COLUMBIA LIBRARIES OFFSITE HEALTH SCIENCES STANDARD HX00078026 HAND-B' Sanitary Information :racy 1^-!' Columtiia ®niber5Sitj> in fte Cit j> of jaeb gor k CoUege of l^^v^itmn^ anb ^urseonsi Reference %ihvavv ^s^ -€>.£^. OF ~~~~ ^ SANITARY INFORMATION FOR HOUSEHOLDERS CONTAINING FACTS AND SUGGESTIONS ABOUT VENTILATION, DRAINAGE, CARE OF CONTAGIOUS DISEASES, DISINFECTION, FOOD, AND WATER. WiTH APPENDICES ON DISINFECTANTS AND PLUMBERS' MATERIALS. BY ROGER S. TRACY, M. D., SANITARY INSPECTOR OF THE NEW YORK CITY HEALTH DEPARTMENT. NEW YORK: D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, I, 3, AND 5 BOND STREET. 1884. COPTBIGHT BY EOGEE S. TKACT, M, 1884. PREFACE The preparation of this hand-book was suggested by persistent questioning about the matters it con- tains. Its purpose is to furnish householders with information which has been so scattered, or buried so deep in technical discussions, that it has not been easy for them to find it for themselves. It is, of course, mainly a compilation, and the only difficul- ties met with have been those incident to the ar- rangement and condensation of a large mass of material. I have intended to give credit, where credit seemed to be due, for everything borrowed, and, if I have failed to do so in any case, it is not my fault, but my misfortune. R. S. T. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I.— Air 7-21 Normal Air. — Contamination of the Air. — Test for Carbonic Acid in Air. — Diseases caused by Foul Air. — Composition of Sewer- Air. — Ground Air. — Ventilation.— Smoky Chimneys. II. — Drainage 21-66 Privy - Vaults. — Tanks.— Pails. — Earth - Closets.— Water-Carriage. — Plumbing Regulations of New York City Board of Health. — Explanatory Re- marks. — Drainage of Country Houses. — Subsoil Drainage. — Defective Drainage. — Sources of Bad Odors. — Examination of House-Drainage. — Pepper- mint Test. — Summaiy. — Exclusion of Ground-Air. III. — Disinfection 66-73 Directions issued by the National Board of Health. — Comments. — Precautions in Special Diseases. IV.— Food 73-85 Adulterations, and Methods of detecting them. v.— Water 86-90 Pollution of Water.— Filters— Tests for Impuri- ties. — Precautions. APPENDIX A.— Disinfectants 9^-99 " B. — Plumbers' Materials . . 100-102 INDEX 103 HAND-BOOK SANITARY INFORMATION. Necessary to continued good health are Good Air, Good Food, and Good Water. It is the object of Sanitary Science to secure these. CHAPTER I, AIR. Normal air contains 79 per cent of nitrogen, 20.96 per cent of oxygen, and .04 per cent (4 parts in 10,000) of carbonic acid. Oxygen supports animal life ; carbonic acid, vegetable life ; and the use of the nitrogen, other- wise than as a diluent, is not known. Very pure air contains 78.98 per cent of nitrogen, 20.99 P^^ cent of oxygen, and .03 per cent of car- bonic acid. Air begins to be very bad when the oxygen is reduced to 20.60 parts in 100. In mines, where can- 8 SANITARY INFORMATION. dies go out, oxygen is reduced to 18.50 parts in 100, and, in the worst specimen yet examined by Angus Smith, to 18.27. Air in which the percentage of oxygen has been reduced to 17.20 is very difficult to remain in for many minutes. Aside from impurities due to local causes, the purest air is found from six to forty feet above the ground, and the most impure from seventy to ninety feet, where the air from chimneys is poured forth. Air is contaminated by the products of respiration and the bodily emanations of healthy persons, and by the products of com- - bustion. An adult man, in ordinary work, gives off in twenty-four hours from twelve to eighteen cubic feet of carbonic acid, according to his size ; women, children, and old persons less. Edward Smith found that an adult asleep ex- haled about nineteen grains of carbonic acid per hour, and, when he walked three miles an hour, the amount was increased to 100.6 grains. W. R. Nichols, of Boston, found in passenger- cars 23.2 parts of carbonic acid to 10,000 parts of air, and in the Berkeley Street sewer 10.4 parts per 10,000. Wilson found in Portsmouth Prison, in cells containing six hundred and fourteen cubic feet of air, always occupied, 7.20 parts per 10,000, and in cells containing two hundred and ten cubic feet, oc- cupied only at night, 10.44 per 10,000. AIR, 9 Besides the carbonic acid, there is exhaled from the lungs a small amount of organic matter, of un- known composition. It forms a glutinous coating on the furniture, walls, and windows of closed rooms, decomposes rapidly, imparts a peculiarly offensive odor to the air of a badly-ventilated room, and poi- sons those who inhale it. Its quantity is so small that it has so far defied analysis. In a room con- taminated by respiration alone, the odor of this sub- stance begins to be perceived when the carbonic acid has increased to about 7 parts in 10,000, and 10 parts in 10,000 may be considered the maximum amount of carbonic acid allowable in dwellings. The following table shows how much carbonic acid artificial lights produce per hour : Petroleum, slit-burner, 10 candle -light, 1.98 cubic feet Petroleum, round-burner, 7.6 « 2.15 Oil-lamp, 4 << 1.09 Candle, i « .39 Coal-gas, slit-burner, 7.8 (< 3-25 Coal-gas, flat-burner, 10 « 3 A five-foot gas-burner produces as much carbonic acid per hour as five men. As the most poisonous element of the breath can not readily be detected by analysis, the amount of carbonic acid is taken as a measure of the impurity of air contaminated by respiration. Test for carbonic acid in air (Pettenkofer's method) : Shake up a definite volume of the air in a closed 10 SANITARY INFORMATION. vessel with a definite amount of lime-water. The carbonic acid unites with the lime, forming carbon- ate of lime. This compound, being insoluble in water, renders it turbid. The degree of turbidity- may be judged of by looking through the water at a cross marked in lead-pencil on the inside of a piece of paper pasted on the opposite side of the bottle, and a standard may be fixed by shaking up ordinary external air in a sixteen-ounce bottle, as described below, which will show the degree of tur- bidity produced by 4 parts of carbonic acid in 10,000. Lime-water can be bought of a druggist, or made by shaking distilled water with slaked lime, allowing it to settle, and pouring off the clear liquid. AVith a common hand-ball syringe, the end of the rubber tube resting on the bottom of the bottle, pump in air, until the bottle is filled with the air to be tested. Put in half an ounce of lime-water, cork the bottle, and shake it up well. Let it stand for five minutes, and if the water becomes turbid, as if a little milk had been dropped into it, the presence of carbonic acid in the air will be indicated in the following pro- portions. Size of bottle. Amount of lime-water. Parts in 10,000. 16 ounces 1-2 ounce A little less than 4 12 " <( A little more than 5 10 " <( u 5 8 " (( 8 6 " « A little more than 10 4 " « u J5 AIR. 11 Dangers of such Contamination. Air contaminated by the products of respiration and by bodily emanations (perspiration, etc.) con- tains substances which have been ejected from hu- man bodies as useless or injurious. What all sys- tems reject can not be healthy for any, and it is found that long-continued exposure in an atmos- phere laden with these impurities produces anaemia, general debility, and poor nutrition, conditions likely to result in the development of scrofula and con- sumption. It is believed, too, that typhus fever may originate in this manner, while when such poisons are inhaled in a more concentrated form, as in the famous Black Hole of Calcutta, nausea, vertigo, convulsions, and even death are produced. The air is at certain times and places con- taminated by the products of respiration and the bodily emanations of diseased persons. In certain diseases, commonly known as con- tagious, organic matters are thrown off by the lungs and skin of the sick, which tend to reproduce these diseases in the bodies of other persons. The exact nature of these poisons is in most cases un- known, but they are generally believed to be living microscopic organisms (bacteria, bacilli, micrococci, etc.), which multiply their kind in the blood of the person who has inhaled them. Of such diseases, the dangerous ones are small- pox, measles, scarlet fever, typhus fever, and diph- 12 SANITARY information: theria, and their contagious quality is marked very nearly in the order in which they are here men- tioned. The less harmful of these diseases are whooping- cough, chicken-pox, mumps, and German measles. There is strong evidence that consumption is contagious, though not as markedly so as the dis- eases above enumerated. The air may be contaminated by the prod- ucts of the decomposition of the excreta of healthy persons. The contents of cesspools, privy-vaults, and sew- ers, are generally composed of discharges from the bowels and kidneys, various matters washed off from the bodies of animals and from culinary and house- hold utensils, and dissolved soap, constituting a mix- ture which rapidly decomposes and affords a fine soil for the nourishment and propagation of microscopic organisms. Air contaminated in this way, popularly known as sewer-gas, contains sulphide of ammonium and sulphureted hydrogen (which cause the characteristic odor of rotten eggs), carbureted hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbonic acid (odorless), and certain undeter- mined organic matters. Professor Nichols analyzed the air of the Berke- ley Street sewer