrifices are made, no
less a matter, in fact, than the safety, health, peace, com-
fort, welfare, and life of the whole community; that those
called upon to make them receive a quid pro quo in per-
sonal immunity from disease, danger, and discomfort to.
the same extent as their fellow citizens; that they are,
indeed, no greater than others of their neighbours have
to submit to;-and when it is taken into consideration
that the trifling restraints and the comparatively small
pecuniary contributions levied from them are, where the
public hygiene and the local administration are wisely
directed, amply compensated by the increased safety,
health, and comfortable enjoyment of life,-there is surely
no man possessed of a liberal and rational mind who will
complain of the levy of reasonable taxation or the
enforcement of reasonable and proper regulations. The
broad principles upon which sanitary laws and regula-
tions rest are these: that every individual member of the
community is entitled to protection in regard to his
health and comfort, as much as he is in regard to the
security of his life and property; and that, while property
has its rights and privileges, it has also its duties and
responsibilities, and that no man is entitled so to use, or
keep his property in such a manner, or in such a condi-
tion, as to make it a cause of offence or annoyance to his
neighbours; and thus it is that, when men collect
together in communities, that individual interests become,
to a certain extent, merged in, or subordinated to, the
interests of the community at large.
...
24
Use and Misuse of Property.
In the earlier ages, when all knowledge and science,
sanitary or other, was, as a rule, confined to the priestly
classes, the aid of religion and superstition was invoked
to compel observance to those natural laws which it was
necessary to adhere to if the health of communities was
to be preserved and plagues averted. But in the present
day it is necessary to base our sanitary regulations upon
a more utilitarian foundation,-viz., that the individual
must be content to sacrifice a small part of the possible
profit or pleasure he might derive from the unrestricted
use of his own estate for the general benefit or enjoy-
ment of the community.
The sanitary law will not interfere with the exercise of
every man's undoubted right to carry on his trade or
business, or to utilise his property in any manner in
which it may be profitable or pleasurable to himself,
merely because it may be objectionable to an immediate
neighbour.
To bring such an use within the purview of the law, the
public must be inconvenienced, and whatever conduces
to hinder or affect the enjoyment of life or health by the
public at large, must, in the general interest, be restrained.
Sanitary science, with its practical applications, being
thus admittedly indispensable to the welfare of populous
communities, justly demands the attention bestowed
upon it, not only by the medical profession, but by all
who are interested in the health and comfort of our
towns, and the physical welfare of their inhabitants; and
its admitted expediency amply justifies the efforts made
(and where rendered necessary by ignorant or factious
opposition, the pressure applied) by the Government of
this country to induce greater attention to its observ-
State Interference.
25
ances and dictates on the part of municipal committees
and other local authorities. We constantly find in this
country that attempts to improve the sanitary condition
of our towns, even in the very metropolis of India, are
strenuously opposed, on the ground that such improve-
ments involve interference with the private rights of
property, and possible pecuniary injury to individuals;
and there have not been wanting well-known writers
on political economy, notably John Stuart Mill, who are
opposed to State interference in such matters, on the plea
that such interference may possibly do more harm than
good. It must, however, be admitted that the State must
protect those who are unable to help themselves, or
who are incapable of discriminating between what is and
what is not necessary for their own good;-and this is
undeniably the condition of the mass of our Indian town
populations. In regard to questions of sanitation and
hygiene, they are as ignorant and helpless as children or
imbeciles, and it is, therefore, the undoubted duty of the
State, and under it the local authorities, to do for them
what they cannot do for themselves, and what selfish and
short-sighted landlords will not do for them; and con-
sidering that the cost of general sanitary improvement
must be met by taxation, a remark recently made in
the Bengal Legislative Council was pertinent and felici-
tous: "In India," said Mr. Mackenzie, "a foreign, but we
hope a benevolent, Government, taxes the people in their
own interest, and often in their own despite."
Large towns are the foci of diseases of all descriptions.
It is in them that the various causes of bodily suffering
and discomfort attain their height, operate most power-
fully, and produce the most serious consequences; and it
26
Sanitary Reform where most required.
is, therefore, to them that the sanitary reformer must
principally direct his attention, and it is in the quarters
inhabited by the poor and labouring classes that insani-
tary conditions are most plentiful, and the soil and the
atmosphere alike attain the lowest depths of contamina-
tion. Such are the bustees and kintals of Calcutta, the
gowalparas and bustees of the suburbs, the Sankribazar
and chamarparas of Dacca, and the back-slums of Patna
and Benares.
To lavish money on costly schemes of watersupply,
urgent as the necessity for purer water may be, on
fine roads, gas-lamps, commemoration halls and insti-
tutes, or on zoological gardens and parks, is but a
mockery whilst the drainage of the subsoil and surface
water is neglected, the soil and the foundations of the
dwellings saturated with filth, accumulations of excretal
matter and organic filth abound, and the air is laden with
noisome emanations. No human being can have health
or enjoyment, no child can flourish and grow up to active
youth and vigorous manhood, in a tainted atmosphere,
and no atmosphere can be otherwise than tainted and
poisonous where such conditions exist as they do in full
force in most of the poorer quarters of our Indian towns.
And is it a matter of surprise that, in such towns under
such conditions, cholera is an endemic and prevailing
disease; that dysentery, diarrhoea, and enteric fevers are
ever present; that the rates of mortality are alarmingly
high, and that sickness and semi-starvation stalk hand
in haud amongst the dwellings of the poor?
Malaria.
27
、 .. ...
.
,
CHAPTER IV.
"All the infections that the sun sucks up
From bogs, fens, flats'
"As wicked dew as e'er my mother brushed,
With raven's feather from unwholesome fen."
Shakspeare.
Malaria is a word in common use in the mouths of per-
sons of all classes, the learned and the ignorant alike.
Populations are said to be 'suffering from malaria :
various conditions of soil and atmosphere are described
as 'pregnant with malaria;' certain localities are called
'hotbeds of malaria;'-and yet comparatively few of
those who use the word have a very clear conception of
its meaning. Many use it because they have heard others
use it, or because it is a fine sonorous mouth-filling term
for some insanitary state of things which they do not
otherwise know how to describe, and which has, in their
mind's eye, assumed a special form, compounded of dank
jungle, foul water, thick fog, reeking mists, fevers, rheu-
matisms, et hoc genus omne.
What is Malaria? Webster describes it as follows:
Malaria, Italian mala aria. Latin malus, bad, and.
aria, air. Bad air; air tainted by deleterious emanations
from animal or vegetable matter; especially noxious
emanations from marshy districts, capable of causing
•
1
.
28
Nature of Malaria.
fever or other disease; miasma." ("Miasma, G. μíaoua,
defilement; infection floating in the air, the effluvia or
fine particles of any putrefying bodies rising and float-
ing in the atmosphere, and considered to be noxious to
health; deadly exhalations.")
Dr. Jackson, Sanitary Commissioner of Bengal, 1873,
says:-"Of the intimate nature of malaria nothing is
known. Chemistry has failed to detect it in marsh air,
nor has the microscope been more successful. Those who
believe in such an entity, are constrained to infer its
existence to the present time. It has never been seen.
Formerly it was supposed to be of gaseous nature. More
recently the opinion that it consists of minute organ-
isms, such as cryptogamic sporules or infusorial ova,
has gained supporters. By some its existence is denied
altogether, the phenomena attributed to it being
accounted for by alternations of temperature and chill.
Its existence is inferred wherever fevers of a distinct-
ly paroxysmal or intermitting character prevail. Its
alleged characteristics are:-
"That it exhibits a preference for moist and low-lying
situations;
"That it is most pernicious at night, whether from con-
centration, or the colder atmosphere, or because more
copiously evolved from the soil, is not known;
"That it is heavier than air, and collects near the
ground or in the lower regions of the atmosphere;
"That it is capable of being carried by currents of
air to localities distant from where it is produced;
"That it is destroyed or absorbed on passing over water;
"That thus dissolved, or contained in water, it is
introduceable into the system when such water is drunk ;
Component Constituents of Malaria.
29
"That it is attracted by, and retained in proximity to,
trees and foliage;
"That it requires a temperature between 50° and 60°
Faht. as a minimum for its development;
"That it is most abundant and virulent the nearer
the equator or seacoast;
"That it disappears under cultivation;
"That it is dissipated and destroyed by fire."
Without troubling ourselves further as to its exact
nature or composition, we may take it as a generic
term for a certain insanitary condition of the atmos-
phere, arising from excessive humidity of soil charged
with organic matter in a state of decomposition,
prevailing in low-lying and badly drained districts,
and especially in the air of marshes and fen lands;
and in this interpretation it may be taken wherever
it occurs in the following pages. As to its component
constituents, Dr. Wilson says:-"The air of marshes
generally contains an excess of carbonic acid, light car-
buretted hydrogen, watery vapour, sulphuretted hydro-
gen, and organic effluvia; it also abounds with the
debris of vegetable matter, infusorice, and insects."
As we shall have to allude to these gases in the
course of these pages, it may be well to note here their
composition and natural history.
Carbonic acid is a heavy colorless gas without smell ;
when mixed with air, a deadly poison, instantly extin-
guishing a flame, and suffocating in a moment any
animal plunged into it, as is exemplified in the case
of the well-known Grotto del Cane, near Naples, in
Italy, into which dogs are thrust for a few seconds
and withdrawn in a state of insensibility from the
30
Deleterious Gases.
effects of the carbonic acid gas, which issues from
fissures in the ground. It is produced by combustion,
fermentation, and the decay of animal and vegetable
matter; and is abundantly thrown off by the lungs in
the act of respiration,-the carbon of the blood com-
bining with the oxygen of the air forming this noxious
gas. A recent example of the production of this gas,
and its deadly effects, occurred in Calcutta, in August,
1880. The B. S. Cape Verde, laden with grain, was
damaged, and had to be beached. Coolies were engaged
to discharge the damaged cargo, when two of their
number fell into the hold, suffocated by the gas
generated by the rotting grain. An African stevedore
attempted to rescue them, but fell down insensible.
the moment he entered the hatch way, and was with
difficulty drawn back. A number of globe lanterns,
lowered into the hold, were at once extinguished, and
an attempt to enter it in a complete diver's dress
was found unavailing.
Sulphuretted hydrogen, a gas possessing a most
offensive smell, that of rotten eggs in fact, is produced
by the putrefaction of bodies containing sulphur, which,
set free by decomposition, unites with hydrogen. In
the mineral kingdom it is found in the gas issuing
from volcanoes, and in mineral waters, such as the
Harrgate springs. It is the most poisonous of all
known gases. "One part in 1,500 of common air will
kill birds; one in 1,000, dogs; and one in 250, horses."-
(Meymott Tidy's Modern Chemistry.)
Light carburetted hydrogen is a synonym of marsh gas,
which is found in stagnant ditches, wherever vegetable
matter is decomposing out of contact with air, but in the
Effects of Malaria.
31
presence of moisture. The exact chemical composition of
the vapours arising from the decomposition of animal
and vegetable matter, is a mystery at present unsolved.
Wherever, therefore, such a condition of the atmos-
phere as above described prevails, there we find the
home of intermittent fever or ague and other marsh,
or in other words malarious, diseases. The inhabitants
of such localities suffer from fevers, diarrhoea, dysentery,
enlarged and indurated spleen; and even those who
have no specific disease often present an enfeebled
and pallid appearance. Such a state of things has been
very prevalent for years past in Lower Bengal; and in
the Suburbs of Calcutta alone, a district of twenty-
three square miles, with a population, according to the
last census, of 257,000 persons, there were in the five
years, from 1875 to 1880, 31,770 deaths from fever
alone. In the Teraie and Western Dooars, fevers of
this type assume the most malignant form, and we find
European settlers in the newly-opened up tea districts
returning with enlarged and indurated spleens, jaundice,
emaciation, œdematous legs and feet, hot dry hands,
and every symptom of malarial poisoning. The Sun-
derbuns, and the then newly-established but short-
lived town and port of Canning, on the Mutlah, pos-
sessed an unenviable reputation in this respect; so
much so, that the type of fever contracted there was
commonly spoken of as "the dangerous Mutlah fever;"
but, from an experience of three years' residence, I
am myself persuaded that its unhealthiness was greatly
and unjustly over-estimated.
Atmospheric or common air, or that which we breathe,
is the first necessity of animal life, and its purity or
32
Atmospheric Air.
impurity is of the greatest importance in regard to the
health of towns and habitations. It is composed of
oxygen and nitrogen, in the proportion of about one
part of the former to four of the latter; or, to speak
more exactly, it contains 20·61 oxygen; 77.95 nitrogen ;
04 carbonic anhydride, commonly called carbonic acid ;
1.40 aqueous vapour, with traces of nitric acid, ammo-
nia, carburetted hydrogen; and in towns, sulphuretted
hydrogen, and sulphurous anhydride or volatile spirits
of sulphur.-Miller.
The carbonic acid and aqueous vapour vary according
to circumstances and locality, the proportions of the
other component parts remaining relatively the same in
all places and climates and at all heights, from the sea-
level to the tops of the highest mountains.
Of all elementary substances that which nature has
provided most abundantly, and that which is of the
greatest importance to living beings, is oxygen, which is
a colorless, odorless, invisible gas, a little heavier than
common air. Pure oxygen cannot be breathed without
risk of injury or death. Dr. Meymott Tidy says,-" Com-
pressed oxygen is the most fearful poison known, pro-
ducing violent convulsions, and ultimately causing death.”
Diluted, it is a necessity of life, and as a certain space
can only contain a certain proportion of oxygen, and as
every living creature in that space is continually inhal-
ing and consuming it, it follows that where free circula-
tion of air is impeded, the supply becomes exhausted
and the air less fitted to support life.
Aërial impurities are of two kinds,-gaseous matters
and organic matter in suspension.
Of the first, the principal and most noxious in towns
Aerial Impurities.
33
is carbonic acid gas. In close and overcrowded dwell-
ings, the oxygen in the air is constantly being consumed,
and the vacuum thereby caused is occupied by the car-
bonic acid thrown off by the lungs, by the combustion
of fires and lights, and by the decay of organic matter
constantly going on around us.
From three to four hundred cubic feet of air are
passed through the lungs of an adult in twenty-four
hours, the air being deprived of oxygen to the extent of
about five per cent.
About fifteen cubic feet of carbonic
acid is expired during the like period.
Here we have the explanation why a constant supply
of fresh air is required to maintain life, and why close,
ill-ventilated and overcrowded dwellings are so ini-
mical to health.
The well-known instance of the Black Hole of Cal-
cutta will at once recur to the reader's mind. Tidy says,
"Air containing 4 or 5 per cent. of carbonic anhy-
dride, such as air once breathed, causes a sense of
oppression with headache distress, and perhaps delirium.
and coma. Air containing 3 per cent. cannot be breathed
without great distress, and will, probably, produce insen-
sibility. An atmosphere containing 1 or even 0.5 per
cent. is distressing. Its presence in the proportion
of 0.1 per cent. may be considered the boundary line
between good and bad air."
Dr. Parkes says, that "when the amount of carbonic
acid in an inhabited room amounts to 0.7 per 1,000
cubic feet of air, the organic matter in suspension, which
forms one of the impurities of vitiated air, becomes dis-
tinctly perceptible to the sense of smell."
Carbonic acid is largely produced by the fermentation
C
34
Habitations of the Poor.
and decay of animal and vegetable matter. This is one
reason why heavy jungles and huts buried in luxuriant
rank vegetation, surrounded with dank rotting leaves
and undergrowth, and situated perhaps on the margin
of ponds and water-holes, overhung and shaded from
the desiccating rays of the tropical sun and the dissi-
pating influence of fresh breezes by forest trees and
heavy bamboo thickets, are so unhealthy.
How many habitations of the kind are there not through-
out Bengal, inhabited by poverty-stricken peasants or
artisans? Small, low, and deficient (both from their
construction and surroundings) in light and ventilation,
erected often on a damp water-logged subsoil, they are, as
a rule, overcrowded, and their inmates have the common
aversion of the poor and ignorant to the admission of
fresh air. Closely thatched, the projecting eaves coming
down to within five feet of the ground; with mud
walls and floor, the interior measurement, perhaps,
fifteen feet by ten; they have one door, always closed at
night, and every crevice is carefully closed with matting
or rags when there is sickness in the house. In this
space are crowded together six or seven human beings of
varying ages, from the wrinkled crone of fifty to the
child in arms. Here they cook, eat, smoke, sleep, and
exist. Here they often lie shivering or burning alter-
nately with fever, writhe in the pangs of cholera, or rave
in the delirium of smallpox; and here they die. Fancy
this interior at night, the door closed to keep out the
damp and malarious exhalations of the night, the
inmates asleep on mats or filthy ragged quilts spread
on the clay floor. Every living creature in that den is
engaged in inhaling as much oxygen as the vitiated
Bengali Homesteads.
35
atmosphere will yield; and exhaling carbonic acid gas,
watery vapours, and noxious effete matter from their
lungs and pores. And yet these are the unfavourable
circumstances (aggravated by scanty innutritious food,
and water which is often poisonous in its impurity),
under which numbers of the poorer classes of our
Indian towns and villages strive for existence.
Few "know how they live, how life in them,
Still feebly lurks from morn to ghastly eve,
From eve to haggard morn."
It must not, however, be supposed, that poverty and
misery alone are the causes of the insanitary state of these
habitations. The following graphic description, which
appeared in the Calcutta Review, and has been reprinted
in Hunter's Statistical Account of Bengal, is a proof to
the contrary:
"The dense mass of vegetation in which all Bengalis
delight to shroud themselves, and which encircles the
rich landholder's palace, as well as the peasant's hut, is
everywhere more or less productive. It is composed
of the materials for food or for building-the cocoanut,
the bamboo, the jack tree, and the mango. There may be
seen the slender stalks of the betel tree and the tower-
ing stems of the cocoanut above them, their long arms
waving in the breeze; on the other side, probably, a thick
garden of plantains, that curious link between the vege-
table and the timber; in the back ground an underwood
of wild cane, twining itself round everything of firmer
bulk; and a little further on, an undistinguishable mass
of thorn, creepers, and underwood of every shade, length,
and denomination. The husbandman must have his fruit.
trees and his bamboos, which yield him a return for no
*
36
Bengali Homesteads.
expenditure of labor but that required for gathering or
cutting-his protection for the womankind, and his shade
against the fierce sun of April and May. If he attains
these primary objects, he is content, no matter how much
miasma may be exhaled from the decaying vegetation,
how many diseases may lurk in that fair but deceitful
mass of green foliage, how many reptiles and venomous
snakes may be concealed in the unwholesome shades
which surround his paternal inheritance. The sun and
the gaze of the passing neighbour must alike be ex-
cluded. Grant him this, and he will endure with stoical
fortitude the periodical fever, the steamy heat of the
rains, and the fetid water which stagnates in the pools,
whence he has dug the materials for his homestead site.
(bhita), and which never feels the influence of the breeze
and the light."
Dr. Julian Jackson, when Sanitary Commissioner of
Bengal, reported: "It is greatly to the want of adequate
protection from the cold at night, as well as against the
glare of the sun by day, that the predeliction of the
people for encouraging the growth of underwood and
jungle round their houses is due. There is no doubt
that it is a source of warmth, protecting the people at
night from chill winds and currents of air; but when
disease appears it obstructs the very ventilation that is
needed for its dissipation. The great objection to jungle
is, that it is invariably used for purposes that pollute
the air, such as defæcation, deposit of refuse, &c. Bam-
boo jungle is absolutely necessary for repairs and con-
structive purposes, but, in the absence of all attempts at
sanitary regulation, is invariably used as a village latrine.
I know of no sanitary measure that excites the villager's
The Austakoor.
37
indignation to such a pitch as the removal of jungle ;
and have frequently heard them attribute the outbreak
of disease among them to this cause, alleging that the
exposed soil gave off noxious emanations to the sun's
rays, which, considering that such sites had been the
receptacle for filth of all kinds for many years before till
the soil was thoroughly saturated with organic material,
was probably true enough."
Another source of air pollution is the practice which
obtains throughout Bengal, of digging pits from whence
to take earth to raise the floors and plaster the walls
of the huts. These eventually become the anstakoor, or
the general cesspool, receiving the filth and ordure of the
household, the garbage of the cookroom, and the draining
of the cow-stall, and remaining more or less full of water
according to the season: rank vegetation springs up in
them, dies down, and rots in regular succession. They
thus become foci of foul gases and malarious exhalations.
Legislation has provided for the prevention of this
form of nuisance; and in spite of the obstinate opposi-
tion of even some of the most enlightened and learned
natives, who regard such measures as interference with
the sacred rights of private property, Municipal Com-
mittee-men are awakening to the necessity, in the inter-
ests of the people themselves, of suppressing the practice.
A fruitful source of aërial impurity is the foul vapour
arising from drains, sewers, and privies, especially that
most objectionable institution known as the Sundaish,
or well-privy, which was till lately, and still is, in many
places the universal accompaniment of every native
dwelling of the better sort. In Calcutta and the suburbs,
until within the last few years, there were one or more
38
Apathy of Natives.
in every brick-built native house throughout the Muni-
cipalities. The following description of a privy, taken
from the Sanitary Commissioner's report, is not an exag-
geration of what used to be the universal state of
things:-
"The private privies in general use are demi-upper-
roomed ones, on the upper floor of which there are two
holes on which the people sit and allow the excrement to
fall into the room below, where it is allowed to accumu-
late. Some of them are cleaned out every two or three
months, others again annually. In the rainy season
especially, the filth is poured down on the roads and
into the drains after heavy showers of rain." Add to
this that generally there was a well or pit sunk in the
floor of the lower compartment, and that the filth in
that case was never removed, and we have a picture of
the well-privy.
An instance which came under the writer's notice a
few years ago, will illustrate the subject as well as give
some idea of the apathy with which natives of this
country, even men of education and enlightenment,
regard the existence of such evils. A native of wealth
and education, a member of the native Bar of the High
Court, was the owner of a range of tenanted buildings
in a principal street of the town. There were forty
tenants, who used a range of privies built over a well
and common to the whole premises; this cloaca was
never cleansed, but the filth accumulated till the well
was filled, then the lower compartment of the build-
ing; when the weight of the foul fermenting mass
burst open the door and overflowed into a pond in rear
of the premises. The privy and pond being in rear of the
|
Filth Diseases.
39
building enclosed within high walls, the conservancy
officials were ignorant of its existence till cholera break-
ing out in the house the cause was soon revealed. It is
perhaps not so much a matter for surprize that the owner,
who by the way regularly realised from his tenants the
cost of cleansing, should not have seen to the cleanliness of
the place; but the conduct of the tenants (many of whom
were educated clerks and schoolmasters), who paid for the
work but never troubled themselves to see that it was
done, or complained of the neglect, is a significant proof
of the carelessness displayed by natives of this country
in regard to this fearful domestic danger. Talking once
to a learned native gentleman, a savant with an Euro-
pean reputation, on this subject, he said, "I have had
an uncleaned well-privy in my house for twenty years,
and no harm has resulted."
Now it is a well-known fact that fecal matters, when
in a state of decomposition, give forth carbonic acid,
nitrogen, sulphuretted hydrogen, light carburetted hydro-
gen, and ammonium sulphide, besides extremely offen-
sive odors, mainly due to organic matter, that is to say,
they produce every possible element of atmospheric
impurity in their greatest intensity. But besides the
mere fouling of the air, which in its vitiated state pre-
disposes to disease, must be considered the probable
diffusion of what are called filth diseases, viz., cholera,
diarrhoea, enteric fever, &c.; and which it is believed
may be contracted by inhaling the effluvia arising from
the dejecta of persons suffering from these complaints,
and even from filth in a state of putrescense, so much
so that, in America, the name "nightsoil fever" has
been given to typhoid fever, so directly has night-
40
Filth Diseases.
soil improperly kept been proved to be the cause of this
disease. A case reported by Dr. Carpenter proves the
potency of an atmosphere charged with putrescent ema-
nations in rendering the system liable to the attacks
of zymotic diseases of various kinds. A manufactory of
artificial manure existed immediately opposite Christ
Church Workhouse, Spitalfields (London), which build-
ing was occupied by about four hundred children, with
a few adult persons. Whenever the works were actively
carried on, particularly when the wind blew in the
direction of the house, there were produced numerous
cases of fever of an intractable and typhoid character;
a typhoid tendency was also observed in measles, smallpox,
and other infantile diseases; and for some time there pre-
vailed a most unmanageable and fatal form of aphthæ of
the mouth, ending in gangrene: many deaths occurred.
The proprietor of the factory was compelled to close his
establishment, and the children returned to their ordinary
health. Five months afterwards the works were recom-
menced. In a day or two subsequently, the wind blowing
from the manufactory a most powerful stench pervaded
the building. The night following forty-five of the
boys, whose dormitories directly faced the manufactory,
were again suddenly seized with diarrhoea, while the
girls whose dormitories were in a more distant part, and
faced in a different direction, escaped.
The manufactory having been again suppressed, there
was no subsequent return of diarrhoea.
Well-privies ought to be abolished wherever found;
the fecal matter contained in them should, if possible,
be removed; but as this is often a difficult and danger-
ous operation, their contents should be disinfected by
:
Disinfection of Privy Vaults.
41
the addition of chlorine, ferreous sulphate (green cop-
peras), sulphate of zinc, and sulphate of iron, or what
is largely used by the New York Disinfecting Corps,
a mixture of dead oil and copperas (impure carbolic
acid and protosulphate of iron)—(Buck. II, 413); and
the well then filled up completely with dry earth, well ram-
med down; the mouth of the well should then be bricked
over with good lime and soorkee mortar and well-burnt
bricks. Whatever disinfectant is used, it must be freely
employed, at least a pint of strong solution to each
cubic foot of the contents of the well-privy. Fecal
matters should be regularly and carefully removed from
privies daily, unless the pail system, known in France
and England as the Systeme Goux, be adopted, in
which case removal every sixth or seventh day will
be sufficient, except in cases where there is cholera
or enteric fever in the house, when the excreta should
be disinfected and removed daily. Privies and privy
vaults should be regularly whitewashed with fresh lime
and chloride of lime, or Macdougall's powder sprinkled
on the floors, seats, and drains. After the occurrence
of cases of disease, they should be further disinfected,
by burning a small quantity of sulphur in the lower
vault. Whether the daily cleansing or the six-day pail
system be in force, constant supervision and inspec-
tion is necessary to ensure regularity and thoroughness
of cleansing. Native householders cannot be depended
upon to bring to notice in due time neglect on the
part of the nightmen, though they are ready enough,
at least the educated portion of them, to rush into
print and ventilate real or imaginary grievances in
the columns of the English and vernacular papers.
42
Burial Grounds.
CHAPTER V.
"The hollow ground;
Being loose, unfirm with digging up of graves."
Shakspeare.
Graveyards, especially those used by Mahomedans
for the burial of their dead, are fruitful sources of the
evolution of noxious gases, such as carbonic acid, phos-
phoretted hydrogen, ammonia, and sulphuretted hydro-
gen; and are distinctly inimical to health.
Dr. Wilson says:-" According to the evidence sum-
med up in the Report on Extramural Sepulture in
1850, the vapours given off from thickly-crowded grave-
yards, if not actually productive of disease, do certainly
tend to increase the sick and death-rate of the immediate
neighbourhood.”
It would be idle and presumptuous for me to attempt
to prove what the effects of effluvia from putrescent ani-
mal matter are on healthy subjects; the offensiveness
of smell is itself evidence of its deleteriousness. If then
the evil is admitted and legislated for in Europe, where
bodies are encased in coffins, and buried at a considerable
depth, how much greater must be the mischief in this
country, when we have bodies merely wrapped in a cloth
and placed frequently barely three feet underground, and
Putrefaction Defined.
•
43
where the earth-covering is again greatly reduced in
thickness by the Mahomedan practice of placing a plat-
form over the corpse;-and this in a country subject
to the intense heat and heavy rains of the Tropics. Here
there is not time for that slow decay of " the poor rem-
nants of mortality," by which the elements of organic
matter are slowly oxidated or united to the oxygen of
the air. On the contrary, the decay passes quickly into
putrefaction, and putrid smells, with all their attendant
evils, arise from the grave and vitiate the atmosphere/
And here it will not be out of place if we consider
what is putrefaction. Tidy defines it to be "a spontane-
ous change common to all nitrogenised organic bodies
when exposed to the air, whereby they are resolved into
new and simpler products. The action is accompanied
by the evolution of unpleasant gases, which are, for the
most part, compounds of sulphur and phosphorus. It
differs from fermentation in that unpleasant products are
evolved, as e. g., in the decomposition of a dead body.
Moreover, a putresciable body is always a nitrogenised
body, which, at a certain temperature, in contact with
air and moisture, decomposes, and then becomes capable
of acting as a ferment.
"Moreover, like fermentation, putrefaction is always
accompanied by the development of certain minute living
organisms, fungi, and infusoria.”
The conditions necessary to putrefaction are air,
moisture, and warmth. The presence of the first is-
necessary only at the commencement of the process.
When putrefaction has once fairly commenced, it conti-
nues independently. A perfectly dry body does not
putrefy. This is exemplified by the curious dried Indian
44
Danger of Urban Cemeteries.
corpses found in large earthenware jars, near Campos, in
the Brazils, and by the dead monks at Malta. Warmth
destroys cohesion, and thus aids putrefaction. It will thus
be seen that all the elements necessary for rapid decom-
position are in full force in a graveyard in this country.
The following are the opinions of some well-known
Indian medical authorities on this subject :
Dr. James Anderson, late Presidency Surgeon, Calcutta,
says:-"Native cemeteries situated in the midst of a
populous neighbourhood, must be most objectionable not
only from the carelessness with which the dead are cov-
ered up, and the frequent exposure of the corpse by the
inroads of jackals; but also from the greater virulence of
effluvia arising from putrid or decayed animal matter
when disseminated in a hot moist atmosphere, at all sea-
sons more or less mixed with the emanations from
decomposed vegetable matter." Dr. Anderson gives an
instance, which had come under his own observation, of
direct injury arising from the incautious inhaling of the
foul vapours arising from a putrefying corpse : "The
son of Mr. L'Estrange, the apothecary of the Presidency
General Hospital, then a pupil at La Martiniere, wan-
dered into this cemetery (Kasia Bagaun, south of Camac
Street), and having approached a grave which had been
invaded by jackals, was nauseated by the effluvia there-
from, and hurried home, complaining of sickness, and with
a violent headache. He was attacked the same night with
low typhoid fever, and though he recovered after a long
and painful illness, his life was for some time despaired of."
Another curious but well authenticated case is, quoted
by Dr. Johnson (Influence of Tropical Climates) :—
An American merchant ship was lying at anchor in
Fatal Effluvia.
45
Wampoa Roads, 16 miles from Canton. One of her crew
died of dysentery, and was taken on shore to be buried.
No disease of any kind had occurred on board during the
voyage. Four men accompanied the corpse, and two of
them set to work to dig a grave. Unfortunately they hit
upon a spot, where a body had been buried about two or
three months previously (as was afterwards ascertained).
The instant the spade went through the lid of the coffin,
a most dreadful effluvium issued forth, and the two men
fell down nearly lifeless. It was with difficulty that
their companions could approach near enough to drag
them from the spot and fill up the place with earth.
The two men affected were taken with some difficulty
on board. They were attended to by the Surgeon of an
English East Indiamen, but in spite of every care one
died on the evening of the fourth day, the other on the
fifth; both the other men suffered from similar symptoms,
one of them being for three weeks unfit for duty. I need
not quote at length the medical history of these cases as
given by Dr. Johnson; but the disease appears to have
been a very malignant typhoid fever, accompanied with
suppurating buboes and other complications. The men
were attended, and the post mortem examination con-
ducted, by Dr. Hamilton of H. B. M. S. Britomart.
Dr. Norman Chevers, speaking of an old Mahomedan
burial-ground in the immediate vicinity of Calcutta,
says:" It is scarcely possible that a burial place so
large and so saturated with decaying animal matter can,
in a tropical climate, be otherwise than offensive and
dangerous to the inhabitants of its near vicinity. It is
self-evident that the prevailing mode of burial in shallow
graves, lightly filled in and ill-covered, must be attended

46
A Mahomedan Burial Ground.
with the constant disengagement of noxious gases from
its entire surface."
Dr. Goodeve says, in answer to a question put to him
in connexion with a Mahomedan burial-ground:-" If by
the phrase intolerable nuisance complained of by the resi-
dents in the neighbourhood of the burial-ground is meant
bad smells distinctly traceable to the graves, I should
consider this sufficient evidence that the products of the
decomposition of the corpses were being diffused through
the atmosphere, and should have no doubt that the burial-
ground was a source of danger to the neighbourhood."
/. The above sketch will give some idea of the condition
of an ordinary Mahomedan burial-ground, well known
to the author. It represents a section of the ground
ten feet in length by five feet in depth. A is a recent
grave, P being the platform of sticks placed to keep
the earth from the body, and to provide the space for
the defunct Moslem to sit up in, after his burial, to answer
Treatment of Old Burial Grounds.
47
the interrogatories of the angels Munkir and Nakeer.
B is an older grave, which has fallen in, the weight of
the earth having broken the sticks, and the composition
of the soil is, as shown, made up, to a large extent, of
human remains of various ages; the ground being so
crowded with graves that the same spot is used over and
over again. W W is the level of the subsoil water in the
rains. A few months ago, while inspecting this ground,
the writer saw four skulls, in various stages of decay,
thrown out from one grave, which was being dug to
receive a new tenant then awaiting interment, while the
earth presented a greasy, adipocerous appearance, and
there was a most sickly offensive odour from the stuff
thrown out of the grave.,
We have now to consider how to remedy the evils
arising from old and overcrowded burial grounds, and
how to regulate interments in grounds still in use, so as
to economise space and comply with sanitary require-
ments.
All old and unused burial grounds, and such as have
from constant use become overcrowded, should be at
once taken in charge by the local authority; all further
interments should be strictly prohibited; and where pos-
sible, or funds will allow, the ground should be fenced in.
Bones, skulls, and other remnants of mortality should
be collected from the surface and thrown into the many
sunken graves that will be found throughout the ground.
These graves should then be filled up, and the whole
surface of the burial ground should be dug over or
ploughed and levelled; all noxious weeds and undergrowth
being removed or dug in; all masonry tombs, which are
not entirely decayed, or which have tablets, or other
48
Treatment of Old Burial Grounds.
means of identification, should be carefully preserved,
cleared of peepul or bur trees, and other destructive
plants, and fenced in with a simple fence of bamboo or
gran sticks.
In a Report on Extramural Sepulture presented to
Parliament, the following statement occurs :-
CC
From the concurrent testimony of grave-diggers,
sextons, and others employed in churchyards, it
appears that decomposition goes on much more rapidly
near the roots of trees than in any other parts of the
burial-grounds. That the root fibres travel towards the
graves and are often observed to penetrate right through
the decayed wood of the coffin lids. The action of the
vegetation arrests the products of decomposition, and
prevents their escape into the air by absorbing them
into its own substance, to be given out in another and
a harmless form,"
Dr. Ford, President of the Board of Health, Philadel-
phia, considers that "it would be better if disused grave-
yards were converted into parks and planted with rapidly
growing trees and herbage, to absorb the organic sub-
stances contained in the soil;" and Dr. Adams further
suggests, that it would be a wise precaution to surround
every cemetery with a belt of trees to act as a barrier to
the escape of deleterious miasmata.
The whole area should then be planted out with plan-
tains, guavas, sissoo, rain tree, (guango, pithecolobium
saman), or where fodder crops are desirable, with maize,
guinea grass, reana, and lucerne ; but it will, probably, be
found more convenient, as well as less objectionable in
point of prejudice, to plant the ground thickly with
trees, making choice of such as either fruit early, or can
Period of Decay.
49
be used for poles, charcoal, or firewood, within six or seven
years, as after the expiry of that period the ground
will again be fit for use for its original purpose.
All testimony on the subject goes to prove that a
corpse laid in the earth, without the intervention of a
coffin, will be resolved into the elements in five to six
years, and that the ground may be re-opened without
danger after the expiry of that period. Dr. Sutherland,
one of the members of the London Committee on extra-
mural sepulture, reported "that he found the great
utility of vegetation in shortening the period of decay
fully recognised abroad." There can be no doubt also
that decomposition takes place much more rapidly in a
hot moist climate with a wet subsoil. We have even the
authority of the first grave-digger in Hamlet, that
"your water is a sore decayer of your whoreson dead
body;" and the same authority, in answer to Prince
Hamlet's enquiry, as to "how long a man may lie i'
the earth ere he rot," declared, that "he will last you
some eight years or nine years, a tanner will last you
nine years, his hide is so tanned with his trade, that
he will keep out water a great while." My readers may
smile at my taking this creation of Shakespere's imagi-
nation as an authority, but as Samuel Smiles says of the
immortal bard, he was "not one, but all mankind's
epitome; he gathered his wonderful stores of knowledge
from a wide field of experience and observation," and there
is little doubt that his grave-digger was a living charac-
ter, and the opinions given, the result of actual enquiry,
for of this they bear internal evidence; but to come back
to more modern, and probably more reliable, authorities,
Dr. Ffrench, Civil Surgeon of 24-Pergunnahs, was of
D
50
Process of Decomposition.
opinion that five years will suffice, though the late Dr.
Goodeve has left on record that "
disturbed for at least twelve or fifteen years.'
graves should not be
""
The late Dr. Parkes of Netley says:-"Bodies decay
in very various times, according to soil, access of air,
amount of pressure, &c. In some cases they may be
destroyed in three years, but, as a rule, when ground has
to be used over again, a period of from five to thirty
years is allowed in different countries before reinter-
ments. Bodies should be buried deeply (from four to
six feet), in order to lessen the chance of contamination
of the air, although it is supposed that when the graves
are shallower decomposition is more rapid.
"The decomposition of bodies occurs by putrefaction
with rapid disengagement of effluvia by a sort of insen-
sible decomposition, the products being arrested or
decomposed by the earth and by saponification. This last
condition is said especially to occur if the earth is too
closely pressed on the body, and gets saturated with the
products of decomposition." (Public Health, by the late
E. A. Parkes, M.D., revised by Aitken.)
This process of saponification results in the transmu-
tation of the fat and muscular fibre of the body into
adipocére, a soft unctuous waxy substance of light
brown color, and which was first discovered, it is believed,
by Fourcroy, during the removal of the Cemetiére des
Innocents in 1787.
Mr. Pereira, for many years undertaker, and custodian
of the military burial-ground at Bhowanipore, assures me
that, after the expiry of twelve months, only the larger
bones remain; and from repeated enquiries and examina-
tion of the Mahomedan graveyards in the suburbs, I
Utilization of Space.
51
am convinced that, after five years, a grave may be opened
without danger; there remaining nothing but crumbling
bones, the organic matter of which, viz., about 30 per
cent., disappears after burial for three or four years, leav-
ing only the inorganic constituents, viz. calcic phosphate,
calcic fluoride, calcic carbonate, and inagnesic phosphate,
all compounds of calcium, behind; and that, if the grave-
yard be planted as above suggested, it may be used again.
without danger to health or offence to decency after a
lapse of five to six years. Of course, the longer time
that we can let the ground lie undisturbed, the better.
The following arrangement proposed for the suburbs of
Calcutta will serve to show clearly how ground may best
be utilised so as to give the greatest amount of facility
and economy of space with due regard to sanitary re-
quirement:--
"The number of Mahomedan deaths in town and
suburbs in 1877 was 8,600. It is necessary to provide for
at least that number of burials annually.
The number of graves to a cottah of land, allowing for
each grave 6' by 2' with 4' space between each, would be
twelve, or two hundred and forty to the bigah; about
36 bigahs, or allowing for pucca tombs, say 40 bi-
gahs, of land will be required annually. The lands
now proposed to be taken would, therefore, last for six
years, as, after three years, the intermediate four feet
spaces would be used without disturbing the graves on
either side. After the expiry of this period, the old burial
grounds would be again fit for use, as the cutcha graves
would be obliterated, and all trace of the bodies would
have disappeared.
"These grounds would last for four or five years, which
52
Utilization of Space.
would give the first year's graves of the new ground
about ten years to be untouched, and even then fresh
ground would be available by using the cross spaces as
shown in the following sketch :-
References.
First year's graves marked
Fourth year's graves
Eleventh year's graves

