HH62/1/CAITHN/3

Transcription

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of villages and populous localities. This implies the erection of
closets in connection with every house.

Sanitary Improvements.
The Sanitary Improvements to be aimed at throughout
the County may be included under the general designation of
better attention to cleanliness - cleanliness as to air, water, and
food supplies, and cleanliness of the clothing and of the person.
The drawbacks to obtaining pure air in the houses of the people
are very considerable. The houses in many of the districts are
defective in structure and arrangement. The floors and founda-
tions are often damp, and the roofs and walls leaky. There is
a want of sufficient light and ventilation, and generally no drain-
age, so that pools of filth are observed lying about in all directions.
The dunghills are, for the most part, too near the dwellings, and
are often found heaped up against the backwalls of the houses.
There is over-crowding in several of the smaller houses.
but this is not so marked in the sitting rooms, during the day
time, where fires are burning and doors occasionally open, as
during the night, when the inmates shut themselves up in "box
beds," or stow themselves away into dark recesses, or unventilated
closets, Side windows, if they exist, are seldom opened, and the
sleeping apartments remain close and stuffy. An idea prevails
that fresh air is either unnecessary or injurious during sleeping
hours, so that every opening and crevice by which pure air can
find entrance is carefully closed. If draughts however be
avoided, and the body kept perfectly warm, cold fresh air can be
breathed by those in health as safely during the night as during
the day, and with every advantage to health.
In many places the old style of houses, - where the cattle
live under the same roof and enter at the same door with the
inmates - is common.
The office houses on many of the crofts are also very
unsatisfactory, being badly paved, without drains, and generally
dark and filthy. They are frequently crowded on to the dwellings
and prevent the circulation of fresh air around the houses.
Under the conditions thus briefly detailed, the air must
necessarily be always more or less impure, and bad smells from
the effluvia of decomposing matter be always present. This state
of matters not only lowers the general health, but provides a
suitable medium for the development of micro-organisms and
disease germs. In many cases no improvement can be suggested
short of total demolition, in others a good deal might be done
in the way of draining, paving. lighting, and ventilating, with
attention to cleanliness generally.
The water supply in a great number of cases is subject to
pollution. The wells in the County, from the nature of the
geological formation, are generally shallow dip-wells. They are
apt to receive washings from the surface, and are often fed by
agricultural drains which convey soakage from manured fields.
In other cases they are subject to direct sewage contamination,
from being situated in too close proximity to farm steadings and
dung heaps, and often at a lower level. Wells should be deeply
sunk so as to catch the water from as low a stratum as possible.
They should be enclosed by impervious walls, which should be

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raised above the surface of the ground to the extent of nine or
ten inches. By this arrangement water cannot enter the well
except from the bottom, and its filtration through a deep layer
of subsoil would be ensured,
Articles of food are liable to be polluted and adulterated
in many ways, and in most cases it is impossible for the consumer
to be protected without public intervention. The "Food and
Drugs Adulteration Act" should be adopted, and a Public
Analyst appointed for the County.
Milk is especially liable to contamination, and has been
frequently a medium in spreading such diseases as Scarlatina,
Typhoid Fever, and Consumption. Care should be taken to use
the milk of cows which are absolutely healthy. Byres and the
cows themselves should be kept very clean, and the dishes and
the hands of the milkers scrupulously so. Milk should not be
stored in sitting rooms nor in bedrooms, nor in milk houses
having communication with dwelling houses, which is frequently
the case throughout the County. As already mentioned, dairies
and all sellers of milk in however small quantities should be
registered in order that the cows and byres may be regularly
inspected. No one suffering or recovering from an infectious
disorder should approach the byres nor handle the milk, and
any illness that may arise amongst the cows should be notified
at once to the Sanitary Authorities, and the affected animals
examined forthwith by a duly qualified veterinary Surgeon.
The flesh of diseased animals, or meat otherwise unwhole-
some, is also a source of danger. All meat therefore intended
for human food should be subjected to regular inspection. Un-
fortunately the principal slaughter houses are situated in the
Towns and are therefore beyond the control of the County Local
Authority, and where I understand there is little or no arrange-
ment for their inspection. This is one reason among many
others for having the town and rural districts put under the
management of one Sanitary Authority.
Cleanliness of clothing and of the body, cleanliness and
skill in cooking and in domestic arrangements and personal
hygiene generally are matters for individual effort and control,
and improvements under this head must largely depend upon
a higher standard of living, wider diffusion of knowledge, and a
better training.
In October last I briefly reported to the District Com-
mittee on the principal villages in the County and called
attention to their insanitary condition. Last year the village of
Castletown was very fully and ably reported upon by my
predecessor Dr Brock, when he pointed out the necessity for
certain sanitary reforms which I entirely endorse. The water
supply of the villages is obtained mostly from surface wells. It
is unsufficient in quantity especially during the dry months of
the year and is generally liable to pollution. There is no proper
drainage, no closet accommodation, and no properly constructed
ashpits. The want of water is much felt at Lybster, Latheron-
wheel, and Scrabster, which are fishing stations, and where there
is a large accession to the population for two or three months of
the year. At Scrabster I am informed, by Fishcurers, Fisher-
men and others, that the scarcity amounted almost to a water