in Boston, a type of a badly-con- structed and badly-ventilated sewer. The sulphu- reted hydrogen, etc., were in too small quantity to be measured. The highest percentages found were, AIR. 13 of oxygen, 20.90 ; of nitrogen, 79.26 ; of carbonic acid, .4 (40 parts in 10,000). The lowest were, oxygen, 20.48 ; nitrogen, 78.89 ; and carbonic acid, .05 (5 parts in 10,000). Letheby found that sewer-water (containing 128.8 grains of organic matter to the gallon) excluded from air yielded, for nine weeks, 1.2 cubic inches of gas per hour. In one hundred volumes of this mixture there were 78.83 parts of marsh-gas (carbureted hy- drogen), 15.90 parts of carbonic acid, 10.19 parts of nitrogen, and .08 of sulphureted hydrogen. Exami- nation of sewage-mud in the Seine by Durand-Claye gave 72.88 parts of marsh-gas, 13.30 of carbonic acid, 6.70 of sulphureted hydrogen, 2.54 of carbonic oxide, 4.58 of nitrogen, and some other gases. Such mixtures are sometimes found in long-closed cesspools and privy-vaults, but not in sewers proper. Of these gases, sulphureted hydrogen and car- bonic acid are very poisonous, and when they are in- haled in concentrated form produce almost imme- diate unconsciousness, and often death. When less concentrated, sewer-air may cause nausea and vomit- ing, followed by a low fever which sometimes kills, and, if not, results in a tedious convalescence. As a rule, it is so largely diluted that it produces no immediate eifects, excepting the discomfort due to offensive odor, and the mental anxiety resulting therefrom. The effects usually attributed to the continued breathing of diluted sewer-air are general malaiscy 1 4 SANITAR V INFORM A TION. loss of appetite, anaemia, impaired nutrition, and therefore diminished power of resistance to attaqks of disease which are not directly attributable to sewer-air poisoning. It is doubtful whether these effects are due to the constant introduction of sewer- air in minute quantities into the blood, or to the inhalation of particles of organic matter floating in such a contaminated atmosphere. The greatest danger, however, in the breathing of sewer-air is that of inhaling with it the living particles (bacilli, etc.) con- tained or developed in the excreta of diseased persons. The diseases believed to be propagated in this way are cholera, typhoid fever, and dysentery. The discharges both from the mouth (stomach) and bowels are known to be poisonous. It believed by many that the poisons of typhoid fever and diphtheria may be developed de novo by the decomposition of the mixtures found in cess- pools and sewers. There also seems to be a connection, imperfectly understood, between bad drainage and malarial fevers, and perhaps cerebro-spinal meningitis. The origin of yellow fever is not yet ascertained. Surgical erysipelas, puerperal fever, and hospital gangrene, are only developed on and about wounded surfaces, and seem to be due to the organisms de- veloped in the secretions of such surfaces, where ventilation and drainage are bad. AIR, 15 Air may be contaminated by the products of organic decomposition rising from the ground and drawn into the house through furnace-flues, etc. Ground-air contains from 1.49 to 80 parts per 1,000 of carbonic acid, and frequently contains prod- ucts of organic decomposition. A damp soil is also very unhealthy, as shown by Bowditch and others. "A persistently low ground-water, say fifteen feet down or more, is healthy ; a persistently high ground- water, less than five feet from the surface, is un- healthy ; and a fluctuating level, especially if the changes are sudden and violent, is very unhealthy " (De Chaumont). Such soils are especially produc- tive of consumption. VENTILATION. The contamination of the atmosphere by the res- piration and bodily emanations of human beings and other animals is unavoidable, but the noxious matters thus added to the air are being constantly changed in the following ways : 1. Oxidation. The organic matters, which have been mentioned as especially injurious, are grad- ually decomposed by the oxygen of the air, and changed into harmless substances, which either re- main as constituents of the atmosphere, or are washed into the earth by rains. 2. Vegetable growth. Plants absorb carbon- ic acid (which is composed of carbon and oxy- 1 6 SANITAR V INFORM A TION. gen) through their leaves, and give back oxygen to the air, retaining the carbon for their own nourish- ment. There is thus a constant interchange between animals and vegetables, the former exhaling carbonic acid and appropriating oxygen, and the latter appro- priating carbonic acid and exhaling oxygen. The small percentage of carbonic acid always found in the air is, therefore, essential to vegetable life, while harmless to animals. It is necessary, for the proper purification of a contaminated atmosphere, that it should be largely diluted with fresh air. Hence arises the need of the constant change of air in dwellings. Air expands when heated and so becomes lighter. Local differences of temperature, created by natural and artificial means, therefore bring about currents in the atmosphere, the cooler and heavier column of air always descending, and the warmer and lighter always rising. This fact is taken advantage of in ventilation. It has been estimated that, to keep the air pure, three thousand cubic feet of fresh air per hour are required for a male adult, and that a sleeping-room should contain at least twelve hundred cubic feet of air-space for each occupant. When the temperature of the external air is such that the doors and windows can be constantly open, they afford the best means of ventilation for dwell- ings. An exposure to draughts, however, is danger- ous to many persons, and it is desirable, therefore, in AIR, 17 cooler weather, to devise means of admitting fresh air without creating a draught. At a temperature of 60°, a draught is perceived when the air moves at a higher rate of speed than three feet a second. Now it is obvious that a draught may be rendered harm- less if the entering current of air is guided in such a direction as not to strike the occupants of a room. This is accomplished simply and cheaply by either of two devices : If the lower sash of a window is raised a few inches (say four), and the space between the bottom of the sash and the window-sill is filled by an accurately fitted board, there will be a space between the panes of the two sashes, through which air will enter, spouting upward toward the ceiling, and not falling until its momentum is so much di- minished that it will not be felt as a draught. The other plan is to make the upper portion of the upper sash movable, so that it can be tilted inward at such an angle as to direct the entering current upward (essentially the Sherringham valve, though this is made of iron, with side-cheeks to prevent a lateral outflow of air). There are various patent apparatuses for the ad- mission of fresh air through windows without draught, but they are mostly modifications of the methods above mentioned. In weather when artificial heat is necessary for comfort, thorough ventilation is not difficult, pro- vided expense is not considered. As the removal of the foul air, however, involves a considerable waste 2 l8 SANITARY INFORMATION. of heat and consumption of fuel, the means of pro- curing the best ventilation at the least cost becomes a problem of great intricacy, which has not yet been satisfactorily solved. Fireplaces, or open grates, are excellent venti- lators. An ordinary fireplace renews the air of the room four or five times hourly, removing in that time from fifteen to twenty thousand cubic feet of air. But only about 12 or 14 per cent, of the heat given off by the fuel is utilized, the rest passing off by the chimney. The objections to the fireplace as a sole means of heating are, its wastefulness, and the fact that it warms only by radiation, so that the room is unequally warmed, and may be too cold in one place and insupportably hot in another. Stoves and furnaces can not be relied on for ventilation, the ventilating power of a close stove being only one tenth of that required for a single adult. Modern fireplaces are sometimes built with a me- tallic flue extending upward into the chimney. Be- tween this flue and the masonry is an air-chamber opening to the external air and communicating with the room near the ceiling, so that fresh air from out- side the house is continuously warmed, and dis- charged into the room at a temperature of 80° or 90°. The Galton fireplace (Fig. i) is of this kind, and utilizes 35 per cent, of the fuel. The best combined heating and ventilating ar- rangement at present seems to be that which warms AIR, 19 the fresh air by means of a soapstone furnace or steam-coils, and removes the foul air through a fire- place. In milder weather, gas may be burned in the chimney at a slight expense. According to Morin, Fig. I. — Gallon's fireplace. seven cubic feet of gas burned in a flue eleven inches square and sixty-six feet high, will draw thirteen thousand three hundred cubic feet of air per hour from a room. The dampers of stoves should never be in the 20 SANITARY INFORMATION. .pipes, for they dam back the gases which ought to enter the chimney, and force them into the room. The fire should be regulated by dampers which pre- vent the access of air, and not its escape after con- tamination. Ventilating flues in walls do very little good, un- less special means are provided to heat them (e. g., gas lights or lamps). The common whirling ventilators in window-panes are of very little use. As a rule, fresh air should enter a room near the ceiling, and foul air be removed near the floor. In very cold climates, dangerous draughts are often produced by the cooling of the air in contact with the window-panes, so that it falls and sweeps along the floor. This danger may be prevented by double windows, which also save fuel. Double win- dows may be utilized in ventilation, by raising the lower outer sash a few inches, and lowering the up- per inner one. Smoky Chimneys. When a chimney smokes, the draught is down- ward. This may be caused — i. By an obstruction in the flue or stove-pipe. 2. By a higher chimney in the same house, the air coming down the shorter chimney, and going up the other. The remedy is to equalize the heights, or close the doors between the two. 3, If, when the fire is started, the air outside is warmer than that in the chimney, the heavier column DRAINAGE. 