00
“As these latter spaces would allow only half the num-
ber of graves per cottah, they would be exhausted in
Utilization of Space.
53
18 months; but this would extend by so much the time
the old graves would lie fallow, and the ground would be
worked over in lines parallel to the eleventh year's
graves."
By following out this system the ground could be
used for an indefinite period.
The ground space prescribed by the Sanitary Com-
missioner is 6′ × 2′ wide, one yard intervals; but this
would not permit of the intermediate graves without
disturbing the old ones.
54
:
Offensive Trades and Manufactories.
CHAPTER VI.
"Prohibetur ne quis faciat in suo, quod nocere possit in alieno."
(It is forbidden for any man to do that on his own property, which
may injure the property of another.)
There are many trades and manufacturing processes
which add considerably to the impurity of the atmos-
phere, and should not, therefore, be permitted in populous
neighbourhoods.
*
The offensive and unwholesome trades, which the
Municipal law of Bengal gives local authorities power to
suppress or confine to certain limits (vide section 285,
Act V of 1876, B. C.) are:-.
1. Melting tallow.
2. Boiling offal or blood.
3. Skinning or disemboweling animals.
4. Soaphouses, oilboiling-houses, and dyeinghouses.
* By English law, a man may become responsible for a nui-
sance in various ways, such as erecting and working a tallow-fur-
nace, limekiln, tanpit, pigstye, privy, smelting-house, dye-house,
Guano warehouse, noisy forge or workshop, brewhouse, glass works,
burning lime or bricks so near the dwelling of his neighbours that
the smoke, noise, or smell renders it unfit for habitation, or by making
a cesspool, the filth of which percolates through the soil and conta-
minates the water of his neighbour's spring, or well, &c., &c.—Handy
Book of Law and Equity.
Brick-burning.
55
5. Tanneriés, slaughterhouses, brick, pottery, or
limekilns.
6. Any manufactory or place of business from which
offensive or unwholesome smells may arise.
And under this latter head we may place the fol-
lowing:-
(a) Collecting and storing bones, horns, and hoofs.
(b) Dry-fish stores.
(c) Bone-crushing or phosphatic manure works.
(d) Shell-burning.
(e) Cinnabar-making.
(ƒ) Lacdye and shell-lac works.
(g) Nitric and sulphuric acid stills and chemical
works.
(h) Dry salting and hide storing.
(i) Leather-varnish boiling.
The effluvia arising from tallow-melting, offal-boiling,
soap-boiling, bone-crushing, shell-burning, and lacdye-
making are all very offensive, and undoubtedly consti-
tute a nuisance within the meaning of the common law.
They are caused by the fumes driven off in process of
manufacture and from the decomposition of animal
matter. Dr. Ballard declares that they cause headache,
nausea, and diarrhoea.
Brick-burning gives forth peculiarly pungent and
irritating fumes, the exact nature of which is not known,
but often of a sulphurous character, due to the use of
inferior coal. In England, where the brick-clay is often
mixed with cinders and the siftings of dust heaps, the
fumes given forth are believed to be composed princi-
pally of hydrochloric acid.
Beyond the annoyance caused, which, however, amounts
56
Bi-sulphuret of Mercury.
to a nuisance, there does not appear to be any evidence
of injury to health from these fumes, unless breathed
in a concentrated form, when they are fatal.
Shell-burning is particularly offensive, the shells often
containing a large number of dead mollusca in a state of
putridity. The shells are brought principally from the
Sunderbunds, and are of two kinds-jhangra and jinak.
The manufacture of artificial cinnabar (bi-sulphuret,
sulphuret, or sulphide of mercury or hingool), though
not carried on to any great exent, is a most dangerous
one, and should not be permitted in any populous
quarter. Cinnabar is a weighty crystalline precipitate,
formed by the amalgamation of sulphur and mercury,
sublimed by subjection to great heat in glass retorts
covered with a coating of cow dung and clay, and
placed in a sandbath over a powerful furnace. The
heat being maintained steadily for a period of about four
days and nights, the result is a heavy crystalline sub-
stance breaking with a bright metallic fracture and of a
deep red color, when pulverised. Its wholesale value is
about Re. 1-4 per pound. It is largely used in the
arts in the production of vermilion and other colors,
and also by the natives of India as a medicinal fumi-
gating agent. During the manufacture, the mouth of
the retort is kept open and the sulphurous acid gas
generated, which is highly inflammable, rushes out in
a jet of flame about two feet high. The sulphurous
acid gas and volatilised mercurial fumes driven off in
this process have a marked deleterious effect on the
health of the neighbourhood, while vegetation within
reach of its effects perishes, and fish and frogs die in the
tanks.
Leather-Japanning, &c.
57
The effects on human beings are a cachectic state of
the constitution, diarrhoea, cough, spongy gums, loosened
teeth, foul breath, and the usual symptoms of mercurial
poisoning.
Chemical works are neither numerous in this country,
nor do they, as a rule, injuriously affect the health of the
neighbouring inhabitants to any appreciable extent.
The process of leather-japanning, which is a consider-
able trade wherever shoe-making, harness-making, and
carriage-building is carried on, involves a most offensive
process in the boiling of the varnish, which is a com-
pound of impure linseed oil, verdigris (acetate of copper),
China blue, and English black, and which, in process of
boiling in large open coppers, gives forth suffocating and
poisonous fumes, which pervade the atmosphere to a
considerable distance, and are a source of very serious
discomfort to residents of the neighbourhood.
The nuisance arising from lacdye works is caused by
the large quantity of putrid animal matter, the remains
of the lac-insect (Coccus lacca), contained in the refuse.
Bone-boiling is a most offensive trade, and is becoming
a very common one in this country from the increased
demand for phosphatic manures for tea and coffee culti-
vation. Any accumulation of bones in a raw state speedily
becomes offensive, in warm weather especially, the ani-
mal oil oozes out and becomes decomposed, and butyric,*
capric, and caprylic acids are formed; to these ill-smelling
constituents are added the ordinary gases of decomposi-
tion. Storage of raw bones should never be permitted
* Butyric acid,-an oily, limpid fluid, having the smell of rancid
butter and an acrid taste, with a sweetish after-taste, like that of
ether.
58
Super-phosphate Works & Tanneries.
amongst, or adjacent to, dwellings, the odours arising
from them being a most disgusting nuisance. Bone-boil-
ing, where the bones are perfectly fresh, is no more offen-
sive than cooking on a large scale; but where the bones
are tainted and decomposition is present, the effluvia
are extremely objectionable.
Several cases of the kind, where sickness in the neigh-
bourhood was distinctly traceable to the nauseating odours
from this trade, have come under my notice, and prose-
cutions had to be instituted to suppress them.
Hoofs and horns, from which the cores' have not
been removed, become putrid, breed maggots, and become
extremely offensive.
The odour from superphosphate works is at times a
serious annoyance, as it is of a very penetrating quality
and diffuses itself over a wide extent, sometimes from
one to two miles from the site of the works. Where
dry bones alone are used, the nuisance, though generally
complained of, is not of a very serious character.
Tanneries when under European supervision, or con-
ducted on European models, are not generally a nui-
sance; nor do I find tanneries mentioned amongst the
offensive trades recognised by English sanitarians. Still,
on account of the odours diffused by them, and which
are not always of a pleasant character, they generally
are, and always should be, placed at the outskirts of a
town. Small native tanneries are, however, an un-
doubted nuisance, which is heightened by the waste
water, largely impregnated with decomposing animal
matter, being allowed to run into open surface drains
or on to waste lands and hollows. The tan-barks used
in this country, viz., babool (Accacia farnesiana) and
Sanitary Supervision.
59
goran (Rizophora decandra), are much less rich in
tannin than the oak (Quercus) and sumach (Rhus cotina)
used in Europe, and they are thus less powerful in
arresting decomposition. The subject of slaughter-
houses will be dealt with in another chapter.
Although many of the trades mentioned above may
possibly be carried on without causing serious annoy-
ance to any neighbourhood, whilst thinly populated, and
especially where proper precautions are taken, and the
works are carried on on a large scale with modern appli-
ances and under skilled supervision, they may become―
and when conducted in the careless and primitive man-
ner in vogue amongst natives, they are sure to become
nuisances, and it is better to exclude them altogether
from populous neighbourhoods, and relegate them to out-
of-the-way localities, where they can offend no one.
But even here sanitary supervision should not be re-
laxed, but the owners should be compelled to use such
ordinary precautions as are practicable and necessary
to prevent nuisance, if only to preserve the health of
their own workmen, who may otherwise not only suffer
themselves, but communicate disease to their families, or
carry it into the more populous parts of the town.
There is another source of air pollution, which, though
as yet perhaps of little moment in this country, promi-
ses within a few years to add seriously to the contami-
ation of the atmosphere of Calcutta and its extensive
suburbs, as well as of Howrah, Serampore, and the towns
along the banks of the Hooghly, and which it would be
well that local authorities should not overlook, but en-
deavour to check in its infancy, and whilst its regulation
will be much more easily effected than after it has in-
60
Sheep and Goats.
creased to such an extent as to involve the self-interest
of a large number of the mercantile and manufacturing
communities. This is what is denominated in Europe as
the smoke nuisance, which pollutes the air by poisonous
gases and by unconsumed particles of carbon, which not
only blacken and discolor buildings and public monu-
ments, but choke and destroy vegetation, and exert a
very detrimental influence on animal life.
Every factory or place of business consuming a large
quantity of fuel and creating smoke should be compelled
to consume it.
Amongst the offensive trades, which by law are placed
under the control of municipal bodies, are the keeping
of horses, ponies, cows, horned cattle generally, sheep and
goats.
In rural districts none of these are likely to cause
any nuisance; it is only when they are kept in crowded,
ill-ventilated, and badly drained localities in towns, that
the emanations from them become a source of danger to
health and annoyance to their neighbours. Hackney
carriage, or as they are called here "ticca gharry," stables
are generally kept in a most filthy and insanitary condi-
tion. They are nearly always tiled or thatched sheds,
with either an imperfect planked floor, or more often the
unprotected soil; the wet and urine soaks through and
oozes out through the bottom of the shed to the nearest
drain, or on to the unpaved yard or open space adjoining.
The manure is either heaped up in the yard or thrown
into a pit or low ground at the back of the stable, and
there is a constant and disgusting odour of ammonia
resulting from the decomposition of the urine, and the
rotting of the straw and dung.
Hackney stables.
61
The floors and drains are the chief points to be attend-
ed to; it matters little what the roof is made of, so long
as it is water-tight and a sufficient protection from the
sun; and in a warm climate the more open and pervious
to air the walls are, the better in every respect.
The floor should be made either of wood properly
and firmly laid with tight caulked joints, and well satu-
rated with Rangoon oil or coal-tar, and with a slight
slope to a properly-constructed brick or artificial stone
drain, jointed in either case with cement; or the floor may
be of stone, brick-on-edge cement pointed, or asphalte.
The latter, when properly laid, makes an excellent
flooring, and is next to wood, less tiring for the horses to
stand on; but is not lasting, and in hot weather is apt to
become soft. The drain should lead to a cesspool, from
which the contents may be removed by a barrel-cart.
The urine and drainings should never be permitted to
run into the roadside surface drains.
Where stables are situated, as is commonly the case,
close to the edge of the public road, the stable-owner
should be compelled to pave or macadamize the flank
of the road from the edge of the drain up to the metal-
ling for the full breadth of his stable frontage, other-
wise the roadside gets trodden up into mire mixed with
urine and manure and becomes a nuisance to the street.
Every stable-owner should be compelled to have a proper
box or basket to contain the horse-droppings, which they
should empty into the conservancy carts when they
make their morning rounds. Pigsties are a very serious
source of nuisance and pollution of the atmosphere,
especially where the animals are herded together in large
numbers. So far as I am aware, pigs are not kept in
62
Pigs and Pigsties.
large numbers in any town in Bengal, except in the
suburbs of Calcutta, where there has been for years a
colony of Chinamen who carry on a considerable export
trade in hogslard.
In some of these men's sties I have found from 12 to
1,500 full-grown swine grovelling in a mass of foul,
foetid, sour mud, a compost of mire, dung, urine, and
waste food. As the animals are fed on decomposed rice
and sour swill, the combined odours were simply dis-
gusting, and the air of whole neighbourhoods within a
circle of a mile was vitiated.
The constant fighting and squealing of the animals
adds to the discomfort of the neighbours, and the scorch-
ing off the bristles from the slaughtered hogs gives rise
to disgusting odours.
Pigs kept in smaller numbers by Domes, Chamars,
and other low castes are also a nuisance; their pens are
invariably filthy, and they are generally allowed to
roam about the neighbourhood, acting as scavengers,
rooting up and destroying the drains and roadsides, in-
vading the gardens of the residents, and frightening
horses on the public roads.
Pigs should on no account be permitted in a town,
especially in this country; they are a distinct nuisance,
with no compensating advantage. All our local sani-
tary authorities and leading medical men have con-
demned them.
Sheep-pens are offensive to their immediate neigh-
bours; the sheep being herded together, a very strong and
penetrating odour arises from the animal matter con-
tained in the fleeces. This is so well recognised in some
places in France, that the water from the sheep-washes,
Sheep-pens and Cow-byres.
63
is carefully utilised for manure. If the yards and sheds
are paved or concreted or asphalted, and the dung care-
fully collected and removed, there can be little objection
to the existence of sheep-pens, except in very thickly
populated localities or in the better quarters of a town.
Far worse than the horse and pony stables are the
goalghurs,' or cow-byres, situated within towns and their
influence on the health of the people is manifested in so
many ways that they call for something more than a
passing notice.
Few people who have not seen these places can have
any conception of their unutterable filthiness, and I am
convinced that a visit to one of them would cure any
one of a penchant for milk in any shape for the rest of
their lives.
The gowalla's quarter is generally situated on the
margin of a tank or pond, the water of which is con-
stantly contaminated by the flow of urine and decom-
posing liquid dung, and from whence the cattle and the
milk are alike watered.
"A cowhouse is generally a long shed, either thatched
with straw, or golepattah, or tiled; the walls of bamboo
matting, daubed with a plaster of cowdung and clay, with
a clay floor raised a couple of feet from the ground level;
the floor slopes inwards to a narrow drain usually form-
ed of three planks, one forming the bottom and the
other two the sides, held in position by bamboo pins
driven into the earth about nine inches wide and ten or
twelve inches deep; the flooring is covered with rough,
loose boards, and neither it nor the drain being carefully
fitted or caulked, the liquid dung and urine pass freely
through the wide interstices and soak into the earth
64
Gowalla Cow-byres.
beneath. Along each side of the shed is a raised ledge
of earth in which earthen tubs or nands are sunk to
hold the cow's fodder. The cows are tied up to posts set
along this ledge with their hind feet close to the edge
of the centre drain, so that they may dung directly into
it. This arrangement is made to save the gowalla the
trouble of clearing up the dung, but the space is so
narrow that when a cow lies down she does so ob-
liquely, and as they are closely packed together with their
sides almost touching, the standing cow often dungs
over the one resting. The beams and roofing are covered
with a thick mass of cobwebs, black with the dust and
smoke of years. There is seldom more than one door to
this filthy den, and over that hangs a thick coarse curtain
of gunny or such like material. A fire of dried cowdung
is kept constantly smouldering inside the hut to keep
away flies and mosquitoes, so that there is hardly any
light, and the atmosphere is stifling from smoke, the
carbonic acid gas exhaled by the cows, and the ema-
nations from the constantly-decomposing dung and
urine. The centre drain leads into a cesspool situated
just outside the hut; these vary from six to twenty feet
in diameter, with a depth of eight to ten feet, and are
never emptied, though during the rains the contents
overflow over the surrounding soil or into the nearest
ditch or public drain. Sometimes under pressure from
the conservancy officials, these cesspools are covered
over by throwing litter and loose earth over them,
forming an artificial quagmire, on the surface of which
rank grasses grow, and so disguise them; and they are so
numerous in a gowalla village or busti that a stranger
must trust to the safe conduct of a guide to see him
Mortality among Milk Cattle.
65
safely through."* The whole of the foundations and sur-
rounding ground on which these cow-stables stand are
so thoroughly saturated with urine and liquid dung, as
to resemble more an old midden stead than wholesome
earth. It will hardly be believed that such places
have been tolerated for years, and still exist, not only in
the suburbs of Calcutta, but even in the town itself, and
that there are numbers of so-called intelligent and cer-
tainly educated people who defend their existence and
strongly oppose their removal, on the ground that the
gowallas have resided and carried on their trade in
these quarters for many years, and that their removal to
more remote quarters of the suburbs might lead to
inconvenience the people in obtaining their milk-supply
as well as increase the price of that necessary article.
The first evil arising from this penning up of cattle
(for it must be remembered that the milchcow never
comes out of this filthy den until her milk having dried
up, she goes to the butcher) is the propagation and
spread of rinderpest. The mortality amongst the cows
is very great. In 1872-73 I found from careful enquiries
that about three thousand head of milch cattle had died
from this disease in some of its forms in the suburbs of
Calcutta, and the Government Commission appointed to
investigate into the Indian Cattle Plague in 1871 ascer-
tained that, of the cattle kept in the city and suburban
dairies, 87.5 per cent of the stock were attacked with
rinderpest, of which 555 of the number kept, or 628 of
those attacked, died. "This," said Dr. Hallen, one of the
veterinary members of the Commission, "is the result of
an unchecked rinderpest among cattle crowded together
* Report of Indian Cattle Plagues Commission, 1871.
E
66
Rinderpest.
""
in unventilated sheds and surrounded by insanitary
influences of all sorts." The Commission reported that,
"the state of the byres of Calcutta affords the best
illustration possible of the evil effects of crowding.
When disease enters these sheds or byres, it does not.
leave a single susceptible animal unattacked, dairy
cattle are kept pent up closely in confined sheds, and
the stock is periodically renewed, and if a new purchase
brings disease, it spreads unfailingly among the rest.
The Commissioners might have added that when disease
once enters such a byre it never leaves it, but remains
lurking in the soil, in the walls, and in the very atmos-
phere, waiting the entrance of new victims; for Dr. Hiram
Farrell, M. R. C. V. S., says: "The disease is highly
infectious and contagious; the virus can be transmitted
in various ways. The excrement which drops from a
diseased animal is highly charged with the poison; in
fact the very air in the neighbourhood of cattle-sheds
with infected animals is poisoned." Now we know as a
fact that when the disease has been present in these byres,
even though the owner may have lost half his stock,
he makes no attempt to disinfect the place; how could
he indeed-for nothing short of burning down the filthy
sheds and digging out the foundations, could ever dis-
infect such a thoroughly corrupted mass.
A significant proof under the author's own observation
that the gowalla sheds are foci of cattle-disease is given
by the fact, that of a large number of municipal cattle
attacked with cattle-disease during 1878 and 1879, only
those working in the gowalla quarters suffered, while
others working in other parts of the town were exempt.
We now come to the important question of the milk-
Unwholesome Milk-supply.
67
supply derived from cattle kept under these conditions,
and it must be admitted that, in a country like India,
where milk forms an important item in the food, not
only of the infant, but of the adult population, this is
one involving sanitary and economic considerations of
the highest importance; that the health of the cattle
kept pent up in close cow-stables is largely affected by
the keeping of dung in about the stables, is clearly
shown by the result of investigations made by Dr.
Ballard during an epidemic of cattle-disease near Lon-
don. It was found that only eight out of thirty-one
stables inspected, in which dung or urine was not stored,
had had cases of disease, whilst eight out of eleven in
which dung was stored, had the disease; and on another
occasion, cattle-plague was found in 66 per cent of
the sheds in which dung was not stored, and 91 per cent
in those in which it was kept.
How much of the preventible sickness and mortality
in our towns might not, with some reason, be attributed
to the unwholesomeness of the milk-supply resulting from
the filthiness of the cowhouses and their surroundings,
and the carelessness and malpractices of the milkmen,
is a question which merits serious consideration on the
part of our officers of health and sanitary officials.
Medical testimony at home and in America is almost
unanimous on this subject, and it requires no medical
knowledge or training to understand that the state of
filth in which the cows are kept, the prevalence of
disease amongst them and their attendants, the filthy
and unnatural means by which it is well-known they
are forced to yield their milk in increased quantities,
the foul atmosphere of the sheds where the milk is
68
Milk as a carrier of Disease.
drawn and often allowed to stand, and last, but not least,
the extent to which, and the sources from which, the
milk is diluted and adulterated before reaching the
consumer, are all conditions incompatible with a pure or
wholesome supply.
It is well-known that milk is more easily tainted
than any other liquid by smoke, gases, and foul odours,
and a familiar illustration will present itself to many
of my readers who must have occasionally observed,
that milk, which has been kept standing in a cook-room
where native servants have been smoking the hookah,
has attracted and absorbed the tobacco smoke to such a
degree as to make it undrinkable even in 'tea.' Milk
exposed to the vapour of carbolic acid or kreosote will
soon taste strongly of those substances, and if kept in
any badly-ventilated place or exposed to sewer or drain
emanations, will rapidly become tainted and unfit for
use. A recent sanitary writer says: The great danger
attaching to milk as a carrier of disease, depends upon
its remarkable powers of absorption, and the rapid fer-
mentive or zymotic changes it undergoes when it be-
comes mixed with putrefying matter or tainted with
disease germs."— Wilson.
(C
Parkes says, that milk from diseased animals soon
decomposes; and Wilson states, that the milk of ani-
mals suffering from foot and mouth disease (epizootic
aphtho) produces aphthous ulceration of the mouth
and gums, with swelling of the tongue and great fœtor
of the breath. Mr. Power considers that garget, a well-
known and commoù affection of the udder of the cow,
will so change the character of the milk that the par-
taking of it induced diphtheria in the human subject.
Adulteration of Milk.
69
Now it will be apparent from the foregoing descrip-
tion of the native cowhouses that every element of
pollution exists in its most aggravated form, and that
in fact it is impossible for untainted milk to come from
such sources. But the greatest danger to the consumer
undoubtedly exists in the extent and manner in which
the milk is diluted and adulterated before sale. I have
had it on evidence before myself in a judicial proceeding
that the witness, a milkman, having a large and respect-
able circle of customers, and who, therefore, claimed to
sell quite a superior quality of milk, invariably added
at least three seers of water to every nine seers of milk,
and several milkmen admitted that they not only
watered their milk freely, but added to it without scru-
ple the milk from diseased cows, so long as they con-
tinued to give down their milk at all.
Hurro Chunder Sen, a gowalla witness, examined
before the Cattle Plague Commissioners, stated: "We sell
milk in Calcutta, and before selling, add as much water
as there is milk. Lall Chand Marik, another witness,
said: "Those milksellers to whom I sell my milk, water
it, and in order to thicken it, mix with it singhara-nut*
flour; the milkmen add water to the milk as long as they
can without changing the color." Dr. Tonnerre, Health
Officer of Calcutta, says: "The milk is largely adul-
terated by the addition of chalk, rice fecula, and more
or less impure and filthy water.'
""
This depreciation in the nourishing constituents of
food is alone a serious consideration, but the real danger
lies in the source from which the water, which admittedly
* The water chestnut Trapa bicornis.
70
Source of Aqueous Adulteration.
forms from 25 per cent to 50 per cent of the fluid sold
as milk in our towns, is drawn. If the milkman be
asked where he takes his water for general use from, he
will usually point to the adjacent tank; but if his sus-
picions be aroused as to the object of the question, he
will probably name some well-known and tolerably pure
reservoir, or if in the Calcutta suburbs, he will tell you
he fetches it from the Calcutta water-supply hydrants;
but will any one believe that the milkman, whose con-
science is so lax as to permit him to impose upon his
customers to such an extent, will be so scrupulous as to
the source from whence the adulterating medium is
obtained.// Can we believe for a moment that he will be
so considerate of the public welfare as to go out of his
way, transgress the tradition of the elders, and actually
go to expense and trouble to procure filtered water with
which to carry out his nefarious practices, when the tank is
within two steps of his cowhouse door? Credat
Judaeus Apella !/The water of the tank, when the sur-
face scum is swept aside, though laden with sewage
constituents, is passably clear. It will in no way dis-
color the milk when judiciously added, it will not per-
ceptibly taint it before sale, and it is close at hand.
What cares he that his cowhouse drains into it that as
a Sanitary Commissioner lately reported: "The banks
are loaded with dung in every stage of decomposition;
that his house sink soaks into the bank; that his own
and his neighbours' privies stand close to the margin;
that the children openly and habitually, and adults very
frequently, defecate on the slopes; that the whole
surrounding population bathe and invariably urinate
in its waters whilst bathing. He cares for none of these
""
Medical Evidence.
-
71
things; why should he indeed? His father and grand-
father before him never cared. He has been brought up
in these ways and amid these surroundings from infancy.
He has never, so far as he knows, suffered from them;
why, therefore, should others. He looks upon the visits.
of Health Officers and Sanitary Officials as an intrusion,
their calls for amendment as an oppressive and uncalled
for exercise of authority, ways and means of lessening
his profits from his trade. Let it not be supposed that
the picture I have drawn above has been highly colored
or overdrawn; these things are all matters of evidence;
they exist to this day, and so long as they continue,
they will be a lasting reproach to the local authorities
concerned.
Now what say medical authorities and sanitarians to
the results of this state of things. Can any human
being, with ordinary common sense, believe that poi-
son can thus be widely distributed in such an appa-
rently innocent vehicle as milk, and yet no evil result;
that the virus of disease can be introduced into our
homes, into our daily food, into the principal aliment of
our infants and yet no danger arise. There is strong
evidence to the contrary. Wilson says: "As regards
the spread of specific disease, there is now an over-
whelming amount of evidence which proves beyond
dispute that milk is largely instrumental in propagating
scarlatina and enteric fever. The English Medical and
Sanitary Reports contain numberless cases of serious
outbreaks of disease which have been thoroughly in-
vestigated by such competent authorities as Ballard,
Russell, Murchison, Netten Radcliffe, and Simon, and in
which the spread of the contagion was distinctly traced
{
72
Danger greater than in Europe.
to the milk-supply; and in nearly every case there was
undoubted evidence of the fact that even where the milk
had not actually been diluted with foul water, the water
used for dairy purposes and in which the vessels were
washed was contaminated by fæcal matter.
Now, if the danger be so admittedly great in England,
where the vessels used are usually of well-glazed pottery
or a bright, unabsorbent material, such as tin, how
much must it be intensified in this country, where the
milk is kept and carried in the rough, porous, absorbent
clay vessels in general use.
Yet although almost every medical journal published
in England, every work on sanitation, European or
American, which issues from the press, contains articles.
of interest and reliable evidence on this subject; although
the Army Sanitary Commission has called attention to
it repeatedly, there seems to be a strange apathy on the
part of the sanitary and medical authorities in this
country in regard to an evil which must be far greater
than it is in European towns. The only reference to
it that I have been able to discover is a remark by Dr.
Fabre Tonnerre, for many years Health Officer of Calcut-
ta. In his Report for 1872, he says: "The state of things
above described not only discloses an unparalleled state
of unhealthiness, but also makes it a question for con-
sideration whether the milk from cows congregated in
these places, which is largely consumed by both rich
and poor, does not contain the germs of many of the
diseases which decimate the native population of the
town." Again, "whether the milk derived from cows in
contaminated places and from diseased cattle, which is
besides largely adulterated by an addition of chalk, rice
Difficulties in the
way.
73
fecula, and more or less impure and filthy water, acts
injuriously on the economy of man and developes the
germs of disease is a question which I cannot treat
in this Report, but there is no doubt in my mind about
the question but that it is so;" but though the writer
thus expresses his conviction, I cannot find that the
matter was dealt with in any other form. I have searched
in vain the reports of the Sanitary Commissioners of
Bengal for any allusion to the subject, and I can only
attribute their silence to ignorance of the existence of
these monstrous evils; in fact a late Sanitary Commis-
sioner, who was taken by the writer to visit one of the
worst of these gowalla busties, said, he could not have
conceived its condition had he not seen it with his own
eyes, and after a thorough inspection, he remarked,
alluding to the recent death of two well known medical
officers, from that fell disease: "Well I can now under-
and
fell victims
stand how poor Doctors
to cholera."
That the difficulties in the way of dealing with these
monstrous evils are very great, none know better than
myself, and I admit that they have hitherto baffled all
our attempts at reform, but they are too great when
connected with the metropolis of the country for any
local authority to deal with successfully only combined
and determined effort can remedy them, and this without
the aid and insistence of the Local Government is
almost hopeless. The one point to be recognised is, that
all such cowstables must be removed beyond the popu-
lous part of the town, and wherever located, systematic
inspection and sanitary regulation must be insisted
upon.
74
Remedial measures.
"
All cow-stables or byres must be paved with stone
or brick-on-edge laid in cement. Wood is too absorbent,
and is apt to be attacked by white-ants; asphalte is
not sufficiently firm to bear the constant stamping of
the cattle, which, it must be remembered, are never allow-
ed out of the house and is also too soft, the inside of the
cowhouses having always a high temperature. Proper
drains and reservoirs must be insisted upon; urine and
dung must be regularly removed; but as regards the
latter, only such portion need be taken away as the
gowalla and his family are unable to work up daily,
and dry into cakes or gointahs for home consumption
and sale, bois de vache as it is termed in France,
being the universal fuel of the poorer classes: no tank or
pond should be within fifty yards of a cowhouse, and
no surface drainage should be permitted to enter a tank.
There should also be a law against adulteration or di-
lution of milk and for the regulation of cowstables and
dairies. The short enactment passed in England in
1879, and known as "The Dairies, Cowsheds, and Milk-
shops Order of 1879,"* would be an useful model for
imitation; it contains all that is necessary and nothing
that any reasonable person could object to.
* Issued 4th February, 1879.
¿
*
:
Slaughterhouses.
75
CHAPTER VII.
"Bound in the shambles in the ghastly row,
Midst all the anguish of departing life,
With glazing eye, and sad convulsive throe,
The fated ox dies 'neath the ruthless knife."-Anon.
Slaughterhouses, as conducted in this country, are
generally a source of very serious nuisance; where owned
and managed exclusively by native butchers they are,
as a rule, offensive beyond all conception, and even when
under the charge of Government officials, they are
occasionally sufficiently offensive as to come within the
meaning of the term 'public nuisance.'
In one of my official reports I find the following note
on the state of a Government slaughterhouse not a
hundred miles from Calcutta. "The slaughterhouse is
an open brick-built building on the banks of the nullah;
it has a plain tiled floor with a central drain; the ani-
mals are thrown down on the floor and slaughtered
over the drain through which the blood flows to the
nullah; the floor is out of repair, and the drain is so
dilapidated that deep holes have formed through the
masonry to the clay foundation beneath, and the blood
soaking into these, and into the open joints of the brick-
work, putrefies and gives out a most offensive smell.
"There is no proper arrangement for the removal of
garbage and offal, and the vicinity is haunted by pariah
dogs, adjutants, vultures, and crows. There was no screen
76
Injurious to Public Health.
either on the river or road sides, and the place was most
offensive, not only to the olfactories, but to the sight."
It would hardly be credited that this place was per-
mitted to remain for years with a public thoroughfare
on each side and within a few hundred yards, and open
to the view of one of the principal fashionable drives
of the metropolis, but this was a very minor instance
of what slaughterhouses in India were before sanitary
reforms were insisted upon.///
I need not disgust my readers by giving a detailed
account of the old native shambles at Narcoldangah and
Kurayah in the suburbs of Calcutta, which would be a
most appalling picture, though the author can aver from
his personal knowledge, he having been instrumental
in their suppression, that it could hardly be exaggerated;
they have been swept away, and are no longer a dis-
grace to the metropolis of British India.
Filthy slaughterhouses, wherever situated, must be
most injurious to public health, owing to the large col-
lections of offal constantly undergoing putrefaction, the
continual flow of blood, urine, or fæcal matter: and in
India the climate, the want of proper drainage and very
often the want of water, together with the slovenly
habits and total disregard of cleanliness on the part of
the natives render strict supervision most necessary to
secure clean or wholesome food, and prevent slaughter-
houses from becoming nuisances.
The nuisance arising from slaughterhouses may be
mitigated by the following arrangements, which should
be insisted upon :-
The slaughterhouse floor should be paved with stone
flags, or where stone is not procurable, with hard well-
Construction and management.
77
burnt table-moulded bricks set on edge, over a brick flat
on a substantial foundation of well rammed concrete;
the joints, whether in a stone or brick floor, should be
made perfectly close with cement, the concrete being
made either with cement or hydraulic lime. In New
York plank floors are universally used; they are made of
resinous pine well fitted and with joints caulked like
a ship's deck, and are said to be durable and cleanly;
where there is a centre drain, it should be of stone or
brick, and the floor should be laid nearly level with
hardly any slope, as it is less slippery and cannot be
cleaned down without careful washing and sweeping,
which should be insisted upon. Every slaughterhouse
should have a sufficient supply of good water; this is
essential, and no slaughter-house should be permitted
where this cannot be secured.
The more open the sides are to allow free circulation
of air the better, but the sides should be closed with wire-
netting to keep out carrion birds. The pillars and walls
should be well lime-washed once a month, and the drains
and floor should be constantly scrutinised, and the
slightest opening of joint cemented at once.
Nothing in the shape of nuisance is so offensive as
the smell of putrid blood. The drain should be led
into a reservoir, and the blood either carted away with
the offal or buried in trenches where land is available.
The Calcutta Justices' Abattoirs* (from the French
-
14
* The five abattoirs of Paris are those of Roule, Villejuif,
Grenelle, Menilmontant, and Montmartre containing in all 240
slaughterhouses, They were established by a Decree of Napoleon the
1st, 1810, and were opened in 1818.
78
Manner of Slaughtering.
abattre, to knock down) are models of what such places
in a large city should be, and will well repay a visit.
About 230,000 animals are slaughtered there annu-
ally.
The manner of slaughtering, as practised by Indian
Mahomedan butchers, is very revolting, the animal being
thrown on the pavement of the slaughterhouse, and
the head being bent round over the shoulder, the throat is
cut with a long sharp knife. It is a piteous sight to
see a long line of helpless beasts lying in dumb terror,
waiting their turn, and it is a matter well worthy the
attention of the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals.
/is
It is quite a mistaken idea that pole-axeing cattle, as
is practised in Europe, and which is undoubtedly the
most humane method, would be obnoxious to any religi-
ous scruples of the Mahomedans, so long as the throat
was immediately cut and blood followed the knife.
No doubt it would be difficult to overcome the pre-
judices, and root out old custom from the mind of the
Bengali Mussalman, but where there is actually no
authority for the prejudice, and where there would be no
real breach of any religious command, blind prejudice
should never be permitted to stand in the way of sani-
tary reform or the calls of humanity.
It is true that in New York the same method has
been, it is said almost universally, adopted, having been
apparently copied from the Jews, who form a no incon-
siderable part of the population; but there the cattle are
taken into the slaughterhouse one by one. A slip
noose being then passed round one of the hind legs, the
beast is hauled up, till the fore legs are off the ground,
Manner of Slaughtering.
79
the head being then turned till the nose and horns both
touch the ground, the throat is cut with one sweep of
a long keen knife, and it is claimed that the animals
neither struggle nor show any sign of suffering until
the convulsions of anæmia set in, when the brain is
depleted of blood and consciousness must have already
vanished. (Buck II, 404.) This may be so, I suppose
no one can say positively, any more than they can tell
whether or no the criminal's head decapitated by the
guillotine retains consciousness, as some think, after it is
severed from the body.
80
Rank Vegetation and Jungle Growths.
1
CHAPTER VIII.
Ignoratione rerum bonarum et malarum maxime hominum vita
vexatur"-Cicero.
(Through ignorance of what is good and what is bad, man's life
is greatly disquieted.)
The rapidity with which vegetation of all kinds
springs up on any waste piece of ground or drain side
and the luxuriant growth to which it speedily attains in
the moist steamy atmosphere of lower Bengal is really
marvellous, nor is its rapid growth more a marvel than
its vitality.
Opinions differ somewhat as to the effects of growing
jungle in regard to health; but there is a commonly
received, but erroneous, opinion, that it is productive of
malaria, and it is constantly said of such and such a
locality, "Oh! how can it be otherwise than feverish
and unhealthy, when it is full of rank jungle," or "all
that rank vegetation must breed malaria."
Now these beliefs are right and they are not right.
Right in so far as they connect the existence of rank
vegetation with the presence of malaria, not right in
so far as they attribute the malaria to the presence of
living vegetation. The rank vegetation is the effect and
not the cause: it is in truth a sign of malaria, an evidence
of the presence of miasmatic conditions.
Action of living Vegetation.
81
Growing vegetation in fact lives and thrives on the
very exhalations which are so noxious to animal life.
Plants absorb their nutriment through both their roots.
and their leaves, the latter of which may be considered
as their lungs. As animals exhale carbonic acid, ammo-
nia, and watery vapour, so plants inhale these very ele-
ments, and by this means purify the atmosphere, whilst
under the magic influence of the sun's rays they exhale
oxygen and nitrogen, the principal components of pure
atmospheric air; the action of solar light being to decom-
pose the carbonic acid so inhaled, and to separate and
free the oxygen, leaving its other constituent carbon,
which is insoluble, behind in the substance of the
leaf.
This decomposition of carbonic acid takes place in the
cells containing chlorophyll, a resinoid body consisting
of phylloxanthin (a yellow) and phyllocyanine (a blue)
to which the green coloring of plants is due.
As Prof. Max Von Pettenkofer tells us,-"If the drain-/
age of human habitations remains in soil destitute of
growing vegetation, further decomposition sets in, and
other processes are induced, not always of a salubrious
nature, but often deleterious." It is only the action of
the living and growing vegetable which recomposes
the products of decomposition and carries out to its con-
summation the process of disinfection, and Professor
Daubeny, (Oxford Professor of Botany,) says of vegetable
life that "it acts as the appointed instrument for coun-
teracting the injurious effects of the animal creation
upon the air we breathe, not merely by restoring to it
the oxygen which the latter had consumed, but also by
removing, through the agency of the ozone it generates,
F
82
Growing Vegetation, a Benefactor.
those noxious effluvia which are engendered by the
various processes of putrefaction and decay."
Growing vegetation is, therefore, to this extent a bene-
factor and not an enemy; and the attention of the sani-
tary authority should be directed not so much in the
way of cutting down and destroying vegetation as in
amending the conditions under which such vegetation
abounds, and which encourage its rank luxuriance, it being
remembered that vegetation flourishes not in proportion
to the organic matter in the soil, but to the activity of
the fermentative changes taking place in it; and that the
three necessary factors for inducing these changes are
heat, air, and moisture.
The following extract from one of the most complete
and valuable recent works on hygiene and public
health, edited by Dr. Buck of New York, beautifully
illustrates this theory:
"The living vegetable has nothing to do with the pro-
duction or evolution of malaria, but would rather seem
to be concerned in its destruction.
"By viewing malaria as an element in the production
of plant-life, exhaled from the soil and absorbed by the
myriad pores (stomata) which leaves present, mostly on
their under-surface, we have an explanation of the
luxuriant vegetation that usually indicates its habitat.
During the day under the stimulus of light and heat,
vegetable nutrition is active; carbon is fixed, oxygen is
thrown off, and malaria absorbed to act its part in the
organism. Hence the comparative freedom from mala-
rial poisoning conferred by sun-light. During the night,
on the contrary, the plant sleeps: its nutritive functions
are at a stand-still, and the unabsorbed malaria envelopes
Injurious Action of Vegetation.
83
the foliage in a rich vapour until the morning sun
rouses up the organism to profit by it."
There are, however, three ways in which such vege-
tation acts injuriously, and consequently three reason-
able arguments in favor of its clearance.
First, that it gives cover to venomous snakes, reptiles,
and vermin, and encourages the propagation of mosqui-
toes and such small deer.
Secondly, that it keeps the rays of the sun from the
surface of the soil, thus preventing free evaporation and
drying of the surface, and maintaining a humid and
malarious condition of the atmosphere; and
Thirdly, that when it has passed its maturity, it dies
down, decays, and decomposes.
In addition to these three objections there is this one,
that in towns it gives cover for the commission of nui-
sances, and therefore is, if not a nuisance in itself, a
cause of nuisance.
While admitting, however, that there are on the above
grounds good reasons for the clearing of jungle, such
clearances should not be made indiscriminately or other-
wise than under proper supervision. To cut down (as
is too often done) the vegetation on waste lands and
there to let it lie and rot, is but to produce the very evil
we are trying to remedy.
It is a fact generally known to all residents of our
Hill stations, that the annual cutting down or breaking
down, as is too often done, of the rank jungle growth
on the hill sides during or after the rains, is followed by
more or less prevalent diarrhoea.
To cut down the ordinary undergrowth of bun
kochu (wild caladium or arum) and bherindu (a species
84
Jungle-cutting.
of euphorbia) and which abound on all waste lands in
Lower Bengal, at the beginning or the middle of the
rains, is worse than useless, the jungle springs up again
and the cut plants rot on the ground. The proper time
for jungle-cutting is either from the beginning of the
hot weather or after the complete cessation of the rains.
Then the vegetation should be thoroughly cut down, and
after being allowed to dry for a few days should be burnt
on the ground, which should be dug over so as to turn
up and destroy the roots. Cut, or rooted up plants, and
pannas or water-plants, should never be allowed to rot
on the ground, it being always kept in mind that it is
the decay of vegetation, and not its growth, that pro-
duces malaria.
But this process will be ineffectual in altering the
malarious characteristics of the locality, unless the land
be properly drained and kept clean and free from excretal
deposits and other filth. All unused waste lands in
towns should be planted with trees, care being taken
to select such as discourage undergrowth and yield a
pleasant shade without entirely excluding the sun's rays.
Aromatic and flowering shrubs and trees also aid in the
production of ozone.
In the chapter on arboriculture will be found some
hints as to the kind of trees and shrubs most suited for
urban planting, both as regards ornament and purifica-
tion of the atmosphere.
t
Cleansing of Streets.
85
CHAPTER IX.
"The Commissioners shall provide all establishments, cattle, carts,
and implements required for the removal of offensive matter and
rubbish."-Sec. 193, Act V of 1876. (B. C.)
One of the principal duties of the Municipal Conser-
vancy department is the regular collection and removal
of house and kitchen refuse, refuse from markets, shops,
and handicrafts, the litter and dung from stables, and
the street dust and droppings of animals in the tho-
roughfares. The cleansing of the streets is a matter of
far greater importance than is generally recognised. It
affects the public health and the comfort of the commu-
nity to an important extent. In most towns it is cus-
tomary to have certain fixed hours, within which such
matters may be deposited outside the gates of com-
pounds and houses, on the side of the thoroughfare
from whence they are removed by scavengers' carts.
Nothing presents so repulsive an appearance, or is so
conducive to the production of foul smells and noxious
exhalations as garbage heaps left on, or unremoved from
the roadsides, it is, therefore, incumbent on every Muni-
cipality to maintain a sufficient staff of carts and scaven-
ger coolies to keep the streets clean and remove daily
all such accumulations. In most Municipalities in Ben-
gal* bye-laws framed under section 313 of the Bengal
* The Bengal Acts have alone been referred to, but there are similar
provisions in all local enactments relating to Municipalities.
86
Deposit of Garbage.
Mofussil Municipalities' Act prescribe the hours (usually
from 8 P. M. to 8 A. M.) within which refuse may be depo-
sited, and these bye-laws should be strictly enforced for
the general comfort and health of the inhabitants. //In
some towns fixed dust-boxes are placed in the streets,
but they are not to be recommended: they are unsightly
and soon become foci of filth and foul smells. //
Dr. Janes, of New York, one of the Sanitary Inspec-
tors of that city, says, "The garbage-box is another
nuisance which deserves particular attention: they are
generally placed on the side walks, and are either con-
stantly full or never completely emptied. Very few of
them are without signs of demolition, many have but
three sides, some but two, and not one in the whole district
has a cover. It is not unusual to see these boxes day by
day receiving their accustomed load until filled to their
utmost capacity, the gutter receiving the surplus, which
forms a temporary dam, allowing the collection and
retention of foul water. No effort is made to thoroughly
empty these boxes, consequently more or less foul matter
adheres to their bottom and sides, sending off an odour
more disgusting, if possible, than it was before the mass
was disturbed; thus the boxes become so completely
saturated with the liquid portion of their contents, that
they become themselves a source of disease.”
The deposit of garbage on the road sides and streets
is also most objectionable; in the rainy season especially
a considerable amount of effete organic matter is washed
out of the heap and either carried into the drains or
spread over the road surface, giving rise to mephetic
odours and adding to the impurity of the atmos-
phere.

