Sewers

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When from a little village, there arises in a few years, a large city, ono of the first and most important considerations ought to be the sewerage of the place, as on this depends the well-being in mind and body of its inhabitants. No city ought to be built where there is not a sufficient fall for ite sewerage, and it will be found in the plans of all ancient cities that the builders knew of this advantage, although often their waste ran through the open streets. Yet, in the history of the past, there is nothing the subject of so much praise and elegant description as a "city set on a hill," and one of its chief advantages was its facilities for getting rid of the sewerage material. In all places drains are an important consideration wherever any number of persons are congregated together, and as health is our dearest blessing, it should be first attended to. One of the most valuable means of doing so is to take care that near our dwellings, or in the places where we meet, there are no heaps of decaying animal or vegetable substances which can impair our health, or render us unfit for the discharge of our duties, as most assuredly they do.

Scientific American Magazine Vol 13 Issue 11This article was published with the title “Sewers” in Scientific American Magazine Vol. 13 No. 11 (), p. 83
doi:10.1038/scientificamerican11211857-83e

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