21 will of course fall. This effect will vanish in a few minutes, when the flue becomes heated. 4. The doors and windows of the room may be so tight as to prevent a sufficient supply of fresh air to burn the fuel. If so, they must be opened. 5. The chimney may be lower than the adjoining wall, and the wind from certain directions, striking the wall, may be di- rected down the flues. This may be remedied by extending the chimney above the wall, or by cap- ping the flues with one of the various cowls that pre- vent a downward draught. CHAPTER II. DRAINAGE. How to prevent the contamination of the air by the products of decomposition. There is no evidence to show that the emana- tions from fresh house-slops, or the excreta of healthy animals, are injurious to health, but it has been proved that when these matters decompose they be- come dangerous. The bubbles of gas which rise to the surface of such decomposing matters, when they burst, throw up solid particles of organic matter in the air, which float about for some time before fall- ing to the ground. It is, therefore, essential to health that all such matters shall be removed from the vicinity of human beings promptly, before de- 22 SANITAR V INFORM A TION. composition sets in, or else so manipulated as to pre- vent decomposition, or promote rapid oxidation. * The lower animals seem to recognize by instinct that their excreta are dangerous, and they deposit them (except when penned up by men) in places re- mote from their abodes, or else carefully cover them with fresh earth. Man alone retains his excreta in carefully prepared receptacles near his place of resi- dence, until the accumulation is so large that he is forced to remove it. The ordinary privy-vault should never be al- lowed. Its only advantage is its cheapness, while it involves constant danger of contamination of the water of adjoining wells or cisterns. Many an epi- demic of typhoid fever has been unmistakably traced to this source. If such a vault is a necessity, it should be made water-tight, be small and frequently emptied, the contents should be frequently disin- fected, preferably by being covered with fresh earth, and it should be built in such a spot that the cur- rent of ground-water (which furnishes the well-water) shall be from the well toward the vault, and never in the opposite direction. Better still is a movable tank, in which the excreta are received and covered with fresh earth daily. This can be emptied over a garden or field without offense. In villages where sewerage is impossible, pails are sometimes used. They have tight covers, and are removed frequently (once or twice a week, clean ones being substituted at the time of removal by the proper authorities), DRAINAGE. 23 the contents being converted into poudrette at some place remote from habitations. A better means of disposing of the excreta, where water-closets can not be had, is the earth-closet, of which there are several varieties. These are so constructed that they resemble a water-closet in ap- pearance, but the excreta are caught in a receptacle beneath the seat, and covered with earth, when the handle beside the seat is raised. Dry earth is an excellent disinfectant,* and when excreta are thus mingled with it they are gradually oxidized and dis- appear, so that after a time the same earth may, with proper precautions, be used again. The earth for these closets must be dry, and sifted of coarse particles, and enough must be de- posited upon the excreta to cover them and to absorb the urine. Its advantages, as compared with the water-closet, are, that it is cheaper, requires less repair, is not hurt by frost, is not injured when improper sub- stances are thrown down it, and requires no water. Its disadvantages are, the trouble of collecting and drying the earth, the necessity of frequently remov- ing the soil, the dust sometimes caused by its use, * Its disinfectant properties have been shown to be due to the presence of microscopic organisms, which decompose the' excreta in the act of nourishing themselves. A little chloro- form paralyzes them, and deprives the earth of its disinfect- ing properties, which return, however, when the chloroform is washed out, and the organisins recover tl^eir natural vigor. 24 SANITARY INFORMATION. and the necessity of providing additional means for the disposal of slops. A perfect method of disposal of excreta and other house refuse would be one which would in- sure their prompt and rapid removal in such a way as to prevent the contamination of the air of any inhabited locality during such removal, or after their final deposition. The most convenient and economi- cal means yet invented of accomplishing this object is water-carriage ; i. e., the matters referred to are conveyed from the house, with the addition of suffi- cient water to insure a rapid flow, through a series of pipes and tunnels into a large body of running water, or over the surface of the earth, under conditions which insure their rapid conversion into harmless sub- stances. The water-carriage system includes bowls or sinks for the deposit of refuse matters, connecting- pipes to remove such matters from the house, and public sewers for their further conveyance away from human abodes. The construction and care of public sewers belong to the local government ; we have here only to do with house-drainage. The essentials of house-drainage are : i. The primary receptacles (bowls, sinks, water-closets, etc.) should be of such material and so constructed as to be impervious to fluids, and easy to clean and keep clean. 2. The pipes should be of such material as to be as durable as possible, and so laid and con- nected as to form gas-tight conduits, and to insure DRAINAGE. 25 the rapid passage of whatever enters them, so as to prevent the formation of deposits or incrustations. 3. The drainage system should be so planned and constructed that neither the atmosphere of the house nor the drinking-water can be polluted by anything escaping from it, and no noxious matters can enter it from any other house. The following plan of construction is that rec- ommended by the Board of Health of New York city : 1. All materials must be of good quality and free from defects ; the work must be executed in a thor- ough and workmanlike manner. 2. The arrangement of soil and waste pipes must be as direct as possible. 3. The drain, soil, and waste pipes, and the traps, must, if practicable, be exposed to view for ready inspection at all times, and for convenience in re- pairing. When necessarily placed within partitions or in recesses of walls, soil and waste pipes must be covered with wood-work, so fastened with screws as to be readily removed. In no case shall they be absolutely inaccessible. 4. It is recommended to place the soil and other vertical pipes in a special shaft, between or adjacent to the water-closet and the bath-room, and serving as a ventilating shaft for them. This shaft should be at least two and a half feet square. It should extend from the cellar through the roof, and should be covered by a louvered sky-light. It should be 26 SANITARY INFORMATION. accessible at every story, and should have a very open but strong grating at each floor to stand upon. Shafts not less than three feet square in area are required in tenement-houses, to ventilate interior water-closets. 5. Every house or building must be separately and independently connected with the street-sewer. 6. Where the ground is made or filled in, the house-sewer — that is to say, the portion of the drain extending from the public sewer to the front wall — must be of cast-iron, with the joints properly calked with lead. 7. Where the soil consists of a natural bed of loam, sand, or rock, the house-sewer may be of hard, salt-glazed, and cylindrical earthenware pipe, laid on a smooth bottom, free from all projections of rock, and with the soil well rammed to prevent any set- tling of the pipe. Each section must be wetted be- fore applying the cement, and the space between each hub and the small end of the next section must be completely and uniformly filled with the best hydraulic cement. Care must be taken to prevent any cement being forced into the drain to become an obstruction.. No tempered-up cement shall be used. A straight-edge must be used inside the pipe, and the different sections must be laid in perfect line on the bottom and sides. 8. Where there is no sewer in the street, and it is necessary to construct a private sewer to connect with a sewer on an adjacent street or avenue, it must DRAINAGE. 