Disposal of Sweepings.
87
A simple and efficacious remedy for this evil would be
to compel every house-
holder to place his house-
refuse on the roadside
in a tub, box, or basket,
leeped inside with clay
or cowdung. Such bas-
kets are now, or were a
few years ago to the
writer's knowledge, used
in Bombay for the removal of nightsoil, the scavenger
can then empty them directly into his cart, and the
road sides would be kept free from the disgusting nui-
sance now prevailing in Calcutta, the suburbs, and else-
where. The form of scavenger cart principally in use is
a light two-wheeled tip cart, with shafts, drawn by a pony,
galloway, or bullock, very much like the ordinary farmer's
cart used in England, but altogether smaller and lighter
so as to be adapted for the light cattle procurable in this
country, having a carrying capacity of about 30 cubic
feet, but if fitted with side rails capable of carrying a
higher load of straw or light refuse such as leaves, litter,
grass, and the like.
The universal manner of disposing of town refuse in
this country is by throwing it into holes, pits, ponds, or
low grounds which thus in time are raised to the sur-
rounding level, and reclaimed. //This practice has given
rise to great controversy, some medical authorities con-
demning it in the strongest terms, while others are just
as positive in its favor. For instance, Dr. D. B. Smith, late
Principal of the Medical College, and formerly Sanitary
Commissioner for Bengal, says, "There is another conser-
:
88
Use of Sweepings for Tank-filling.
vancy arrangement 'which is deserving of the strongest
condemnation.' I allude to the practice of filling up
hollow places, broken ground, and even tanks with the
off scourings and filth of the city. Probably no more
certain method of generating and perpetuating cholera
could be devised than this said filling up of old tanks
with decaying organic matter." Referring to the pro-
posal to carry out all the sweepings of Calcutta to the
saltwater lakes, Dr. Smith says, "I believe it will
prove a gigantic and intolerable nuisance. I cannot be-
lieve that all the abominable sweepings of Calcutta
could be deposited within two or three miles of its
eastern boundary, (on land liable by chance to be
flooded) without ere long creating an atmosphere of pu-
trefaction and foetor such as would drive the inhabitants
of Entally either into the law courts, hospitals, or grave-
yards." This opinion was given in 1869, since which
time the very practice condemned by Dr. Smith in such
strong terms has been in force, and Entally still stands
where it did.
((
The practice has been in vogue in the suburbs of Cal-
cutta for years, and no evil results have ever been ex-
perienced beyond temporary inconvenience. The present
Surgeon-General of Bengal, when Health Officer of Cal-
cutta, and who himself followed the practice, says,
Respecting the use of road-sweepings for filling tanks, I
find that for some years past, the Sanitary Commissioner
for Bengal, Dr. Coates, has adopted it in all provincial
municipalities; and the Officiating Sanitary Commissioner,
Dr. Lethbridge, urges its continuance during his incum-
bency. The practice is common in European towns."
Harmless though the practice may be however, so far
Tank-filling not objectionable.
89
as its being a direct producer of disease, it cannot be
said to be altogether inoffensive; so long as the sweep-
ings and refuse are dry, no great offence is caused; but
during the rains when the hollow gets filled up with
water, or if the stuff is emptied into a pond already
containing water, the result is often the creation of a
serious nuisance. Where it is so, however, it may, in nearly
every case, be ascribed to want of care on the part of
the persons in charge, for where proper precautions are
taken, the deposit of sweepings in tanks, even in popu-
lous localities, has been continued for several years with-
out giving rise to serious complaint, or to any known out-
break of sickness, and where any very offensive smell
has been caused, it has generally been traced to the im-
proper deposit of dead animals, or night-soil into the
hollow.
Where a deposit of the kind becomes offensive, the
only remedial measures which are of any real service are,
at once to cover the deposit with a good coating of fresh
earth, and where there is a collection of foul water at the
bottom of the hollow, the addition of a few gallons of
cold saturated solution. of alum will cause the organic
matters in suspension to be precipitated, after which milk
of lime may be added, and the air may be cleared of
offensive vapours by burning a small quantity of sul-
phur.
In commencing to fill up such hollows with town
sweepings, therefore, the following rules should be at-
tended to.
Do not commence to fill any tank unless the depart-
ment can guarantee the completion of the work by the
setting in of the following rainy season. This is easily as-

90
Operations of Tank-filling.
certained by the following calculation. Carefully measure
the length, width, and depth of the hollow, and ascertain
its cubic capacity; then take the number of cart-loads of
refuse available in that locality per day, the number of
carts multiplied by their average cubic contents, will give
the daily amount available, and this multiplied by the
Tank partially filled with refuse.
number of days from the date of commencement of the
work up to the 15th June following, will give the total
amount. Where a larger pond or hollow is to be filled
than can be done in one season, it should first be divided
into two sections, by an earthen bank, wall, or diaphragm,
so as to keep the sweepings in the filled up portion
from contact with the water in the other, as shown in
the sectional sketch above. 2ndly.-All water should
be pumped or baled out of the hollow before the filling
up is commenced. 3rdly.-No dead animals, slaughter-
house garbage, or fæcal matter should be thrown into the
hollow. 4thly.-A sufficient quantity of earth should be
carted to the spot or excavated from the bottom or
sides and kept in a spoil bank for use in covering the
deposit when finished, or at any time should it become
Municipal Aid.
91
offensive. The following suggestions which were framed
by the writer for the use of the municipality, of which
he has charge, and which were approved of by the Com-
missioners and the local Government, may be found of
use as a guide to others, and are, therefore, quoted in
extenso.
The filling up of existing holes, pits, and low swampy
lands.
“Here the municipality may come forward and help
landlords and tenants, and in order to do so effec-
tually, I have to propose the following arrangements for
filling small holes and pits and raising low swampy lands
within bustees and other parts of the township for the
mutual advantage of the municipality and the rate-payers.
At present not only does the municipality make nothing by
the sale of town sweepings, but it is often put to some
difficulty to find convenient places of deposit for them, so
that the carts have often to travel considerable distances
to dispose of their loads and thus waste time.
“One of the objections to the disposal of sweepings
within the town is the difficulty of getting earth to cover
the deposit. This can only be met by having earth dug
before-hand from the spot where the sweepings are to be
thrown. This at first sight would appear somewhat use-
less waste of labour or somewhat like the Irishman's effort
to lengthen his blanket by cutting a piece off the bottom
to sew it on to the top; but when it is considered that a
trench forty feet by five, by five, will give 1,000 cubic feet
of earth equal to a surface area of 1,000 feet, if spread
one foot thick, it will be seen that the plan can be ad-
vantageously carried out. Then supposing we have a
92
Advantages gained.
tank of, say, 100 feet long, by 60 feet wide, and average
depth of 12 feet to fill up, it would be necessary to cut a
trench 10 feet wide by three feet deep all round the tank,
as 320 × 10 × 3 which will give 9,600 cubic feet of earth,
sufficient to cover the area of tank and excavation one
foot in depth, while 100,000 cubic feet of rubbish, allow-
ing about 25 per cent. for settling, will be required to fill
the tank.
"As the owner of the land would be a very considerable
gainer in the improvement of his property, the municipa-
lity might fairly charge him say Rs. 100 or about Rs. 16,
per 1,000 feet of surface reclaimed. I would make this
charge where the tank was over 8, and not exceeding
12 feet in depth, but where less than 8 feet, I would
lower the charge to Rs. 10 per 1,000 superficial feet.
"The charges should in all cases be made in advance.
“The work of excavation, levelling, and dressing should
be done by the establishment coolies in the afternoon,
under the supervision of the overseers, and should be
paid for as overtime work at regular earth-work rates;
the overseers, jemadars, and peons being paid a percen-
tage of the amount in proportion to their respective
salaries. In order to stimulate the cartmen to work
quickly, I would propose to pay them a small sum, say
one pie per cart load deposited, a regular tally being kept,
"The advantage to the municipality would be the
more expeditious and complete cleansing of streets, the
removal of refuse from courts and by-lanes where it
now often lies untouched, the increased healthiness of
the town resulting from this, and from the suppression
of so many sources of malaria, the increased value of
taxable property, and the general benefit to the rate-
Reclaimed lands as Building sites.
93
payers in having filthy holes and ponds reclaimed at a
reasonable cost, and lands now profitless, made available
for tenants or building purposes.
"The value of the sweepings may be put out of the
question at present, as they are now of little or no
profit."
Ivantages gained may be thus summed up.
1st.- large number of malaria, fever, and cholera
centres are obliterated from the map.
2nd.—A source of danger to children and even adults
is removed from the heart of the bustees and the sides
of the highways and thoroughfares.
3rd.—Valuable sites for either building, trade, or culti-
vation purposes are acquired at small cost.
4th.—The municipality has facility for disposing of
the street refuse without the expense of a long lead.
5th.-A considerable amount of assessable property
and consequent increased rates is acquired.
In the suburbs an area of one hundred and sixty
biggahs, or over 54 acres of land has thus been reclaim-
ed, the value of which would not be less than Rs. 200,000
(two lacs of rupees).
Where lands have been reclaimed in the manner
above related, the local authority should place a decided
veto against their being used as building-sites or bustee
settlement for at least four to five years, during which
interval they may be used as grazing ground, gardens,
or plantations. After four or five season's cultivation
they may safely be built upon, by huts or light struc-
tures, which will not require deep excavations to put in
foundations. The local authorities in Bengal have ample
powers under the Bengal Municipal Acts to control
94
Street-watering and Sweeping.
settlement on such lands, and this is a matter that should
be insisted upon in all cases.
Street-watering or sprinkling is an important aid to
public comfort in towns during the dry and hot season:
it not only helps to cool the atmosphere by evaporation,
but it lays the dust and prevents it from blowing about,
not only to the annoyance and discomfort of the in-
habitants, but to the detriment of their health and
deterioration of their household property. When we con-
sider what street dirt is composed of, being not only
inorganic detritus but bullock and horse droppings,
garbage, sewage, and even excreta decomposed by heat
and moisture, we can easily understand that even more
serious dangers to health may be feared than the bron-
chial irritation produced by inhaling particles of sand,
granite detritus, and other irritating substances, while
every Indian house-holder is well aware of the ruinous
effects of dust upon furniture and other household
appurtenances.
I am not, however, oblivious to the fact that there are
strong advocates in favor of dry sweeping of streets
instead of intermittent moistening, and their arguments
are not without reason. One Indian medical man in
a recent note on the sanitary condition of Calcutta says,
"Better have the well dried innocuous dust of the
roads swept up and collected by dhangurs than fer-
tilise the organic germ-cells of disease by systematic
watering." This is no doubt true so far as it goes if the
well dried dust be really innocuous, and secondly if it
were possible to have it completely and thoroughly re-
moved by sweeping. In America where these questions
are dealt with in a much more thorough manner than
-
Objections to Street-watering.
95
with us, many sanitary authorities condemn the practice,
though others are as strongly in its favor.
Dr. Janes, a Sanitary Inspector of New York city,
says, "The practice of sprinkling the streets during
the warm weather thereby increasing the humidity of
the atmosphere and hastening the decomposition of
whatever organic matter may remain on the surface is
one directly at variance with the present state of sani-
tary science. If the streets be regularly and thorough-
ly swept, they will require no sprinkling; otherwise
better suffer an occasional inconvenience from the dust
than be constantly inhaling the miasm arising from
this practice."
Dr. Furman, another Sanitary Inspector, says, "The
habit of sprinkling the streets with water during the
heated term is pernicious and becomes a prolific source
of malaria;" and Dr. Burrall also an Inspector of the
same city says, "Streets will have the least injurious
influence upon the public health when clean, dry, and
wide, and running in such direction as to catch the
prevailing winds. In order to appreciate fully the
unhealthiness of dirty streets, it must be remembered
that street dirt is composed to a great extent of organic
matter. Under the influence of moisture and the rays
of the sun, this matter is constantly undergoing decom-
position, as moisture favors the production of organic
changes; streets should be kept so clean as to require
but little sprinkling, as this, in the opinion of some of
our most prominent physicians, only lays a dust which
should be carried out of the city instead of being left
to form one of the materials for the generation of
malaria."
96
Watering vs. Sweeping.
In fact there is a general concensus of opinion on
this subject amongst the Sanitary Inspectors of New
York, a city containing between 8 and 900,000 inhabit-
ants, and having a most perfect system of sanitary
inspection.
4
But all this testimony goes more to show that street
dirt, whether wet or dry, should not be allowed to
remain in the streets but should be removed outside
the towns; and the theory propounded is, that
organic matter, whilst dry or in a state of desicca-
tion, is innocuous, and requires heat and moisture to
develope its noxious properties; and here is where
the argument on the other side comes in. The dust
containing dormant germ-cells, and dried organic parti-
cles, it may be, the evacuations of cholera or dysentery,
the specific poison of small-pox derived from the skin;
of scarlet fever, derived from the skin, throat, and urine;
of measles, from the skin and lungs; may be lifted from
the ground and driven along by the wind be inhaled,
and having thus found their way into the system, will
there find the heat and moisture necessary for the
awakening of their latent powers of evil.-Parkes.
Thus it may be, we have simply the choice between
two evils, and therefore of two evils we should choose
the least; add the undoubted discomfort caused in the
dry season from March to June by the constant clouds
of dust to the possible injury to health, and the balance
is certainly in favor of street-watering combined with
scraping and cleansing.
In India, except in some of the larger cities where
there is a regular water-supply with street hydrants
street-watering is carried on by water-carts or bhisties
Waste and unoccupied Lands.
97
the latter being perhaps the more common,
common, as it
certainly is the more primitive; and after experience
of both modes, I am inclined to think, that the agency
of the bhistie is, especially where tanks are not
situated immediately on the roadside, the cheaper and
more effectual. The bhistie's mussuck or skin bag
contains about 10 gallons, and he can fill it and empty
it half-a-dozen times, whilst a water-cart containing
120 gallons is filled and emptied once. The bhistie
receives five rupees a month, whilst in addition to the
keep of a pony and maintenance of a water-cart, there
is a driver on seven rupees and two coolies also on seven
to fill the cart. Each bhistie should sprinkle about
twelve thousand superficial feet of road surface, working
for three hours: a water-cart will sprinkle about twice
or thrice the area according to the distance of the water
supply.
In many towns street-watering is carried on by volun-
tary contribution from the inhabitants of the streets
watered, and this, where there are no public funds
available, is no doubt very desirable, but it is clearly
one of the duties of the local authority or municipality
wherever their funds will permit.
One of the most frequent sources of pollution of the
atmosphere of our towns and villages is the defilement
of the waste lands and unoccupied compounds. In this
country any piece of vacant land is speedily covered
with rank vegetation, and it as speedily becomes the place
of deposit of garbage, dead animals, filth, and nightsoil.
It is resorted to for purposes of nature by all the low
class inhabitants of the neighbourhood, and soon is
a focus of foul odours and miasma.
G
98
Prevention of Nuisances.
Although the Mofussil Municipal Act contains ample
provisions for enforcing penalties against the owners of
such lands, it is not always easy to apply them. Many
of the owners are absentees, and with others the excuse
is, 'other persons defile my land, how can I prevent it?'
This excuse ought not to be admitted. If property has
its privileges it has also its obligations, and the first of
these is that it shall not be a nuisance to the community.
A man has no right to retain the ownership of property
within a town unless he is able and willing to maintain.
it in such order as to prevent annoyance and injury to
his neighbours. The inclosing of all open and unoccupied
spaces within towns, so as to prevent access to them for
improper purposes, should be required and enforced,
and the owners after due and sufficient warning, should
be mulcted in such amount of penalty as will enable
the municipality to appoint and maintain sufficient
watch and ward to prevent these nuisances. It would
have a very salutary effect if, after due notice, the owner
of every waste piece of land, which was in such a state
as to be a source of annoyance to the public, were fined
in such a sum as would suffice to pay for cleansing the
land and maintaining a chokeydar for at least three months,
the duty of such chokeydar being to warn off trespassers
and to arrest any person throwing garbage or filth or
resorting thereto for purposes of nature. The ordinary
municipal police are seldom sufficient, numerically, to
undertake such duties; but a little extra vigilance on
their part would seldom be thrown away, especially in
preventing the defilement of the roadsides and drains,
and open spaces immediately adjacent to, and in view
of, the public streets.
Drains and Drainage.
99
CHAPTER X.
"It is the true aim and object of the Sanitary Engineer o assist
Nature in her great and simple operations."—Baldwin Latham.
"The defects of the climate of Calcutta during the latter part of
the rainy seasons may, indeed, be ascribed in a great measure to the
state of the drains and watercourses, and to the stagnant water
remaining in the town and its vicinity."-Marquis of Wellesley.
One of the principal insanitary features of Indian
towns and villages is their inefficient drainage. In
many towns and most villages the drains are simply
excavations in the loose soil, running generally along the
roadsides, but often where they cross the district, form-
ing the original demarcation of private lands, the tortu-
ous boundaries of which they follow without any refer-
ence to the natural fall of the land or to the purpose for
which drains are constructed.
Their general plan and construction are in most cases.
faulty in the extreme: they are more or less deep accord-
ing to the caprice of their original excavators or according
to the demand for earth to raise the pagars of the pro-
prietors of adjoining lands; their sides have no proper
slope to prevent the falling in of loose earth, their
bottom no sufficient inclination to permit the water to
pass through them with sufficient velocity to carry off
the solid filth and prevent deposit and downward per-
colation.
Uor M
100
Obstructions in Drains.
Weeds and coarse grasses grow on the bottom and
sides; field-rats burrow up the banks and throw out heaps
of earth; and during the rainy season, it is a common
practice for the villagers to place bunds or dams of
stakes, weeds, mud, and fish-traps across them to inter-
cept the fish with which every stream of water abounds
in the rains: all this tends to obstruct the flow of water
in the more rural parts.
In populous quarters further and more serious obstruc-
tions occur, especially where Municipal or other local
authorities are either careless or lack sufficient means to
keep up the necessary establishments, and where super-
vision is therefore lax and insufficient. Culverts and
entrance bridges are constructed with insufficient water-
way and of too great length to permit of proper cleansing.
Owners of huts often secure and extend their earthen
foundations by driving rows of pins or stakes along the
course of the drain, and projecting as far into its bed as
they dare venture without fear of the sanitary or local
authority. Earth is filled in at the back, and is as often
as not, dug from the bed of the drain itself, at once des-
troying its level and leaving a hollow for water to accu-
mulate, and sewage to stagnate in. The next process is
to place over the drain a platform or bridge from four
to sixteen feet in length, constructed of loose planks,
guran sticks or bamboos. This may serve either as an
entrance to a house or hackney carriage stable, or as a shop
frontage. Sweepings, refuse, dust, horse-dung, and kitchen-
garbage fall through the interstices; rats honeycomb the
sides of the drain underneath the platform, forming an
accumulation which effectually obstructs the flow of
water in the rains, while in the dry weather the addi-
DOLW
Elongated Cess-pools.
101
tion of ablution water, rice-conjee, the washing of vege-
tables, fish, and domestic utensils, and in the case of
stables, the urine of the ponies, or so much of it as is not
absorbed by the clay-floor of the stall, help to form a
hot-bed of putrid filth eternally seething under the noses
of the inhabitants.
Add to all this, the drainage from pucka house kitchens,
the washings from privies, the decomposing dung and
urine from goals or cow-byres, the use of the drain sides
by passers-by or residents of the locality for purposes of
nature, and perchance a dead dog or cat in an advanced
stage of decomposition, and the condition of an ordinary
uncared for cutcha drain may be imagined. In fact they
are in too many instances "elongated cess-pools, the
most filthy and disgusting nuisances of the town, a
permanent source of effluvia detrimental to health and
destructive to the life of the inhabitants."--(Calcutta
Health Officer's Report 1865.) Of course things are not
always so bad as above represented, nor do they always
continue so.
During the rainy season, if the Conservancy Depart-
ment has been moderately active in removing obstruc-
tions, the drains are swept by the heavy rainfall, and
the filthy deposits either carried off or so diluted as to
be comparatively inoffensive. And again, there is gene-
rally a period of annual cleansing and excavating, when
the silt is dug out and either carted away, or, as too
often happens, is spread over the flanks of the road to
raise the surface and be desiccated by the powerful rays
of a tropical sun.
But here again another evil arises,-the usual manner
of cleansing simply aggravates the faulty construction
102
Insufficient Outfall.
of the drain. The silt is dug out by ignorant coolies,
generally dhangars, working under the direction of a
peon as ignorant as themselves, or of an overseer of
no professional knowledge and often but little prac-
tical experience, and the depth to which the drain
is excavated is regulated more by the quantity of
earth required for the cutcha road repairs than by
the requirements of the drainage. The liquid portion
of the sewage which finds its way into these drains,
therefore, exposed to the full heat of the torrid zone,
with hardly any flow, either evaporates or soaks into
the subsoil, and saturates and fouls the foundations of
the dwellings of the people, leaving the solid filth to be
removed in the form of a black putrescent mud.
Another common fault of drains in Bengal towns and
villages is the want of any proper outfall. In many
places, notably in the Suburbs of Calcutta, they lead
directly into tanks or ponds by the side of the roads.
The tanks have been permitted so close to the roadsides.
that the drains must fall into them, the road surface
water and sewage flow into the hollow, until it is filled
to the brim, the spill water finding its way through the
continuation of the drain on the opposite side (if permit-
ted by the levels, which is not always the case), the
pollution of the tank being a secondary consideration
in the eye of the owner to securing a supply of water
for fish-raising.
In other cases the drains simply lead out into the
open country and end in the rice fields or jullas, and
as these remain throughout the rainy season, and for
some time after, full of water, the town or village drain-
age is headed back and stands in the drains for several
Dangerous to Public Health.
103
months in the year, and thus keeps up that saturation
and humidity of the subsoil and foundations, so inimical
to the health of the people. The evils arising from
this state of things can hardly be exaggerated; they are
admitted by all sanitary authorities, although, as is usual
in such cases, doctors disagree' as to the extent to which
the prevailing fevers of Bengal may be attributed to it.
Professor Max Von Pettenkofer's opinion is, that humi-
dity of soil is a necessary factor in the etiology of fever
epidemics.
Dr. David B. Smith, some while Sanitary Commissioner
of Bengal, says,-" There is constant and close connexion
between humidity of soil and high rates of sickness.”
The Council of Hygiene of the City of New York
reported, after a most carefully-conducted series of hygro-
metrical observations, "that any marked degree of excess
of humidity in any locality was without exception
found to be associated with an excessive constant sick-
ness-rate and with all kinds of contagion and infection."
Mr. Simon, Medical Officer to the Privy Council, con-
siders that "an undrained or damp state of soil in popu-
lous localities is dangerous to public health, and falls
under the legal definition of a nuisance, for which sani-
tary authorities are responsible.
I have quoted enough to show that high sanitary
authorities view obstructed drainage and consequent
water-logging of the soil as being a distinct danger to
health and life; and I will close this chapter with an
extract from a very valuable and practical pamphlet
submitted to Government by a well-known and greatly
respected zemindar, whose natural ability was quicken-
ed by a liberal education, and whose interest in the sub-
1
104
Insanitary Characteristics.
ject was enhanced not only by his natural sympathy for
his fellow-countrymen, but by the large stake he held in
the country, and the large interest he had in the well-
being of the urban and rural classes, amongst whom
his tenants were numerous. I allude to the late Hon.
Rajah Digamber Mitter, C.S.I.: writing of the causa-
tion of the malarial fever which had become fearfully
prevalent in Lower Bengal, and especially in the Burd-
wan District, he says, "The type of fever met with in
the epidemic districts is solely due to a something in
the soil, and the condition most favorable to the de-
velopment of that something is excessive or abnormal
humidity of the subsoil. The cause which operates
most powerfully to produce that condition is impeded
drainage it is the inordinate humidity of the subsoil
of towns and villages, and not of the paddy-fields and
jullas, which contributes to the outbreak of the fever
with epidemic intensity. The fact that the natural
drainage of a Bengal town cannot be interfered with,
with impunity, which of all others should have forced
itself generally into notice, is yet just the one least
generally known or recognised, and it is to this igno-
rance or indifference that is to be attributed the ruin
of many once-flourishing cities and towns both in earlier
and later times."
We may thus sum up the insanitary characteristics
of Indian towns and villages where the state of the
drainage is as above described. Excessive humidity of
the atmosphere, stagnant waters, obstructed flow of
drainage, water-logged subsoil, damp foundations, luxu-
riant vegetation, impeded circulation of air, decomposing
animal and vegetable matter, and putrid exhalations.
Remedial Measures.
105
CHAPTER XI.
"Before an Engineer attempts to sewer any town or district, he
should enquire how nature has provided for passing off the rainfall
and the surplus surface water, and he should interfere with that as
little as possible."—Rawlinson.
Where funds are available, remedies are easily found
and applied; but impecuniosity, if not absolute insol-
vency, is the normal state of most of the mofussil muni-
cipalities in Bengal, and it is not the object of this work
to treat of elaborate and complete schemes involving
large outlay and great engineering skill; but of such
improvements as are within reach of the ordinary muni-
cipal purse, and such as can be carried out, if need be,
under the supervision of persons possessing but a
moderate amount of engineering knowledge; but the
first principle to be observed, is that laid down by Mr.
Rawlinson, C.B., C.E., M.I.C.E., and quoted above. Where the
drainage, therefore, is such as I have described in the last
chapter, the following remedial measures must be adopted
as far as practicable.
Where possible, a complete series of levels of the differ-
ent drains should be taken. This should be accomplished
without much difficulty or expense, flooded as the country
now is with the graduates of our State colleges.
This done, permanent masonry matams or bench-level
marks should be built at intervals of every 200 or 250
feet, in the bed of every drain; and where drains pass
along the basements of buildings, under bridges, and
106
Levelling.
other permanent masonry structures, bench-marks may
be cut or otherwise indelibly marked on their surface,
for the guidance of the conservancy staff. It will then
be comparatively easy to maintain the level, when the
drains are being excavated and silted. A convenient form
of level is of importance in making or excavating drains,
in fact where there is little fall, the use of a reliable instru-
ment is quite requisite to grade the bottom of the drain
at a true inclination, so that the sewage water may flow
steadily. The ground surface is often so deceptive that
levelling by the eye and random guessings should never
be trusted to. The figure (A) as under, represents a

A.
B
A.
Fig. A.
P.
simple, cheap, but efficient drain-level that any carpenter
can make in wood in an hour's time; A A are pieces of
wood one inch thick, eight feet long, four inches wide
at the lower ends and two inches wide at the top;
B is a graduated cross-bar screwed to A A; P consists
of a plummet and line. Before marking the graduated
scale on B, let the level be turned halfway round, if
the plumb-line indicates the same point or mark, the
level is practically correct. The pieces should be planed
smooth, painted, and the joints screwed together. Tem-
plates are useful for forming the banks or slopes: they
Mischief of Irregular Excavation.
107
can easily be constructed as shown in figure (B) of any

3 feet
Fig. B.
straight wood, three inches wide, and one inch thick.
Unless the bottom of a ditch or drain is made with an
uniform gradient, the earth being soft and readily washed
out in some places, and more compact in others, the
bottom of the channel would be liable to be gullied
where the water runs most rapidly.
No excavation or silting out must be permitted below
the level of the bench-marks.
Where a long course of unscientific silting out has
lowered the bed of a drain beyond the proper level, it
should be raised with sound earth, clay or building
rubbish, well rammed and beaten down so as to form a
smooth impervious bed. As a general rule, it will be
found that the remedy required consists in raising,
instead of deepening, the beds of all old cutcha drains.
In raising the bed-level of drains, the work should
always be commenced at the highest point of the drainage.
Whereas in excavating or silting, the coolies should
invariably start from the point nearest the outfall, and
work up the drain. Wide mischief is caused by careless,
aimless, and irregular excavation of drains at their upper
portions, thus often necessitating an undue deepening of
108
Retaining Walls and Drain Bridges.
the outfall end if the water is to be allowed to flow
off. An ignorant overseer or road jemadar thinks he
has done a praiseworthy work if he has carefully cut
out the bottom and sides of the cutcha branch drains in
his immediate section, leaving a dry clean bottom and
well-trimmed slopes, without giving a thought to the
consequences of lowering the bed of the drain at that
point, possibly lower than the outfall itself.
All culverts, bridges, and covered ways should be con-
structed of the full width of the waterway of the drain,
and with masonry floors or inverts placed a couple of
inches lower than the bed of the drain to permit of
proper silting without disturbing the level. Retaining
walls and other structures placed alongside the drains
must have their foundations sufficiently deep not to be
disturbed or endangered by ordinary excavation or
silting. All bench-marks, inverts, floors, arches, and other
masonry structures should be built of sound, hard, well-
soaked bricks, laid with first class hydraulic lime mortar
and the joints raked and pointed with cement, composed
of one part fresh Portland cement and two parts clean
sharp river sand. What is called cutcha-pucka masonry
should never be tolerated: it has no stability, and the
bricks being porous, and the mortar mud, or very inferior
soorkee and lime, the open soft joints soak in the
sewage, become intensely foul, and more difficult to cleanse
than a simple clay bottom or bank.
Rough piling of the drain sides with wooden or bam-
boo pins, and bamboo, stick, or rough plank platforms,
should never be allowed. The extension of shop front-
ages into the street is a fraud upon the public. Where
bridges are required for access to shops or stables, or

