At a very old historical building in London a retiring-place was found to be made at the top of a two-storied building, and a shaft built in the walls for the purpose of conveying excreta to an opening leading into the River Thames. Figure 345 is a sketch section showing the shaft. A plain seat was originally fixed over the top of the shaft, until the stench that escaped became unbearable, when a water-closet basin and trap were introduced. As this did not improve matters very much, it was finally decided to fix a lead soil pipe, as shown, the men and necessary materials being lowered from the top. A drain was also fixed from the bottom of the soil pipe to an adjoining sewer. There is no doubt the shaft remains an evil, as the walls were partly covered with excreta, and it is more than probable that the smells from this can pass through into the adjoining rooms.

Some people are under the impression that anything in the shape of a tube will do for conveying soil from a water-closet to a drain, and all sorts of schemes are practised with that object, but with varying degrees of success. In some modern cases common drain pipes have been fixed as soil-conduits. In other cases drain pipes have been used and fastened to the walls of houses with pieces of hoop-iron. In another case common drain pipes were built in a party-wall between two houses to act as a ventilator to the house drains. In this case a week was spent in fruitless search for the cause of smells in the drawingroom, when it was decided to take down the wooden skirtings. In doing this the wooden plugs, driven into the joints of the brickwork for fixing the skirtings to, came out, and a loose brick was also found. On removing this brick the source of evil was discovered.

Figure 345.

Figure 346 is an illustration showing this. Drain pipes, no matter how well the joints may be made in the first instance, are not to be trusted to either for the conveyance of soil or for vent pipes to drains.

Zinc is not a proper material for soil pipes. In some suburban residences, built by jerry builders, zinc pipe has been used, and, in less than twelve months, holes have been eaten through by the gases emanating from sewage. In some cases D-traps made of zinc have been discovered beneath water-closets; one exhibited at the Parkes Museum of Hygiene, in London, is literally all in pieces. In spite of the knowledge that zinc is not a good material to use, there are a great many cases where it is being put in by scamping builders.

A common way of fixing the soil pipe at small residences is shown at Figure 347, which is a section of a back part of a house. Ordinary iron rain-water pipe is fixed up to A, when a short piece of lead pipe is inserted, and a lead branch pipe carried through the wall to the trap of the water-closet. Above this the vertical pipe is continued to eaves-gutter to receive rainwater from the roof. It is very rarely that the joints of the pipes are made air-tight, and, even if they were, smells escaping from the top of the vent and rain-water pipe can pass into any open window, as denoted by the arrows. The joints of the pipes, when made at all, are made of red-lead cement. If in the sun, these joints soon become defective. The expansion and contraction of the metal pulls the cement out of the socket, as shown in section, Figure 348. In some cases when the cement has been finished flush with the top edge of the socket, two or three days' sunshine will cause it to stand up from 1/4 to 3/4-inch, as shown at A, leaving a crack through which any smells can escape. The sun has no effect on iron pipes when fixed inside the house, but it is almost impossible to make sound joints to them. Out of some hundreds of tests made, the writer has never yet found an iron pipe' of this description to stand either the peppermint or smoke tests, defective joints being the rule and not the exception.

Figure 340.

Figure 347.

At a first-class (?) house in the West-end of London the soil pipe was of the same description as mentioned above, and also acted as a drain ventilation pipe, the top end being connected to the gutter of the roof to receive the rainwater. It was complained that none of the back windows could be opened on account of the smells that escaped from the pipes.

Figure 349 is part of the back elevation of the house, with the projection built for the water - closet shown in section. Figure 350 is a plan of one floor, and Figure 351 of the roof over projection, bathroom, and housemaid's closet. The sketches speak for themselves, the arrows denoting the evils complained of. The waste pipe from the bath and the sink, which also received chamber slops, discharged on to the roof, which was offensive from the splashings of the slops. In addition to the defects pointed out, there were no traps beneath the sink or bath, so that the smells from the drains were laid on to the house by means of the waste pipes.

Figure 348.

Figure 349.

Figure 350.

Figure 351.

The writer could give numerous examples of this class of work, and cases where purchasers have tried to save a few pounds by not employing a sanitary expert to advise them, before purchasing a house, as to its sanitary arrangements, preferring rather to run the risk of being duped by unscrupulous builders.

Another example is given at Figure 352 of one house in a street, all the others being arranged in the same careful (?) manner. In this case the soil pipe was of lead up to the point B, and the joints were properly soldered, but, above that, iron pipe was fixed to take the rain-water from the roof. The joints were not made air-tight, so that smells could escape. The head on the top end was dangerously near a window, but the greatest evils were the branch pipe to carry off rain-water from the lower roof, which was only 2 1/2 feet from a bedroom window, and the overflow from the cistern, which supplied drinking-water for the household, connected to the branch rainwater pipe. The arrows show the defective arrangements, which, perhaps, were the cause of the illness of the inmates, and which led to the examination and dis-covery of the evils.

Figure 353 is a fragmentary section showing a defect that recently came under the writer's notice. This was in the house of a medical officer of health. The stench in the water-closet was so great that it was thought advisable to take away the old pan water-closet and D-trap, and fix a better kind of trap and an apparatus of a more sanitary description. The floor of the water-closet was taken up for access to change the trap, when it was discovered that a hole was eaten through the lead by sewage gases, so that it was necessary to change the branch soil pipe. On cutting away the brick wall for that purpose a slip-joint was found, as shown at C. The discovery of this defect may almost be termed accidental, as it was hidden in the brickwork and could not be seen until the wall was cut away.

Figure 352.

Figure 353.

This is an example of how some builders plumb their houses: They will let the plumbing, piece-work, to some journeyman plumber, as unprincipled as themselves, at a price that would scarcely pay for good materials. The plumber, to make the work profitable, will make several T-pieces, and solder short pieces of soil pipe on to D-traps, which are generally made of five-pound lead, at his home. The T-pieces are sent on to the job and fixed, perhaps, by the bricklayer. A few days afterward the plumber will" bring the traps, socket them in the branches of the T's, as shown at Figure 353, and, after the carpenter has laid the floor, will fix the water-closet apparatus and pipes to flush them, and the job is completed. The writer has known dealers of materials to go round and buy up old pan water-closet apparatuses, do them up, and sell them cheap to the above class of builders.

It is to be hoped that the long-talked-of registration of plumbers in England will soon be a fact, and, in addition, that properly-qualified inspectors of plumbers' work will be appointed, and laws passed to make it a criminal offence to do any plumbers' work in such a way as to be injurious to the health of the poor victims of people who have to live in the above kind of houses.*

* Since writing the above, some hundreds of plumbers have been registered by the Plumbers' Company, and better things are now to be hoped for.