27 be laid under the roadway of the street on which the houses front, and not through the yards or under the houses. 9. The house-drain must be of iron, with a fall of at least one quarter inch to the foot, if possible, and not more than one inch to the foot. 10. Where water-closets or a school-sink dis- charge into it, the drain must be at least four inches in diameter. 11. It must be hung on the cellar wall or ceiling, unless this is impracticable, in which case it must be laid in a trench cut at a uniform grade, walled upon the sides with brick laid in hydraulic cement, and provided with movable covers, and with a hydraulic concrete base of four inches in thickness, on which the pipe is to rest. 12. It must be laid in a straight line, if possible. All changes in direction must be made with curved pipes, and all connections with Y-branch pipes and one-eighth bends. 13. Any house-drain or house-sewer, put in and covered without due notice to the Health Depart- ment, must be uncovered for inspection at the direc- tion of the inspector. 14. A running or half S-trap must be placed on the house-drain at an accessible point near the front of the house. This trap must be furnished with a hand-hole for convenience in cleaning, the cover of which must be properly fitted and made gas and air tight with some proper cement. 28 SANITARY INFORMATION. 15. There must be an inlet for fresh air entering the drain just inside the trap, of at least four inches in diameter, leading to the outer air and opening at or near the street curb, or at a convenient place not less than ten feet from the nearest window. No cold-air box for a furnace shall be so placed that it can by any possibility draw air from this inlet-pipe. The inlet-pipe should never be carried up to the roof inside or outside the house. 16. No brick, sheet-metal, earthenware, or chim- ney-flue shall be used as a sewer-ventilator, nor to ventilate any trap, drain, soil, or waste pipe. 17. Every vertical soil-pipe and waste-pipe must be of iron, and, where it receives the discharge of fixtures on two or more floors, it must be ex- tended at least two feet above the highest part of the roof or coping, of undiminished size, with a return bend or cowl. It must not open near a window, nor an air-shaft which ventilates living- rooms. 18. Soil, waste, and vent pipes, in an extension, must be extended above the roof of the main build- ing, when othervvise they would open within twenty feet of the windows of the main house or the ad- joining house. 19. Horizontal soil and waste pipes are pro- hibited. 20. The minimum diameter of soil-pipe per- mitted is four inches. A vertical waste-pipe, into which a line of kitchen-sinks discharge, must be at DRAINAGE, 29 least two inches in diameter, with one inch and a half branches. 21. Where lead pipe is used to connect fixtures with vertical soil or waste pipes, or to connect traps with vertical vent-pipes, it must not be lighter than D-pipe. 22. There shall be no traps on vertical soil-pipes or vertical waste-pipes. 23. All iron pipes must be sound, free from holes, and of a uniform thickness of not less than one eighth of an inch for a diameter of two, three, or four inches, or five thirty-seconds of an inch for a diameter of five or six inches ; and, in case the building is over sixty-five feet in height above the curb, the use of what is known as extra heavy pipe, and correspond- ing fittings, are required, which weigh as follows : 2 inches, 5^ pounds per lineal foot. 3 " 9i ' 4 '* 13 5 " 17 6 " 20 7 " 27 8 ' 33i ' 10 " 45 12 " 54 24. Before they are connected they must be thor- oughly coated inside and outside with coal-tar pitch, applied hot, or some other equivalent substance. 25. When required by an inspector from the Board of Health, the plumbing must be tested with 30 SANITARY INFORMATION, the peppermint or the water test, by the plumber in the presence of the inspector, and all defective joints made tight, and other openings made impermeable to gases. Defective pipe discovered must be re- moved and replaced by sound pipe. 26. All joints in the iron drain-pipes, soil-pipes, and waste-pipes must be so calked with oakum and lead, or with cement made of iron filings and sal- ammoniac, as to make them impermeable to gas. 27. All connections of lead with iron pipes must be made with a brass sleeve or ferrule, of the same size as the lead pipe, put in the hub of the branch of the iron pipe, and calked in with lead. The lead pipe must be attached to the ferrule by a wiped joint. 28. All connections of lead pipe should be by wiped joints. 29. Every water-closet, urinal, sink, basin, wash- tray, bath, and every tub or set of tubs, must be separately and effectively trapped, except where a sink and wash-tubs immediately adjoin each other, in which case the waste-pipe from the tubs may be connected with the inlet side of the sink-trap ; in such a case the tub waste-pipe is not required to be separately trapped. 30. Traps must be placed as near the fixtures as practicable, and in no case shall a trap be more than two feet from the fixture. 31. All exit-pipes must be provided with strong metallic strainers. DRAINAGE. 31 32. In no case shall the waste from a bath-tub or other fixture be connected with a water-closet trap. 33. Traps must be protected from siphonage, and the waste-pipe leading from them ventilated, by a special air-pipe, in no case less than two inches in diameter for water-closet traps, and one inch and a half for other traps. Except in private dwellings, the vertical vent-pipes for traps of water-closets in buildings more than four stories in height must be at least three inches in diameter, with two-inch branches to each trap, and for traps of other fixtures not less than two inches in diameter, with branches one and a half inches in diameter, unless the trap is smaller, in which case the diameter of branch vent-pipe must be at least equal to the diameter of the trap. In all cases vertical vent-pipes must be of cast or wrought iron. 34. These pipes must either extend two feet above the highest part of the roof or coping, the extension to be not less than four inches in diameter to avoid obstruction from frost, or they may be branched into a soil-pipe above the inlet from the highest fixture. They may be combined by branching together those which serve several traps. These air-pipes must al- ways have a continuous slope, to avoid collecting water by condensation. 35. Traps of fixtures near the fresh-air inlet may be ventilated by being connected with it. 36. No trap vent-pipe shall be used as a waste or soil pipe. 32 SANITARY INFORMATION. 37. Overflow-pipes from fixtures must, in each case, be connected on the inlet side of the trap. 38. Every safe under a wash-basin, bath, urinal, water-closet, or other fixture, must be drained by a special pipe not directly connected with any soil- pipe, waste-pipe, drain, or sewer, but discharging into an open sink, upon the cellar-floor, or outside the house. 39. The waste-pipe from a refrigerator shall not be directly connected with the soil or waste pipe, or with the drain or sewer, or discharge into the soil ; it should discharge into an open sink. Such waste- pipes should be so arranged as to admit of frequent flushing, and should be as short as possible, and dis- connected from the refrigerator. 40. The sediment-pipe from kitchen boilers must be connected on the inlet side of the sink-trap. 41. All water-closets within the house must be supplied with water from special tanks or cisterns, the water of which is not used for any other pur- pose. The closets must never be supplied directly from the Croton supply-pipes. A group of closets may be supplied from one tank ; but water-closets on different floors are not permitted to be flushed from one tank, 42. The valves of cisterns must be so fitted and adjusted as to prevent wasting of water, especially where cisterns are supplied from a tank on the roof. 43. The overflow-pipes from water-closet cisterns must discharge into an open sink, or where its dis- DRAINAGE. 33 charge will attract attention and indicate that waste of water is occurring, but not into the bowl of the water-closet, not into the soil or waste pipe, nor into the drain or sewer. When the pressure of the Croton is not sufficient to supply these tanks, a pump must be provided. 44. Tanks for drinking-water are objectionable ; if indispensable, they must never be lined with lead, galvanized iron, or zinc. They should be constructed of iron, or wood lined with tinned and planished copper. The overflow should discharge upon the roof, or be trapped and discharge into an open sink, never into any soil or waste pipe or water-closet trap, nor into the drain or sewer. 45. Rain-water leaders must never be used as soil, waste, or vent pipes ; nor shall any soil, waste, or vent pipe be used as a leader. 46. When within the house, the leader must be of cast-iron, with leaded joints ; when outside of the house, and connected with the house-drain, it must be trapped beneath the ground or just inside of the wall, the trap being arranged in either case so as to prevent freezing. In every case where a leader opens near a window or a light-shaft, it must be properly trapped at its base. 47. No steam exhaust or blow-off pipe from a steam-boiler will be allowed to connect with any soil or waste pipe, or directly with the house-drain. They should discharge into a tank or condenser, the waste from which, if to be discharged into the sewer through 3 34 SANITARY INFORMATION. the house-drain, must be connected on the sewer side of the running trap. 48. Subsoil drains must be provided whenever necessary. 