Encroachments on Drains.
109
carriage-ways to private houses, they may be constructed
with a platform of well-fitted planks, removeable at
pleasure, placed over masonry side walls, built with a
sufficient batter, and brick-on-edge invert, set on concrete
as shown in the following sketch. Such structures are
P
T
L.
P. Plank top bolted to.
L. Level of drain bed.
T.
Cross limbers.
I. Invert.
C. Concrete foundation.
more expensive at the outset, but they are necessary
improvements, and not more costly in the long run
when renewal, fines, penalties, and blackmail are taken
into consideration in addition to first cost. Native house-
owners are very fond of constructing raised masonry plat-
forms covering in the drains along the entire frontage
of their houses. These form lounges facing the street,
and serve to conceal what are often very filthy drains.
Not unfrequently the ends of these platforms are
enclosed by screen walls and used as urinals. I have
even seen a privy erected over the drain in such a
situation. Such constructions should never be per-
mitted: they not only form an obstruction to the
drainage, are difficult to clean through, unless of large
size, and provided with man-holes at short intervals, but
!
¡
.
.
;
:
110
Sewage Flow in Drains.
they tend to reduce the width of the streets and are
unwarrantable encroachments on public land, being one of
the means by which house frontages are gradually pushed
out into the street-first comes the platform, then perhaps
a temporary sunshade is placed over it, and if that
escapes notice, it is replaced at some future time by a
more permanent structure, till after the lapse of a few
years, the fact of the original encroachment has been
forgotten and the wily Hindu has "enlarged the borders
of his tent" and acquired a strip of valuable frontage at
no cost to himself and to the detriment of public rights.
The Municipal or other local authorities who knowingly
permit such encroachments, clearly fail in their duty as
trustees for the public.
In forming or improving drains three questions have
to be considered: the amount of velocity of the sewage
flow required to carry off impurities; the capacity required
to carry off the maximum quantity of water falling
into the drain in a definite period; and the scouring
action on the bottom and sides of the channel.
The velocity depends on the hydraulic mean depth of
the stream and the inclination of its bed. The hydrau-
lic mean depth is ascertained by dividing the cross
sectional area of the stream by the width of its cross
section measured along its bed. Or in other words -
(6
'By dividing the sectional area of the channel by the
wetted perimeter, or the contour of the wetted channel, we
get what is called the mean hydraulic depth,' or often,
'the mean radius.'”—Baldwin Latham.
Then the inclination remaining the same, the greater
the mean depth, the greater will be its velocity.
The sewage flow in cutcha drains is, however, great-
•
Inclination and Scouring Action.
111
ly influenced by the irregularities and roughnesses of
the channel, the friction being thereby greatly increased,
and the extent of surface with which it comes in
contact, proportionately retards its velocity. Drains
should not be made of a greater width and depth than
is actually required to carry off the highest average
quantity of water passing into them.
In considering the amount of fall or inclination to be
given to the bed of a drain, it would seem at first sight
as if too great an inclination could not be given in order to
make it discharge its contents in the shortest possible time,
and to wash out all solid filth which with a slow current
has a tendency to deposit; but here the scouring action
must be taken into consideration, and its effect upon the
bottom and sides of the drain must not be overlooked.
In Neville's Hydraulic Tables, &c., it is stated, that
"the mean velocity of a stream must not be too quick,
and should be so determined as to suit the tenacity and
resistance of the channel, otherwise the bed and banks
will change continually, unless artificially protected. It
should not exceed 25 feet per minute in soft alluvial
deposits, and 40 feet per minute in clayey beds. It
is true that Neville is here speaking of rivers, the con-
ditions of which are widely different from drains."
A surface velocity of two feet per second will, as a
rule, be found sufficient for practical purposes. The sur-
face velocity of a stream may be easily ascertained by
measuring a given length along the bank between two
fixed points, then throwing a cork or piece of light wood
into the stream, the time taken for it to pass from point
to point as checked by the second hand of an ordi-
nary watch will give the surface velocity. Summed up
112
Drainage Outfall.
shortly, therefore, the conditions to be observed are, that
the drain shall be able to carry off with sufficient velo-
city, the maximum quantity of water or sewage likely
to pass into it, but that the velocity shall not be so great
as to endanger the bottom or sides.
The efficiency of town drainage depends in a great de-
gree upon its outfall. This may be either into a river, canal,
or tidal creek, or into the jullas and rice-fields, and in
the latter case it follows the natural fall of the country.
Where the drainage falls into a running stream, it is
usually easily managed and uninterrupted, except by
exceptional causes, such as unusually high floods. When
into a canal, tidal creek, or river, it is necessarily inter-
mittent, and the influx of tide water has to be provided
against; but where its outfall is into the rice-fields or
jullas, the storm-water and sewage is often headed
back, and the drains remain brimful during the rainy
season, the spill water only passing off. This lasts till the
water-level sinks by the drawing off of the water from
the fields and by evaporation and subsoil percolation.
As the water in the rice-fields is a necessity of the
cultivation, we cannot (even were it practicable) propose
to drain off these lands; the only way, therefore, to meet
the difficulty is to carry the main drainage channel be-
tween embankments through the fields and jullas till
we reach some natural watercourse, at a sufficiently
low level, to permit of the water of the drains falling
into it. If the watercourse be tidal, a sluice or tide-
valve must be provided. If no such natural facilities
present themselves, the water must be lifted by steam
or wind-power as in the Fen Counties of England and
the Lowlands of Holland.
Drainage of Fen Lands.
113
It has often been a matter of surprise to me
that such a comparatively inexpensive method of
pumping water for drainage or irrigation purposes has
not been introduced into this country. In no part of
India have I ever seen a wind-mill. In the present
day steam-power has almost entirely superseded wind-
power in large drainage works; but I can well recol-
lect when wind-engines were in universal use in the
Fen Counties. Littleport Fen, with which I was familiar
as a youth, having an area of 28,000 acres drained by
wind-engines, now superseded by two steam engines of
30 and 40-horsepower. The following account of the
great Bedford level drainage will illustrate what great
results may be attained by utilising natural forces:—
The Bedford level is a vast tract of about 400,000
acres of lowland, extending into the counties of Nor-
thamptonshire, Huntingdonshire, Cambridgeshire, Lin-
colnshire, Norfolk, and Suffolk. It was formerly dry land,
but, from natural convulsions and other causes, it gradu-
ally became a vast morass. As early as 1436, the idea of
draining these fens engaged attention. Large sums were
expended in attempts to embank and reclaim them, but
all of which ended in failure, until in 1634, William, Earl
of Bedford, undertook to drain them on the understanding
that 95,000 acres of the reclaimed land were to become
his. For three years he prosecuted his labours, expend-
ing in the attempt £100,000, but again failure was
the result. In 1649, the Earl, nothing daunted, again
commenced operations, and after outlaying £300,000 in
draining, embanking, and protecting the land, met this
time with success. In 1664 a corporate body was
formed for the management of the reclaimed lands,
H
.
114
Sluice-gates or Tide Valves
which is still in existence. The Fen lands are intersected
by numerous channels, some of them being navigable
for over twenty miles. In draining the marsh, the water
was raised by wind-engines. In some cases these en-
gines turn a perpetual screw, fitting into a semicircular
trough, inclined at an angle of about 30°, the lower part
dipping into the water below, and discharging by its revo-
lution the water into the higher level. By this form of
engine the friction of pumps and wearing out of machinery
are reduced to a minimum, and the mills require little
attendance, but work night and day as the wind blows. I
have heard high praise of this form of engine from natives
of Schleswig Holstein, where it is in constant use, and it
was used with great effect in emptying the dry docks at
Shanghai. The Dutch, who carry on this system of drain-
age extensively in their lowlands, employ scoop-wheels
worked by wind-engines; and where the lift of water
is not more than seven feet, they are very effective.
Where the drainage falls into a tidal stream or creek,
and the point of outfall is below highwater marks,
the action becomes intermittent,—that is to say, the drain-
age water can only pass into the stream at those periods
of the ebb and flood when the water-level of the stream is
below the level of the sill of the outfall, or at least suffi-
ciently low to be overcome by the head of water in the
drain, and sluice-gates or tide valves are necessary to
prevent the tide water from entering the drain. The
sluices will open to discharge drainage when the ebb-tide
has fallen sufficiently to reduce the outside pressure
below that exerted by the water in the drain, and
will remain open until the in-coming flood has again
risen to the same point, when they will be closed
Liability to Derangement.
115
Where the water in the
by the pressure of the tide.
drain is much higher than the flood-level outside, a con-
siderable portion may be discharged through a valve
in the upper part of the sluice or by side valves in the
masonry; and as soon as the water outside has fallen so
far that the head of water inside can overcome the fric-
tion of the hinge and the outside pressure, it will begin
to discharge, although the tide may still be above the
level of the sill or floor.
No matter of what construction, or however well-con-
structed and well fitted sluice-gates may be, there is
always some weak point about them, some liability to
accident or derangement, which renders them a source of
constant anxiety and necessitates constant attention. If
the material be iron, it corrodes; if wood, it swells or
shrinks, and rots under the influence of alternate wetting
and drying.
If self-acting, they get jammed and choked with
floating rubbish, grass, trees, &c. If worked by hand,
they are liable to neglect by watchers, who forget to
open or close them at proper times.
Where drainage outfalls pass through or communi-
cate with rice-fields, they require, whether self-acting or
not, careful watching, as in dry seasons the raiyats will
force them open to admit the river water to irrigate
their fields. I have in my mind, whilst writing this, two
large and important so-called self-acting sluice gates com-
municating with the river Hooghly, which are a source
of constant trouble, and which have never been anything
else during my many years' acquaintance with them.
One is an upright gate or tide-valve hung by hinges
at the top, and abutting perpendicularly against masonry

116
Causes of Obstruction.
walls, as shown in figure. It is constructed of wood,
covered with sheathing metal, and with long strap
hinges. It is constantly obstructed in the manner
depicted, and is thus effectually prevented from closing
when the tide rises, which consequently floods the drain
and heads back the sewage water of the town.
The main faults of this sluice are its unwieldiness, and
from its being hung perpendicularly, it is not properly
self-closing until forced back by the tide water. A
lighter gate with slightly sloping abutments would be
better, as it would shut close with its own weight, be
kept close by the pressure of the water outside, and
would yield easier to the pressure of the inside water
as the tide falls.
With proper supervision, the draw-up sluice or pen-
stock worked by hand, is the better form. It can be
worked by one man, and can always be constructed to
fit better and be more water-tight than any self-acting
sluice; and as there must necessarily be a man always in
charge of it, it is less liable to be obstructed by drift.

Side Drains in Streets.
117
Where funds permit, all surface drains within towns
and along the streets should be made pucka There
are several forms of surface drains, the neatest and
most efficient for drains of small width, being made
of artificial stone moulded to the required section.
Other useful forms are tile and brick-on-edge drains.
Bricks for drain floors should never be laid flat,
and all the joints should be raked out and cemented.
Where streets and lanes within towns are very narrow,
so as not to permit of drains being excavated or con-
structed on both sides, the free passage of the surface
water may be provided for in the manner shown in the
section in the margins, the surface of the lane being
sloped towards the side, a half drain is formed by laying
brick on edge over the soling brick, which should be
lifted and replaced over nine inches of concrete as
shown in the margin, the basement of the house walls
being plastered with Portland cement to a height of one
-B
foot. The advan-
tage of this form is,
that, while it pro-
vides free passage
of water, it does not
reduce the width
of the roadway, as
carriage wheels can
E
pass over the drain
without injury to
either.
All covered drains and under-ground sewers are a mis-
take, unless there is a constant and sufficient flow of
water to flush them.
118 Removal, Disposal, & Utilization of Excreta.
CHAPTER XII.
"Before erecting statues, building museums, and buying expensive
pictures, towns should be relieved of bad odours and fermenting
putrescence. Good privies are far higher signs of civilization than
grand palaces and museums of art."-Stramm.
There is no branch of practical. sanitation more im-
portant, or which has given rise of late years to so
much discussion amongst sanitarians and municipal
authorities, as that which deals with the removal of ex-
creta from dwellings and towns, and with its ultimate.
destination, whether as regards its economic utilization
or simply as regards its disposal in such a manner as to
secure it from being any longer a nuisance or a danger
to the health of the people; and the subject is one which,
far from having arrived at a satisfactory settlement, is
daily forcing itself more and more on the attention of
all connected with, or interested in, the health of towns,
the preservation of watercourses from pollution, and
the increase of the reproductive powers of the soil. In
thinly populated rural tracts, the subject is of little
importance, for that, first of all deodorizers, the earth,
receives and assimilates the thinly scattered excretal
deposits; and owing to the desiccating power of the sun,
Theory of Utilization.
119
the rapid diffusion of effluvia through the air, and the
absorption of the liquid and organic matter by the earth,
there is little nuisance or danger resulting. "It is only
when men collect in communities that the disposal of
excreta becomes a matter literally of life and death, and
before it can be settled, the utmost skill and energy of
a people may be taxed."-Parkes. So far as theory is
concerned, we may, without hesitation, accept the views
propounded by the advocates of utilization of all excre-
mental matters in enriching and recuperating exhausted
soils, and thereby multiplying their productive powers;
for the agricultural value of sewage constituents has
been abundantly proved by repeated trials and practical
operations extended over a series of years and in various
countries and climates, from China and Japan to the
farms of the North American Union. But putting aside
general sewage systems,—that is to say, removal of town
sewage by water carriage through a complete system of
underground sewers and drains, there is no known sys-
tem of disposing of the fecal matter of large towns
which can yet be called an economical or commercial
success. Professor Corfield justly says, that "No scheme
which does not remove all refuse matter in as inoffen-
sive a manner as possible, and utilize it so as to make
it pay,' can be accepted as anything like a final solution
of the question that we have to study, nor can such a
scheme be recommended to towns as a feasible plan for
the removal of their difficulties."
The Executive Committee of the Society of Arts, at a
conference held in 1876 on the health and sewage of
towns, came to the following conclusions:-" That with
regard to the various dry systems, where collection at
120
No profit to be looked for.
short intervals is properly carried out, the result appears
to be satisfactory, but no profitable application of any
one of them appears as yet to have been accomplished;"
and further, that, "as a rule, no profit can be derived
from sewage utilization."
Putting aside then, for the present, the economical and
commercial view of the question, we will revert to what
is, or should be, the primary object of the local sanitary
authority,—viz., to secure the removal regularly, rapidly,
and thoroughly, of all excreta from dwellings and public
latrines; the absolute necessity of our doing so will not
be disputed by any reasonable being. The evil effects
of allowing fæcal deposits to remain and decompose
within, or adjacent to, dwellings, has already been touched
upon in the earlier chapters of this book, and it is, there-
fore, unnecessary to do more than allude to them here;
but we cannot too often repeat that this is a duty
which must be carried out at any cost. Safety," says
Dr. Parkes, "is the first thing to be sought, profit
must come afterwards."
"For health's sake, without consideration of commer
cial profit, sewage and excreta must be got rid of at any
cost."-Confer., Society of Arts.
I think few people will be found to dispute this doc-
trine, and no argument is necessary to satisfy any person
that accumulations of filth cannot be left in human
dwellings without danger to life and health, and violence
to all sense of decency and cleanliness.
Some persons may argue that such accumulations do
remain, and have remained, for years in well-privies
without causing any visible harm; that there are in many
native dwelling-houses Sundeshes, which have existed
Native Aversion to Change.
121
for many years without the inhabitants of those houses
suffering from their evil effects. I admit the first part
of the proposition, but I have never found proof of the
latter; and I beg leave to doubt it as opposed to evidence,
science, and common sense. I admit that these abomi-
nations are by no means peculiar to this country, that,
in England, Scotland, the Continental Cities and in New
York, there are privies and cesspools to the full as bad
or even worse than those in existence here; but the evil
of them is fully recognised, and if they are evils and
dangers in temperate climates, what must they be in
the warm, moist, tropical atmosphere of Lower Bengal.
There is perhaps no subject on which the middle class
residents of our native towns are more averse to any
change than in the regulation and improvement of their
privy accommodation, and herein they lack not only one
of the most important, comforts and decencies of life,
but many of them do not even know that they lack it.
With bodies that are susceptible to the poisonous
influences of putrefying filth, with their health more
or less constantly subject to these influences, un-
deterred by the warning given by the loss of rela-
tives who have fallen victims to malarious or filth
diseases, they live on, indifferent to, if not ignorant
of, the dangers and discomforts that surround them.
They are busy in accumulating the means for more
luxury, while they remain blind to improvements that,
costing but little, would prolong their lives, secure
exemption from disease, and make their homes much
more fit abodes for an intelligent and prosperous people.
I feel sure that in no other direction could compul-
sory measures be applied with greater justice and pro-
122
The Sanitary Trinity.
priety than in compelling the removal of human excreta
from amongst the dwellings of the people, and if then
we recognise the general principle, we must further recog-
nise the principle that such removal must be effected,
irrespective of cost, and that that cost, whatever it be,.
must be borne by the community. We have, therefore, to
consider how such removal is to be effected in as efficient,
while in as economical, a manner as possible, and in so
doing we may at once put out of the question, as beyond
the scope of most small mofussil towns and villages.
the system of water-carriage.
That system involves an enormous expenditure, and
requires the existence of three main features,-viz., a
complete system of underground sewers, a sufficient
and efficient watersupply, and a convenient and unobjec-
tionable outfall for the contents of the sewers. Where
all these conditions do not exist, and they form a Sani-
tary Trinity, neither of which can work without the
other, the hand-system, or removal in substance, must be
adopted, and it is with the hand-system in its various
forms that I purpose to deal.
The following are the most usual methods of removal
by hand in use either in England or this country :-
The dry-earth, or Moule's system,
The bucket, or Hallalcore system.
The pail-system, of which there are several varieties,-
viz., 1st, pails or tubs in which a certain amount of a
deodorant or disinfectant is used, as in Rochdale, Not-
tingham, Leeds, &c.; 2nd, pails used without any prepar-
ation, as in Glasgow, Berlin, Leipsic; 3rd, pails into
which coal ashes are sifted over the excrement (Manches-
ter, &c.); 4th, pails into which ashes and general house
The Precept of Moses.
123
refuse are thrown, as in Edinburgh; and 5th, pails lined
with an absorbent material (Système Goux), as in Hali-
fax, Salford, and some continental cities.
Of all these systems the one which has, rightly or
wrongly, had the greatest number of advocates, is the dry-
earth, or Moule's system, and it is perhaps none the less
creditable to its reverend adaptor, in that, though cer-
tainly in regard to its essential principle not his own
invention, he may claim the credit of practically proving
the sanitary wisdom of the great Hebrew lawgiver, who
laid down this law to the children of Israel.
"And thou shalt have a place also without the camp,
whither thou shalt go forth abroad; and thou shalt
have a paddle upon thy weapon, and it shall be, when
thou wilt ease thyself abroad, thou shalt dig therewith
and shalt turn back and cover that which cometh from
thee." It is hardly necessary to say that the first prin-
ciple of this system is that dry-earth is the natural
deodorizer of excremental matter. A given quantity of
dry earth destroying all ill-odour, and entirely prevent-
ing the escape of noxious vapours. It is claimed for this
process that the addition of from one and-a-half to two
and-a-half pounds of dry earth to each stool is sufficient to
render it inoffensive; that a certain disintegration of the
fæcal matters, and combination between the earth and the
organic matter contained in the excrement takes place; and
that, after a short time, everything offensive disappears.
That this system possesses all the advantages which its
advocates claim for it there can be no doubt, and for
jails, hospitals, military barracks, or similar institutions,
where the number of persons is comparatively limited,
labor abundant, and scientific supervision always avail-
124
Dry Earth System.
able, it is in every way admirable and desirable; but for
a large town I have no hesitation in saying, and in this I
am supported by good authorities, that it is simply im-
practicable.
-
For every pound weight of excreta to be carried out
of the town, three to four times the amount of earth
must be carried in, to be carried out again.
Then we have to consider the difficulties of procuring,
drying, storing, and distributing the earth. We have the
well-considered testimony of the River Pollution Commis-
sioners, that "they have no hesitation in pronouncing the
dry-earth system, however suitable for institutions, vil-
lages, and camps, where personal or official regulation
can be enforced, entirely unfitted to the circumstances
of large towns." It will be obvious also to every one
who thinks over the subject, that the system, depending
as it does, on the dryness of the earth to be used, could
never be introduced with success in any town subject
to from four to five months' constant and heavy periodi-
cal rains. We may, therefore, dismiss this system as
impracticable for general municipal purposes, in spite
of the constant, though somewhat inconsequential, advo-
cacy of its admirers. The author was the first to intro-
duce (in 1874) on this side of India what is called the
Bombay Hallalcore system in a somewhat improved form,
and this was subsequently followed by its adoption by the
Calcutta Municipality and other Corporations. The system
may shortly be explained as the employment by the muni-
cipal or local authority of a regularly organized corps
of scavengers or nightmen, and the division of the
houses in the town into blocks or circles. The houses
are allotted to the nightmen, in the ratio of about thirty

The Bombay System.
125
houses per man; these visit each house daily (in the
early morning), and remove the contents of the privy-
pans in a closed wooden or zinc bucket (in Bombay at
the time of my visit open baskets were in use !) to cen-
tral depôts, where the filth is either collected in airtight
iron-carts to be removed beyond the town, or is dis-
charged directly into basins connected with the sewerage,
where such exists. The system, when well worked and
properly superintended, is one of the best hitherto tried in
this country; its primary feature being the regular daily
removal of the filth.
The Sanitary Commissioner for Bengal, after inspect-
ing its working in the suburbs of Calcutta, recently
reported upon it in the following terms: "On the whole
the system is an admirable one, when well looked after,
and worthy of imitation in other municipalities." But
although the working has been very successful, and has
effected undoubted improvement in the sanitary con-
dition of those towns where it has been introduced, it
has many and serious drawbacks and failings, nearly all
of which might be obviated by the adoption of one of
the pail-systems before alluded to. The chief objections
to it are, that it is an expensive system requiring a very
large staff.
It is from its great extent and the number of men
employed difficult to supervise and control; no efficient
check can be employed over the nightmen without the
entertainment of an enormous inspecting staff, and, there-
fore, neglect to remove the filth is a common occurrence.*
*This difficulty may be obviated by giving the work to a con-
tractor, an arrangement recently adopted by the Calcutta Suburban
Municipality.
126
Nuisance of Existing System.
It is a filthy system in practice, and gives rise to
domestic and public nuisance of no slight charac-
ter. The system of working is as follows:-The scaven-
ger goes from house to house with a bucket and broom;
into the first, by the aid of the latter, he empties the
contents of the privy-pan, generally a wide, shallow
earthenware pan, but often he leaves the bucket open
by the roadside, while he goes up a narrow alley to the
privy and brings out the filth in an earthen pot to be
emptied into his bucket in the street.
Can any
greater nuisance to the early pedestrian be conceived?
The nuisance within the privy is even greater, the
porous earthenware vessel roughly emptied of its con-
tents, presents an increased foul surface to give forth
effluvia.
Professor Corfield notices this very point with regard
to similar systems at home. He says: "The removal of
the matter is at all times a filthy operation, and the
iron-pans when empty smell even worse than when full,
as there is then a greater surface exposed." Then it is
almost impossible to check the practice of the scaven-
gers placing their tubs, full or empty, on the roadsides
while they enter the houses, or go to smoke or rest,
and being, like all persons of that class, careless in the
extreme, the lids are continually lost and the contents
exposed. The sights and smells, which those who indulge
in early morning rides and walks about an Indian town
are exposed to, may be better imagined than described.
The advantages of a weekly pail-system are obvious;
the first factor is the pail or tub. This may be either
of metal or of wood; in shape it should be round and
straight, but slightly wider at the bottom than at the
་
The Système Goux.
127
mouth to insure strength; of sufficient capacity to con-
tain the fæcal matter of a house-privy for a certain
given time; and it must be fitted with handles for re-
moval and a tight-fitting lid. A pail, eighteen inches
high by fifteen inches diameter, will contain the dejecta
of sixty persons for one day, or six persons for ten days'
The pail is placed directly beneath the privy seat,
and left there undisturbed for the number of days
fixed for the rotation. When removed, it is covered with
the lid, carried to a covered cart, and a clean pail left in
its stead. By this means there is no disturbance of the
filth, and consequently less chance of disengagement of
gases and effluvia.
use.
Another advantage is, that the tubs being taken
direct to the place of discharge, a thorough check is
practicable, as the person in charge will at once detect
and report any defaulting scavengers who fail to bring
their due tale of tubs. The following information regard-
ing the working of the absorbent pail system (Système
Goux) is taken from details kindly supplied me by the
Chairman of the Sanitary Committee of Halifax, where
the Système Goux has been in use for ten years. I
would not, however, presume to offer my readers simple
extracts from the records of other towns, had I not
personally and practically proved by experiment that
the system is workable in this country; but after fairly
testing the principle I have no hesitation in pronounc-
ing it to be in every way satisfactory and practi-
cable, easy of management, economical in working, and-
what is an element not to be overlooked by those
who have the management and control of that some-
what difficult and obstinate class, the Helas and Haris
128
The Système Goux.
(the nightmen of Bengal)-in no way opposed to their
prejudices :-
"In reply to your inquiry of the 24th March respecting
the pail-system as adopted here, I have pleasure in send-
ing by this post the Journal of the Society of Arts for
June, 1877, wherein you will find a report by me as to
the working of the Goux system. Since that time we
have continued to supplement the old and detestable
privies and middens with these, and every one is satis-
fied that we have got the best method yet introduced for
the removal of excreta and house refuse. The present cost
per closet per annum is about 15s., and we empty them
once every eight or ten days. I may say that a bottom-
less can or shell is first put into the closet tub with a space
left of about three inches between the can and tub; this
space is filled with absorbent material: many things will
answer for the purpose of packing or lining the tubs,
Here we get a good quantity of woollen and cotton dust
and refuse from the mills, which is of itself a good ma-
nure. We also use dry street sweepings, screened ashes,
&c., but the latter requires some fibrous substance mixing
with it to make it stand round the tub after the can or
shell is taken away, which is done when the closet tub is
left at the closet; the cans are then put under the van,
and the tub inside the van and driven to our depôt.
When the full tub is taken out of the closet, a handful of
the packing is taken out of the new tub and sprinkled
on the full one, and the public can then see nothing but
what appears a tubful of mill refuse or other material.
"Of course, in Calcutta you will have material suitable ·
for lining the tubs, but I cannot suggest what would be
best. We get a material, if we can, that makes a good
י,
Advantages of the Système Goux.
129
manure independent of the excreta, otherwise we might
get packing of less cost and so reduce the cost of collec-
tion.
"I think the members representing this Borough in
Parliament will bear me out in saying there is no method
yet introduced to supersede ours.
"At the commencement we found some difficulty in
having to number each closet door for the guidance of
the men and in finding customers for the manure; but
now we have it in such working order that there is little
or no trouble, and very few complaints, and only those
where the collectors are now and then negligent. The
tubs we use here we make from petroleum or paraffin oil
barrels or fruit barrels; the former are more serviceable
and cost less; they are cut in two for closet tubs.
“I must confess that, in my opinion, and in the opinion
of the Sanitary Committee over which I have the honor
to preside, the Goux principle is the most satisfactory we
have yet seen, and we have seen many, and have given
the subject some consideration during the last seven
years. The great advantage over others is, that the
packing which is placed in each tub will absorb from
six to eight quarts of liquid, and the charcoal or soot
which is in the packing prevents decomposition, and
deodorizes the excrement and urine as the tub becomes
full; and also to a great extent fixes the ammonia, and so
makes a good fertilizing manure. We have tried the
plan without lining, and found the disinfectant, which
was put into the bottom, was soon so much diluted that,
to a great extent, it lost its effect as a deodorizer and
disinfectant; and when the receptacle was used partly
full, there was a disagreeable effluvia on account of its
I
?
130 Evidence in favor of the Système Goux.
being nearly in a liquid state, whereas the liquid or urine
is gradually absorbed and deodorized by the packing of
the Goux tub. Another advantage of the system is, that
when the sanitary inspector informs the manager of the
Goux department of any case of fever, the closet is
cleared every two or three days; and, from an analysis
which has been made, it was found that there had been
fewer cases of fever in the wards or districts where the tubs
were in use. I am satisfied that constant removal is a step
in the right direction, and am glad the question is receiv-
ing more attention than it has hitherto done, for we ought
no longer to allow fæcal matter to be deposited within a
few feet of the very atmosphere we breathe, and allow it,
together with all kinds of animal and vegetable matter,
to decompose for twelve months, and in many cases the
liquid matter to percolate under our house floors.
(*
There were more cases of fever where the old privy
system prevailed than where the Goux closets were in
use.
At a meeting of the Conference of the Society of Arts,
the system in force in Halifax was very fully discussed,
and the following interesting and valuable testimony
was given in favor of the Système Goux:
"Mr. Denham (Southsea) asked whether the process
was very offensive one to look at ?
Mr. Pollard thought not so offensive as the system
without the lining, or the old privy system.
"Dr. Syson said he had had experience of the Goux
system in its earliest introduction, and had been asked
to give his opinion upon its merits. He saw it first
about 1869, when he was connected with Salford, and
Dr. Haviland's Evidence.
131
they were making sanitary experiments with a view to
abolish the old middens. The simplicity and cleanliness
of this system then struck him. He called the attention
of the Health Committee to it, and a somewhat exten-
sive trial was made. During the time it was on trial
they had an outbreak of smallpox, but in the district.
where it was in use, the lowest in the town, not a single
case occurred. It had been said that it was abandoned
in Salford as a failure, but this was an utter mistake. It
was not given up because it failed, for they had numerous
deputations from various Health Committees to inspect
it, and all gave their opinion unanimously in its favour.
He believed the real reason it was not adopted generally
was, that the scavenging was not in the hands of the
Health Committee, and that the Scavenging Committee
were, as often happened, too much wedded to old cus-
toms. It might be said that he was an officer of health,
and that officers of health might not be quite unbiased,
but you could not persuade numerous deputations con-
sisting of town councillors and aldermen in that way;
and it was on record in the minutes of their meetings
repeatedly, that they thought this system a great im-
provement on the old system. He was not an opponent
of water-closets, and for a single house no doubt the
earth-closet is preferable, but for towns or villages where
water-closets could not be well introduced, this system
would be much preferable.
“Dr. Haviland, being medical officer of health to the
Northamptonshire combination, which included not only
that county, but also portions of Leicestershire and
Bucks, found, some four years ago, when he first entered
"
132
Enquiries by Dr. Haviland.
on his duties, that the sewage disposal was the great
difficulty he had to contend with, and, practically, in the
365 villages and towns under his charge, the water-
carriage system was a failure. On setting to work to
see what could be done to meet the difficulty, he found
that the first thing to do was to see that a proper system
of scavenging was carried out. Next year he examined
the different modes of sewage disposal which had been
proposed by different companies, and carried into execu-
tion throughout the country; and, after finding failure
here and failure there, he was much struck with the
success of the dry mode adopted at Aldershot. He
thereupon went into it more thoroughly, and promised
to lay a report before the sanitary authority; and for
this purpose he went again to Aldershot, and twice to
Halifax. In order to see the real effect upon the public
health of this system, he determined to investigate the
whole matter for a great number of years, in order to
show the geographical distribution of disease. He first
required to satisfy himself that the health of Halifax had
really improved since the adoption of the system under
investigation. He found that, in 1870 to 1872, before the
practical working of the Goux system had been adopted,
the mortality from all causes was considerably greater in
all the different districts than it was later. He had
very carefully worked out these figures himself for
every case of death for the last ten or fifteen years, and
had eliminated all doubtful cases. To show the Nor-
thamptonshire combination of sanitary authorities his
belief in the efficacy of the Goux system, he undertook
this laborious task, and also to satisfy his own mind,
because without doing so he could not recommend such
i
A
-
1
|
!
Defects of Moule's Earth-closet.
133
a large area to adopt any system. Since then he had
been pleased to see the result of this dry system, and
was still recommending it. Only yesterday, in Leicester-
shire, where he was sent for suddenly in order to meet
the defects of the sewage system in a village, he found
the only thing he could do to avert an impending out-
break of typhoid fever was to send at once for a num-
ber of these tubs, to replace the system which was
really producing the fever, and until he saw a better
plan he should continue to recommend this system.
He had no interest either in this company or any other,
but he simply wanted to see carried out a better system.
of periodical scavenging, and to see the sewage not
taken to the soil before it had time to become so matured
as to be of any material benefit to the land.
"Dr. Haviland replied in the affirmative to another
question, whether he attributed any special virtue to
the Goux principle beyond its being a dry system of
removal. He said, what he had found in practice was this,
that the principle of the dry system was good, but the
mode in which it was carried out was sometimes offen-
sive. Moule's earth-closets were very excellent in prin-
ciple, but he found in practice their having complicated
machinery rendered them useless in villages. Wherever
there was anything like complication, there was sure to
be failure. The simpler the article you provided the
better.
"The Chairman asked if he considered the particular
kind of lining used to be advantageous?
“Dr. Haviland said, almost any refuse sufficiently ab-
sorbent would answer the purpose. At Northampton,
and in villages near, they were going to use tan, and in
·
❤
134
Mr. Moore's Evidence.
other places stable litter would do. In the huts which
were run up for the accommodation of the workmen
engaged on railway works in his district, he recommend-
ed them, as horse-power was used to a great extent to
line the Goux tubs with stable litter. In Halifax shoddy
was used; but anything which would absorb well and
form a casing would answer the purpose.
"Mr. Moore said, that some twelve months ago he had
to advise the authorities of a town of about 2,000
inhabitants what they should do with their drainage,
there being much illness from defective sanitary arrange-
ments, and the Local Government Board compelled
them to do something, He came to the conclusion that
a dry system of some kind was better adapted to their
circumstances than a drainage system, and it was also
a known fact that the germs of typhoid fever existed
in the discharge from the bowels, and that if you could
keep these out of the sewers you would eliminate that fac-
tor of disease which was most active. He did not oppose
the water-carriage system entirely, because it was work-
ing very well in large towns, specially in London, and
though it occasionally gave rise to evils, it did not do so
to any great extent, and those who had already provided
sewers should not attempt to abolish them, but to render
them perfect. Where, however, sewers did not exist,
it was a different matter. His first idea was that earth-
closets would be best, and in many places they acted
admirably; but never, he believed, in a place of 2,000
inhabitants would it be possible, especially in a wet
season, to get enough dry earth to work them. Finally,
he recommended the use of tubs, as employed at Roch-
Goux System at Aldershot.
135
dale, with disinfectants in them; but a week after send-
ing in his report, seeing a paper by Dr. Haviland on
this very subject, in which he spoke of what appeared
to be the marvellous result on the health of Halifax
from the adoption of the Goux system-and he should
recommend any one interested in the question to read
this paper-he determined to look further into it. He
next saw a report by the Goux Company, in which the
opinions of several medical men were brought forward,
giving their experience in favor of the Goux closets,
especially at Aldershot, and he, therefore, determined
to inspect it for himself. It was stated in the report
that there was then a heap of manure of about 40 tons
giving off no smell at all, and he, therefore, accom-
panied by the Inspector of Nuisances and a large builder
in the town, went over to examine into it. The In-
spector of Nuisances rather laughed at the idea of the
pail-system, and the builder was opposed to it, because
he thought he might probably have the contract to drain
the town. They went all round the place, and visited
nearly every closet in the north camp, and though it
was a very wet day in November, they did not find
what could be called a nasty smell in any one, and, in
the great majority, if they had been taken in blindfold,
they would never have thought that they were in a
place of the kind at all. Those who accompanied him
were of the same opinion, and the builder entirely gave
up his opposition, and had adopted one of these
closets in his own workshop, and consoled himself with
the idea that instead of getting £500 out of the drain-
age he might get £200 out of the Goux closets. When
at Aldershot he asked an old soldier, whom he saw
V
136
Water-closets less Trouble.
coming out of one of these places, if there was ever any
smell in the summer, and he replied that there was some-
times a little, but not half so much as in 'them stinking
water-closets in the south camp.' He was not satisfied
with this, but went to Halstead, in Essex, a small town
where there had been an injunction against turning
sewage into the river, and which had adopted the
Goux closets. He was informed by the Surveyor that
there were 170 at work, and that there were no
complaints whatever. Since then he had received a
letter from the Medical Officer of Health giving the
same testimony, though he said he liked the water-
closets best, because they were less trouble. He was
informed that the tubs were lined with a mixture of
horse-droppings collected from the streets and sifted
ashes, and he found the places where this was prepared
smelt much like a stable, but nothing more. He went
into about 50 of the closets, some new and some old,
and in only one or two instances was there anything
like a smell, and that was where the tubs had been
allowed to overflow. They were collected about once or
twice a week by men in a waggon; no annoyance was
caused."
Consideration of Question of Disposal. 137
CHAPTER XIII.
"Now there was beneath the Altar of Solomon's Temple a certain
cave, whereby the filth and uncleanness were carried down into the
valley of Kedron, and the gardeners paid so much money as would pur-
chase a trespass offering for fertilizing their gardens therewith."-
Mishna. Jewish Tradition.
Having considered the mode of collection and house-
to-house removal of nightsoil, we have now to consider
how it is to be disposed of, whether by conversion into
poudrette, or some other form of dry manure; by direct
application to the soil as a stimulant to cultivation, or
simply by burying it, so as to dispose of it with the
least trouble and expense.
Years ago attempts were made by a gentleman (Gilbert
Hickey, C.E.), since deceased, to utilize nightsoil by con-
verting it into gas for illuminating purposes, the dry
residue being a perfectly harmless inodorous poudrette.
These experiments were conducted at the Alipore Jail, and,
apparently, with great success; but from want of capital
or means to push the invention, the experiments never
went beyond that stage, and the inventor shortly after
died, leaving his experiments incomplete. I need not
do more than allude to the elaborate systems in use in
Birmingham and other large towns in England, where
the filth is converted into valuable manure or into Port-

