Social Problems And Their Peaceful Solution.

present paper . Supposing on theory that we have been endowed by nature with what we call " good health , " how is this inestimable boon to be preserved 1 By a , compliance with the laws of Nature in a judicious exercise of both mind and body ,

and in affording to our frames a clue supply of the material requisite to repair the waste thereby engendered . Mental nourishment we have already touched upon ; the quantity and quality of bodily food have , too , in former papers had allotted to them their due share of

attention ; and it now only remains to take into account two articles of nourishment , and those two most easily obtainable , whilst from our habits , although supplied to us freely enough and pure enough by nature , the most difficult of all to be procured , and therefore worthy of our greatest anxiety , which are nevertheless but too often the most lightly regarded of all—we mean air and water . True it is that for secnrinff

these two requisites of health we have already Inspectors of Nuisances , but in very many instances these officers are either too restricted in their power or else incompetent to perform their allotted tasks . Experienced men , then , should be

appointed to fulfil these all-important duties , and their right of inspection should be made general and absolute ; any refusal of their visits or neglect of their instructions being visited with a fine , and perhaps imprisonment for a second offencethe

, offenders being considered as enemies of society at large ; for if a person be poisoned at all , it matters but little or none whether the fatal dose be solid , liquid , or gaseous , whether it consist of strychnia or sewage , mercury or malaria .

A great step will have been taken if our former suggestions have been carried out , and a decent cottage have , in all cases , taken the place of the old-fashioned poorman ' s hovel , but much will even then remain to be done . The house may be well

built and airily situated , still pure air can onl y be obtained iu well-ventilated apartments so constructed as to afford a sufficient number of cubic feet of breathing-space for tlie allotted number of inhabitants . All

overcrowding , therefore , should be strictly prohibited , and a good supply of fresh air ensured iu some manner , no matter how simple . We here give a plan easy of

execution and at the same time thoroughly efficient . Up each of the flues in the house run a piece of ordinary rain-water-pipe having the lower end in communication with the open air , and closed at the top ; the fresh air passing up this will be warmed aud must be allowed to

enter each room by a branch pipe six inches from the floor . The vitiated air must be carried off through an opening six inches from the ceiling into , or communicating with , the nearest flue . To prevent draughts both of these orifices must be covered with fine wire gauze . In adaddition to this let one window at least in

every room , especially if it be slept in , open into the outer air . This window must be a sash , not a casement , as it should be left open at both top and bottom for a certain portion of each day . An Occasional fire in every room , when practicable , is a great purifier . The floors should be

periodically scrubbed with pure water that is that which is free from sewage contaminations ; the use of tar soap or the occasional addition of a disinfectant is a

great desideratum . The walls and ceilings should be limewashed at proper intervals , and all bedding should bekept scrupulously clean and left open to the air every clay . These simple measures being carried out , the house will be found well ventilated andso far as fresh air is concerned ,

, healthy . The next point to be considered , namely drainage , is a very lengthy one , but the more simple the system , especially in connexion with cottages , the better . Let no drain come within the house , nor any sink

be erected inside its four walls . If this be impossible , then let any such inside drain or sink empty itself into a small cesspool outside the walls , and let such cesspool be securely trapped and ventilated by means of a iece of common gas-pipe carried up

p with its top quite clear of all gutters , windows , or other openings in the roof ; advantage may be taken of a chimney-stack or neighbouring tree to support this pipe , the exhalations from ivhich will be

dispersed , clear of the dwelling , in the upper air . Such cesspool , again , should be frequently emptied of solid deposit . To every batch of tenements there should be a common cesspool , as far remote from the houses as possible ; let this also be venti-2 H ,