49. Yards and areas should always be properly graded, cemented, flagged, or well paved, and prop- erly drained ; when the drain is connected with the house-drain, it must be effectively trapped. Front- area drains must, where practicable, be connected with the house-drain inside of the running trap. 50. Cellar and foundation walls must, where pos- sible, be rendered impervious to dampness, and the use of asphaltum or coal-tar pitch, in addition to hydraulic cement, is recommended for that purpose. '51. No privy-vault or school-sink will be allowed in any cellar or basement ; nor shall the general privy accommodation of a tenement or lodging house be allowed to be in the cellar or basement. 52. No privy- vault, or cesspool for sewage, will be permitted in any part of the city where water- closets or a school-sink can be connected with a public sewer in the street. 53. School-sinks must be of cast-iron, not more than two feet in depth, connected at the upper end with the Croton supply, and at the lower end with a drain leading to the street-sewer, and provided with an outlet at the lowest point and on the bottom so as to admit of a complete discharge of the contents whenever the outlet is opened and the sink flushed with water. DRAINAGE. 35 54. The sink must be set so that the flange will be at least two feet below the yard surface, to pre- vent freezing. It must be at least ten feet from any window, or as near that distance as practicable. 55. The waste-pipe from a hydrant-sink in the yard must be properly trapped, especially where it discharges into a school-sink, a privy-vault, or cess- pool, or the house-drain. 56. Open light and air courts must be properly drained. 57. When a privy-vault or cesspool must neces- sarily be used, and the water-supply of the premises is from a well, they must be at least fifty feet from the well ; and the privy-vault must be absolutely tight. Explanatory Rejiiarks. 2. As direct as possible. To insure an unin- terrupted flow. When a pipe has to pass an obstruc- tion (a beam or post) an offset is used (Fig. 2). 3. The soil-pipe is that which conveys the con- tents of water-closets to the house-drain : the waste- pipes are intended to carry other refuse fluids only. The house-drain is the large pipe which receives the contents of the soil and waste pipes and conveys them outside the house. A trap is a bend (with or without an enlarge- ment) of the pipe, intended to retain a sufficient amount of the fluids that enter it to occlude the pipe and prevent the backward flow of air. The effective 36 SANITAR V' INFORM A TION, water-seal is represented by the total depth of water in the trap, minus the inside diameter of the pipe, and should be at least one inch. Fig. 2.— Offset. Fig. 3.— S-trap. Fig. 4.— Half S-trap. Traps are of various kinds, and many are pat- ented. The accompanying figures represent the prin- cipal types. Fig. 3 is the S-trap. Fig. 4 is the half S-trap. There is also a three-quarter S-trap. Fig. 5 is a D- trap, formerly much used, but now mostly out of date, because it retains dirt. Fig. 6 is a bag-trap. \i :>^ Fig. 5.— D-trap. Fig. 6.— Bag-trap. It has no advantage over the S-trap, and uses more material. Fig. 7 is a bottle-trap, much used in Bos- ton. This also retains dirt. There are varieties of it, the distinguishing feature of all being that the fluids enter them at the bottom and flow out at the top. DRAINAGE, 37 Fig. 8 is the bell-trap, so called from its shape. Much used for the drains of paved areas, yards, and cellars ; liable to retain dirt, and needs frequent Fig. 7.— Bottle-trap, Fig. 8.— Bell-trap. cleaning ; not a good trap. Fig. 9 is a running"- trap, used in house-drains and other pipes that are nearly horizontal. Fig. 10 represents a mason's 1111 v; I 1,1 TTX ^ Fig. 9.— Running-trap. Fig. 10. — Mason's trap. trap. Is built of brick or stone and cement. Used in brick-drains and sewers, in receiving-basins at street corners, etc. Requires frequent cleaning, and should never be used inside a building. Fig. 11 represents the method of trapping a cesspool. The same plan is also used for grease-traps, the outlet- pipe dipping below the surface of the contents so 38 SANITAR Y INFORM A TION. that it is never obstructed by the grease, which floats on top. A few patent traps are shown as samples : Fig, II. — Trapped cess-pool. Fig. 12 is the Adee trap, a modification of the D- trap. Fig. 13 is the Bower trap, claimed to be se- cured against siphonage or back pressure by a rub- Fig. 12.— Adee trap. Fig. 13.— Bower trap. ber ball which floats up against the entering-pipe. Modification of the bottle-trap. Fig. 14 is Bedell's trap, with a metallic flap or valve, and an opening on the sewer side of the valve, to relieve pressure. Fig. DRAINAGE. 39 15 is Stewart's trap, intelligible from the diagram. Traps are also made of iron or glass, with a mercury- seal, which, it is claimed, are proof against siphon- ing, pressure, or evaporation. Fig. 14.— Bedell's trap. Fig. 15. — Stewart's trap. 4. A louvered sky-light is one with slats at the sides inclining outward, so that air can escape but rain can not enter. 6. Calked with lead. (See 26.) 7. Tempered-up cement. Cement which has been used once, and has been broken up and ground, for using a second time. 9. House-drain, of iron. (See " Bad Odors, 2, ar) 10. Water-closets. Four principal classes, with innumerable varieties, mostly patented. I. The pan-closet (Fig. 16). Its chief advan- tage is its cheapness and the ease with which it can be repaired. Its disadvantage is the odor that usu- ally attends its use. When the handle {a) is raised, the contents of the pan (^) are thrown against the side of the iron container (^), and some filth adheres there and decomposes, filling the container with a noisome stench, which escapes into the room every time the closet is used. An abundant flush, an en- 40 SANITARY INFORMATION. ameled container, and proper ventilation of the con- tainer, reduce this nuisance materially. Generally condemned by sanitarians. 2. Hopper-closets (Fig. 17). Rather unsight- ly, because the water and floating matter in the trap Fig. 16.— Pan-closet. Fig. 17.— Hopper-closet. are visible, and matters often cling to the sides, but, with an abundant flush suddenly discharged, are very inoffensive. 3. Plunger-closets, of which the Jennings closet (Fig. 18) may be taken as a type. The handle lifts a plug, which aUows the contents of the boWl to run out, and, when the plug is dropped in place, the bowl is filled again from a ball-cock. These closets are liable to get out of order ; the plungers or plugs lose their rubber flanges and leak, and the plunger-cham- ber is apt to retain filth. 4. It is evident that if the hopper-closet could have its trap bent to one side out of sight, and its hopper enlarged toward the bottom, so that nothing would strike and cling to its sides, it would be an ex- DRAINAGE. 41 Fig. 18.— Jennings closet. cellent one. Of such a type are the Tidal- Wave and National closets (Fig. 19), a being the water-pipe, which discharges into a flushing rim, and b a vent- pipe to relieve pressure between the two bodies of water during a discharge, and prevent siphoning. Fig. 19.— Tidal-wave closet. Fig. 20.— Y-branch. Fig. 21.— Quarter bend. A water-closet, to be well flushed, should have a discharge of three gallons of water in five seconds, sent directly downward all around the rim. 42 SANITARY INFORMATION. School-sink (also called trough-sink or privy- sink). An iron trough, having a sewer-connected opening with a movable iron plug in the bottom at one end, for the discharge of its contents, and a pipe at the other end, from which it is filled with water. It is practically an elongated water-closet. (See 53.) 12. Y-branch (Fig. 20), so named from its shape. There are also half Y-branches. Eighth bends. There are also quarter bends (Fig. 21), sixth bends, and sixteenth bends. These are used in pipe-connections in order to discharge the contents of the branch pipes in the same general direction with the current in the main pipes, for, if the discharge enters at a right angle, a deposit is apt to form opposite the point of connection.' 14. Trap in house-drain. Intended to cut off all communication between the house and the street sewer. If a contagious disease occurs in one's own house, he can be sure that the excreta are disinfected, and that disease-germs can not escape into the air, even if the pipes happen to be defective ; but he can not be sure that such excreta are properly disinfect- ed in other houses. The only safe way, therefore, is for each house to be cut off from all others by the means described. The objections to the trap on the house-drain are, that it forms a slight obstruction to the flow of drainage, and is liable to be obstructed by deposits, and that it favors *' cushioning," i, e., the forcing of smaller traps, when the air in the drain is compressed between this trap and a down-coming DRAINAGE. 43 mass of water. (See " Bad Odors," i, d?) The first of these objections is met by making the trap a half S one, so that the fluids fall down one limb with sufficient force to wash out the bottom of the trap thoroughly with each discharge, and the second by the fresh-air inlet, which relieves the pressure that otherwise might force the traps. 