d. Owing to a want of
knowledge or of skill in their construction there is not sufficient
fall to carry away their contents, nor is there any system of flushing
to drive out the sediment and cleanse the pipes. Consequently, there
is a horrible odor ascending at all times from the open gratings, and
frequently the pipes become choked, so as to necessitate the
uncovering of the receptacle at a junction, and the taking out and
carting away of the hideous slime--an operation which, of course, adds
temporary intensity to the usual stench.

Another source of polluted air is the cellars of a great proportion of
the houses. Of course the families living in the several flats of each
building are all dependent upon one cellar, which is divided off into
compartments according to the number of stories in the house. These
compartments, however, are in many instances separated from each other
by a mere partition of laths or rough boards, so that any want of
cleanliness on the part of an individual house-keeper is sure to
disturb all her neighbors. Owing to the custom of allowing small shops
to be kept in the ground-floor of dwelling-houses there is apt to be a
mingling of articles for storage in the cellar such as is neither
agreeable nor wholesome. Thus, for instance, a dairywoman will fill
the shelves of her compartment with pans of milk: her next neighbor is
perhaps a small dealer in wood, coal and turf, and raises a dust
accordingly; the greengrocer opposite makes the air damp and bitter
with his heaps of neglected vegetables; while the butcher not only has
a right to hang up his newly-slaughtered animals and chop his
sausage-meat inside of his particular compartment, but may allow a
living pig or calf, whose death-hour has not yet arrived, to roam up
and down the dark passages, to the increase of the general dirt and
discomfort. In this connection it may be well to enter a protest
against the Munich regulation, or absence of regulation, which allows
every butcher to slaughter pigs, calves and sheep upon his own
premises. To say nothing of the shocking sights and sounds which are
thereby forced upon the attention of the dwellers in the neighborhood
of such shops, it is impossible, considering the defective drainage
and insufficient water supply, that the practice should not be of
serious injury to the public health. There are also many cellars which
are rented out entirely to fruiterers and green-grocers not living in
the buildi