138
The Rochdale System.
land cement by the aid of extensive and expensive
machinery; but I may shortly notice what is known as
the Rochdale system, as it has, with certain modifications,
been already adopted by the municipal authorities of
some Indian towns, notably Poonah, in the Bombay
Presidency.
The Rochdale system is thus carried out:-" The
ashes collected from the houses are carried out to
the manure depôt, and are there screened by machi-
nery. The fine ashes are then spread out in deep layers.
and into a series of trenches made in these layers, the
contents of the excrement pails are emptied and covered
with fine ashes. Sulphuric acid is then added in the
proportion of 25lbs to one ton of the excrement to facili-
tate drying. The proportion of fine ashes to excrement
is thirty-five of the former to eighty of the latter."
This process, however, is said to have been so expensive
that, latterly, the pail contents were merely mixed with
the house refuse and ashes, and great difficulty is said
to be experienced in getting rid of the mixture, which
is pronounced to be most offensive.
The Poonah system is called by the local authority
the 'sun-drying process,' and is thus carried out :--“ The
street and house refuse collected from the dust-bins of
the city are carted out and burnt into ashes. Beds are
formed with floor made of murum or other hard
substance to receive the nightsoil.
nightsoil. The beds are
eighteen feet square and one foot deep. A layer of ashes
one inch thick is first spread over the floor of the beds,
and nightsoil is then poured on about five inches deep,
and is covered over with another layer of ashes also
one inch thick. It is then allowed to remain for twenty-
1
The Poonah or Sun-drying Process. 139
four hours in the sun, during the fair season, and for
three days under sheds, during the rainy season. The
nightsoil is, after the lapse of the time mentioned above,
stirred and well mixed with the ashes spread above and
below it, and a fresh layer of the latter, half an inch
thick, put on, when it is allowed to lie for three days.
further in the fair season, and eight days during the
rains. The mixture is then again stirred, taken out of
the beds and spread on dry open ground exposed to the
sun, to complete its drying. It is then stored in heaps
for sale, and is in dry weather fit for immediate use.
In the rainy season the drying has occasionally to be
done under cover, and, consequently, the process occu-
pies as many as twelve days, whereas in the cold season
it takes six, and in the hot season only four days.
It is said that the manure thus prepared is so much
appreciated by cultivators that payment is frequently
made four to six months in advance to secure a supply.
The financial result is certainly encouraging, the total
cost having been Rs. 18,000, and the receipts Rs. 5,000,
per annum. The actual cost of removing the filth
from the town, an unavoidable charge it must be
borne in mind, was Rs. 14,400. So that the net profit,
on the actual expense of manufacture, viz., Rs. 3,600,
was Rs. 1,400, or nearly 39 per cent.
Of the various modes of applying the excreta directly
to the soil, we may first consider the system which has
been adopted by the Calcutta Suburban Municipality,
not because it is by any means a complete or thorough-
ly satisfactory system, but because it fulfils the first
great necessity, and overcomes what is always the first
great difficulty, in introducing any system of scavenger-
.
7
140
The Trenching System.
ing into an Indian town, whilst it also possesses other
undoubted advantages, and is, I may say, the first prac-
tical step towards the utilization problem.
The system is the burial of the nightsoil in trenches
in garden grounds, as far removed as conveniently may
be from human habitations; and the subsequent culti-
vation of the ground so used. It differs from the Bengal
Jail system mainly in the size and depth of the trenches,
the municipality being compelled from the difficulty of
obtaining suitable lands within a reasonable distance of
the town to make the trenches as deep as possible to
economize space. That this is a weakness in the system
I unhesitatingly admit, but it cannot at present be
avoided, and that the evil is not so great as some sani-
tarians argue, will, I think, be proved by the following
result of the operations.
A series of examinations were made by me from time
to time to test the deodorizing and decomposing power
of the soil, with the following satisfactory results :—
1st.-Ground used for the burial of nightsoil in the
month of April, was opened up in the beginning of
November following. To a depth of two feet from the
surface the soil was ordinary, stiff alluvial earth; the next
or nightsoil layer, consisted of a loose rich, black mould,
without any offensive smell or any trace of fæcal matter,
quite fit for garden purposes. After a few days' exposure
to light and air, it was undistinguishable from the sur-
face soil.
2nd.-Trenches used in all May were dug up, the
nightsoil layer being a bluish black mould, free from any
smell or appearance of fæcal matter.
3rd.—Trenches used in June and July were not sen-
Remarks of Army Sanitary Commission. 141
sibly different from the last, except that traces of fæcal
matter, chiefly fibrous, were visible throughout the mass.
4th.-Trenches used in August were somewhat offen-
sive when opened, and fæcal matter was found in masses
still unconverted.
5th. The trenches recently filled in November were
perfectly inoffensive, until the layer of nightsoil was
exposed by the spade, when an offensive odour was
perceptible close to the trench. But the mass was per-
ceptibly undergoing a change.
I may remark that every effort is made to mix the
soil with earth as dry as possible when the trenches are
being filled, and that the last eighteen inches is filled up
with earth alone.
The advantages gained, therefore, are, that the filth is
effectually disposed of without causing nuisance; the lands
employed are gradually raised—a great consideration in
a low-lying locality, and their productive powers are
enormously increased. I do not overlook the fact that
sanitary authorities in India have, to a certain extent,
condemned the practice of burying nightsoil; and I find
that the Army Sanitary Commission (1869), remarked,-
"that the practice of burying the mixture of earth
and excrement must result in fouling large areas of
ground," for that, "even after careful mixture of excreta
with earth, the mass, when buried, gives out offensive
vapours in damp or rainy weather." They also say:
"It
still may be taken as showing that, in India, the earth
process and subsequent burial are inadequate for the
requirements of health, at least in the case of large
fixed populations; and that if this process is to be
continued for such populations, it must be modified,
142
Necessity for Cultivation.
:
And this is only to be
and brought more in accordance with natural laws."
This is, it appears to me, the pith of the whole
argument, the necessity of bringing it more into
accordance with natural laws.'
done by cultivation, and applying the excreta to the soil
in the manner most convenient for its rapid absorption
and assimilation by growing vegetation. "It is only
the action of the living and growing vegetable which
recomposes the products of decomposition and carries
out to its consummation the process of disinfection, even
as it is only through plant-life that we can reach the
goal of utilization." The roots of plants are actively
and unceasingly at work absorbing the products of
decomposition as they are evolved, and thus preventing
their escape to the surface.
At the commencement of the working the owners of
the lands who had, after considerable persuasion, leased
them out to the Municipality, complained that the standing
fruit-trees were being injured by the burial of soil close
to their roots; but, on careful investigation, these apprehen-
sions were found to be groundless. The only instances
where the trees had really suffered were distinctly trace-
able to the excessive cutting of their roots in digging
deep trenches alongside of them. On the contrary, they
largely benefited as a rule, and in many cases old trees
recovered, put out new flushes of leaf, and began to fruit,
though previously barren.
After the trenches have been filled, closed, and the
ground has settled a little, it is dug over regularly and
cultivated with jute, sugarcane, fodder, maize, guinea
grass, reana luxurians, or lucerne. Carrots have also been
found a useful crop for horse-fodder, but, as a rule, root
Rotation of Crops.
143
crops are not suitable for first cropping on such richly
manured lands. Jute and coarse strong feeding grasses
are better for the first crop. Jute, which seldom attains
a great height in this part of Bengal, reaches twelve
and-a-half to thirteen feet, and is proportionately stout,
with good, fine fibre, fit for the manufacture of Hessian
cloths. Sugarcane yields a fair heavy crop, and all the
grasses are entirely successful.
The following will be found a convenient rotation for
working nightsoil grounds over a series of years, the
main principles to be observed being-
1st. The occupation of the land for a sufficient time
for trenching in the filth.
2nd. The planting of such crops as are strong coarse
feeders, and which consequently exhaust the richness
of the soil, followed by those less exhausting.
3rd.—The regular succession of perpendicular rooting
and horizontal rooting crops.
4th.-Not repeating the same crop in the same ground.
5th.—Regular periodical retrenching.
ROTATION.
From 1st Feby. to 31st May, 4 months, Trenching.
Fodder maize.
1st June to 31st August, 3
وو
29
1st Sept. to 30th Nov.,
3
""
Country carrots.
1st Decr. to 31st March,
4
وو
""
""
1st April to 31st May,
2
""
1st June to 30th Sept.,
4
Trenching.
Fallowing.
Jute.
""
1st Oct. to 31st January, 4
""
English carrots.
Another plot of ground would be trenched alternately
with the last, thus-
From 1st June to 30th November, 6 months, Trenching.
1st Decr. to 31st May,
""
6
""
Guinea grass.
144
Cultivation of Bananas.
And another portion, as follows:-
From 1st Feby. to 31st May, 4 months, Trenching.
介
​1st June to 30th April, 11
""
1st May to 31st August, 4
""
""
Sugarcane.
Trenching.
99
1st Sept. to 31st January, 5
""
Carrots (English).
always be strictly
Of course these dates cannot
adhered to, but must vary according to the earliness or
lateness of the seasons in different parts of the country.
Where the local markets are badly supplied with Eng-
lish and country vegetables, they may be grown with
the greatest success on ground thus manured, and are far
superior both in size and quality to the ordinary garden
vegetable.
The late Dr. Fawcus, Superintendent of the Alipore
Central Jail, who took great interest in this subject,
advocated the cultivation of plantains, and was of opinion
that a square mile of ground so cultivated would yield
an annual income of Rs. 300,000. I extract the following
from a memorandum on the subject:
"The cultivation of bananas requires little or no
knowledge of farming, and very little labor or care. All
that has to be done is to plant in rows, and manure well
the interspaces. I know from experience that human
excrement is especially suited to plantains, and that, when
well manured with this, they yield enormous crops, and
do not require the usual triennial transplanting."
The principal objection to this form of cultivation is
the long time that the ground is occupied by the plants.
Where ground is plentiful and need not be used oftener
than once in three years, plantain or banana cultivation
would be undoubtedly profitable.
The following testimony as to the value of nightsoil
•
Effect on Rose Trees.
145
earth is given by an experienced horticulturist, Mr.
Superintendent Lynam, of the Calcutta Police:
I now give you my promised report on the night-
soil earth. I must say that, as far as I have experimented,
it has been a great success. I have tried it on more than
two hundred rose plants, and on every plant there was
a marked improvement both in vigorous growth and
profusion of flowers; and moreover, there is a second
set of flowerbuds forming after the first set was cut
away. This I never had before. What pleases me with
it most is, that it is not a heating fertilizer, and therefore
does not unduly stimulate the plants. It is certain to
improve roses in bad health, and I must say that a very
valuable manure has been wasted up to the present
time. It would be admirable for tea plants: it should
not be put directly to the roots, but the surface soil
should be loosened, the earth mixed with it and watered
copiously a day or two after. I may remark that, after
exposure to the air for a short time, it loses all its
offensive qualities, and a mali may handle it without
knowing it to be other than ordinary soil.”
The next question for our consideration is, whether
the collection and utilization of the filth of a town can
be made to pay the cost of cleansing and removal, or
yield any substantial return to the town for the outlay
incurred; and this is one which cannot, I fear, be satisfac-
torily answered so far as Bengal is concerned, despite
English or Continental precedents and the theoretical
calculations so confidently put forward by Mr. Buck,
the Director of Agriculture and Commerce, N. W. P., and
even of the actual experiences of the few Indian towns
that have succeeded to some extent in profitably dispos-
ing of their filth.
K
146
Will it pay?
Before we can confidently look to the utilization of
excreta as manure in a profitable sense, we must expect
a total alteration in the feelings, habits, and prejudices of
the cultivating classes of the province. There are only
two forms in which hand-removed excreta can be
utilized, viz., as a prepared manure (poudrette or arti-
ficial guano),* divested of all offensiveness, and presented
in quite a new form in which its objectionable origin
is so cloaked and disguised as to give the cultivator a
fair excuse for ignoring it, or it must be removed by the
cultivator himself from central places of deposit, and in
its undisguised form of nightsoil merely mixed with
earth or ashes sufficiently to retard decomposition, and
make a sufficiently dry compost for loading and
handling.
The advocates of the pail-system generally claim
that it can be made to pay; and Professor Corfield says:
"The evidence generally shows that this plan can be
made to pay, and indeed generally does pay its cost at
any rate.
In the town of Groningen it is said the yearly
profits amount to about £1,600; in Antwerp to £2,700; at
Ostend to £700. In Strasbourg it is said the sale of
manure covers the cost of removal; in Stockholm the
expenditure is £35,000, and the returns £33,000.
Nottingham, spending £6,000, gets a return of £4,000;
and Salford is said to cover its expenses by the receipts."
*Note.-" Mr. Hughan has brought forward a new fertilizer,
termed 'Huano,' formed by a combination of nightsoil with phos-
phates. Sulphuric acid is. used as in the manufacture of common
phosphates. The nightsoil serves to reduce the phosphates to a
proper pasty condition for the action of the acid, which is then
applied and sulphate of lime or plaster of Paris is then formed, and
solidification and deodorization of the whole mass takes place."-
(American Government Reports.)
Example of China.
147
This seems encouraging, and it might be argued that if
it can be made to pay, as shown in other places, why not
in Bengal; but there is a vast difference in the local
circumstances and conditions that cannot be overlooked.
The towns mentioned above are situated in agricultural
countries, where the land is limited in area, and most
valuable, where it is scientifically cultivated so as to
yield the utmost possible return, and where there are no
religious or caste prejudices to interfere with the handling
and use of any manure so long as it can be made to pay.
But again, the example of China is often quoted, and,
as an instance of thrifty economy of material and well-
directed industry, with justice; but beyond this there
is no parallel. The Chinaman cultivates with the most
laborious care every yard of ground, every slope, every
rocky shelf, capable of holding up a few cubic feet of
soil. He manures every individual plant, and makes it
yield its utmost. He has no silly prejudice against hand-
ling excretal matter, but preserves the waste products of
his body with as much care as if they were (which indeed
they are to him) the most valuable property. So minute-
ly careful is the Mongol cultivator in this respect, that
he carefully preserves the very clippings of his pigtail
and the hair shaved from his body, and applies it as
manure, a pinch being inserted into the ground with
each seed or plantlet. "Indeed, it is only by means
of this exceeding economy that the inhabitants of so
densely populated a country can sustain life."-Wood.
I will only refer shortly to the economic results of
filth utilization in this country as carried out at Poonah
(the process of which I have already described) and
other up-country towns. The cost of scavengering the
148
Results at Poonah, Farukhabad, &c.
town of Poonah is Rs. 18,000, including the preparatory
process; the return from sale of poudrette is Rs. 5,000.
The cost of conservancy at Allahabad is Rs. 46,000,-i. e.,
removal of sweepings Rs. 22,000, nightsoil Rs. 24,000.
The value of the refuse is given as Rs. 13,800, but it is not
asserted that any such return has actually been received.
This is an assumed value given by Mr. Buck, the
Director of Agriculture and Commerce, in a memoran-
dum submitted to Government and circulated throughout
the country for information. Mr. Buck, however, states,
that at Farukhabad as much as Rs. 25,000 per annum
has been paid for the nightsoil of the town by market
gardeners of the Kachhi caste.
The case of Farukhabad is very striking. Mr. Buck
states, that "the city is divided into blocks, and the
nightsoil of each block is the hereditary property of a
family of sweepers or mehters. Each family collect the
nightsoil in pits during the year, and in the month of
October carry it out on backs of buffaloes and donkeys
to the market and gardeners' lands. At Agra the receipts
from sale of manure were only Rs. 3,000, besides the
quantity used to manure fourteen acres of land; and at
Cawnpore they amounted to 4,000 to 5,000 rupees.
The undoubted success obtained in growing crops of
all kinds on lands so treated must sooner or later force
itself on the mind of the Bengal cultivator; and the
existing prejudice against the use of land so enriched
will, there is every reason to believe, gradually die down
before the attractive picture of profits to be obtained
from its use. But for some time to come these profits
must be cultivator's profits, and not profits to the town.
There the profit must consist in the improved health and
Example better than Precept.
149
comfort of the people, and in the improved value of the
lands so enriched. We have first to induce the cultivator
to accept the manure, and use it; to gradually create a
demand for it; its value once fairly proved and estab-
lished, and a healthy competition aroused, we may then
look for a return of profit to the town from its extended
sale.
But to effect this the attention of the cultivating
classes must be attracted, and their interest aroused, in
the benefits to be derived from the use of such manures;
and the question how this is to be done is worthy of
consideration; perhaps in this respect a little example is
better than a great deal of precept:
1
Example is a living law, whose sway
Men more than all the written laws obey."—Scaley.
And in this view municipal farms, judiciously situated
in the outskirts of towns, and carefully conducted,
would do much to prove to the native mind the
truth of these theories; but there is another method
which, while it would entail little expense on muni-
cipalities, especially those which have their own print-
ing-presses, would in these days of widely diffused
primary education undoubtedly aid in spreading abroad
amongst the cultivators a knowledge of the subject
and would arouse a spirit of enquiry, viz., the distri-
bution of little pamphlets, or papers printed in the
vernacular, and telling in a simple and popular form
the wonderful results obtained in various places by
the use of such manures. Such papers, if judiciously
written in a form to interest, would be read in many a
raiyat's family by the boys on their return from the
patshala, for the edification of their perhaps unlearned
;
150
Impoverishment of the Soil.
parents or uncles, and to display their own proficiency,
and in the verandah of the chundi mundop, or under
the shade of the bokool tree, where village gossips and
village politicians congregate to discuss the prospects of
the crops and the last rumour of a new taccus. To those
who have had no insight into the home life of the
Bengali peasant, and who perhaps fail to picture to
themselves the probability of such papers being read,
and intelligently discussed by those whom they--it may
be-regard as ignorant boors, caring for nothing but pice
and their daily rice, I would recommend the perusal of
a simple unpretending novel by the Revd. Lal Behari
Dey, descriptive of peasant life in the Vardamana, or
Burdwan district, called "Govinda Samanta, or the His-
tory of a Bengal Raiyat,” and particularly Chapter XIX,
Evenings at Home, and the conclusions of Chapter XXV.
These papers might be distributed at the markets and
hâts as well as through the village schoolmasters and
local dispensaries. The Bengal raiyat, prejudiced as he
may be, wedded to old customs as he undoubtedly is,
can understand the value of manures, though he may
nor appreciate the beauties of a steam-plough.
The fertility of all soils depends on constituents
which they usually contain only in small proportions.
These constituents are withdrawn from the soil by the
growing crops, and with every recurring harvest the
ground (unless there be a compensating element at
work) must be so much the poorer. The alluvial soil of
Bengal is, perhaps, one of the most prolific in the world;
but sooner or later the most fertile ground, unless recu-
perated by natural means, such as the deposit of suspend-
ed matters by the overflow of the river, or artificially
Mr. Mechi's Views.
151
enriched by manure, must show the effects of this
repeated drain upon its resources. This decreasing
fertility is a most serious consideration, especially in a
country where population is not only increasing, but
where high prices, caused by diminished production
and increased exports, decrease local supplies and en-
hance the prices of food, thus making it more difficult
for the poor to obtain sufficient nourishment; and where
the growing fiscal wants of the country lead to con-
stantly increasing taxation. The cause of decreasing
fertility of soil may be ascribed to want of a proper
rotation of crops, insufficient manuring, and constant
cultivation of the same ground, the land never having
any rest. The only remedies for this are,-a suitable
rotation and liberal use of fertilizers, and of all the
manures within reach of the Bengal cultivator, the
most valuable, while the most neglected, is human ex-
creta. 'As man is more richly fed than the lower
animals, so his fæces are the most valuable as manure;'
and when his indebtedness to the soil, which gives him
nearly all the necessaries and even luxuries of life, is
thus easily repaid, it would be but common honesty
on his part, even were it not to his own immediate
advantage, to return to the soil that which it so urgently
needs, and which is to him not only useless, but a
burden and an abomination. One of the greatest practical
and scientific farmers of the present day, Mr. J. J.
Mechi, says: "It is the want of will and belief that
keeps sewage in our rivers instead of on our land; I call
it national suicide. It is not only the duty, but the
interest of landowners and tenants to receive and pay
for a valuable and effective producer of human and
:-
•
152
Advice of Lord Bacon.
animal food. I wonder that any one can doubt it,
when we know that its application to land very soon
increases the crops, raises the rent, and consequently
the fee-simple value of the land which receives it. Look
at the Craigentinny meadows at Edinburgh in their
natural condition, they were a sandy waste, utterly
unproductive. Now, since the application of the town
sewage, the average letting value for six months of the
year is at £22-10 per acre by public auction."* In one of
the reports of the Department of Agriculture and Com-
merce, United States of America, I find it stated that,
in Brunswick, Maine, "there was but one man in the
town who had acquired wealth by farming alone, and
that he had accomplished this by using large quantities
of nightsoil on his grass lands and cabbage fields." As a
fitting conclusion to this part of the subject, I will
quote the words of one of the wisest men of whom
England can boast-Lord Bacon:
"And of all sorts of thrift for the public good, I would,
above all others, commend to your care the encourage-
ment to be given to husbandry and the improvement
of land for tillage. There is no such usury as this.
The king cannot enlarge the bounds of these islands,
which make up his empire, the ocean being the un-
removable wall which surrounds them; but he may
enlarge and multiply the revenue thereof by this honest
and harmless way of good husbandry."
* Mr. Mechi, of Tiptree Hall, Essex, formerly Sheriff of London,
and an Alderman of that city, died on Sunday, the 26th December,
1880, whilst these sheets were in the press. He was an enthusiastic
and practical agriculturist, and a strong advocate of sewage utili-
zation.
Want of Wholesome Water.
153
CHAPTER XIV.
"In spite of the magnitude of the Water-works of the Romans,
Greeks, and other ancient peoples, the aqueducts, the storage reser-
voirs, the public baths; and in spite of the lavishness of the supply
for public uses and in the houses of the rich, it is probable that there
has never been such general and widespread interest as there is
to-day in the matter of water-supply as a sanitary necessity, not only
to the community as a whole, but to the individuals, no matter how
poor, who make up the community."-Prof. Nichols.
The want of wholesome water is without doubt one of
the most serious insanitary conditions of nearly all towns.
and villages throughout the country, and it is aggravated
by the general carelessness of the lower orders who take
little heed of what they drink or cook with, and who are
apt to resort to the nearest waterhole or stagnant pond
rather than go any distance for water of better quality,
even where it is to be found. Dr. Buchanan, in his "Journey
through Mysore," remarks," that the unwholesomeness of
the water in many places is to be attributed in part to the
common nastiness of the Hindus who wash their clothes,
bodies, and cattle in the very tanks and wells from which
they drink."
To whatever cause we may attribute the change, there
is ample evidence throughout the country that the people
are much more careless of their drinking-water supplies
in these days than formerly. The fine old tanks sur-
154
Sources. of Watersupply.
rounded with raised embankments and with fine sub-
stantial masonry ghats that still exist, though generally
in a ştate of decay, are proofs of this state of things; and
there can be little doubt that this depreciation in the
quality of the water-supply, and this careless use of
impure water, accounts in a great measure for the pre-
valence of cholera and bowel complaints throughout
Bengal.
The sources from which the people obtain water for
drinking and domestic purposes are rivers, tanks, jheels,
and wells.
In purely rural tracts it may be that there is often
nothing more hurtful in the water than vegetable matter
and animal organisms, which, though possibly hurtful,
can hardly with justice be called impurities, inasmuch as
they are the natural accompaniments of all natural waters.
No natural water is chemically pure, and to obtain a
public watersupply, perfectly free from organic and
inorganic matters, is an impossibility. "Perfectly pure
water," says Dr. Kanailal Dé,'" is hardly to be found."
But to any one who is familiar with the country and
the habits of the people, it will be plain that other sources
of pollution are but too numerous even in strictly rural
tracts. The people habitually defæcate on the slopes
and margins of the tanks, and after relieving nature, they
commonly cleanse themselves in the water. Men, womeu,
and children bathe, and in bathing urinate in the tank;
they wash their clothes and domestic utensils; cattle are
driven down to drink, or they stray down to the water
and cool themselves by immersion, and micturate and
defæcate in the water.
When the river is far distant, the Hindu dead are cre-
Pollution of Water in Rural Tracts.
155
mated on the margins of the tanks, and their rags and
pillows left to rot; and in many parts of Bengal the
Mahomedan dead are buried close to the water-in the
rains the earth becomes saturated; the hollow grave fills
with water, which laden with organic matter and the
products of putrefaction, percolates or overflows into the
tank. A late Sanitary Commissioner of Bengal informed
me, whilst these pages were being written, that he had
personally counted on the margin of one tank in the
Burdwan district the recent graves of thirty Mahomedans
who had died from the cholera epidemic then raging.
That they were all within nine feet of the water, the
closest being two feet only from the water's edge.
River water is similarly polluted, though in this case
from its rapid motion, greater volume, and more com-
plete oxidation, the evil is not so great as in the case of
the water of tanks or reservoirs. In the Dacca district
pauper corpses are sunk in the river near the public
ghats, with bamboo stakes driven through the abdomen
into the bed of the stream, the people having no scruple
in drawing water from their vicinity.-(Dr. Wise's
Report.)
Within towns and the more thickly populated suburbs,
however, the sources of contamination are much more
numerous and much more hurtful, and it would be almost
an impossibility to preserve the water of any ordinary
tank or pond from pollution of a most dangerous charac-
ter. As noticed in the Chapter on Drainage, tanks are
too often made the catch-water basins of all the sur-
rounding drainage, the foulest portion settling in the
tank as only the spill water runs off the surface. They
are universally used for washing and bathing in, and
156
Pollution in Towns.
where the population is dense, the amount of animal
pollution thus contributed may be understood, the more
so that it is in evidence that natives invariably urinate
in the water whilst bathing.
People ease themselves on the banks, and Dr. Wise
remarks of Dacca, that "cesspools are found on banks of
tanks, and within a few feet of wells; and privies, if made
at all, are constructed near a tank into which the first
rain carries the sewage." In the suburbs of Calcutta
privies were not unfrequently to be found overhanging
tanks or situated along the course of wet ditches com-
municating with them.
Cowhouses are constantly located close to them, the
decomposing dung and urine finding their way freely into
the water. They are thus subject to defilement from
both surface impurities and subsoil percolation. We
have the authority of the present Surgeon-General of
Bengal for the statement that "many of the tanks in
Calcutta were filthy, stagnant pools of sewage," the water
from which "was found to be, on analysis, a liquid
occupying an intermediate place between urine and liquid
sewage." Yet we will find people bathing in such filthy
pools, washing and rinsing their mouths, cleaning their
cooking vessels, and washing rice and vegetables in the
foul liquid, if not actually drinking it.
Mr. Alexander Pedler, F.I.C., F.C.S., London and Berlin,
has lately published a pamphlet on "The Past and
Present Watersupplies of Calcutta," in which he gives
the results of analysis of two hundred samples of water
taken from different tanks throughout the town and
suburbs.
Mr. Pedler says:-" Taking the results obtained by the
1
Mr. Pedler's Analysis.
157
Total Ammonia Test, and judged by the standards which
have been put forward by Professor Wanklyn, and the
additional somewhat rough ones suggested by myself, it
will be seen, as might be expected, that no single tank or
well water was of extraordinary organic purity, and that
there were only seven tank-waters included under the
head of" safe" waters, five of which were from tanks on the
maidan. Of dirty waters there were twenty-six out of
the two hundred, or 13 per cent. Of waters considerably
contaminated with sewage matter, sixty-four, or 32 per
cent. Of dilute sewages, there were thirty-two, or 16 per
cent., and of real genuine sewages, seventy-one were found,
or 35 per cent., that is rather more than one-third of the
whole number." "I have no wish to enlarge to any
extent on this decidedly nauseous topic, but perhaps the
most striking condemnation of the well and tank-waters
of Calcutta, and which will appeal to every inhabitant,
whether scientific or otherwise, is to say, that a good
average quality of Calcutta tank or shallow well-water
may be made by mixing six parts of our present hydrant
water with from one to two parts of the most concen-
trated Calcutta sewage. This artificial tank or well
water will be of about the average composition. It will
also be, so far as can be judged, equally healthy for potable
and domestic purposes, and as for its taste, odour, etc.,
it will probably be rather superior to the general run of
Calcutta tank and well-waters."
Can any testimony be stronger than this? I opine not;
and we may take the tanks and wells of Calcutta to be
no worse than the average of tanks and wells situated in
any populous native town.
It is difficult to account for this carelessness in such
·
158
Defilement forbidden by the Shastras.
an important particular on the part of a people whose
daily life is so strongly tinctured with ceremonial obser-
vances, and who are theoretically so careful to avoid con-
tamination and impurity in their food and persons, and
especially as the defilement of tank-water in the manner
above described is such a distinct breach of the injunc-
tions of the Hindu Shastras. Dr. Kanailal Dé in an
address delivered at the Third Anniversary of the Bengal
Branch of the British Medical Association, said: " Tank
water, or water from artificial reservoirs, is not pure or
holy in the meaning of the shastras, and is, therefore, not
usable in religious rites or ceremonies. It may be used
for drinking and other domestic purposes where Gunga'
water is not available; but the greatest strictness is
enjoined by the shastras for keeping it clear of all
impurities. Menu says, a man should not cast into
such waters either urine, or ordure, or saliva, or cloth
or any other things soiled with impurity, nor blood, nor
any other kinds of poison."
C
We can, therefore, only ascribe this general careless-
ness on the part of the people to a blind mistaken re-
ligious belief in the innate purity and undefilability of
all large bodies of water, (but which really only per-
tains to Gunga, or Ganges water,) and to heedlessness and
fatalism. Careless as the lower orders of the people,
especially the residents of towns, are of the sources
from which they draw their water, there are no greater
connoisseurs in regard to the various qualities and
excellencies of potable waters than the Bengalis, as
is illustrated by the following classification of the dis-
tinctive terms in common use by the natives of Bengal,
quoted by Dr. Bholanath Bose, in his Report on Fur-
Bengali Classification of Water.
159
reedpore. (Sanitary Commissioner's Report, 1868.) The
various qualities and classes of water are thus described:
Sroth jol, running or stream water. Buddho jol, stag-
nant water. Photick jol, perfectly clean water. Ghola
jol, turbid or muddy water. Moyala jol, dirty water.
Shaph jol, transparent or clear water. Nona jol, salt or
brackish water. Meetha jol, sweet fresh water. Bhar-
ree jol, heavy water. Hulkee jol, light water. Gobbeer
jol, deep water. Solpho jol, shallow water. Buddh jol,
bad water.
Bhallow jol, good water. Ghonno jol,
thick water. Patla jol, thin water. Kadda jol, muddy
water. Pocha jol, putrid water. Shayala jol, water
full of weed. Panna jol, water covered with panna.
(algo). Boda jol, stagnant water, with a peculiar dis-
agreeable styptic taste. Sonda jol, fœtid water.
We may take it as an incontrovertible fact that the
conservation of small ponds or tanks in populous neigh-
bourhoods is an impossibility, so far as keeping their
water in a fit state for drinking purposes is concerned;
much may, however, be done to keep such tanks from
being a source of actual nuisance.
All tanks intended for public use should be railed in,
to prevent cattle from straying into them; the bank
should be raised to prevent surface impurities from
washing into them, and all cesspools, privies, and foul
cutcha drains or other receptacles for filth, sewage, house
drainage, or other offensive matter, within a radius of at
least fifty feet, should be strictly prohibited.
The local authority in Bengal has power in the latter
respect under section 246, Act V of 1876,
That fertile cause of pollution, the use of the tanks
by dhobies or washermen, should never be permitted,
160
Conservation of Tanks.
nor the steeping of green bamboos to fit them for build-
ing purposes, or the steeping and rotting of jute, flax,
or other plants for the purpose of separating their fibre.
In towns, where there is any system of nightsoil
removal, careful supervision is necessary to prevent
haris or nightmen from washing their tubs and brooms-
a whole tank may not only be polluted, but infected
with enteric fever or cholera germs from such a cause.
The above remarks refer only to such tanks as are
set apart for bathing and domestic purposes other than
drinking or cooking; and notices should be placed at the
ghats warning people against drinking the water.
Drinking tanks require much more careful watching,
as well as more thorough arrangements, both of con-
struction in the first instance and means of conserva-
tion.
To secure good water in a drinking tank, a large area
is required both for storage and to serve as a catch-water
area. Where practicable, therefore, the water surface
should not be less than three biggahs, with a catch-water
area surrounding it of equal extent.
No water should be permitted to enter the tank except
the direct rainfall over the conserved area supplemented
by wells in the bottom. It might perhaps be doubted
whether a sufficient supply could be obtained from these
sources alone, but there need be no fears on this head.
I will give as an example the instance of a tank con-
structed near Calcutta in 1875, and which will illustrate
the possibility of thus securing a sufficient supply
better than mere theories. The site acquired for this
tank was nearly seven biggahs in extent, and was
a compact square of low land, about six feet below the
Average Rainfall Supply.
161
level of the surrounding lands, and the adjacent public
road. Of this area six biggahs was marked out for the
tank and catch-water surface. The tank or reservoir
was then excavated to a total depth of twenty-seven feet
with a surface area of three biggahs and three and-a-half
cottahs. The banks were formed with a slope of two to
one, with a four feet berm at eighteen feet; where the
footings of the ghats were laid. The remaining land
was raised several feet above the surrounding level, with
a gentle slope from the edge of the tank outwards to
an artificial stone channel on all sides of the conserved
area, the water falling over this area being caught by the
stone channel and led by masonry shoots at the corners
into the reservoir; by this means erosion and guttering
of the banks is effectually prevented. The supply of
water derived from the direct rainfall is supplemented
to some extent by four deep wells in the bottom of
the reservoir, which is calculated to hold over four mil-
lions of gallons of water. The reservoir was planned
on the following calculation: The rainfall in Bengal
for the ten years previous to construction had varied
from 45.55 inches to 93.31 inches, the average, therefore,
was taken at 70 inches per annum. It had been
ascertained by experiment that, with a rainfall of 70
inches, the amount of water falling over a measured area
of 1,200 square feet amounted to 43,628 gallons. Taking
the catch-water area, therefore, to be six biggahs, or
86,400 square feet, the amount of water falling over it
with the same rainfall would amount to nearly 3 mil-
lions: we may assume the loss by evaporation and absorp-
tion to be counterbalanced by the springs and wells, and as
the entire supply is not consumed, the rainfall is ample
L
162
Soil and Surroundings.
to maintain the water level. Although we have had,
during the past year, the shortest rainfall known for
some twenty years, this reservoir has never had less
than seventeen feet of water in it at its lowest, and its
water is in use by a large neighbouring population.
In constructing tanks due heed must be had to the
soil and to the surroundings. A tank, wholly or partly
excavated in what is termed made-up ground, that is,
originally low land raised in the course of years by
refuse deposits, will hardly ever yield good water, and
the subsoil of nearly all our old Indian towns is so
fouled by the soakage of the sewage or filth of genera-
tions, that great care is necessary in selecting a site. If
the soil be loose and sandy, and there be a number of
filthy ponds or cesspools in the vicinity, there will
always be the danger of sewage percolation from them
into the new excavation. This may, of course, be
prevented to a great extent by well puddling the bottom
and sides of the reservoir, or by the use of a puddle core
in the embankment; but this adds greatly to the cost
of the work, is not always easily effected, and from the
slipping of the banks or the disturbance of the puddle
coating is not always effectual in preventing filtration.
A new tank, therefore, should always be dug, where
possible, in fresh new ground, and all cesspools and filthy
ponds in the vicinity should be emptied, cleansed, and
filled up with earth. This can generally be easily effect-
ed whilst the excavation is in progress, and the spoil
earth is available.
Where a tank is to be excavated near a river and in
sandy soil, advantage may sometimes be taken of the
tendency to filtration to secure a constant supply of
Filtration and Percolation.
163
water partially filtered, and therefore cleared of the silt
and mud, held in suspension by the river water.
A rather curious instance of this exists in a fine
large reservoir constructed by me, some years ago, in
Garden Reach. There had existed, for many years, at
the back of the Government Dockyard premises, a
very extensive jheel or swamp, and which, as its name,
the Adhygunga, implies, was, in former years, a portion
of the original bed of the Ganges. At what period.
it was cut off from the river I do not know; but a
good many years ago, when the Dockyard premises were
enlarged, the old Garden Reach road was diverted and
carried across a portion of the swamp, which had been,
in the course of years, filled up by the deposit of sand
from the docks, mixed with the cinders and slag from
the furnaces and cupolas. The swamp was long an eye-
sore and a source of malaria and sickness to this part
of the suburbs. In 1875, the Government offered the
site, some fifteen biggahs, to the Municipality free, on
condition, that a tank should be formed in one portion
of the ground, and the rest of the swamp raised and
reclaimed. The work was accordingly taken in hand,
a portion of the native village adjoining purchased and
removed, and a fine rectangular reservoir, with a water
surface of nearly six biggahs surrounded by walks,
grass, and ornamental shrubs, now occupies the site
of the old, unsightly, and pestiferous swamp. Owing
to the nature of the soil, a wet sand, it was found impos-
sible to get deeper down with the excavation than
seventeen feet, the water below this depth rising fast in
the cuttings. Whilst making the excavation, undeniable
proof was discovered of the swamp having formed in
164
A Filtered Supply.
bygone days a portion of a river bed, for, at a depth of ten
feet below the surface of the bed of the jheel, several
portions of sunken boats came to light, and in one spot
an entire boat, measuring some thirty feet in length, was
disinterred, containing, besides the remains of firewood,
rice-bags, earthen utensils, &c., the complete skeleton of
a man, portions of two other human skeletons being
found underneath and close to the boat.
At one corner of the tank, a most persistent spring
of clear water interfered greatly with the work, the
water filling up the cuttings as fast as it could be baled
out; and, on investigating the cause, the spring was
traced back to the bed of cinders and slag underlying
the Garden Reach road. Adjoining this is a large
settling tank for the river water used for the foundry
boilers, and which is pumped daily from the river,
the water passing through the thick bed of cinder,
slag, and sand, is, therefore, effectually filtered. A pipe
culvert was laid to conduct this water into a settling
well, from whence it passes into the reservoir through
an overflow pipe. There is thus not only a constant
accession of fresh filtered water into the reservoir, but a
continual, though imperceptible, current through it, which
assists in keeping the water clear and fresh. The supply
is so constant, that, in the hottest and driest seasons, the
water level only sinks from two to three feet.
The two examples given will serve to show what can
be done to improve a tank water-supply and at a com-
paratively small cost, the two tanks mentioned having
been completed, inclusive of purchase of land, construc-
tion of ghats, drains, railings, and turnstiles, for something
less than Rs. 8,000.
Effects of Water-plants and Fish.
165
In all tanks or reservoirs, water plants and fish in
moderate quantities are a necessity: the former exert a
distinct chemical influence on the water, while the latter
not only prevent overgrowth of vegetable matter, but
consume a large quantity of insects, crustaceæ, and or-
ganic matter.
That well-known Indian Chemist, Dr. David Waldie,
of Cossipore, says: "Some of the best tanks, General's
tank more particularly, are probably equal to the river
water in purity at some seasons, and superior to it at
others. Tank water deteriorates in the hot season from
putrefactive fermentation, the river water proper im-
proves from oxidation, but near Calcutta deteriorates
from sewage and tidal water. Tank water improves
during the rains by dilution with rain water, and the
animal and vegetable life in it preserves the proper
balance, removes decaying matters, and prevents putrefac-
tion to any great extent; at least this is the case in good
tanks. General's tank seems a well kept aquarium:
it abounds in animal life.”—(Asiatic Society's Journal.)
Dr. Wilson says, "the purifying process is aided to
some extent by the presence of fresh water plants;" and
again, “among other purifying agents may be mentioned
the effects of plants and fish." In store reservoirs, the
presence of a moderate quantity of living plants exerts
a decidedly purifying influence, while the destruction
of fish has been followed by an excessive multiplication
of the small crustacean animals on which the fish had
lived, thereby rendering the water nauseous and impure.
The remedy was found in re-stocking the reservoir with
fish (Rankine).-(Wilson's Hygiene.)
1.
Of the water-plants best suited for preservation of
166
Water-plants suited for Reservoirs.
tank water, the following are best known to me: Nym-
phæa rubra (Bengali, rukta kumbula), which has long
india-rubber like stems, varying with the depth of water
and deep red or blood-colored flowers, hence the Bengali
name; Vallisneria alternifolia (Bengali, rusna jhanj),
stems rising with the water; Vallisneria vertecellata
(Bengali, dhap or daam); and Vallisneria octandra (Ben-
gali, patta sewala), the water-plant used by the Jessore.
sugar-refiners to cleanse their raw sugars. Westland, in
his account of Jessore, gives the name of the weed as
syala: and, according to Roxburgh, it is a grass-like plant,
growing in standing shallow water.
The beauty of the Nelumbium speciosum, water bean
(Bengali, pudma), would seem to make it a desirable plant
for reservoirs; but it should, nevertheless, be avoided, as
it tends to accumulate mud, and injures the water.
In addition to the higher order of plants which I have
enumerated above, there are a number of harmless con-
fervoid growths belonging to the class of cryptogamous
or non-flowering plants, known as algae, which flourish in
water, and generally in tanks or ponds, where they float
about in masses, sometimes covering the whole surface
with a deceptive carpet of verdure. By their growth
they do no harm to the water, but rather act as a pre-
servative, for when this green veil is swept aside, the
water beneath will generally be found far clearer than
in tanks free from weeds. I believe the crusade against
"pannas," as they are universally called, to be a decided
mistake; the danger lies, as in the case of jungle clear-
ance, in the plants being gathered from the surface or
lodged on the banks as the water level sinks in the tanks,
and there allowed to die and decay.
Fish for stocking Drinking Tanks.
167
Professor Nichols considers that there is no reason to
believe that the presence of these minute algæ gives an
unwholesome character to the water. They are not, in
his opinion, a sign of impurity, as they grow in ponds
which are far removed from all sources of contamination.
—(Buck, I., 238).
All water-plants, stranded on the banks as the water
sinks in the tanks, should be carefully cleared away and
not allowed to rot.
Of the fish best suited for stocking tanks, the katla,
ruho or rooi, kalaboas, mirgal, all of the carp family
(Cyprinidae), are the most desirable.
The young fry of these fishes are largely sold during
the months of July and August by fishermen who net
them on the shallows in the Hooghly and in the Damoo-
dur and other tributaries. They are carried about for sale
in large flat shallow vessels of black earthenware filled
with water, and kept constantly in motion.
Wells, as sources of supply of drinking-water, are not
in favor with the Hindus of Lower Bengal, but there may
be localities where they are the only means of procuring
a supply. Wells are very subject to sewage contamina-
tion, and often contain nitrites and nitrates of ammonia,
lime organic matter, and, where situated near graveyards,
fatty acids.
Where a well exists in fouled ground, the only course
is, to abandon it and dig a new well in clean ground, and
away from all possible source of pollution; the subsoil
water and all impure percolation must be cut off by
casing the well to a depth of 10 feet from the ground level
with brick-work, with cement joints, concrete, or, what
is cheaper and better than all, with puddle,
168
Construction of Wells.
In constructing a well with puddle, the common baked
earthen well-rings or "tikras " must be used, and the
excavation being made about three feet larger in diameter
than the well-rings, the puddle stuff must be rammed
firmly down and well worked.
Puddle to be impervious must be carefully and tho-
roughly worked, as well worked as the clay for a well
moulded brick. Surface alluvial soil will not do for the
purpose; a light loam or clay, with a slight admixture of
coarse sand or fine gravel, is the best. This must be well
worked with sufficient water, and trodden up by the coo-
lies' feet to a stiff tenacious mass: it must then be packed
in behind the rings and thoroughly worked or punned
down, taking care not to crack or break the rings in
doing so. The well tube should be carried up two feet
above the ground level, and a protecting ring of brick-
work built round it, and the surface sloped and paved,
or concreted, to prevent waste water from draining back
into the well; the mouth of the well should be covered
over, and either a pump fixed over it or a windlass with
a bucket and chain; the only objection to the latter is,
that it is apt to swing against the sides and break the
earthenware rings, which are somewhat fragile.
There can be no doubt that, if the people could be
induced to boil and filter the water used by them, that
many dangerous waters might be thus used with compa-
rative safety; but this cannot be expected, the very cost
of fuel would prevent the poorer classes from taking
this precaution; nor is it at all probable that they could,
to any extent, be brought to filter their drinking water,
although the materials for constructing a most efficient
filter is to their hand, and at an outlay of but a few pice