15. The fresh-air inlet affords free entrance for air, and, as the m.ain lines of pipe are open above the roof, the difference in length of the pipes will give rise to a constant current of fresh air through them, in one direction or the other. (See " Bad Odors," I, <:.) This results in the oxidation cf whatever filth may cling to the pipes, and dilutes offensive gases so that they are rendered harmless. It has also been shown that the various microscopic organisms, which are believed to be the specific cause of certain dis- eases, increase in virulence, when they propagate in the absence or with a deficient supply of oxygen, while the intensity of their action is diminished if they grow where oxygen is plentiful. 16. Ventilation in chimney-flues. (See "Bad Odors," I, ^/.- Eight grains of chemically pure permanganate of potash in one ounce of distilled water. In half a pint of go SANITAR V INFORM A TION. the suspected water in a tumbler, put one drop of the solution. If the red color disappears in one half hour, add more. For every drop that loses color in the half-pint there will be found one and a half to two grains of putrid organic matter in a gallon of the water. If the action is rapid, the matter is probably animal ; if slow, vegetable. To purify such water, if it must be used, drop in the solution until a slight red tinge remains. The organic matter is then all oxidized and rendered harmless. It is better, however to boil such water before using it for drinking. Precautions with regard to Drinking- Water. Do not drink water that has been standing long in lead pipes, or lead cisterns or tanks. Filter it before drinking. See that the current of ground-water in the well from which you get your drinking-water is from the well toward any possible source of contamination (privy-vault, cesspool, etc.), and not vice versa. If the use of a suspected water is unavoidable, boil it first. It can be rendered palatable by an in- fusion of tea or coffee. APPENDIX A ALPHABETICAL LIST OF THE COMMON DISINFECT- ANTS, WITH A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF EACH, AND THE AVERAGE PRICE AT RETAIL. Carbolic Acid. — A product of the distillation of coal-tar. When pure and free from water, a trans- parent crystalline solid. Dissolves in twenty parts of cold water. Coagulates albuminous matters. A one- per-cent solution of it in water arrests putrefaction. For disinfection use at least a one-per-cent solution. The chief objection to its use is its odor. This may be modified to some extent by mixing the pure acid with camphor, forming a liquid, which may then be diluted. This acid is often used in combination with other disinfectants. A preparation much used by the New York City Board of Health for the dis- infection of clothing contains eight ounces of sul- phate of zinc and three ounces of carbolic acid to three gallons of water. Another for privies, water- closets, etc., is composed of ten pounds of copperas, one pint of carbolic acid, and five gallons of water. 92 SANITAR V INFORM A TION. The strong acid injures iron pipe. Do not use in combination with the permanganate of potash or the chloride of zinc. " Dead Oil " (heavy oil of coal- tar) contains from 5 to 15 per cent of carbolic acid mingled with impurities. It is used for the disinfec- tion of drains, streets, stables, etc. Thymol also occurs in coal-tar, but is usually obtained from oil of thyme. Its action is similar to that of carbolic acid. Carbolic Powders are made by mixing five parts of the pure acid, or ten parts of the crude, with one hundred parts of sawdust, clay, or lime. Squibb's Carbolic Acid (No. i), containing 77.90 per cent of pure acid, costs $1 a pint ; (No. 2), with 37.46 per cent of pure acid, 75 cents a pint. Different sam- ples examined (Waller), containing from .20 to .78 per cent, cost from 50 cents to $1 a pint. Crude acid, containing 50 per cent of acid, with many tarry impurities, costs less than $1 a gallon. Thymol, $1 per ounce. Charcoal. — Absorbs putrid gases. See Lime. Chloride of Lime. See Chlorine. Chloride of Zinc. See Zinc. Chlorine. — A pale, yellowish-green gas, of a suf- focating quality, possessing great bleaching and dis- infecting powers. When dry, it does not bleach. When moist, it combines with the hydrogen of water or of organic substances, and sets free the oxygen, which constitutes its disinfecting power. It decom- poses sulphureted hydrogen, ammonia, and in general compounds arising from the putrid fermentation of APPENDIX A. 93 organic matter. It is obtained as follows : Pour one pound of sulphuric acid, previously diluted with four times its volume of water, on three pounds of chlo- ride of lime. Mix in a large earthen dish to allow for frothing up. Or mix two parts, by weight, of the black oxide (dioxide) of manganese with three parts, by weight, of strong hydrochloric acid. The gas is evolved very rapidly, so that it is difficult to make the mixture complete before the fumes drive away the person manipulating it. The colors of hangings, etc., are apt to be bleached out by it, and metals are corroded. (See also Sulphurous Acid.) Chlo- ride of Lime. — Made by saturating slaked lime with chlorine-gas. It contains on an average about 30 per cent of available chlorine, to be set free by an acid. Very useful for disinfection of cellars, damp yards, and areas. One half pound in a gallon of water may be used for washing floors of sick-rooms, etc. Heat destroys its disinfecting properties. Chloride of Aluminum.— Action similar to but weaker than the iron and zinc salts, q. v. Sulphuric acid, black oxide of manganese, and hydrochloric acid, each 5 cents an ounce. Chloride of lime, 15 cents a pound. Copperas. (Green vitriol, sulphate of iron.)— Comes in pale-green crystals. It is an efficient disinfectant for privies, water-closets, stables, etc. Stains white goods. Acts by destroying sulphuret- ed hydrogen and ammonia. Also oxidizes organic compounds and coagulates albuminous matters. A 94 SANITARY INFORMATION, good mixture is four pounds of copperas and three ounces of carbolic acid to a gallon of water. » Ten cents a pound. One hundred pounds for $3 or less. Corrosive Sublimate. (Mercuric chloride.)—- The most powerful disinfectant known. Coagulates albuminous substances. A solution of one part in 2,000 of water kills microscopic organisms. Two drachms of this substance in a gallon of water (i to 500) makes a solution sure to destroy any disease- germ. It is a deadly poison, and can only be pur- chased under legal restrictions. Fifteen cents an ounce. Dead Oil. See Carbolic Acid. Green Vitriol. See Copperas. Gypsum. See Lime. Heat. — Boiling is a good disinfectant. Boil for at least an hour. If dry air is used, the temperature must be from 250° to 300° for five or six hours. Cotton and silk will stand a temperature of 295° for three hours without harm. Woolen suffers more. Iron, Sulphate of. See Copperas. Lime. — Twenty parts of quicklime, mixed with two parts of dry, fresh charcoal, form the calx- powder, as sold in the shops. It is useful to absorb putrid gases, when sprinkled in cellars, etc. Sul- phate of lime, or gypsum (plaster of Paris), min- gled with coal-tar or impure carbolic acid, is an ef- fective deodorant for stables and manure-heaps. It absorbs and retains ammonia, and therefore pre- APPENDIX A, 95 serves to the manure its most valuable constituent. Chloride of lime. See Chlorine. Quicklime, 5 cents a pound. Gypsum, 10 cents a pound. Nitrate of Lead.— Theoretically a good disin- fectant, but practically of little use. Five cents an ounce. Nitrous Acid. — Evolved in the form of brown- ish-red fumes, when nitric acid is poured on copper turnings. Very dangerous to inhale, and little used as a disinfectant. Ozone. — Is a form of oxygen, supposed to be three volum.es condensed into two. Is a powerful oxidizer. Corrodes cork, paper, and other organic substances. Oxidizes very rapidly compounds of ammonia, phosphorus, and sulphur, Avhich are offen- sive, instantly removing the odor. Simple vegeta- bles, like mould, are completely destroyed by it. Obtained by gradually mixing three parts of sulphu- ric acid with two parts of permanganate of potash. This mixture will continue to give off ozone for sev- eral months. Or, put a piece of phosphorus on a plate, and pour in water sufficient to cover two thirds of it. These methods are used in the patented ozone generators. Phosphorus, 40 cents an ounce ; sulphuric acid, 5 cents an ounce. Permanganate of Potash. — Dark purple crystals, almost black. A solution is of a beautiful purple color, but stains brown almost everything it touches. Can not be used with carbolic acid or the coal-tar disinfectants. Is a powerful oxidizer, and is 96 SANITARY INFORMATION. used to disinfect excreta, and to purify drinking- water. Fifty cents an ounce. Sulphate of Iron. See Copperas. Sulphate of Lime. See Lime. Sulphate of Zinc. See Zinc. Sulphurous Acid. An irrespirable gas, pro- duced by burning sulphur. Powerful disinfectant. Coagulates albuminous matters and probably de- stroys germs. Destroys sulphureted hydrogen and ammonia. Dry articles are not hurt by it, but wet clothes are bleached. Can not be used with chlorine, as they neutralize each other. Chlorine is as effect- ive, but is so destructive that it can only be used in empty rooms. It requires about a tablespoonful of alcohol to light a pound of sulphur. Sulphur (roll- brimstone), 10 cents a pound. Thymol. See Carbolic Acid. Zinc Salts. — The sulphate and the chloride of zinc are excellent disinfectants. They are colorless, and can therefore be used on clothing. They form, with albuminous matters, extremely insoluble com- pounds, and also absorb gases from putrefying ma- terial. They are the best disinfectants of their class. The sulphate is cheaper, but the chloride more effi- cient. Sulphate of zinc, lo cents an ounce ; chlo- ride of zinc, 20 cents an ounce. It is better and cheaper to buy and mix one's own disinfectants. The many proprietary articles are no more efficient, and are very expensive. The composition of some of those most in use is here APPENDIX A. 97 given. (Analyses by Waller, of the New York City Health Department.) The first column gives parts in loo, and the sec- ond, ounces in a gallon in the case of liquids, and ounces in a pound in case of powders. Bromochloralum (Tilden & Co.), 50 cents a pint. Chloride of aluminum 8.152 12.71 Water, bromide of aluminum, lime salts, etc. . . 91.848 143-25 ioo.(X)0 155.96 Burnett's Fluid is a solution of chloride of zinc (25 grains to the drachm). Carbolate of lime, in three-quarter pound boxes, at 25 cents. Lime 64.245 10.2S Magnesia 0.602 0.09 Sand, oxide of iron, etc 0.670 o.ii Carbolic acid 0.472 0.07 Carbonic acid and organic impurities 34-02i 5.45 100.000 16.00 Chloralum (English Chloralum Co.), 50 cents a pint. Chloride of aluminum 13.213 20.14 Sulphate of lime 0.197 0.30 Water, chloride of calcium, etc 86.590 131.99 100.000 152.43 Chloride of lime, 20 cents a pound. Available chlorine 31-38 5-02 Lime salts, water, etc 68.62 10.98 100.00 16.00 Condy's Fluid is a solution of permanganate of 7 98 - SANITARY INFORMATION. potash (9.26 grains to a fluid ounce, about 2^ drachms to the pint). Darby's Prophylactic Fluid, 50 cents a half -pint Permanganate of potash 0.055 0.08 Sulphate of potash 1.750 2.50 Chloride of potassium 1.270 1.81 Carbonate of potash 6.570 9.40 Water 90.355 129.24 100.000 143.03 Egyptian Disinfectant, 25 cents a pound. Clay 87.810 14.05 Lime 0.354 0.06 Carbolic acid 0.320 0.05 Other constituents of dead oil 5.685 0.91 Organic matter and water 5.831 0.93 100.000 16.00 Excelsior Disinfectant, 15 cents a pound. Protosulphate of iron (copperas) 31.464 5.03 Chloride of sodium (salt) 19.251 3.08 Flowers of sulphur 7.800 1.25 Water of crystallization, cassia-oil, etc 41.485 6.64 100.000 16.00 The Germicide is a patented apparatus for dis- charging chloride of zinc into the bowl of the water- closet, and impregnating the air at the same time with the vapor of thymol. Girondin Disinfectant, 75 cents a quart. Sulphate of zinc 19.692 32.64 Sulphate of copper 1.202 1.99 Sulphate of lime 0.480 0.79 Water, traces of calcium chloride, etc 78.626 130.34 100.000 165.76 APPENDIX A. 99 Labarraque's Solution, 50 cents a pint. Available chlorine 1423 i-Q^ Water and soda salts 98-577 135-54 i(X>.ooo 137.50 Metropolitan Disinfectant, 30 cents a quart. Protosulphate of iron (copperas) 11413 i7-io Carbolic acid (about) 3-330 4-99 Water, dead oil, and impurities 85.257 127.74 100.000 149.83 Phenix Disinfectant, 35 cents a pound. . Silicate of alumina (clay) 56.876 9,10 Sesquichloride of iron 1.192 o.ig Sesquioxide of iron 7.102 1.14 Lime 2.470 0.39 Carbolic acid 0.400 0.06 Carbonic acid and organic impurities 31.960 5.12 100.000 16.00 Phenol Sodique, 50 cents a half pint. Carbolic acid 1.177 i-6i Soda salts, water, and impurities 98.823 134.29 100.000 135.90 Piatt's Chlorides, 50 cents a quart. Solu ion chloride of zinc (saturated) 40 parts. lead calcium aluminum magnesium potassium , 20 15 15 5 5 100 APPENDIX B List of the prices of plumber's materials and labor, from which a rough estimate may be formed of the probable cost of proposed plumbing. The prices given are wholesale ones, and it must be re- membered that every plumber is also a retail mer- chant, who obtains his materials at a discount, and charges them to his customer at an average advance of lo or 15 per cent on the prices here given. All measurements are of inside diameters. Bands. — Ordinary thickness, 2 by 2 inches, 75 cents ; 6 by 6 inches, $1.90. Intermediate sizes at corresponding prices. Bends and Offsets. — Two inches in diameter, 40 cents; extra heavy, 50 cents. Six inches in diameter, §1.20 ; extra heavy, $1.75. Cisterns and Service-boxes (for water-closets), $10 to $20 ; (waste-preventing), $13 to $26. Offsets. See Bends. Pipe. — Tile or earthenware (vitrified), in lengths of 2i feet each, 2 -inch, 13 cents a foot ; 3 -inch, 16 cents a foot ; 4-inch, 20 cents a foot ; and 5 cents more per foot for each additional inch of diameter. APPENDIX B. loi Iron, in lengths of 5 feet each : Ordinary, about 10 cents a foot for every inch of diameter. Ex- tra heavy, about twice as much. Double-hub pipe, about 6 cents a foot more. The tar-coat- ing costs about 3 cents a foot for 2-inch pipe, 4 cents for 3-inch pipe, etc. Lead, about 9 cents a pound. Manufactured pipe (traps, etc.), 10 cents a pound. Qualities are marked according to thickness — i. e., weight for each size, AAA (best), AA, A, B, C, D. and E. f-inch pipe, AAA weighs i pound 12 ounces per foot ; B weighs i pound per foot ; C weighs 14 ounces per foot ; D weighs 7 ounces per foot, f-inch pipe, AAA weighs 3 pounds 8 ounces per foot ; AA weighs 2 pounds 12 ounces per foot ; B weighs 2 pounds per foot. |-inch pipe, AAA weighs 4 pounds 14 ounces per foot ; B weighs 2 pounds 3 ounces per foot, i-inch pipe, AAA weighs 6 pounds per foot ; AA weighs 4 pounds 8 ounces per foot ; A weighs 4 pounds per foot ; B weighs 3 pounds 4 ounces per foot ; D weighs 2 pounds 4 ounces per foot. 2-inch pipe, AAA weighs 10 pounds 11 ounces per foot ; AA weighs 8 pounds 14 ounces per foot ; A weighs 7 pounds per foot ; B weighs 6 pounds per foot ; D weighs 4 pounds per foot. 3-inch pipe, f thick, weighs 19 pounds 9 ounces per foot, 4-inch pipe, f thick, weighs 25 pounds 6 ounces per foot, and so on. For supply-pipes, AA pipe is generally used* 102 SANITARY INFORMATION. Privy-Sinks.— About $5 for every foot in length. Saddle-Hubs. — 2 by 2 inches, 30 cents f extra heavy, 40 cents. 6 by 6 inches, $1.10 ; extra heavy, $1.40. School-Sinks. See Privy-Sinks. Traps. — Adee traps about 5 cents apiece less than ordinary S-traps, and Bower traps about twice as much. Earthenware, 2-inch, %\ each; 6-inch, $3.25 each. Iron (S-traps), 2-inch, 80 cents ; extra heavy, $1.25; 6-inch, $3.75; extra heavy, $5. Run- ning traps, with or without hand-holes, about the same. Lead, made of 6-pound lead (lead weighing 6 pounds to the square foot), i J-inch, 65 cents ; i-|-inch, 80 cents ; 2-inch, $1. 10 ; 4|^-inch, $3.25, etc. Urinals. — (Earthenware), $5 to $6 each. Wash-Basins. — (Iron, enameled or marbled), $1.50 to $4-50. Water-ClosetS. — Demarest's (plunger), $15 to $40. Earthenware hopper, $10 to $12. Earthenware hopper, with trap, waste-preventing cistern, chain and bracket, wood-seat, etc., $30. Hopper-valve closet, with self-raising, round seat, $9. Pan-Closets.— $4.50 to $22. A journeyman and helper are charged for at the rate of from $5 to $6 per day. INDEX Acid, carbolic, 72, 91. carbonic, 7-9, 13, 15. carbonic, test for, 9. hydrochloric, 93. nitric, 88. nitrous, 95. sulphuric, 89, 93, 95. sulphurous, 70, 96. Adulterations of food, 73. Air, contaminated by combus- tion, 9. contaminated by excreta, 12, 21. contaminated by respira- tion, 8, II. contaminated by the sick, II. dangers of impure, 1 1-14. Air-bound, pipes, 57. Air in ground, 15. Alum, 75. Aluminum, chloride of, 93. Annotto, 77, 78. Areas, drainage of, 34. Arrowroot, 74. Asphalt in walls, 34, 66. Bacilli, II, 14. Bacteria, 1 1. Bad odors, sources of, 52. Bakers' chemicals, 74. Baking-powders, 75. Ball-cock, 48. Bands, 60, loo. Basins, 32, 102. Bath-tubs, 30. Bedclothing, disinfection of, 69. Beer, 75. Bends, 42, 100. Blow-offs, 33- Board of Health, plumbing rules of, 25. Boilers, sediment-pipe of, 32. Boiling, disinfection by, 94. Brandy, 76. Bread, 76. Brimstone, 67, 96. Bromo-chloralum, 97. Burnett's Fluid, 97. Butter, 76. Caldwell, G. C, Ph. D., 78, 82. Calking of joints, 45. Calx-powder, 94. Candy, 77. Canned fruits and vegetables, 77- Canned meats, 78. Caramel, 76. Carbolate of lime, 97. Carbolic acid, 72, 91. powders, 92. Carbonic acid, 7-9, 13, 15. Carbureted hydrogen, 12. 104 INDEX. Carmichael, 46. Carpene, 85, Cast-iron pipes, 44, lOI. Cellars, 34, 66. Cemented joints, 52. Cement, tempered-up, 26, 39. Cereals, 78. Cesspools, 12, 34, 35. Chandler, C. F., Professor, 67, 82, 83. Charcoal, 94. Cheese, 78. Check-valves, 47. Chester, A. H., Ph. D., 79, 80. Chiccory, 79. Chicken-pox, 12. Chimneys as pipe-vents, 44. Chimneys, smoky, 20. Chloralum, 97. Chloride of aluminum, 93. of lime, 71, 93, 97. mercuric, 94. of sodium, 89. of zinc, 70, 96. Chlorine, method of obtaining, 92. properties of, 96. test for, 88. Chocolate, 78. Cholera, precautions vs., 72. propagation of, 14. Chromate of lead in candy, 77. Cisterns for water-closets, 32, 47- City houses, drainage of, 65. Closet, earth, 23. Closets, water, 39, 102. Clothing, disinfection of, 69. Cocoa, 78. Coffee, 78. extract of, 79. Coffins, air-tight, 70. Cognac, 76. Colby, A. L., Ph. B., 83. Combustion, g. Condensers, 33. ^ Condy's fluid, 97. Confectionery, 77. Connections, pipe, 30, 52. Construction, faulty, 52. Consumption, precautions vs., 72. propagation of, 12, 72. Contagious diseases, propaga- tion of, II. Copperas, 70, 93. solution of, 67, 70. Copper, sulphate of, 77. Corpses, disinfection of, 69, 71. Corrosive sublimate, 94. Country houses, drainage of, 50, 65. Cream of tartar, 74. Cushioning, 42, 44, 56. how determined, 61. Damp soil, danger of, 15. Dampers, position of, 19. Darby's Prophylactic Fluid, 98. Dead bodies, disinfection of, 69, 71. Dead oil, 92. Deodorizers, 67. Diphtheria, precautions vs., 72. propagation of, 12, 72. Discharges, disinfection of, 68. Diseases, contagious, 1 1. Disinfectant, Egyptian, 98. Excelsior, 98. Girondin, 98. Metropolitan, 99. Phenix, 99. Disinfectants, 91. how to use, 67. Disinfection, 66. National Board of Health rules for, 67. of bedclothing, 69. INDEX. 