A Simple Filter.
169
-a rough wooden stand, three ordinary porous earthen-
ware culshis or jars, a small quantity of charcoal or sand
being all that is necessary.
Charcoal
Coarse Sand
Filtered Water
The local authority might, however, greatly improve
the supply from public tanks by constructing filtering
draw-wells in connexion with the tanks from which the
170
Characteristics of good Drinking-waïer.
water should be drawn by a pump or iron bucket and
chain, after being filtered through gravel, coarse sand, and
charcoal,
Good drinking-water should possess the following cha-
racteristics: it should be tasteless, odorless, clear, trans-
parent, and without any color, or as the Spaniards say
ni sabor, olor, ni color. It should be cool and well
aerated, and free from deposit and living organisms. A
drinking-water may contain a greater or less amount
of dissolved mineral matter without detracting from
either its wholesomeness or palatability. A perfectly
pure water, such as is obtainable only by distillation,
is, it is well known, most unpalatable, owing to its
entire want of aeration and the absence of the dissolved
gases and mineral salts which occur to a greater or less
extent in all natural waters. The water obtained for
ship's use by distillation of the sea-water in Normandy's
condensers, is, until aerated by artificial means, not
only unpalatable, but by some authorities supposed to
be indigestible. One of the pleasantest and most whole-
some waters is rain or cloud water: it is in fact the
purest of all except distilled water. When received on a
clean collecting surface, and carefully preserved from con-
tamination, it is pure, soft, and highly aerated, possesses
high solvent powers, and hence is valuable for cooking
and in chemical operations. Those who have become
accustomed to drink rain-water from clean cisterns or
reservoirs, prefer it to deep well-water, and claim that
it is a better thirst-quencher, as well as a restorer and
preserver of health and a preventive of many diseases.
An American writer, in an article in the United States
Government Reports, states, that "it is a well-established
Benefits of using Rain-water.
171
fact among intelligent medicalmen, that the stomach and
bowels are far less liable to derangement and disease,
and to attacks of epidemics under the uniform use of rain-
water than of hard-water." This is confirmed by numer-
ous medical and scientific reports in different countries.
"It has been clearly ascertained both in Paris and
elsewhere, that rain-water is a prophylactic (antidote)
to cholera: and that the disease was not proved an
epidemic in any city where rain-water was exclusively
used." Dr. Hobbs of Memphis states,-" By the exclusive
use of cistern-water (i.e., rain-water), cholera will speedi-
ly disappear and not return;" and Dr. Lea, of Cincinnati,
declares," That it is a verified fact, which will stand the
strictest investigation, that the exclusive using of rain-
water for all purposes of drinking, cooking, and bathing,
instead of hard or well-water, is a sure preventive of
cholera and bowel complaints; and that no town or city
supplied exclusively with rain-water ever suffers seriously
from epidemic cholera." The late Dr. Parkes, of Netley,
also gives valuable testimony in favor of the use of rain-
water in preference to spring or well water. He says,-
"The greatest benefits have resulted in many cases
(especially in the West Indian Islands) from the use of
rain, instead of spring or well water, which is often
largely impregnated with earthy salts." Of course, these
opinions hold good only in regard to rain-water as received
from the clouds and so collected and stored as to prevent
its being contaminated by organic and other impurities.
Davis mentions as a curious fact in reference to the
West Indies, that "ships' crews, when ordered to Tortola,
were 'invariably seized with fluxes,' which were caused
by the water. But the inhabitants, who used tank,
172
Use of Rain-water in Calcutta.
i.e., rain water, were free, and so well was this known
that, when any resident at Tortola was invited to dinner
on board a man-of-war, it was no unusual thing for him
to carry his drinking-water with him."
Not many years ago before the present filtered water
supply was provided for the city of Calcutta, nearly all
the old residents used to store the rain-water collected
from the flat terraced roofs of their houses in large
earthen jars, or jallahs, the care of which was one of
the principal duties of the now-extinct, but formerly
important domestic official, the abdar or waterman; and
nearly every house had a special abdarkhana or water-
house set apart for the keeping of the drinking-water
jars. There were indeed several old European Calcutta
residents alive up to a very recent date, if they are not
so still, who, having for many years been accustomed to
drink nothing but rain-water, continued to do so even
after the introduction of the filtered public supply; and
an advertisement of about seventy years ago shows,
that the aerated soda-water manufacturers of that day
held out as an inducement to consumers that their soda-
water was prepared from rain-water only.
Many large cities in the south of Europe are entirely
supplied with rain-water, such as Constantinople,
Venice, Cadiz, and other places. In the latter city the roofs
have a self-acting tilt-trough, which throws off the first
rainfall with the impurities washed from the roof,
before allowing the water to run into the reservoir. The
Spaniards, who have a proverb for every thing and every
occasion, say of rain-water, that it neither makes men
sick, nor indebted, nor women widows: "Agua que no
enferma, no adeuda, no enviuda."
Objects of Tree-Planting in Towns.
173
CHAPTER XV.
"No tree in all the grove but has its charms."-Cowper.
"States, societies, and individuals have encouraged by bounties the
planting of trees with sufficient success, at least to excite thought
and stimulate effort upon the subject of practical arboriculture."-
American State Reports.
There are several objects to be attained by a systematic
planting of trees on the road sides, the public squares,
and on waste and unoccupied lands, recently reclaimed
ground, and old and unused burial-grounds.
First, we have in view the beautifying of the town,
the provision of grateful shade, and the diffusion of
sweet scents. Secondly, the purification of the atmos-
phere by the absorption by plant-life of carbonic acid
and ammonia, and the diffusion of oxygen and ozone.
Thirdly, the drying of the subsoil, and the withdrawing
from it, by the same powerful agency, of the elements of
decomposition. Fourthly, the preservation of the road
surfaces. Fifthly, the equalization of the rainfall. Sixth-
ly, the interception of malarious air currents by belts
of trees; and seventhly, the production of valuable and
useful timber and refreshing or nourishing fruits.
The first of these objects must be patent to every one.
What can be more dreary and depressing than a town
destitute of trees and vegetation, and what visitor to
174
Transpiration of Plants.
Calcutta in the months of March, April, and May has
not been struck with the wondrous blaze of color exhi-
bited by the simul or cotton tree, and the Poinciana
regias glowing above the soft refreshing verdure of the
numberless foliage trees with which the town and its
surroundings abounds. What traveller has not blessed
the grateful shade of the umbrageous banyan, the bokal
or the tamarind; and what manner of man is he who has
not scented up with delight the cool evening air laden
with the delicate perfume of the magnolia, the har
singha (Nyctanthes arbortristis) and the jasmine, or the
more potent honey-like fragrance of the champa and
the kuddum.
Of the second object sufficient explanation has been
given in the chapter on Rank Vegetation. Of the third,
the explanation is easy. Plants transpire freely when
they have a moist soil to draw water from, and a dry
atmosphere around them. For example, it has been
calculated that a beegah of grass will part with moisture
to the atmosphere at the rate of 4,266 pints per day.
A single sun-flower plant transpires about one pint of
water daily, nearly all this water being drunk up from
the soil by the roots, the speed of the circulation being
nearly twenty-four inches per hour. Experiments
recently made show, that "plants in a saturated atmos-
phere transpire most when exposed to the sun, and that
in the shade transpiration ceases when the atmosphere
is loaded with watery vapour." Trees also affect the
drainage of the soil by mechanical action, the roots
permeate the subsoil and open up numberless drainage
channels through otherwise impervious strata. In fact,
they perform the office of draining in a manner analo-
Effects of Disforesting.
175
gous to that artificially practised in parts of Holland
and the British Islands. This method consists in driving
down deeply into the soil several hundred stakes to the
acre; the water filters down along the stakes, and in
some cases as favorable results are said to have been
obtained by this means as by horizontal drains (d'Heri-
court, Annales Forestieres, 1857). It will be found that
the earth is always much dryer near the roots of trees.
than elsewhere; and it is an established fact that cutting
down woods and forests has, in many known instances,
converted considerable tracts of well-drained land into
swamps and marshes.
The preservation of the road surfaces is effected by
shielding them from the baking torrid heat of the sum-
mer sun and retarding evaporation from their surfaces.
The equalization of rainfall is, undoubtedly, affected by
the planting or denuding of a district of trees. On this
head all good authorities are at one. Humbolt, Herschell,
Bousingault, and others are agreed that the destruction
of forests is followed by diminished and less equable
rainfall; and it is known that in forest regions the ground
covered with trees receives more water than the un-
covered ground of regions with little or no wood. The
rainfall is also greater over forests when the trees are in
full foliage. The late Pasha Mehemet Alli made exten-
sive plantations in Lower Egypt with a view to increase
the rainfall. Previous to this there was hardly any rain,
often none for more than a twelve-month; now that the
forests have grown up, the annual average is said to be
thirty days rain in the year. On the contrary, it is assert-
ed, that, in Upper Egypt, the rains, which a century ago
were abundant, have ceased since the Arabs cut down
176 Interception of Malarious Air-currents.
the trees along the valley of the Nile toward Lybia and
Nubia. Some years ago, Saint Helena was almost
denuded of timber, the consequence being a very great
diminution of the rainfall, which, when it did fall, came
down in a deluge. Since tree-planting has been steadily
progressed with, the rainfall has again become regular
and equable.
It is a well-known fact that belts of trees, interposed
between inhabited localities and marshes or swamps or
surrounding burial-grounds and cemeteries, intercept the
noxious exhalations and malarious air currents when the
wind blows from their direction. Monsieur Regaud
de l'Isle, writing about the malaria of the Campagna di
Roma, says: "Various obstacles form barriers which
miasmata cannot pass; the interposition of a forest may
preserve us in a variety of circumstances from the per-
nicious effects of air currents charged 'with deleterious
miasmata. Upon Mount Argentel, above the village of
San Stephano, there is a convent, which has lost all its
reputation for salubrity which it once enjoyed, since the
lofty trees by which it was surrounded have been cut
down. In consequence of the felling of the woods
before Asteria, near the Pontine marshes, Veletri was
visited for three successive years by diseases unknown
before." Volney states a remarkable fact relative to
this subject: Beyrout, formerly very unhealthy, quite
ceased to be so since the planting of a wood of fir trees
by the Emir Fuqr-ed-din, about a league below the
town. Dr. Ferguson, in a paper on Marsh Poison, in the
Medical Chirurgical Review (1821), remarks, that "the
town of New Amsterdam in Berbice is situated with-
in short musket-shot to leeward of a most offensive
Protective Influence of Trees.
177
swamp, in the direct track of a strong trade-wind that
blows night and day. Yet it brings no fevers, though
every one is well aware that it would be almost certain
death for a European to sleep, or even to remain, after
nightfall, under the shade of the lofty trees that cover
the marsh at so short a distance. All too are equally
aware that to cut down the trees would certainly be
productive of pestilence to the town."
These are somewhat antiquated authorities, but they
are none the less sound; and the views enunciated by
them as to the protective influence of belts of planta-
tion are still received by sanitarians without question.
Dr. Parkes, of Netley, says,-"The protective influence
of a belt of trees against malaria is most striking;
and Dr. Adam advocates the surrounding of burial-
grounds with trees to act as a barrier to the escape of
miasmata.
""
Whether the action is purely mechanical, or whether,
as some suppose, trees possess the power of neutralizing
malarial poison by some chemical agency, has not been
determined.
Eminent medical men have of late years advocated
the planting of belts of trees between the great swamps
known as the Salt Lakes lying to the east of Calcutta
and the suburbs, and we can hardly doubt that the
result would be beneficial. Unfortunately, in the vege-
table as in the animal kingdom, beauty does not
always go hand-in-hand with utility and strength; and
many of our most ornamental flowering trees are of
little or no use either as fruit or timber producers, and
in proportion to their rapidity of growth and the fragi-
lity of their wood, they are liable to quick decay and
M
178
Ornamental Flowering Trees.
damage by high winds and the cyclonic disturbance to
which the weather in Bengal is so subject.
First and foremost amongst the purely ornamental
trees we may note the Poinciana regia, or Flamboyant as
the French call it, which flowers in April and May, and
is then a gorgeous blaze of scarlet and yellow; and after
flowering is still a handsome object for some months of
the year from its bright green feathery foliage. It bears
seed abundantly in some seasons, but is somewhat diffi-
cult to raise, and is extremely fragile, when it grows
large enough, to oppose resistance to heavy winds.
The Colvillea racemosa, a tree much resembling the
last in foliage, is a stately object, bearing high aloft in
September its noble drooping racemes of orange-colored
flowers, but remains bare of foliage for a considerable
part of the year.
The Cassia fistula (or amultâs) presents a truly magni-
ficent mass of pendulous laburnum like yellow blos-
soms in all May and June, succeeded by long black
cylindrical seed pods, as round as a ruler, and from one
and-a-half to two feet long.
The Cassia marginata is a somewhat small tree but
occupying considerable space from its widespreading
habit. Blossoms profusely, principally in the rains, but
also through the hot weather, with numerous rose-
colored flowers, and is a very ornamental object, better
suited for a shrubbery or open ground than for a road-
side.
Lagerstræmia regina (jarool), a handsome tree, bearing
a profusion of rose-colored or purple blossoms (see also
Timber Trees).
The Cassia Javanica is a handsome forest tree; a mass
Trees suitable for Road-side Planting.
179
of beautiful pink blossom in April and May, and bearing
large heavy rugose bean pods.
All these trees, however, are of little beauty, except
when in flower, and give little shade.
The following trees are all suited for road-side planting
being handsome, hardy, and giving good shade:
The Dellenia speciosa (chaltâ).-A hardy handsome
tree, with large-ribbed chestnut-like leaves, noble white
scented flowers, blossoming in July, succeeded by large
green sepalous apple-like fruits.
The Magnolia pterocarpa, a handsome tree, with large
smooth glossy leaves, and globular white fragrant flowers;
blossoming in April.
The Nauclea cadamba (or kuddum), a fine shady forest
tree, bearing in July a profusion of soft buff-colored
sweet-scented flowers, perfectly globular in shape and of
the size of a tennis ball-a charming road-side tree.
Swietenia mahogani, or mahogany tree, is an exceed-
ingly handsome and valuable timber tree, but of slow
growth.
The Melia sempervirens (or bukayûn), a rather
handsome tree, with ash-like foliage and elegant lilac-
scented flowers.
The Jonesia asôca (asôc), one of the most gorgeous
and beautiful objects of the vegetable world when in
full bloom, with its large compact trusses of orange and
scarlet. Flowers in February and March, and again
occasionally in June or July, but not to the same extent.
Gives a thick heavy shade, and when out of blossom is
still ornamental from the graceful droop of its foliage
and the numerous pendant, India-rubber like leaflets,
of various shades of purple and bronze.
180
Fruit Trees.
The Mimusops elengi (or bokul), a very fine timber
tree, bearing, in March and up to July, small spurrowel-
shaped fragrant flowers, a great favorite with the
Bengalis, and deservedly so. There is no finer object
than a handsome well-grown avenue of bokul trees,
such as one existed a few years ago on the western bank
of Tolly's Nullah, near Tallygunj, as an approach to
the handsome group of temples, or Thakoorbuttee, erect-
ed by the Munduls of Bhowally, and dedicated to the
God Radhakrishna. The owners having become involved
in debt, this noble avenue, the finest I have ever seen,
was ruthlessly cut down and sold for timber by a grasp-
ing decree-holder.
Kigelia pinnata, a large somewhat coarse-foliaged tree,
with very remarkable rope-like woody flower stems
which hang from the branches to a length of ten feet
till they nearly touch the ground, and bear a succession
of handsome, deep sang-de-boeuf colored flowers, which
give forth at night a somewhat unpleasant smell.
The Grevilla robusta, a very beautiful pyramidal tree,
with dense fern-like foliage.
The Ficus elastica (India-rubber tree), Ficus Indica
(bâr), and Ficus religiosa (pipal), are all useful shade-trees
for road-sides.
The Casuarina muricata and the Uvaria longifolia, or
Debdaru, are too well known to need description.
Of the fruit trees the following may be enumerated:
The Mangifera Indica, or mango (ám); the Artocarpus
integrifolius, jack-fruit (kûntal); the Tamarindus Indica,
tamarind (tentool); the Adansonia digitata (Baobab),
monkey bread fruit or bilaetee tentool; the Dellenia
speciosa (châlta); the Diosperos kaki (bilaetee gab); the
**
Useful Timber Trees.
181
Jambosa vulgaris, roseapple (or gûlab jam); the Jambosa
alba, starapple (or jumrool); the Terminalia catappa,
Indian almond (or dêsee badam).
The following are amongst the most useful timber
trees:-
Melia azad (Neem)-A hardy and quick-growing tree,
much prized by the natives for its medicinal qualities.
Yields an useful fragrant wood for household purposes,
the heart wood much resembling mahogany.
Tectona grandis (Sagoon, teak)-A large forest tree,
yielding a valuable wood, but of very slow growth.
Acacia sirisa (Siriss)—A rapidly growing tree with a
coarse-grained timber of little value; used principally for
box planks.
Nuchelia champacca (Champa, Sampangi)—A small
tree, prized by the natives of Bengal for its large narrow-
petalled flowers of a dull yellow color and delicious
fragrance, and which are used in religious ceremonies.
The wood is of a rich brown color, close-grained, finely
mottled, takes a fine polish, and makes beautiful furni-
ture.
Acacia, catechu (Shah)—A large tree, with bipinnate
foliage, yields the cutch of commerce. Timber considered
more durable than teak; used for posts, rafters, spear-
shafts, &c.
Dalbergia sissoo (Sisu or Sissoo)-A handsome and
useful timber, strong and durable, with a close compact
grain; suitable for all kinds of joiner's and carpenter's
work.
Inga dulcis, a very fast-growing tree, with a very
tough, hard, heavy, close-grained wood, very like ash.
Lagerstroemia regina (Jarool)—A splendid tree, with
182
Useful Timber Trees.
rich rose-colored, or occasionally purple, blossoms. The
timber is most useful for all purposes, house-building,
planks, scantlings, boat-building, &c.
Erythrina Indica (Pahta Mundur Kashi)-A moderate
sized tree, very common; bears in March clusters of bril-
liant scarlet flowers, but of no beauty at other times;
yields a strong wood, useful for floor or wall-planking,
but of no great scantling.
Feronia elephantum (Kuthbêl)-Grows to a good size;
good timber, close and even-grained; used for doors and
rafters in native houses.
Artocarpus integrifolius (Kuntal, jack)—Yields a hand-
some wood for furniture-making, also for ghannees or
native oil-mills.
Grislea tomentosa (Kar dahi, Dharee dhao)-A small
tree with drooping branches. A mass of dazzling red
when in flower in February and March; wood strong,
close-grained, and heavy; useful for posts and tie-beams.
when procurable of sufficient size; is easily established
and a rapid grower.
Ficus guleria (Goolar)-A common, coarse, fast-grow-
ing tree, with a coarse grained brittle wood; only useful
for one purpose, well-curbs or foundations for steps, as it
does not decay under water.
Nauclea cadamba (Kuddum)—Gives a wood of close
and even grain, but brittle and wanting in strength.
Swietonia mahagoni (Mahogany)-Too well known
to need description.
Bombax heptaphyllum (Simul)—A tree of very rapid
growth, bearing a gorgeous crimson flower, succeeded by
pods full of silky cotton; the wood is light and coarse,
but planks cut from old trees make good boxes.
Planting Road-side Trees.
183
The following are suitable for planting on waste land
and burial-grounds :—
The Dalbergia (Sissoo)-This common tree of the
Indian jungles grows fast, and has a capital wood, useful
for many purposes.
The Rain tree Guango (Pithecolobium Saman)-A very
fast grower; gives splendid shade, and yields a pod with
a sweet pulp, which is greedily eaten by cattle, but gives
a timber of little value except as fuel. Any of the
smaller fruit trees are also suitable, such as the Psidium
guajava, guava (pyara or amrood); the Achras sapota,
sapota (supattoo); the Zizyphus jujuba (bâer) kool;
Zizyphus vulgaris, plum (koolphul); and many others.
No plant is more useful in this respect than the Musa
sapientum, the plantain (kela), of which there are several
good kinds, the best being the champa, chinee-champa,
martaban, Daccaé.
The above list is in no way intended to be exhaustive,
as I have simply given the names of those trees with
which I am myself best acquainted; many others will,
doubtless, suggest themselves to the reader.
In planting trees by the sides of roads, a good sized
circle or disc of turf should be removed from the spot
selected. The earth should then be dug up to a depth of
at least two feet, and if of a poor description, fresh earth,
or preferably leaf-mould, should be substituted. The
young tree planted in the centre of this must be pro-
tected by a stout basket from the ravages of cattle
and goats, the latter especially are most destructive.
Trees must be watered in the dry season, and their
enclosure must be kept free from grass. No young plants
will flourish if choked with oolû or motu grasses.
-
184
Encouragement to Planting.
A good deal might be done to encourage the planting
and preservation of trees on the road-sides by the adja-
cent householders, by offering a small premium for each
tree planted and preserved in health until it attains a
certain height. This practice is followed in some of the
States of the North American Union. Hindus also are
always ready to plant and water Ficus Indica and Ficus
religiosa.
Disposal of the Dead.
185
E
CHAPTER XVI.
"It is but waste to bury them preciously."- Chaucer.
The manner of disposing of the bodies of the dead in
this country varies greatly according to the religious
customs of various creeds and castes. Christians, Jews,
Mahomedans, Chinese, and some castes of the Hindus
bury them in the earth; the Hindus in general burn
them, or send them adrift in the sacred streams; and
the Parsees or Zoroastrians expose them to the elements
and to birds of prey in Towers of Silence.
The Christian, Jewish, and Chinese dead are usually
buried in coffins; the Mahomedans and Hindus simply
wrap in a winding sheet. Some castes of Hindus,
such as the Boistums, are buried in an upright or
sitting posture. The peculiarity of the Mahomedan
mode of burial has been fully described in the chapter
on Burial-grounds and need not be repeated.
The Hindu dead are cremated on the banks of the
sacred Ganges, or where too remote to be carried thence,
on the banks of some stream or tank, and except within
municipal limits, where regulations are strictly enforc-
ed, the corpses of the poor are very generally sent adrift
after a slight charring, or perhaps only touching the
mouth with fire; and only a few years ago the number
186 Practice of throwing Corpses into Rivers.
of floating corpses, on which the foul carrion crows rode
merrily over the waters of the Hooghly, was one of the
sights for which Calcutta was famous or infamous. An
old writer says: "Either from indolence or penury, the
body is generally placed on a small hurdle, and when
little more than scorched, is pushed off from the shore
with a bamboo, there to float until it arrives at the
ocean, unless it be previously picked up by a shark or
alligator, or which is frequently the case, dragged ashore
by pariah dogs and jackals and devoured by them in
company with a numerous train of carrion birds of
various descriptions. From one hundred to one hundred
and fifty of these disgusting objects may be counted
passing any one point in the course of a day, and in
some places, where eddies prevail, a whole vortex of
putrid corpses may be seen circling about for hours
together. It was very common for us to be obliged
"to clear the cable" occasionally of a human body
speckled over by the partial separation of the cuticle
and the rete mucosum from putrefaction."
I can well remember this state of things, and how,
before the passing of the law forbidding the practice,
and which is popularly known as Beadon's Act, the
residents in the river-side villas at Garden Reach and
from Cossipore to Barrackpore, had constantly to employ
domes, or murdafurashes, to push off stranded bodies,
and even to remove putrid corpses from under the open
basements of the houses, where they were dragged dur-
ing the night time by jackals and dogs, to the intense
discomfort of the inmates of these otherwise delightful
residences.
It would serve little purpose to enter into a con-
#
Errors as regards Cremation.
187
sideration of the relative merits of cremation and burial
as a means of disposing of the dead in this country.
The former is, as is well known, the common mode of
disposal amongst the Hindus; but the sentimental and
medical jurisprudential objections which stand in the
way of the general adoption of cremation in European
countries, would have equal force here as regards our
Christian population, while there is a strong religious
prejudice which would always prevent its adoption by
our Mahomedan fellow-subjects. Cremation, as practised
in this country by the Hindus, is however but little
understood by Europeans, few of whom, though perhaps
long residents in the country, have cared to investigate
into the subject, and it is perhaps therefore not a matter
of astonishment that we find even the latest and best
writers on sanitation giving currency to such vague and
incorrect statements as the following, which I quote from
the Treatise on Hygiene and Public Health, edited
by Albert H. Buck, M.D., of New York," (1879), one
of the latest, most complete and comprehensive popular
works on sanitary subjects ever published.
"The list of nations in which cremation has been the
customary way of disposing of the dead is a very long
one, including the Greeks and Romans, many of the
ancient tribes of Europe and Asia, and at the present
day the East Indians and some Indian tribes in north
and South America. In all these cases the body is
burnt on a pyre in the open air, and the process is a
very objectionable one, requiring, as it does, a long time
for its accomplishment, an enormous mass of fuel, and
creating an intolerable stench, which has to be smothered
with the aroma of spices, where the relatives can afford
188
Cremation as practised in Bengal.
it. Moreover, the burning is often imperfectly done,
the heat attainable in this way being insufficient to
calcine the remains." (Vol. II, page 454.) Now this
statement is so widely different from fact that it is plain
the writer could have had no personal knowledge of the
subject, and it is apt to create an unwarranted prejudice
against a practice which, religious prejudices and senti-
mental objections apart, has every thing to recommend
it. Now what are the actual facts as regards cremation
as carried out at the established cremation ghats or
grounds within municipalities in Bengal. I give them
from intimate personal knowledge of the subject, there
being from six to eight thousand bodies annually cre-
mated at two burning ghats within my jurisdiction, and
which I constantly visit. The quantity of fuel (ordinary
soondry, gran, ban or other common fuel wood) required
to completely consume the corpse of an average adult is
from three to five maunds, or 240 to 400 lbs. The time
required is from two to four hours, and the burning is
so perfectly effected that nothing remains but a small
pile of grey ashes, a small ball of contracted sinew
about as big as a tennis ball and occasionally a few
scraps of calcined bone, such as the ball of the great tro-
chanter, or a small portion of the base of the cranium,
while as for "the intolerable stench which has to be
smothered in the aroma of spices," it is only the rich
who indulge in sandal wood and the like, and that not
from necessity, but from ostentation; and I may aver
with truth, that though I have spent hours in watching
the process, and have stood within a few feet of the
burning pyres, that unless directly to leeward and in
the way of the smoke, no offensive odour was percep-
Comparative cost of Cremation.
189
tible. In fact there is but little to offend either sight
or olfactories, the bodies are so folded up and hidden by
the wood that there is little to be seen; and as to the
smell there is hardly any perceptible at a short distance ;;
and when the burning ground is surrounded with a
high wall, the nuisance to the neighbourhood, if any, is
reduced to a minimum. Dr. Parkes admits that the im-
purities in burning can be well diffused into the atmos-
phere at large, and would not add to it any perceptible
impurity;' but he also appears to consider the expense an
obstacle to its general adoption. Now the entire neces-
sary cost of burning a Hindu corpse, including fuel, extras,
the fee of the officiating priest or moripora brahmun, and
the domes, or undertakers, is only Rs. 3-7 annas, or say
six shillings. Compare this with the very cheapest
form of funeral and charges for interment in any Chris-
tian burial-ground, and there can be little doubt as to
the economy of cremation, while as to its superiority
over burial in a sanitary point of view, there can be
hardly a difference of opinion.
190
Unwholesome and Unsound Food.
CHAPTER XVII.
"I feel that the question of the fitness of unsound meat for food is
in such an unsettled state, that my action in the matter is often very
uncertain, and I should like to have the question experimentally
determined, for as it now stands we are either condemning large
quantities of meat which may be eaten with safety, and are therefore
confiscating property and lessening the supply of food, or we are
permitting unwholesome meat to pass almost unchallenged in the
public markets."-Dr. Lethebg.
One of the principal duties of officers of health,
or where there is no special health department, of the
conservancy staff of a town, is to prevent the sale or
consumption of unwholesome articles of human food,—
that is to say, any flesh, fish, fowl, vegetables, corn, rice,
bread or other food constituent, which is diseased, un-
sound, unwholesome, or unfit for the food of man.
It has been said, and with justice, " that a thorough
practical knowledge of the qualities and appearances
presented by the various articles of diet in their whole-
some or unadulterated state, is a necessary qualification
for the detection of unwholesome or adulterated speci-
mens;" and I fear that that class of knowledge is one in
which most conservancy officers in this country are very
deficient, especially in the matter of meat. Still most
natives of this country have a sufficiently intimate
knowledge of the qualities of food grains and vegeta-
Damaged Rice.
191
bles, to discriminate between what is good or bad. With
regard to fish there can hardly be a mistake made, while
as regards meat, even good authorities in England, such
as Dr. Letheby, confess to doubts.
The most important staple of the food of the people of
Bengal is rice. Of this grain there are numberless varie-
ties, and, as a rule, unsound rice is seldom exposed for sale
in the open markets. The greater portion of the rice is
brought to market by boat, and accidents in the rivers
and canals are of frequent occurrence. It often happens,
therefore, and especially in the neighbourhood of Calcutta,
that boats laden with rice are sunk in the channels, and
some portion of the cargo is recovered after immersion
for a longer or shorter time. In these cases, more particu-
larly if the rice has been submerged in tidal or brackish
water, it becomes sodden, decomposes, and is quite unfit
for human consumption.
Rice is also occasionally damaged in large quantities
by accidental fires, and by being drenched by the water
poured over the burning buildings to extinguish the
ffames, the combined action of heat, smoke, and water
rendering it quite unfit for food. Smaller quantities are
also damaged by leaky buildings, damp storage, bad
harvesting, &c.
Natives of the poorer classes will, however, readily buy
such rice at a nominal price and use it for food. It is
also purchased by the makers and vendors of the coarse
inferior sweetmeats or cakes called malpowas and dall-
puries, which are largely consumed by the poor and
labouring class, and which are well known to cause
diarrhoea and colic. Such rice should at once be taken
charge of by the Conservancy or Health Department, and
192
Decomposed Fish.
submitted for examination to a medical officer. Where
there are any large pig-feeders, like the Chinese hogslard
manufacturers of the Calcutta surburbs, it may be sold
to them under bond, but otherwise it should be buried
in the nightsoil trenches as the only safe way of pre-
venting its being used.
It may possibly be that, after only a short immersion
in clean fresh water, the rice, if spread out to dry in
the sun, may, though deteriorated in quality as a commer-
cial staple, be not actually unwholesome; but this the medi-
cal officer will determine. In this view, however, every
facility consistent with security against removal without
permission should be given to the owners to spread it
out in the sun and turn it over to dry, the object being
to prevent injury to the health of the people and not to
confiscate property or add to the already serious loss
which has fallen upon the owner.
It is, as a rule, easy to distinguish fish which has
become unfit for food. Fresh fish differ very much
in appearance from those that have become stale or have
begun to decompose. The gill should be bright and red,
not muddy, pale or discolored; the flesh firm, stiff, and
elastic. On pressing the finger into the flesh it should at
once rise; if it remains dented in, or has a doughy pasty
feel, the fish is stale and unwholesome.
But perhaps the sense of smell may be the most reli-
able guide: tainted or putrid fish cannot be mistaken.
Large quantities of chingrees in a putrid or semi-
putrid condition are often exposed for sale in the markets.
It is well known that the consumption of fish or shell
fish in such a state not unfrequently produces serious
intestinal disorders, and this is the more to be dreaded
Danger of eating decomposed Fish. 193
in warm climates. There is no article of food in respect to
which the lower orders are more reckless: they will eat
fish in almost any stage of putridity. The Burmese and
Siamese habitually eat rotten fish as a condiment under
the name of gnapee and ballachong.
Even fresh fish and shellfish at certain seasons and
with certain individuals produce serious illness. I have
myself suffered from cholera from incautiously par-
taking of oysters out of season in Bombay, and at
the present time two or three Bombay oysters, however
fresh and good, in or out of season, are sufficient to pro-
duce violent choleraic symptoms. The same effect is
produced on many persons from eating crabs and other
crustacians, and if the fish be at all decomposed, the
effects are more marked and violent. The sanitary officer
should never hesitate to seize and impound any fish
which he finds in any stage of decomposition, always
remembering that when that stage has commenced, every
hour adds to its intensity.
There is a very considerable trade in dried fish,
which is not only a source of nuisance to the neigh-
bourhoods where they are stored, but which is a most
unwholesome article of diet when partaken of, as it often
happens to be, in a state of putridity. Natives, as a rule,
cannot be brought to see this, and consider the seizure
and destruction of such fish an arbitrary and unjus-
tifiable proceeding. A few days before this page was
written, some cart-loads of such fish were brought to me
for examination, the greater portion of the mass was
moist and putrid, swarming with maggots, grubs, and
weevils, and the smell arising from it most offensive and
sickening, still the owners would not admit that the fish
N
194
Unsound and decomposing Meat.
was in any degree offensive or unwholesome. It consisted
of numerous kinds of freshwater fish, with a small
admixture of the heads and tails of larger fishes, evi-
dently the rejections of the market, but largely of small
flat round fish, about the size of a rupee, and which
when tilted into the trench for burial, looked like a
heap of withered and decayed leaves.
A reference to the subject of unwholesome milk will
be found under the head of Cow byres.
Meat is a much more difficult subject to deal with, es-
pecially with untrained native overseers and inspectors.
The following simple hints may be a guide to the
judging of good or bad meat:
The muscle should be firm, but elastic, neither too
pale nor too dark. When the flesh is pale and moist, it is
an indication that the animal was diseased. The fat
should be firm, white, and with no sign of hæmorrhage.
Yellowness of fat is not always a sign of unwhole-
someness, as feeding on oil-cakes has a tendency to color
the fat.
Any juice which exudes from the meat should be
small in quantity, reddish in color. There should be no
softening mucilaginous fluid or purulent matter in the
cellular tissue lying between the muscles.
This tissue also softens, and is easily torn when
stretched, if decomposition has commenced.
The odour of the meat should be only slight, fresh, and
pleasant. When meat is suspicious, but shows no distinct
outward sign of putrefaction, it may still be detected by
thrusting a long clean knife deep into the flesh and
smelling the blade. When meat is commencing to putrefy,
it becomes pale, moist, doughy, smells sickly and offen-
--
-
Mortality among eaters of dead Meat. 195
.
sive, and gradually turns greenish; after this stage no
mistake can be made, and no further instructions are
necessary. The consequences of eating diseased and un-
wholesome meat are somewhat uncertain. Parkes says,
“Instances are not at all uncommon where persons, after
eating presumedly diseased meat, have been attacked
with serious gastro-intestinal symptoms, vomiting, diarr-
hœa, and even cramp, followed in some cases by severe
febrile symptoms. The whole complex of symptoms some-
what resemble cholera at first, and afterwards typhoid
fever." On the other hand, it is well known that dis-
eased meat has been largely eaten without producing any
ill effects, and it is probable that the antiseptic power of
thorough cooking may destroy the elements of parasitic
disease.
The death returns of the suburbs, however, show that
there is heavy mortality amongst the low classes of
natives who habitually eat dead animals and diseased
meat, such as the domes, mehters, chamars, and dosauds,.
the death-rate in 1879-80 ranging from 100 to 151
per 1,000.
Large quantities of tinned provisions are now im-
ported into the country and sold by auction, and it
often occurs that some portions of the consignments are
damaged or puffed as it is termed in the trade. These are
bought up and retailed by bazar dealers and up-country
boxwallas or itinerant vendors. Sickness, diarrhoea, and
colic are not unfrequently caused by using tinned or
canned provisions, especially lobsters and other shell-fish:
the only guide the inspecting officer has is the condition
of the cans.
If the heads or ends of the cans are concave,
they are usually good and wholesome; if, on the contrary,
!
196
Unwholesome tinned Provisions.
the heads are convex, bulged out or 'puffed,' decompo-
sition has commenced. If an awl or brod or sharp nail is
driven through one end of the puffed can, the gas which
is generally most offensive, will rush out with a noise
like a steam escapement. Puffed cans should be con-
fiscated and destroyed: they may do infinite mischief
if sold, and their contents partaken of by the poorer
classes of Europeans or Eurasians, the only people likely
to purchase or consume them; cheapness being always
a sore temptation to the poor, though, as a sequel, the
cheapest bargains often prove the dearest in the end.
1
Disinfectants and Deodorizers.
197
CHAPTER XVIII.
"By a disinfectant is meant first a substance which destroys or
renders inert that which produces disease, whether of an infectious
or contagious type; and secondly, a substance which arrests those
putrefactive processes in decomposable material which foster or per-
haps produce the germs, gases, and vapours that induce disease in
the human organism."-Waller on Disinfectants.
One of the disinfectants in most common use in the
present day, is carbolic acid (Phenylic acid or coaltar
kreosote). This is an oily liquid of active caustic pro-
perties, and is antiseptic in its action. It exists in the
form of needlelike crystals, which liquify at a tempera-
ture of 93·20° Fahrenheit. It is prepared in various ways,
but for commercial purposes it is distilled from the oil of
coaltar. Naturally it is found in the urine of cows
(Tidy), and if in their urine, it possibly exists in their
dung. May not this be one reason for the reputed puri-
fying and disinfecting properties possessed by the ex-
cremental products of the sacred cow.
Carbolic acid, whether in the form of solution or pow-
der, is a most useful disinfectant. "It is destructive of
the low forms of animal and vegetable life, and arrests
and prevents all kinds of putrefactive changes. (Wilson.)
Professor R. V. Tuson, Royal College of Veterinary
Surgeons, London, has lately recommended an improved
-
198
Carbolic Acid.
disinfectant consisting of carbolic acid saturated with
sulphurous acid: its composition is sufficient to show that
it must be a most useful disinfecting agent. A similar
combination was some years ago proposed by Professor
Abel.
Calvert's carbolic powder is a convenient dry form in
which it is procurable at any chemist's.
The acid (Calvert's) costs in London about four shil-
lings a gallon.
Carbolic acid is usefully employed in conjunction with
the iron salts, as well as mixed with slaked lime. In the
latter combination I have used it extensively for disin-
fecting latrine seats and drains.
For liquid matters, such as the contents of cess-pools,
drains, privy-wells, and slaughter-house reservoirs, four
pounds of Ferrous sulphate, or two to three pints of
strong solution of perchloride of iron, with two ounces
of pure carbolic acid, dissolved in a gallon of water, will
be found useful; for disinfecting heaps of solid manure,
or other offensive matter in bulk, five to six gallons of
water may be added, and the solution distributed through
the rose of an ordinary garden watering can.
/
Carbolic acid in its pure concentrated state is an active
caustic destroying the skin. If it unfortunately comes in
contact with the hand, the best remedy is olive or other
sweet oil. Taken internally, it is a violent poison: olive
oil is in this case also the best antidote. A very pleas-
ant and useful deodorant is formed by the admixture of
equal parts of carbolic acid and camphor. This mixture
dissolved in water may be employed in cases of domestic
sickness, for disinfecting utensils, bathroom drain pipes,
and the air of sick-rooms.
Sulphurous Acid Gas, &c.
199
Macdougall's powder is a carbolate of lime and mag-
nesia. It is one of the first and best disinfectants for
sewage, privies, cess-pools, and excreta pails. It is sold in
casks by the cwt., and is an economical agent when a
deodorant is required for use in large quantities.
Sulphurous anhydride or sulphurous acid gas is one
of the simplest and most powerful agents for disinfecting
the impure air of hospitals, sick-rooms, dead-houses, privy-
vaults, and even the open air where foul odours arise from
the decomposition of deposits of street refuse in ponds
and tanks. It decomposes sulphuretted hydrogen, acts
powerfully upon organic matters, and completely disin-
fects miasms (Parkes). It is produced by burning sul-
phur in the presence of oxygen.
Chloride of lime, the bleaching powder of commerce,
prepared by impregnating lime in a dry state with chlo-
rine is a well known and valuable disinfectant for drains ·
and cess-pools, but for use on a large scale is too expensive.
Quick-lime is useful for public latrine-drains and for
open drains into which sewage flows, but its effects are
neither thorough nor lasting. It may be better described
as a detergent than a deodorant.
Ferrous sulphate (copperas or green vitriol) or proto-
sulphate of iron has been recommended for disinfecting
heaps of dung, foul cess-pools, and the like. It is easily
prepared, the crude material being obtainable in the
bazar. It is prepared by spreading it out on a floor in the
open air, watering it, and turning it over till completely
oxidated. Its beneficial action is, however, somewhat
doubtful.
Ferric chloride (Perchloride of iron) is next in use-
fulness to Macdougall's powder. It is prepared by mixing
.
200
Ferric Chloride, &c.
equivalent proportions of common salt, iron rust, sulphu-
ric acid, and water. When used as a disinfectant, it
yields chlorine to organic matter, becoming itself reduced
to ferrous chloride (Tidy). It acts both on sulphuretted
hydrogen and on sulphide of ammonium. It contains a
small proportion of arsenic (Parkes).
The cost of manufacture is about twenty-five rupees,
a ton.
Nitrate of lead (Plumbic nitrate) has recently been
recommended, dissolved in water with the addition of
common salt, but I have not discovered that it has any
effect in deodorizing either urine or fæces.
Chloralum is a much advertised and belauded pre-
paration for disinfecting purposes. It is simply a chloride
of aluminum, useful as an antiseptic, but with little dis-
infecting power compared to the zinc and iron salts.
Alum is useful for precipitating the impurities in
stagnant pools or liquid sewage, with the after addition
of milk of lime or cream of lime as it is sometimes called.
The salts of copper are powerful disinfectants, but their
expense is against their general use. The usual form is
the sulphate of copper or blue vitriol.
The waste solutions from telegraphic batteries may be
usefully employed for disinfecting purposes, their action
being aided by the copper compounds which they con-
tain to a small extent.
Among the more simple disinfectants suited for do-
mestic use may be mentioned roasted coffee: The way
of using it is to dry the raw bean, then pound it in a
mortar, and roast it on a heated iron plate or a hot fire
shovel until of a dark color. The smell is pleasant and
refreshing.
Dwellings and Damp.
201
CHAPTER XIX.
"Houses are built to live in, not to look on; therefore let use be
preferred before uniformity, except where both may be had.”—Lord
Bacon.
In Lower Bengal all houses, however well raised from
the ground, are more or less damp in the rains.
Even in the best built European dwellings, raised on
arches, it may be five to six feet from foundation level, the
unmistakable damp line makes its appearance both on
the outer and inner walls as soon as the rains have lasted
long enough to saturate the subsoil on which the founda-
tions rest. This is owing to the clay soil which retains
moisture even in well-drained localities, and to the mate-
rials of which our houses are constructed being of a spongy
and absorbent nature. The hardest and best burnt brick
will absorb one-sixteenth of its weight of water, and the
softer and more porous the brick, the greater quantity
will it drink up.
The brickwork, therefore, being in immediate contact
with the wet subsoil, the damp rises in the walls by capil-
lary attraction until it reaches the line of evaporation.
As both the soil and the materials of buildings are often
saturated with nitrous salts, the latter crystallise as the
moisture evaporates, and their bulk being thus increased,
they burst the pores in which they are contained and the
202.
Effects of Nitrous Salts.
disintegrated plaster and brick crumble away, causing
that unsightly desquamation and dilapidation so common
in the basement walls of ordinary buildings and especi-
ally in inferior native houses.
It will be observed that this crumbling away does not
take place at the foot of the walls or pillars, but at some
distance from the ground, and that if the lower part be
protected by a coating of Portland cement, the line of
evaporation and erosion only mounts higher, but this
deteriorative action is not prevented from taking place.
The extent to which this disfiguration, and ultimate ruin

1
•
EFFECTS DE NITROUS EEFLORATION ON BUILDINGS
A
of buildings, goes, is shown by the above sketch, which
represents the state of many buildings familiar to every
resident in a Lower Bengal town. This state of things
is due either to ignorance or heedlessness on the part
of the builders in neglecting during the construction to
insert a damp-proof material as the last course of the
Damp-proof Courses.
203
plinth. Several plans have been tried with more or less
success to prevent damp from rising in the walls, and to
remedy or hide it when present, and the lower stories of
many otherwise comfortable houses are rendered unin-
habitable or unsightly from failure to accomplish this.
Portland cement plastering, high dados of dark coloured
silicate paints have all been tried, but still the nitrous
efflorescence appears, and the damp line mounts higher
and higher till it can escape into the air by evaporation.
Silicate paint, though better than the ordinary paints, is
inefficacious where there is much nitre in the walls.
The following, which is a Russian recipe, may be tried
with advantage: Make a boiling solution of two seers of
green vitriol (or copperas) to fifty seers of water, or
about twelve gallons; add one seer white resin, five
seers of sifted red or yellow ochre, four seers of rye meal
(or coarse country flour), and three and-a-half seers of
linseed oil; stir the whole together till the ingredients
are thoroughly incorporated, and apply two coats while
hot, allowing the first to dry before applying the second.
The mixture must be applied in dry weather while the
walls are free from damp: a coat of silicate paint of
any desired color may be afterwards applied. Complete
prevention, however, is only applicable at the time of
construction, and it is effected by the insertion of a damp-
proof course or a layer of some non-absorbent impervious
material or composition between the foundation and
superstructure. Various substances have been used or sug-
gested for this purpose. Sheet-lead or sheet-copper would
perhaps be the best materials, being indestructible, per-
fectly impervious to damp, and neither apt to break nor
crack beneath superincumbent and unequal pressure, but
C
204
Material for Damp-proof Courses.
their expense is quite against their general use.
I once
knew a case where a German engineer, in charge of
buildings near Calcutta, put sheets of plate glass in the
wall of a building as a damp-proof layer, I fear with-
out much success, as the unequal settlement of the build-
ing and the weight of the superstructure must have
reduced it to fragments. In those days De la Bastie's
process of toughening glass was not known, and it may
now be well worth ascertaining whether toughened glass
tiles or slabs manufactured from blast furnace slag by De
la Bastie's or Siemen's process, might not be introduced
into buildings for damp-proof courses with every prospect
of success; as if the glass thus produced is sufficiently
tough for railway sleepers, it would surely be quite capable
of bearing the inert pressure of the weight of a building.
Slag bricks, enamelled bricks, and vitrified stone-ware
perforated tiles, as recommended by Eassie, are also now
manufactured. The material most commonly used in
this country is Seyssel Asphalte, but it has several dis-
advantages, the principal being its aptitude to soften at a
high temperature and its compressibility, the great pres-
sure of the superstructure squeezing and forcing the
yielding material from between the joints which interferes
with its successful action as a damp preventer, and the
superstructure of buildings has even been known to slip
from the softening of the asphalte in hot weather. An
useful but little known composition for the purpose is a
mixture of fresh slaked lime and vegetable oil. This
must be well mixed by hand the day before it is wanted
for use.
It is then to be spread evenly over the founda-
tion course with a trowel in a layer about three-quar-
ters of an inch thick, and after it has been left for a day
Damp Houses never Healthy.
205
or so to set firm, the building may proceed, care being
taken in laying the first courses of brick not to break up
or disturb the cement. A damp-proof course may also
be laid with bricks, which, after being heated, have been
plunged into a bath of boiling coaltar and then rolled
in dry sand. It will add little to the first cost, but greatly
to the stability and good appearance of houses generally,
if the basements are plastered with Portland cement
instead of the ordinary sand plaster; and the extended
manufacture of cement in this country, especially by the
Indian Cement Company, will tend to bring the material
into more general use. Damp houses can never be
healthy houses, moisture being a necessary factor in the
process of decomposition of organic matters in the soil,
which give rise to malaria and consequent danger to
health. A house built on a damp site, without a damp-
proof course, and with walls often of insufficient thick-
ness, exposed to heavy driving rains, lasting as they
sometimes do in the tropics for days together, cannot
fail to be unhealthy; the damp is absorbed by the walls
and given off in vapour inside the rooms. Thus during
the rains in Bengal we find our boots, books, and every-
thing made of leather covered with green mould, and
falling to pieces, while clothes refuse to dry, and all our
surroundings feel damp and clammy. Pictures hung
against the walls become irretrievably ruined, and every
piece of furniture or cabinet-work with glued joints falls
asunder.
Every house should be surrounded with a well-con-
structed stone or brick drain, well cemented with Port-
land cement, to carry off the water streaming down the
outer walls and which would otherwise lodge about the
206
Temperature.
basement and soak into the foundations. There should
always be a space of ten or twelve feet round the house
either paved, tiled, or laid with a good layer of jhama
or stone well consolidated and sloped from the basement
and nicely gravelled. Grass should never be allowed up
to the walls. A belt of sharp gravel is also a great
obstacle to snakes, which are too apt to find their way
into our Indian houses.
Moisture and heat being the two most essential ele-
ments in the process of organic decomposition, the next
desideratum of our Indian dwellinghouses, after the
prevention of damp, is to keep the temperature as low as
possible. Single storied, or what are called lower-roomed
houses with flat terraced roofs are often unbearably hot.
Terraced roofs are usually constructed with beams, rafters,
and a double layer of tiles; the upper layer imbedded in
mortar and placed diagonally, so as to break joint with
the lower, and from five to eight inches of concrete beaten
and plastered. In some of the older houses a depth of
even ten to twelve inches of material will be found,
evidently put on with the intention of opposing a greater
obstruction to the sun's rays. A roof of this kind is, of
course, very weighty, and necessarily requires stout walls
and timbers of considerable scantling for its support;
and in the older houses alluded to, very considerable
deflection of the beams may be observed. I have recently
constructed an improved form of terraced roof or floor,
which, while it has all the strength, rigidity, and stability
of the ordinary form, possesses three important advan-
tages, viz., greater depth or thickness with comparative
lightness, economy of material, greater resistance to the
heat of the sun, and complete ventilation.

Improved Roofing.
207
Over the ordinary beams and burgahs (rafters) the
A. Airbrick.or
Ventilator
The arrows show the course
of the hot air current
first course of tiles is laid as usual, a row of table-moulded
bricks is laid on edge in mortar over the longitudinal
oin, and the second layer of tiles is then laid with
mortar, thus leaving flues or spaces of nine inches by five
as shown in the following sketch. Four inches of finely
broken khoah is then spread as before, mixed with a
sufficient quantity of good fresh lime, well turned over,
incorporated, beaten, and finished off in the usual man-
ner.
We have thus nearly double the depth of the
ordinary roof with less weight, and the air spaces not
only interpose a stratum of air and prevent radiation of
heat as in the case of the solid terrace, but by the use
of air bricks or ventilators at the ends of the flues, and
perforated tiles in the lower layer or ceiling, perfect
ventilation and escape of hot air from the upper part
of the room is secured, and the temperature correspond-
ingly reduced. There can be no reasonable doubt as to

208
Construction of Indian Dwellings.
the stability and durability of a roof so constructed, for I
have had a floor constructed on this plan, over which
there is constant daily passing to and fro, and over
Sanchez
2/2/5
Flae
Alp brick
Construction of Indian Dwellings.
209
which the whole of the heavy furniture of the upstairs
rooms, including heavy almirahs, requiring ten or twelve
men to lift them, has been carried without in the least
affecting it.
Doubts were expressed by several practical builders and
engineers at the time of construction as to whether this
floor would stand, or even bear the concussion of the
beaters while consolidating the concrete, but the result has
proved these fears to be groundless. Where iron can be
procured, a more durable form of this roof would be to
substitute iron girders and inverted T iron for the
timber beams and rafters, the tiles resting on the flanges
of the inverted irons. Another advantage of this
form of construction is, that the ceiling between the girder
beams can be plastered smooth and flush with the under-
surface of the iron, and will thus give more scope for
ornamentation if desired. There is in many other direc-
tions great room for improvement both in the plan and con-
struction of our Indian dwellings, and which, if followed,
would add not only to our comfort and enjoyment, but to
the preservation of health. Little attention has been
paid in the first instance to the requirements of a tropical
climate, and house builders have gone on from generation
to generation building upon the same lines and following
the same models as their predecessors. As far as appear-
ance is concerned, there seems to have been little attempt
at æsthetic treatment of private dwellings, and in short,
if, as a well-known writer on architecture says, archi-
tecture is building with something more in view than
mere utility and convenience, it is building in such a
manner as to delight the eye by beauty of form, to
captivate the imagination, and to satisfy that faculty
((
210
An Improved Dwelling.
of the mind which we denominate taste;" then it is
evident that architecture had nothing to do with the
construction of the hideous square four-sided, equally
divided buildings in which Anglo-Indians seem, as a rule,
content to pass the best part of their lives.
The object of this work, however, is not to descant
upon æsthetics beyond this point, that beautiful surround-
ings by adding to contentment and happiness, are un-
doubted aids in preserving that 'mens sana in cor-
pore sano,' which is essential to our well being. With
regard to the construction of our Indian dwellings, it
has often been a matter of wonder to me that English
settlers in this country have not taken a lesson from
the people of the sunny lands of the south of Europe, or
from the Syrians, Egyptians, and other eastern nations,
and built their dwellings with an open central court,
thereby admitting light and air to the very heart of
their habitation.
I cannot claim this idea as an original one, for I have
quite recently, whilst employed on these pages, come
across a similar suggestion made as far back as 1863
by that excellent authority on such subjects, Colonel
J. G. Medley, R. E., late Principal of the Roorkee College
and Editor of the Professional Papers on Indian En-
gineering; but I believe I may fairly claim to be the first
who has not only independently arrived at the same idea,
but has, to use his words, " worked the idea into a tangible
shape." The room in which I am now writing looks
into just such a court as Colonel Medley has suggested
in the following extract,-" In many parts of the country
perhaps the old eastern style of building round an open
quadrangle in the centre might be adopted with advan-
Well-raised Habitations.
211
tage. This open court paved with marble or stone, filled
with fragrant shrubs, and with a fountain and tank
in the centre." My court has no fountain at present,
there being no regular water-supply, and all fountains
which depend upon a tank filled by the bhisty, are to
my mind but a delusion and a snare; but it is enlivened
and made fragrant and healthful by many-hued and
sweet-scented shrubs and plants, and is shaded by an
ornamental verandah or sunshade on all four sides.
The rooms being built around it, every room in the house
opens to the open air on both sides, and as the sun in his
diurnal passage from east to west only shines directly
into the court for a short period of the day, whilst every
current of air finds its way into it, the house is cool and
pleasant at all times. I may remark that the house
was not newly built on this plan, but the opportunity
of restoring a very large and somewhat ruinous house
was taken, and the centre portion entirely removed and
converted into the court, and a residence in the house
throughout the three seasons has proved its complete
suitability to the climate.
There can be no doubt that in damp and badly drained
localities the health of the people would be better if
their habitations were well raised from the ground, so
as to remove them from immediate contact with the
subsoil, and permit the air to permeate freely underneath
them. This is recognised by tea-planters and others
who settle in malarious and jungly districts, and is
adopted with great advantage by nearly all the agencies
for deportation of emigrant coolies.
It is hopeless to expect that the people will ever be
induced to depart from their old plan of hut-building,
1
212
Ordinary Hut Construction.
but local authorities who may have to hut coolies or
nightmen or other employés might follow this plan with
advantage, and there can be no doubt that the extra
cost of construction will be more than repaid by the
increased healthiness of their workmen, and consequent
gain in the amount of work obtained from them.
When huts are so raised from the ground, however,
they must be sufficiently high to admit of any dirt or
rubbish that may gather nnder them being cleared away,
and the space below the floor must neither be allowed
to become a deposit for garbage or to accumulate stag-
nant water.
Huts so built may be floored either with split bam-
boos, or with jarool planks. The ordinary dwellings of
the poorer classes of Bengal are constructed chiefly of
bamboo framework with timber posts, either sâl-wood
(Shorea robusta), soondri (Heritiera littoralis), or goran
(Ceriops roxburghianus or Rizophora decandra) with a
roof of tiles or thatch of paddy straw, ooloo-grass
(Sacharum thunbergi), or goleputta (Nipa fruticans).
The latter is much used in the neighbourhood of
Calcutta, being brought in great quantities from the
Sunderbunds, in some parts of which it grows in great
profusion, and regarding which Dr. Hunter, the Statis-
tician of Bengal, has fallen into a curious error, as he
states this to be the leaf of the hental (Phoenix paludosa),
known in the Sunderbunds as hurtal, hental, or bokra.
The latter is a species of wild saltwater date, the fruit of
which is a favorite food of the rhinosceros, and the pith
of which is eaten by the wild pigs, and occasionally
under pressure of hunger by boatmen, but the stiff
prickly leaf of which is most unsuited for thatching
Comfort & Health v. Danger from Fire. 213
purposes, as would be evident to any one who tried to
force himself through a patch of hental jungle or
'bokra-bon,' as I have often had occasion to do in
pursuit of game.
Grass, straw, and goleputta roofs become extremely
inflammable in the hot weather, and for this reason
laws and bylaws have been enacted to prohibit their
erection in towns, and it is no doubt the duty of local
authorities to discourage them in every way in populous
localities. As a question of comfort and hygiene, how-
ever, I consider the goleputta or any thatched roof far
superior in every way to one of tiles. In the first
place, it is less costly; secondly, it is much cooler in the
summer, more watertight in the rains, and warmer in
the cold weather. True, it is more inflammable, and in
this respect there is an element of danger; on the other
hand, an occasional fire is a great purifier, and as the
hut-owner has seldom any heavy property to remove,
and there is, as a rule, little danger to life, I am not
sure that the balance is not on the whole in favor of
inflammable constructions (in thinly populated neighbour-
hoods and situations remote from other valuable build-
ings or property always understood).
However unfavorable to public health such a result
may prove to be, we must accept the fact that one of
the inevitable consequences of the spread of civilisation
and increase of prosperity in any country is the aggre-
gation of a large portion of their inhabitants in towns.
And in all the problems we have to consider for the
sanitary improvement of our towns, we must constantly
keep in mind the fact, that the evils attendant upon
overcrowding and the aggregation of large numbers of
$
"
214
Calcutta in 1780.
people within an urban area, will continually increase
with the growth of the population. In all our plans for
improvement, therefore, we must not only bear in mind
the actual wants of the present, but the probable neces-
sities of the future. These points should be especially
considered when remodelling old bustees and mohullas,
as well as in laying out new quarters and extensions.
It is mainly by their utter disregard to future re-
quirements that the predecessors of the local authori-
ties of the present day have left their successors such a
fearful legacy of intricacy, disease, danger, and filth, as
exists in the crowded mohullas and paras, the narrow
tortuous gullies and lanes, and the reeking cess-pits
and filth-sodden soil of the majority of native towns:
for one of the greatest difficulties in the way of muni-
cipal improvement in this country is the irregularity
with which the streets and lanes are laid out, most towns
presenting a perfect labyrinth of tortuous lanes, bylanes,
and gullies, clearly showing that their arrangement has
been a matter of chance, following the necessities of the
time being, without any respect to the public convenience
or the future of the townships.
The following description by Mackintosh of the native
town of Calcutta, in 1780, is very characteristic of the
condition of many native towns even at the present day:-
"From the western extremity of California to the eastern
coast of Japan there is not a spot where judgment, taste,
decency, and convenience are so grossly insulted as in
that scattered and confused chaos of houses, huts, sheds,
streets, lanes, alleys, windings, gutters, sinks, and tanks
which jumbled into an undistinguishable mass of filth
and corruption, equally offensive to human sense and
Conflagrations in Crowded Areas. 215
health, compose the capital of the English Company's
Government in India."*
Not only does such an arrangement largely contribute
to the general insanitary condition of our towns from
the imperfect perflation of air, and the impossibility of
carrying out proper scavengering, but in cases of con-
flagration it adds greatly to the rapid spread of the fire
and to the difficulties in the way of checking its ravages
and its advance. Where the houses occupying these con-
fused areas are constructed, as is usually the case in
Bengal, of most combustible material, which, after baking
in the torrid heat of the summer sun, becomes as dry and
inflammable as tinder, the fire spreads with a rapidity
that is most appalling, the heat from the blazing huts
creating a vacuum, which on the stillest day generates
an air current, which in its turn drives the flame forward
with increased fierceness. Everyone who has assisted
at such a conflagration will understand the powerless-
ness of even steam fire-engines, and that the only means
of effectually checking the advance of the fire is to pull
down the huts in a wide gap, and so cut off the com-
munication with the rest of the town.
This, when the streets are straight and wide, is easily
effected; but where, as is too often the case, the crowded
masses of huts and houses are intersected only by nar-
row winding lanes and gullies, is almost an impossibility.
Torrents of sparks rain on the dry leaf or grass roofs,
blazing bamboos propelled by the steam generated in
the hollow stems are projected like rockets into the air,
and the flames leap from hut to hut with uncontrollable
* Census Report, by H. Beverley, C. S.
Uor M
216
Causes of Conflagrations.
7
rapidity. The heat and smoke become insupportable
such as not even trained firemen can face, and I have
seen the men of the European fire-brigade of Calcutta
fairly driven from the hose of a steam fire-engine and
obliged to abandon it in the midst of the flames, it being
impossible to extricate it before the fire was upon them.
On this occasion the flames devoured everything before
them till they reached a broad street, where they died out
simply from want of further fuel.
It is a curious thing that these great fires in our native
towns appear epidemically. During one hot season
hardly a single large fire will occur; the next, village
after village, mohulla after mohulla, will be swept away.
It is difficult sometimes to account for these occurrences;
they probably originate in the majority of cases from
accident or carelessness, but they are not unfrequently;
whether rightly or not, attributed to the ghuramee, or
thatcher class, who are supposed to act the part of the
incendiary to obtain work; and in cases which have
come under my notice there could be little doubt on the
subject, rags soaked in kerosine oil having been found
in the thatch of a hut. The ghuramee is popularly believed
to impress the crows into his service in carrying out his
nefarious designs; a piece of smouldering tinder being
attached to a bit of flesh, which is then thrown to the
crows, who seize the tempting morsel, and flying off with
it, drop it, the chances being ten to one that it falls on
the roof of a thatched hut and sets it in a blaze.
It will thus be apparent that there can be no real
security for life and property unless wide straight streets
and roads are constructed, so as to intersect the bustees and
mohullas at convenient intervals. These streets should,
Maou
Remodelling of Bustees.
217
as far as possible, run in parallel lines and the cross streets
should intersect the others at right angles, advantage
being taken of large public tanks to construct squares.
The municipal or local authority should always take
advantage of the clearance effected by periodical confla-
grations to control the rebuilding of the houses and huts,
and to remodel the bustees, securing them by the con-
struction of roads and cross lanes, the proper arrangement
of the huts, and the prohibition of inflammable walls
and roofs from future risks from fire; and providing for
proper ventilation, thorough scavengering, and sani-
tary supervision. The plans given on the next page
give a good example of the vast improvement that may
be effected in this direction; they represent the past and
present state of one of the bustees in the suburbs of Calcutta.
The huts which were formerly constructed with mat walls
and goleputta roofs of all shapes, sizes, and elevations are
now replaced by neat compact houses with white-washed
mud walls and red tiled roofs, at the same elevation
throughout. The huts are six feet apart from wall to
wall, and three feet from eave to eave: between each
row is a footpath nine feet wide, while the main roads
are sixteen feet in width and are metalled.
$
The floors of all huts are well raised, the material for
floors and walls being taken from the spoil earth from the
re-excavation of the tanks kept for drinking and bathing,
several filthy useless tanks having been filled in with.
refuse, and the material obtained by levelling the whole
space occupied by the old bustee before its reconstruction.
A fire-engine can have access to any part of this bustee,
and from the arrangement of the houses and their construc-
tion, the risk from fire has been reduced to a minimum.
218 Gosain Bustee before improvement, 1877.