105 Disinfection of clothing, 69, 91. of corpses, 6g, 71. of furniture, 69. of premises, 68, 92, 94. of privies, 71, 91. of water-closets, 71, 91. of woolen stuffs, etc., 69. Double windows, 20. Drain, fall of, 27. house, 35. house, trap in, 42. location of, 27. pipes, 59. size of, 27. Drainage, 21. diagram of, 49. essentials of, 24. examination of, 61. of city houses, 65. of country houses, 50, 65. of farm-houses, 65, of sea-side houses, 65. New York City Board of Health, 25. subsoil, 50. Drains, defective, 52, 59. Draughts, how produced, 1 7, 20. how to avoid, 20. when perceived, 17. Drinking-water, tanks for, 33, 86. tests of, 89. Durand-Claye, 13. Durham house-drainage sys- tem, 44. Dysentery, precautions vs,, 72. propagation of, 14. Earth as a disinfectant, 23. closet, 23. Earthenware pipes, 26, 59, lOO. Egyptian Disinfectant, 98. Engelhardt, F. E., Ph. D., 76, 79, 82, 84, 85. Erysipelas, propagation of, 14. Evaporation from traps, 60. Excelsior Disinfectant, 98. Excreta, contamination of air by, 14, 21. dangers from, 14, 21. removal of, 24. Exhaust-steam in soil-pipes, 33, 50. Farm-houses, drainage of, 65. Faulty construction of drains, 52. Ferrules, 30, 45, 52. Fever, malarial, 14, puei'peral, 14. scarlet, 1 1, 72. typhoid, 14, 72. typhus, II, 73. yellow, 14, 72. Field's flush-tank, 50. Filters, 87. Fireplace, Galton's, 18, 19. Fireplaces, 18. Flanges, lead, 53. Flues for ventilation, 20. Flush-tank, 50. Fomites, 71, 73. Food, 73. Fresh-air inlet, 28, 43. Fruits, canned, 77. Fumigation, methods of, 68, 69. precautions during, 70. treatment of rooms after, 70. Funerals, 71. Furniture, disinfection of, 69. of sick-room, 68. Fusel-oil, 76, 84. Galton's fireplace, 18, 19. Gas, sewer, composition of, 12. Gasket, 45. General debility, 11, 13. io6 INDEX. German measles, 12. Germicide, 98. Gin, 79, Girondin Disinfectant, 98. Glucose, 75, 79, 82. Grains, cereal, 78. Green vitriol, 70, 93. Ground air, danger of, 15. air, exclusion of, 66. water, high and low, 15. Gum-drops, 77. Gypsum, 74, 79, 94. Hand-holes, 59. Heat, disinfection by, 94. Honey, 79. Hops, 75. Horizontal pipes, 28. Horse-radish, 79. Hospital gangrene, 14. House-drain, 35. drain, trap in, 27, 42. drainage, Durham system of, 44. drainage, essentials of, 24. sewer, material of, 26. Hydrant-sinks, 35. Hydrochloric acid, 93. Impurity of air, measure of, 9. Inlet, fresh-air, 28, 43. Iodide of potassium, 89. Iron, sulphate of, 93. Iron pipes, weight of, 29. Isinglass, 79. Jel'ies, 79. Joints, calking of, 45, 52. cement, 52, 59. imperfect, 59. lead, 45, 52. putty, 52, 59. Joints, rust, 30, 45. wiped, 46. Labarraque's Solution, 99. Labor, plumber's, 102. Lactometer, method of using, 81, Lard, 80. Lattimore, S. A., Ph. D., 77- 79, 82-84. Lead, chromate of, 77. dissolving of, in water, 86. flanges, 53. nitrate of, 95. Leaders, bad odors from, 53. as soil-pipes, 33, 49. trapping of, 33, 53. Lead pipes, weight of, loi. Letheby, 13. Lime, 94. chloride of, 93. sulphate of, 94. Louvered sky-light, 39, Love, E. G., Ph. D., 74-76, 78. Malarial fevers, 14. Manganese, oxide of, 93. Marsh-gas, 13. Measles, precautions vs., 72. propagation of, ii. Meat, 80. Meats, canned, 78. preserved, poisoning by, 80. Mercuric chloride, 94. Mercury seal for traps, 39. Metropolitan Disinfectant, 99. Microscopic organisms, ii, 43. Milk, composition of, 81. Mines, air of, 7. Morin, estimate by, 19. Movable tanks for excreta, 22. Mumps, 12. Munsell, C. E., Ph. D., 81. INDEX, 107 National Board of Health, rules, etc., 67. Nichols, Professor W. R., 8, 12, 87. Nitrate of lead, 95. of silver, 88. Nitrates, tests for, 89. Nitric acid, 88. Nitrites, test for, 89. Nitrogen, 7. in sewers, 12, 13. Nitrous acid, 95. New York City Board of Health, rules, etc., 25. New York State Board of Health, rules, etc., 74. Oakum, 45. Odors, offensive, 52. Offsets, 35, 100. Oil, dead, 92. fusel, 76, 84. of cognac, 76. of peppermint, 63. olive, 81. Oleomargarine, 76. One trap, etc., how determined, 58, 62. Organic matter of respired air, 9- matters, test for, 89. Organisms, microscopic, 1 1, 43. Overflow-pipes, 32, 33, 46, 54, 58. Oxidation, 15, 43- Oxide of manganese, 93. Oxygen, 7, 8, 13. Ozone, 95. Pails for excreta, 22. Paris, plaster-of-, 94. Peppermint test, 63. Permanganate of potash, 95. Pettenkofer's test for carbonic acid, 9. Phenix Disinfectant, 99. Phenol Sodique, 99. Phosphorus, 95. Pickles, 82. Pipe connections, 30, 52. Pipes, air, 31. air-bound, 57. cast-iron, 27, 28, 44, lOl. corrosion of, 50, 59. drain, 27, 59. earthenware, 26, 100. galvanized iron, 59, 86. hub-end of, 44. iron, weight of, 29. lead, weight of, loi. obstruction of, 61. overflow, 32, 33, 46, 54, 58. rat-holes in, 59. service, 86. spigot-end of, 44. tarring of, 44, loi. traps on vertical, 29, 44. ventilating, size of, 31. waste, 28. wrought-iron, 44. Pitt, W. H., M. D., 77, 79- Plants, action of air on, 15. Plaster-of-Paris, 94. Piatt's chlorides, 99. Plumber's labor, 102. materials, lOi, 102. Pork, 80. Potash, permanganate of, 95. Potassium, iodide of, 89. Powders, calx, 94. carbolic, 92. Premises, disinfection of, 68, 92, 94. Privies, disinfection of, 71. Privy-sinks, 42, 102. Privy-vaults, construction of, 22, 34» 35- io8 INDEX. Privj'-vaults, contents of, 12. dangers of, 22. Pumpelly, 46. Purification of water, 87, 90. Putty-joints, 52, 54. Rat-holes in pipes, 59. Refrigerator wastes, 32. Respiration, organic matter of, 9- Return bend, 43. Rum, 82. Saddle-hubs, 60, 102. Safes, 32, 46. draining of, 32, 54. Safe-wastes, 32, 54. Saleratus, 74. Salt, 67, 70, 89. *' Sanitar)' Engineer," 51. Scarlet fever, precautions vs., 72. propagation of, ir. School-sinks, 34, 42, 102. Seal of trap, 36. Sea-side houses, drainage of, 65. Seine, mud of, 13. Ser^ace-pipes, 86. Sewer-air, effects attributed to, 13. Sewer-gas, composition of, 12. Sewer, house, material of, 26. Sewer-water, 13, Sewers, contents of, 12. private, 26. Sherringham valve, 17. Sick-room, care of, 67, 70. precautions on entering, 73. Sinks, 30. Siphonage, 58. how determined, 62. prevention of, 31, 58. Sirups, 82. Sky-light, louvered, 39. Sleeves, 30, 45. Slops, dangers from, 21. Small-pox, precautions vs.^ 71. propagation of, 11. Smoky chimneys, 20. Smith, Angus, 8. Soil, damp, danger of, 15. Soil-pipe, 35. material and size of 28. Spices, 82. Stables, disinfection of, 94. Starch, 75, 89. Squibb's carbolic acid, 92. Steam in soil-pipes, 33, 50. Steam-coils, heating by, ig. Subsoil drainage, 50. Sugar, 82. Sulphate of copper, 77. of iron, 89, 93. of lime, 94. of zinc, 67, 96. Sulphide of ammonium, 12. Sulphur, 67, 96. use of, in disinfection, 68. Sulphureted hydrogen, 12, 13. Sulphuric acid, 89, 95. Sulphurous acid, 70, 96. Syrups (see Sirups), Tanks for drinking-water, 33, 86. lining of, 33. movable, for excreta, 22. Tarring of pipes, 44, loi. Teas, 83, Terra alba, 74, 75, 77. Test, Cai-pene's, for wine, 85, for carbonic acid, 9. for chlorine, 88. for nitrates, 89. for nitrites, 89. INDEX. 09 Test for organic matters, in water, 89. peppermint, 63. water, 45. Thymol, 72, 92, 98. Tin in canned fruits, 77. in sirups, 82. Traps, 35, 102. cleaning of, 60. efficiency of, 46. empty, how to determine, 62. in house-drains, 27, 42. on vertical pipes, 29, 44. position of, 30. unsealing of, by cushion- ing, 56. unsealing of, by evapora- tion, 60. unsealing of, by siphoning, 58. various kinds of, 36, 102. ventilation of, 31. Trap-screws, 59. Trichinae, 80. Typhoid fever caused by water, 88. precautions vs., 72. propagation of, 14. Typhus fever, precautions vs., 73- propagation of, ii. Urinals, 30, 102. Valve-closets, dangers of, 47. Valves, check, 47. Vegetables, canned, 77. Ventilating shaft, 25. Ventilation, 15. different methods of, 17- 19. flues for, 20. Ventilation of pipes, 31, 54, 58. Ventilators, whirling, 20. Vent-pipes, 54. Vertical pipes, traps on, 29, 44. Vinegar, 84. Waller, Elwyn, Ph. D., 83, 97. Walls, damp-proof courses in, 66. Wash-trays and tubs, 30. Waste-pipes, 35. material of, 28. trapping of, 30. Water, 86. drinking, tanks for, 33, 86. drinking, tests of, 89. impure, disorders due to, 88. in lead pipes, 86. iron pipes for, 86. of sewers, 13. pollution of, 87. precautions regarding, 90. purification of, 90. typhoid fever caused by, 88. _ Water-carriage, 24. Water-closets, 39, 102. cisterns for, 32, 47, lOO. disinfection of, 71, 91. valve, dangers of, 47. Water-seal, 36, 46. Water test, the, 45. Weight of iron pipe, 29. of lead pipe, loi. Wernich, 46. Whirling ventilators, 20. Whisky, 76, 84. Whooping-cough, propagation of, 12. Windows, double, 20. no INDEX. Wine, how to tell good, 84. tests of, 85. Wiped joints, 46. Woolen stuffs, disinfection of, 69. Wrought-iron pipes, 44, Y-branches, 42. Yards, drainage of, 34. Yellow fever, 14, 72. Zinc, chloride of, 70, 96. sulphate of, 67, 96. THE END. WORKS ON HYGIENE. T-Jealth Primers. Edited by J. Langdon Down, m.d., F.R.C.P., Henry Power, M.B., F.R.C.S., J. Morti- mer-Granville, M. D., John Tweedy, F. R. C. S. In square 16mo volumes. 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