A
B
151
B
B
B
B
Peepul puttee
Road
Bedil paca
B
A
B
Ro
בפ נ ם
Cesspools.
Tanks containing foul water.
Privies and latrines.
Filthy ditches.
Peepul putter
Bedia Para
[
ㅁ​ㄸ
​Road
A Bathing tank.
B
Tank for domestic uses.
C Public latrines.
DD
Road over covered sewer.
E Intended site for a garden.
Gosain Bustee as
remodelled, 1879.
219

220
Fire-brigade Appliances.
In every municipality or station we may presume that
there is something in the shape of a fire-brigade, or at
least some appliances at the disposal of the Municipal
authority, the Magistrate, or the Police authorities, for the
extinction and controlling of fire, and if there is not any
organised establishment, there certainly ought to be. Even
in our larger towns, however, the means at the command
of the local authority have seldom been in any way effi-
cient, and what I have myself noticed as being a great
want on the occurrence of serious fire, even when an
European brigade has been present, has been the want of
sufficient appliances for cutting down and removing
inflammable roofs and walls in order to cut off and con-
fine the fire to a certain area, viz., light sharp axes, toma-
hawks and bills, as well as pole-hooks and drag-hooks
and chains. These are of greater importance even than
fire-engines and hose in the case of bustee fires. To
play upon a blazing hut even with the steam-engine, is,
as a rule, a waste of time, labor, and water; the thing to be
done is to pull down and remove the huts in the track
of the advancing flames, and to saturate the roofs of the
huts in front of the fire so as to prevent them, if possible,
from catching.
Roads in Bengal.
221
CHAPTER XX.
"A smooth, firm, dry road is one of the greatest conveniences and
enjoyments, while a rough, soft, muddy road is one of the greatest
drawbacks and annoyances of country life. Bad roads form the
greatest obstacles to progress and permanent improvements in all the
neighbourhoods that are blasted with their presence; they have a
demoralising effect upon the inhabitants, and are a sure sign either
of poverty or mismanagement, or both."-American State Report.
Roads in Bengal are of two kinds-cutcha, or fair wea-
ther roads, and pucka, or metalled roads. The cutcha road
is simply a track more or less raised and drained, formed
on the natural soil of the district, and unless in gravelly
or sandy soils, is hardly passable in the rainy season.
Pucka roads in Lower Bengal are again divided into
stone or Macadamised roads and jhama roads, or roads
metalled with jhama khoa, or broken vitrified brick.
Higher up the country, roads are made with kunker
(nodular limestone) or quartz pebbles.
In making cutcha roads on alluvial soil, nothing can
be done beyond raising the surface of the road suffi-
ciently to prevent its being under water during the
rains, and providing side ditches or drains with sufficient
fall to carry off the water and prevent the saturation of
the subsoil. Culverts or waterways must also be pro-
vided to allow the drainage of the country to follow its
natural inclination, and so prevent the road embankment
from being breached. Where masonry structures can-
not be afforded, very efficient bridges may be con-
structed of tâl trees or other indigenous timber, as

222
Cutcha or Earth Roads.
shown in the figure below. This is formed by a row
of sheet-piles formed of tâl trunks (a a) split in half,
pointed at the lower ends, and driven down below
the bed of the watercourse. A plate (p) is then bolted
or spiked along them, a similar piece (t) being bolted
to the underside of the bridge timbers (T), and struts (ss)
fixed in the manner shown at (t). The piles should
T
P
S
a
t
P
α
be continued in the form of a wing-wall on the upper
side of the bridge to prevent the water cutting away be-
hind it as shown at (PP). The banks should always be
P
व
P
Jhama Roads.
223
turfed, as slopes so protected will last for years without
repair or attention. Cutcha roads should not be made
too wide, as the wider they are the greater will be the cost
of maintenance; 20 to 25 feet will be found a sufficient
width as a rule. If I were asked to define a perfect road,
I should say that it is one the course of which is per-
fectly straight, its line perfectly level, and its surface as
hard, smooth, and non-elastic as possible.
A well-constructed jhama road when kept in proper
order and watered during the hot months to keep
down the dust, is one of the most pleasant forms of
roadway for horse and carriage traffic imaginable, but
for heavy cart and waggon traffic it is hardly suffi-
ciently durable. What is known as jhama, is hard
well-burnt brick partly fused or vitrified by the action
of the fire. Good well-burnt jhama breaks with a clean
sharp fracture, does not pulverise to any appreciable
extent, and packs close and firm on the road surface. It
should be hard, heavy, of a dark red color, running into
blue in parts, with a clear metallic ring when struck with
a hammer. Overburnt jhama becomes porous, honey-
combed, and mixed with scoriæ, and is sometimes so
light as to float when thrown into water; this is useless
for road-making. First class road metal should consist of
about 75 per cent. of jhama of the kind above described,
the remainder consisting of sound well-burnt brick.
All amah, or soft brick, and peelah, or unburnt stuff,
should be rejected. In making a new road, the surface
of the ground should first be cut to the proper level and
section, and with a slight rise to the centre of the road.
The whole surface is then laid with bricks flat, called the
soling. Soling bricks should be laid by a bricklayer, or

SIDEDRAIN
224
Construction of Jhama. Roads,
other workman accustomed to the work, and should
break joint over the whole surface so as to make a firm
SOLING BRICK
METAR
SDLING BRICK BREAKING JOINT
stable foundation. Over this soling is laid the jhama
broken to a size which will pass through a ring of two
inches diameter. It is to be laid to a depth of five to
eight inches, and to an equal depth all over, but with a
slight rise to the centre of the road. The jhama after
being raked over is handpacked, all large lumps being
broken with the hammer; the whole surface is then rolled
with a one-ton to two-ton roller, plenty of water being
sprinkled over the surface throughout the rolling. When
sufficiently consolidated, which can only be judged by
practice, an inch of good dry kiln or building rubbish is
spread over the surface, which is again watered and
rolled till a thoroughly hard even surface is the result.
Plentiful watering during the rolling is a sine qua non,
The person supervising road construction should never
allow rubbish as binding to be put over a road until he
has satisfied himself that the metal has been properly
handpacked and sufficiently consolidated. Contractors
EDGE BRIOK
Construction of Jhama Roads.
225
and underlings will hurry on the binding, or as it is not
inappropriately termed sometimes, blinding! material to
conceal defects.
As jhama metal is usually broken on the side of
the road to be repaired, it should be stacked in uniform
continuous stacks, and the person responsible should
satisfy himself by measurement that the full quantity
of metal contracted for has been supplied before any
spreading is permitted. For example, say the length of
road to be metalled is 3,000 feet, and the width 12 feet,
with a depth of metal of 6", the metal, if stacked
continuously, would measure in stack, length, 3,000
feet; cross section, width of base 5 feet; width at
3ft
3 ft
3ft
A
1 fool
·5 ft......
1 foot
- 7 ft. ...
ifti
3ft..
top, 1 foot; height, 2
feet; sectional area, 6
square feet; contents,
18,000 cube feet; but
as it is in practice
usually impossible to
stack metal in an un-
broken line on account
of cross-passages, gate-
ways, house entrances,
trees, and other ob-
structions, it is more
convenient to put it
up in stacks of, say
20 feet long. Eighty-
eight stacks of the
following dimensions
will give 18,000 less
48 cube feet :-



Р
226
Repairing Old Roads.
Length of base, 20 feet; length of top, 14 feet; height,
3 feet cross section, width of base, 7 feet; width of
top, 1 foot; height, 3 feet; sectional area, 12 square
feet; contents, 204 cube feet. The diagrams in the
margin will show this clearly, the following being the
mode of calculation:-
20+14= 34
7+1=8
= 17.
2
= 4.
2
17 x 468 x 3204.
The same principles apply to stacks of any dimensions,
but it will be found convenient to have a standard
measurement and supply the contractor with a wooden
gauge.
In repairing or remetalling old roads, the surface of
the road is to be well picked up and levelled, so that the
new and old metal may bind properly: no part of the
old metal should be removed and used as binding for
the new layers.
A well made jhama road, laid with good picked
material, should last without repairs, subject to ordinary
town traffic, for three seasons: this, however, depends
on the quantity and class of traffic.
Stone roads, or what are often called Macadamised
roads (after Macadam, one of the first constructors of
modern roads with broken stone), are laid with indige-
nous stone or ship's ballast broken into irregular cubes so
as to pass through a ring of two inches in diameter. In
Calcutta and its neighbourhood the stone used is either
brought from Oodooa nullah in the vicinity of Raj-
mahal, and excavated from the low spurs of the Raj-
mahal Hills, or is ballast from Bombay, Melbourne or
1
Stone or Macadamised Roads.
227
Mauritius. Laterite is much used in Madras, but is too
soft to stand much traffic.
stones are the best kind.
upon a foundation of stone boulders, or, where they are
not procurable, on a well-laid soling of sound hard
bricks. A stone road made without soling, though it may
be, to all appearance, a hard sound road, will never bear
heavy traffic, the subsoil will yield more or less under the
superincumbent weight, and in long continued wet wea-
ther, especially with the tremendous tropical downpour
of these latitudes, the mud will work up to the surface
and the road will speedily become impassable. I do not
overlook the fact that Macadam maintained that no
foundation of large stones or other material was necessary
even in the softest soil, but recommended that the founda-
tion be made of broken stone the same as the surface.
Granite, trap, and hard lime-
All stone roads should be laid
Where a good foundation of boulders has been first laid,
a six-inch layer of broken stone will form a good lasting
road; but where bricks are used over a soft subsoil, at least
eight to nine inches of metal will be necessary at first
construction to ensure a good trafficable road. The amount
of traction power required varies very considerably on
roads of different construction, and is much less in pro-
portion to the strength and hardness of the surface.
It has been proved by experiment that, "on a well
made pavement, the power required to draw a wagon
was 33 lbs. on a road made with six inches of stone
of great hardness laid on a foundation of large stones,
the power required was 46 lbs. on a road made with a
thick coating of broken stone laid on earth, 65 lbs., and
on a gravel road laid on earth, 147 lbs.”
Stone for road-making must be broken into sharp
228
Construction of Stone Roads.
angular forms. They then wedge together into a hard
compact mass. According to Macadam no binding material
should be used, but in this country the use of binding is
universal, and care must be taken that the binding used is
good dry brick and lime rubbish without any admixture
of earth or clay, which would make the road muddy
during rainy weather, or where streets are copiously
watered. The transverse section of the road should be
gently convex. As footpaths are seldom used in this
country, pipe drainage is not required; but there must be
provision for letting the surface water pass freely into
the side drains, which should be of sufficient depth to
drain not only the surface but the whole formation. It
should always be borne in mind that the best stone,—that
is to say, the hardest and toughest, though perhaps more
costly at the outset, is the least so in the end. The best
material for stone roads, as before noticed, is tough granite.
Water is the worst enemy to good roads; it is therefore
one of the first principles of road-construction that they
should be kept dry; no water being allowed to lodge on
the road surface.
A useful material for raising and metalling lanes and
byroads, where there is little traffic, is often available in
towns where any large manufactories, mills or foundries
exist, in the slag, cinders, ashes, and scoriæ from the fur-
naces.
In some parts of England, and on the Continent of
Europe, as in Silesia, slag is largely used in road-making.
It is not available, however, in sufficiently large quanti-
ties here to make it of value for that purpose, but occa-
sionally sufficient quantities of it, mixed with ashes and
cinders, are procurable in suburban districts, to form a dry
•
Shade Trees Beneficial or Hurtful?
229
substantial surface to small lanes and footpaths. It
merely requires to be laid on the road surface, levelled
and rolled with a light roller. Where there is little or no
wheel traffic, it will last with a little attention for a long
time, and add greatly to the comfort of the residents at a
very small cost.
During the hot weather the stone composing road sur-
faces is very apt to work loose: all loose stones should be
gathered up and removed, as they are not only likely to
throw horses down or lame them, but each stone, as a
heavy wheel passes over it, acts as a pick to loosen others,
the mischief thus repeats itself, and the road, if neglected,
soon becomes almost impassable. Great economy will
result from a regular attention to, and immediate repair
of any small portion of road surface which has worn out.
There is some difference of opinion as to whether trees
are beneficial or hurtful to road surfaces. Some authorities
consider that where trees are planted close to and over-
hanging a road, the droppings from the leaves injure the
surface, and their shade keeps it from drying properly.
Others consider that they do more good than harm,
by protecting the surface from extreme heat. I think
that if the undoubted comfort to the wayfarer be added
to the probable benefit, the balance is in favor of planting
trees, so as to give the greatest amount of shade with the
minimum of obstruction to traffic. American engineers
hold, that shade is objectionable on earth roads though
admissible on stone roads, and their objections, so far as
they go, have reference more to the exclusion of the sun
from the road surfaces in winter, when the roads are
dangerous and slippery from frost, than to any other
question.
230
Faulty Construction of Embankments.
The metalled portion of a road should not be less than
sixteen feet, to allow vehicles to pass each other with ease.
Although probably few Municipalities have to under-
take extensive works of this class, it may happen that
those situated near the sea-board, or contiguous to the
large tidal rivers, may require protective works of the
kind, and a few words on the subject of constructing,
protecting, and maintaining embankments may therefore
not be out of place.
Whilst engaged in the construction and maintenance
of such works, and the reclamation of tidal lands at Port
Canning and in the 24-Pergunnahs, Sunderbunds, I had
exceptional opportunities of studying the system of
embanking them in vogue and in detecting its faults and
weaknesses, and an improved system was introduced by
me in the works under my charge, with great advantage.
The common faults were: the construction of embank-
ments with insufficient slopes, especially on the river face;
the digging of the earth required for the construction from
irregular holes or pits (locally termed chokats) from both
sides of the embankment indiscriminately; and the throw-
ing up of long lengths of rough embankment without
beating, ramming, and consolidating the material whilst
moist and plastic. The evils resulting from these errors
were: first, the erosion and instability of the embankment
from insufficient slopes; secondly, the holes from whence
the earth had been dug being below high water level, the
earth was kept constantly moist and soft, mud crabs bur-
rowed freely through the softened base of the embank-
ment, there was continuous percolation backwards and
forwards as the tides rose and fell, and the embankment
being thus rendered unstable, settled, and cracked, leaked,
Height and Formation of Embankments. 231
and finally gave way, or was breached by the spring tides;
thirdly, the stiff alluvial earth being cut in plastic lumps
was thrown together to form the bank, and when these
lumps were exposed to the sun and air, they quickly
dried and hardened, forming hard clods, which could
not be afterwards made to pack or lie close, the embank-
ment was thus full of hollows, and these admitting the
water, formed leaks and fissures, which soon caused its
destruction. We will now consider how an embank-
ment ought to be made. No particular form or dimen-
sion can be insisted upon for general adoption, as the
necessities of each case, and the forces which the embank-
ment will be required to withstand, must determine these
points; but it may be accepted as a first principle, that
where the bank is formed of sand, as light sandy soil,
the sea or river face must have a sufficiently long slope
to receive and deaden the force of the waves as they
traverse its surface, and that to oppose, an abrupt slope
to receive the shock of the waves or the constantly eroding
action of a strong tide or current, would be to court
the destruction of the embankment. The height of an
embankment must entirely depend on the maximum
height of the tides calculated at the highest springs, and
no rule as to height can therefore be given; the top of the
bank, however, should never be less than two feet higher
than the highest known rise. A good form of embank-
ment for a four-feet high bank is a base of twenty-four
feet, top four feet, external slopes three to one, and inter-
nal slopes two to one; where the material is sandy, the
outer slope may, with advantage, be increased to three
and-a-half to one, and the inner slope reduced to one and-
a-half to one.
232
Silt Deposits and
Where, on the other hand, the material is sound and du-
rable, as it usually is in the case of salt marshes, the outer
slope may, with safety, be reduced to two to one, the base
of the embankment being thus reduced to eighteen feet.
The material for the construction of the embankment
should never be taken from holes or chokats on both
sides of the bund; it may be taken from the main ditch
or drain within the embankment, or be taken from cut-
tings along the foreshore. In the latter case the high tides
which flood all the land outside the embankment would
deposit so much silt, that these holes or cuttings would
soon be entirely filled up, this silting up being greatly
facilitated by planting brushwood spurs diagonally across
the foreshore. In this manner the whole of the land out-
side the bank would be gradually raised, thus adding
greatly to the stability of the work. The great benefit
to be effected by the use of simple means, like the plant-
ing of brushwood spurs, is not sufficiently appreciated
or understood, but I have seen large gaps in river banks,
and the mouths of very large reclaimed creeks, made
up by this very easy and inexpensive expedient. It
is well known that large rivers like the Ganges and its
affluents running their course through alluvial soils, bring
down in suspension vast quantities of mud and silt,
especially during the rains. This is carried out to sea,
and aids in the formation of those dangerous bars and
shoals at the entrance of the deltaic rivers called the
Sandheads; but it is not, I believe, so generally recog-
nized, that the floodtides bring back a very large quantity
of this silt. This, so long as the tide is running, remains
and is carried along in suspension; but when the force
of the tide is spent, and what is termed the period of
Action of Spurs.
233
slack water occurs, the mud and silt rapidly subside,
and if not exposed to the scouring action of the ebb,
gradually raise the ground where they are deposited.
The unvarying law of the currents aids this process, for
the floodtide rushes over the shallows, but the ebb
water subsides gently off the higher ground and seeks the
deep channel, where its scouring action is, therefore, great-
est. The spurs act by intercepting the silt, breaking
the force of the current, thus causing more rapid subsi-
dence and lessening the scour. The third point referred
to is faulty construction; this can only be avoided by
constant and intelligent supervision, by insisting on
every length of the embankment being well packed,
rammed, and beaten into a solid homogenous mass before
the clay has lost its plasticity by drying and hardening,
and all fissures caused by the sun-drying and cracking
the bank, being carefully filled and rammed, water being
added, if necessary, to moisten the earth. All embank-
ments should, when completed, be well grassed or turfed
to preserve them from the effects of the weather and the
erosive action of water; the best grass for the purpose
is the common dhoob or doorva (panicum or cynodon
dactylon), which, when once fairly established, is almost
irradicable, and forms a fine close-matted covering to the
bank and yields an excellent fodder. It is easily planted
either by dibbling in small rooted tufts three inches or
so apart, or by chopping up a large quantity of the
roots and jointed stems, mixing them with a puddle of
clay and cowdung, and plastering the mixture all over the
bank. A few coolies, or even old women and children, can
thus cover a very large surface at small cost, and if done
in the rains, three weeks or a month will suffice to cover
i
234
Turfing and Grassing.
the whole surface with a fine growth. Of course turf-
ing or sodding makes a closer, stronger turf in less time,
but it is much more expensive, and sufficient turf is not
always procurable. Stone or shale will seldom be avail-
able; but where it is, it may be used for facing the bank
to great advantage. All sea and river embankments
require constant watching to prevent and remedy the
perforation of the banks by rats, crabs, and other bur-
rowing vermin. Crabs do an immensity of mischief to
the cultivators' bunds, and the Government embankments
in the Sunderbunds and the 24-Pergunnahs. An embank-
ment must be kept perfectly impermeable to water, a
rat-hole or crab burrow (or ghogue, as it is locally
termed), though apparently of little consequence at first, if
unattended to, will be the sure precursor of a breach.
This danger can only be guarded against by constant
inspection and by keeping (bildars) or working patrols
constantly traversing the embankments and stopping
the holes and repairing weak places.
In America, in the reclamation of marsh lands, great
difficulties have been experienced from the destructive
ravages of muskrats, and in many cases attempts at
reclamation were entirely defeated by these persevering
and destructive rodents, who bored through the embank-
ments between high and low water mark. In the re-
clamation works at Newark Meadows, New Jersey, this
difficulty was at last overcome by the insertion in the
heart of the embankment of iron dike-plates or cores,
covering the space between high or low water mark.
Such a material would probably be found too expensive
for ordinary use, but where common timber is plentiful, a
dike core of wooden slabs might be used with advantage,
i
Protection of Embankments.
235
Where any portion of an embankment is greatly ex-
posed to the wash of the sea or river, it may be protect-
ed from erosion by facing it with a layer of brushwood
or reeds tied in bundles. Standing brushwood and trees
on the outside of the embankments should also be pre-
served, and not cleared away, as is too often done; they
form an efficient breakwater; such trees only should be
cut which, being situated right on the edge of the fore-
shore, are, if the bank be abrupt and broken, liable to
be blown down and thus aid in destroying the bank by
the leverage of their roots.
Cattle should be carefully kept off newly-formed em-
bankments, though the constant passing of foot-passen-
gers along the top of the bund helps to consolidate the
earth work.
Always keep in mind the stringent necessity of at
once repairing the smallest leak and making up the
smallest sinking or depression. A rat-hole or crab-bur-
row filled up as soon as discovered, or a spadeful of earth
applied in time, may save acres of standing crops and
many hundreds of rupees worth of valuable property
from destruction, as well as avert danger to the health of
the people, from brackish inundation, and consequent
death and decomposition of vegetable matters.
It is not within the scope of this work to enter into
elaborate details of building operations or attempt a
treatise on brick work, but a few practical hints may be
of use to unpractised and nonprofessional readers in
carrying out and superintending minor necessary build-
ings, such as drain bridges, retaining walls, sluices, office
buildings, or the like. It rarely happens now-a-days
that any important Municipality or large civil station is
$
236
Building and Bricklaying.
without a professional engineer, connected either with
the Public Works, Road Cess, or Municipality, but it may,
nevertheless, fall to the lot of others, as it has to mine,
to superintend the construction of even large buildings,
and bridges over considerable streams, without profes-
sional assistance, and as native contractors (like their
confraternity all over the world) naturally seek to make
the largest possible profit; and as native workmen, when
not looked after, are sure to scamp work, a little
knowledge of how work ought to be done will never be
thrown away.
The manner in which bricks are laid is
termed bonding, and may be either what is termed old
English bond or Flemish bond. In English bond, alter-
nate courses of bricks are laid lengthwise with the length
of the wall, and which are technically called stretchers,
crossed by other courses in the thickness of the wall
termed headers: bricks must always be so laid as to break
joint; this is managed by the use of what are termed
closers, i.e., bricks cut in two longitudinally, or trans-
versely into four parts, one of these being placed next to
and inside the first header from the end or corner of the
wall. Flemish bond is made by placing a stretcher and a
header alternately in the same course; for unplastered
work it has a prettier appearance, and for walls one and-
a-half brick thick is the most convenient bond, but it has
not the strength of English bond, and is apt to split on
any settlement taking place. Bricks must not be laid
too close together, as there will not in that case be a
sufficiency of mortar to make solid work. The joints
should be ths of an inch wide, and should be thorough-
ly well filled in with mortar. Bricks should be well
soaked in water for at least an hour before they are
Bricklaying.
237
wanted for use, otherwise they abstract the moisture
from the mortar and destroy its adhesive properties;
and sufficient water should be used to keep the
mortar plastic and the work moist, but not enough
to wash the mortar out from between the joints. Every
brick should not only be laid in its place, but should be
rubbed and pressed down so as to force the mortar into
the pores of the brick and secure firm adhesion. Bricks
used in first class work should be of uniform size, sound.
and well burnt, straight and well shapen; a good brick
gives, when struck with a hammer, a clear ringing sound.
The mortar used should be one part pure fresh lime to
two parts of soorkee made from well burnt or vitrified
bricks, ground and screened through a soorkee screen
with four meshes to the linear inch; the proportion of
mortar used should be about 24 cubic feet (measured
dry) to the 100 cubic feet of brick-work.
The courses of brick-work should be laid in regular
straight lines, with a slight inclination of the bricks
towards the middle of the wall, that one-half of the
wall may act as a shore to the other half. Wall faces must
be perfectly true and plumb; every course must be tho-
roughly grouted, i.e., well filled in with wet mortar, and
the top of unfinished work should have a single brick
built round and flooded with water or well moistened, and
covered up with mats, palm leaves, straw, or the like, to
prevent its drying too quickly. Good strong lasting
masonry will never be obtained if the work is allowed
to be baked up by the midday sun, or the lime washed
out of the upper courses by heavy rain.
Arches require special care; they should, as a rule, be
turned over properly-constructed wooden centers; but in
238
Arches and Centering.
India and in ordinary work, centers are generally con-
structed with dry bricks and clay, the upper surface
being plastered with clay and worked to the exact shape
of the intrados, or soffit, that is to say, the underside of
the arch after this has been sanded over and allowed
to dry, it is ready to build upon, and answers its purpose
sufficiently well for ordinary work. The bricks are laid in
concentric rings, on edge, the joints radiating truly from
the center, the bricks firmly set with a mallet, and the
joints carefully and thoroughly filled in with fine mortar
and not more than quarter of an inch wide, the lower
edges touching each other. In small arches the center-
ings may be struck as soon as the arch is completed, but
in large arches it is necessary to give time for the mortar
joints to set and harden before withdrawing the support
of the centering; an arch should not be built upon until
it has settled to its proper bearing.
In buildings where there is any fear of settlement
and in wing walls and curtain-walls to bridges and
sluices, the foundation should be laid on concrete, and in
some cases piling may be necessary. Additional strength
will be given by introducing hoop iron flatwise into the
bond: the iron if slightly rusted, or the edges notched,
will adhere better to the mortar; this adds little to the
cost of the work but greatly to its stability. A large
outfall sluice constructed some years ago (about 1869)
on the banks of a tidal river and on a most treacher-
ous foundation full of springs and quicksand, in which
hoop-iron bond was introduced, has never since shown
the slightest sign of fracture or settlement, although the
structure it replaced had been twice carried away in the
course of five or six years.
Conservancy Cattle.
239
CHAPTER XXI.
"The horse, as at present treated, is the victim of ignorance, and is
exposed to every abuse. Its welfare is secondary to the convenience
of the master, and its custody is transferred to the unscrupulous
cupidity of the servant."-Mayhem.
The provision, feeding, and treatment of conservancy
cattle is so often a source of trouble, that a few words on
the subject may be of use.
The procuring of suitable cattle for conservancy work
is becoming a serious difficulty in Lower Bengal, where
there is no question that the breed of cattle is fast dete-
riorating. Of late years, owing to the influence of repeat-
ed famines, cyclones, the ravages of cattle epizootics, and
the demand for transport purposes, created by the con-
stantly recurring frontier wars, the difficulties in the
way of procuring bulls, bullocks, and ponies have largely
increased as well as their prices. A few years ago
Brahminee bulls were so common as to be sometimes a
serious annoyance in the villages and bazars. Now-a-days
they are seldom procurable. The draught and plough
cattle are small, light-boned, thin flanked, coarse-bred,
and poor in flesh, unable to stand any heavy work and
peculiarly susceptible to disease: in price they average
from Rs. 25 to Rs. 35 each; but out of a collection of two
or three hundred at any of the local cattle markets or
240
Bulls, Ponies, and Mules.
hauts, there are seldom a dozen to be found fit for con-
servancy work.
Ponies also are scarce and very inferior. The old stamp
of country pony with a hill cross, short in the cannon.
bone and pastern, with flat legs and hard round feet,
broad in the quarters, short and deep in the barrel,
with stout crest and rather low thick shoulder, is
now hardly to be found. Eight or ten years ago, after
the Sonepore fair, I could pick up fifteen or twenty
good ponies at reasonable prices, Rs. 40 to Rs. 45, at the
Chitpore horse-marts any morning in the cold weather.
Now, one may search the whole range of stables and not
find five fit for cart-work, and those at three times the
price. Further up country, no doubt, the difficulties are
less. Close to Calcutta there are the three large Muni-
cipalities, the demand for hackney-carriage-cattle, and
the requirements of numerous building and other con-
tractors to swell the demand and raise prices.
For conservancy carts I much prefer ponies to horned
cattle: they work quicker, draw better, last longer with
ordinary care, and are much less subject to disease.
Mules, though strong quick workers, are troublesome
and vicious. They fight in the yard, and are apt to bolt.
with the carts: they are also not so well fitted constitution-
ally for work in a damp hot climate. Buffaloes, though
strong and hardy, are slow, lazy, and troublesome. Con-
servancy ponies get but little grooming or attention, nor do
they, as a rule, require very much, though they should
always be rubbed down on their return to the depôt, and
the mud and dirt cleaned from their legs, and legs and
feet dried. They require to be well housed and well fed:
Close stables are unnecessary; but a good water-tight
Sorebacks and their Treatment.
241
thatched roof over them, and a hard dry floor under them,
is essential for keeping them in health. Nothing is better
than a well-made asphalted floor, with just sufficient
slope, to prevent wet and urine from lodging about their
feet and bedding. Every pony should have a blanket for
the cold weather,
The ponies should be carefully examined by the over-
seers or other persons in immediate charge daily, to see
that they are properly looked after, and are not worked
with abrasions, saddle-galls, or sitfasts. Conservancy
carters are a thoughtless, careless class, and will work cattle
with deep sores sooner than report the matter. Harness
should be carefully attended to, a badly stuffed or dilapi-
dated saddle pad or collar is certain to result in a sore-
back or galled shoulder, not only causing needless suffer-
ing, but often laying up an animal for weeks. There are
several forms of saddles and pads, but whatever form is
used, care must be taken to see that it is always kept
clear of the dorsal ridge, otherwise not only bad sores,
but serious injury to the spine, may result.
The first appearance of a soreback is generally a small
hardish swelling, tumour, or warble, and this, if neglected,
will soon run into a serious, and perhaps irremediable, gall
or a sitfast, requiring the use of the veterinary surgeon's
knife for its removal and cure. On the first appearance of
a warble, the back should be well and repeatedly washed
with a strong solution of salt and water, the pony put
off work for a day or two, and the saddle pad carefully
examined and re-stuffed, if necessary, leaving a hollow in
the stuffing over the tender part. A common habit of
the carters must be watched for and checked by admo-
nishment and fine, viz., riding on their carts-usually
Q
242 Diseases and Precautionary Treatment.
on one shaft. This drags the weight unequally to one side,
and is sure to gall the pony. After emptying the con-
tents of the tip carts, the men constantly let the body of
the cart fall back to its place on the shafting, instead of
lowering it down by hand. This not only knocks the carts
to pieces, but is apt to shock the ponies? spine and cause
chink or ricking, and consequent paralysis and ruin to
the animal.
Regular and careful shoeing must not be overlooked.
Whenever a pony presents any appearance of sickness,
such as dullness of eye, drooping of the head, staring coat,
refusal to feed, running at the nostrils or swelling of the
glands under the jaw, it should at once be segregated
from the rest and kept under treatment and observation;
its bedding should be burnt, and its bucket or feeding
bag removed with it. In every depôt there should be a
separate shed as far from the general shed as possible for
keeping sick or suspected ponies when glanders or farcy
are suspected. The advice of a veterinary surgeon should
at once be obtained; but where none is available, the
officer in charge must do his best. It does not follow
that, because a pony has a profuse muco purulent dis-
charge from the nostrils, with considerable swelling of
the glands, that it is suffering from glanders; these
appearances may probably be only the results of a bad
cold neglected, and the swelling may, in young ponies, be
the accompaniment of strangles, a troublesome but not
dangerous disease. A warm shed, plenty of bedding,
bran mashes, a stimulating lotion or liniment well rub-
bed into the glands round the throat and up to the roots
of the ears, and steaming the nostrils with boiling water
poured over some hay in a bucket, with the addition of
Feeding.
243
spirits of turpentine, and a tonic, will generally effect a
cure. If the disease be pronounced glanders, the animal
must be destroyed, and the carcase buried in quicklime,
the skin being slashed, and all bedding, blankets, rollers,
and other things belonging to it burnt. The zinc
bucket and iron bits may be thoroughly disinfected
by burning. Lampas is a common complaint: it is a
swelling of the bars of the upper part of the mouth:
it is seldom of much consequence, but prevents the
pony from eating his corn, and so reduces its strength.
A slight scarification of the bars with a sharp penknife,
and a little salt rubbed in, will generally effect a cure.
Feeding must be carefully attended to, and care taken
that the carters do not sell the food, or feed goats
and rams with it. Three seers, or six pounds, of crushed
food, with twenty bundles of hay and a small quantity
of green grass, lucerne or guinea grass, is sufficient for an
ordinary pony. When ponies are low in flesh or out of
condition, a few pounds of carrots daily will be found a
valuable restorative, and a spoonful of the following
mixture in their feed will have a marvellous effect:
Ujwein, two pounds.
Sulphur, two pounds.
Black salt, two pounds.
Soormah (black antimony), one tolah.
These ingredients to be separately pounded fine, inti-
mately mixed, and kept in a tin in a dry place.
Bullocks should be fed with peas, chopped straw, and
oilcake. A mixture of peas crushed, wheat bran, Indian
corn, and oilcake is sometimes given; but I prefer the
broken peas mixed with finely cut straw and oilcake
་།
244
Tricks of Cart-men.
and sufficient water to wet the mass. All cattle are
kept in better health if allowed to graze occasionally
where grass land is available, but bulls must not be
turned loose to pasture, as they fight and injure each
other.
When bulls are restive and troublesome in the carts,
the cart-drivers sometimes have a trick of blinding
them by putting the milky juice of the ranga chittra,
or one of the euphorbias, in the eye. This causes a
dull white opacity of the eyeball, completely obscuring
and ultimately destroying the sight. It may be cured,
if not of long standing, by a mild lunar caustic lotion,
covering the eyes up, and sponging them with a decoc-
tion of poppyheads.
:
GLOSSARY,
Abdar
Abdarkhanah
Adhygunga
Âm
Âmah
Amultas
Asôc
Atcha, kal korebo'
Austakoor
Baêr
Bân or bain
Bazaar
Bhagirutty
Bherinda
Bhita
Bhisty
Biggah
Bilaètie or velaitee
tentool
gab
Bildar or beldar
Bôn or bûn
Bon-kochu
Bokool or bokul
Bôr or bûrr
... A domestic servant in charge of
...
drinking-water.
An apartment for the storage of
drinking-water.
The original course of the Ganges.
... Mango.
Soft or badly-burnt brick.
The Cassia fistula.
... The Jonesia Asôca.
...
Very good, to-morrow I will do it.
A pit for deposit of household refuse;
a midden.
The Zizyphus jujuba, or native plum.
... A common jungle tree (Avicennia
tomentosa).
...
...
Market; native business quarter, or
quarter inhabited by camp-followers.
The sacred stream of the Ganges.
A common weed; a species of euphor-
bia.
A homestead site.
... A Mahomedan water-carrier.
-
...
A land measure; third part of an acre.
European.
European tamarind (Adansonia).
European gab (Diosperos kaki).
A native working patrol, employed on
embankments, &c.
A thicket, wood, forest, jungle, wild.
The wild arum ; a common ditchside
weed.
The Mimusops elengi.
... The Ficus Indica.
246
Boistum or Vaishnav
Bokra (see Hentâl)
Bokra bon
Boxwallah
Brahmun
Brahminee bull
Bukayen
Burgah
Bustee
Chaltâ
Chamâr
Champâ
Chingree
Chowkâts
Chundi-mundop
Chudder or chádar
Coolie
Cottah
Culchi
Cutcha
Cutcha-pucka
Dalpoorie
Glossary.
The worshippers of Vishnu.
The Phoenix paludosa; Sunderbund
shrub, wild salt water date.
A thicket of bokra.
... A peripatetic vendor of sundries; a
hawker.
A Hindu of the priestly class.
... A bull dedicated to the deity.
Melia sempervirens.
A rafter.
... A village, a collection of huts, a na-
tive quarter.
...
...
...
The Dellenia speciosa.
A low caste of the Hindus; leather
dressers, curriers, tanners, shoe-
makers, &c.
The Michelia champaca.
A species of prawn.
An earthwork measurement 4'x4' X 4',
also the four sides of a door or
window frame.
The house of the Goddess Chandi, or
Durgah, a public sitting room or
reception hall.
A sheet or covering for the body.
A laborer.
A land measure, the 20th part of a
biggah, or 60th part of an acre.
... A common porous earthenware jar.
Unripe, unfinished, unbaked; used in
building or with reference to mate-
rial to signify unbaked or sun-dried
bricks and clay mortar.
...
Half finished work, or work done
with pucka or burnt brick, and in-
ferior or clay mortar.
A coarse cake made of dal, rice, and
goor.
1
Debdaru or devdara
Desee badam
Dhangur
Dhobee or dhopah
Dhoob or doorva
Dome
Dooars
Dosadh
Ghat
Ghogue
Gointah
Goleputta
Goolar
Goor
Goran
Gowalla
Goal or gowalghur
Gowalpara
Glossary.
The Uvaria longifolia.
247
The country almond (Terminalia cat-
appa).
... A laboring class, native of Chota
Nagpore.
...
...
...
...
...
A washerman.
A common grass (Cynodon dactylon).
A low caste of the Hindus, attendants
at the burning ghat; carriers of
corpses and carcases; basket-makers.
A tract of country at the foot of the
Himalayas.
A low caste of the Hindus; breeders
of pigs.
A landing place; a flight of steps down
to the water.
... A crab-hole, or leak in an embank-
ment.
A cake of dry cowdung for fuel (Bois
de vache).
….. A large leaf used for thatching (Nipá
fruticans).
A wild fig (Ficus guleria).
... Molasses.
...
...
...
...
Gulab-jam
Gullie
Gunga
Guramie or ghorami
...
Hallalcore
Hari
A wood used for posts or fuel (Rizo-
phora decandra, or Ceriops Rox-
burghianus).
A milkman or cow-keeper.
A cowhouse or byre.
A village or quarter inhabited by
milkmen.
The rose-apple (Jambosa vulgaris).
A narrow lane.
The river Ganges.
A thatcher or hut-builder.
Nightmen or scavengers in Bombay.
A nightman or sweeper caste of
Bengal.
248
Hât
Glossary.
...
A periodical market.
Hentâl or hurtal (see Bokra) ... The wild salt water date (Phoenix
Hela
Hingool
Jalla
Jamrool
Jarool
Jemadar
Jhama or jhama khoah
Jhangra
Jheel
Jhinak
Jullah
Jungle
Kachhi
Kadam or kuddum
Kálábosh or kulboush
Kasia bagaun
Katla or cutla
Kardahi
Kashi
Kela
Kintal
paludosa).
... A nightman or sweeper caste of
Bengal.
Artificial cinnabar; vermilion.
... A large porous earthenware jar for
water, grain, &c.
...
...
...
The star-apple (Jambosa alba).
The Lagerstræmia regina.
A native officer; an overlooker over
coolies.
Well burnt or vetrified brick for road-
making.
A bivalve found in the Sunderbund
creeks.
A swamp or large piece of water.
A salt water shell found in the Sun-
derbunds.
…….. A swamp or morass; lowlands under
water in the rainy season.
...
...
...
A forest, thicket, wild plants, and
weeds.
A low caste cultivator, North-West
Provinces.
The Nauclea kadamba.
A tank-fish of the carp species.
From Kasia, Kesia or Kâsh (Saccha-
rum spontaneum), a tall species of
grass used in certain religious cere-
monies, and Bagaun, a garden.
... A large tank-fish of the carp species.
A flowering shrub (Grislea tomentosa).
The Erythrina Indica.
...
The plantain or banana.
A collection of huts inhabited by the
poorer Portuguese and Eurasians
in Calcutta.
Khoah
Kunker
Kuntal
Kúthbél
Leep
Maidan
Mali
Malpowa
Mâtâm
Mehter
Mirgal
Mofussil
Mohullah
Moordafarash
Moripora Brahmun
Motu or mootho
Mundul
Munkir and nakir
Murrum
Mussuck
Glossary.
...
...
249
Broken brick for roadmaking and con-
crete.
Nodular limestone.
The jack tree (Artocarpus integri-
folia).
The wood-apple (Feronia elephan-
tum).
... To plaster with clay and cowdung.
...
...
A plain; open grass land.
A gardener.
A coarse cake or sweetmeat.
A level, mark, or bench-mark.
... A sweeper or nightman.
...
...
A tank-fish of the carp species.
The country as distinguished from
the town,
A quarter or division of a town.
... A carrier of corpses.
...
A degraded priest who performs
muntras or ceremonies at the cre-
mation ground.
A coarse species of grass (Cyperus
hexastachyus).
A village headman, also a family
name.
The two interrogatory angels who
question the soul of the departed
Mahomedan.
A kind of earth or gravel.
The goat skin bag in which the Ma-
homedan water carrier or bhisty
carries water.
A stream or creek.
... A common earthenware tub.
See Munkir.
The Melia azad.
Nalla or nulla
...
Nand
Nakir
Neem
...
250
Ooloo
Paddy
Pagár
Panna
Peelah
Peon
Pipal or peepul
Pucka
Pudma or puddo
Pyara
Raiyat or ryot
Ranga chittra
Ruho, rooie, or rui
Saigoon
Seemul or simul
Shah
Shankari bazar
Shastras
Singhara
Sissoo
Siriss
Soondry
Soormah
Soorkee
Sundaish
Sunderbunds
Tacca
Glossary.
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
A coarse grass, used for thatching
(Imperata cylindrica).
The rice plant; rice before being
husked.
A ditch and bank dividing two plots
of land.
Cryptogamic water plants; Algo.
Unburnt, yellow, unbaked brick.
A messenger; a gangsman over coolies.
The Ficus religiosa.
Well built; built with burnt brick
and mortar.
The lotus or water bean (Nelumbium
speciosum).
The guava (Psidium guajava).
A peasant, cultivator, tenant.
A common hedge plant; a species of
euphorbia.
A tank-fish of the carp species.
Teak (Tectona grandis).
Cotton tree (Bombax heptaphyllum).
Acacia catechu.
The bazar or quarter of the shell-
cutters.
The books of the sacred Hindu law.
The water chestnut (Trapa bicornis).
Dalbergia sissoo.
... Acacia sirissa.
...
...
Heritiera litoralis.
Black antimony.
Pounded brick used for making
mortar..
A well privy.
The forest of the Gangetic Delta.
Rupee; current coin.
Taccus
Tâl
Tentool
Teraie
Glossary.
...
251
Tax, an adaptation of the English
-word.
A common palm in Bengal (Borassus
flabelliformis).
Tamarind (Tamarindus Indica).
The land skirting the base of the
Himalayahs.
Thacoorbattie or thacoorbari ... The house of the Thacoor or God.
Ticca-garrie
Tikra
Ujwein or ajowan
Zemindar
...
...
A hired carriage, the cab of the East.
The coarse earthenware rings used
for lining wells in sandy or alluvial
soil, a potsherd.
The aromatic seed of an umbelliferous
plant, the Ptychotis ajuwan, which
yields Thymol.
... A landholder, landlord.
A CATALOGUE
OF
August, 1880.
THACKER, SPINK, & CO.'S
PUBLICATIONS.

15.
COVERNMENT PLACE
SOIT
CALCUTT
QUI
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87
NEWGATE STREET
LONDON
5 & 6, GOVERNMENT PLACE,
CALCUTTA,
T.

1
:
A LIST OF
WORKS IN GENERAL LITERATURE,
PUBLISHED OR SOLD BY
THACKER, SPINK, AND CO.,
5 & 6, Government Place, Calcutta.
HISTORY, BIOGRAPHY, POLITICS, &c.
Bellew.-THE RACES OF AFGHANISTAN; being a Brief Account
of the principal Nations inhabiting that Country. By Surgeon-
Major H. W. BELLEW, C.S.I., late on special Political Duty at
Cabul. 8vo., cloth. Rs. 3-8.
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