CHAPTER XVII.

TRADE NUISANCES.

Many occupations are the source of considerable danger to the workers engaged in them. They are chiefly injurious by the inhalation into the lungs of some foreign agent, which produces serious local inconveniences and irritation, and may be also absorbed into the circulation and produce more remote effects.

The injurious agents may be classified under four heads:—

(1) Insoluble particles or dust.

(2) Soluble or partially soluble substances.

(3) Injurious gases or vapours.

(4) Effluvia from offensive trades.

It is evident that, as regards the effluvia named under (4), they might generally be included under the three previous heads, though it is convenient for our present purpose to keep them separate.

The occupations in which dust and soluble substances are productive of injurious effect have already been described, pages 107 to 109.

Injurious gases and vapours have received consideration on pages 111 and 112. The special offensive trades still require attention.

=Offensive Trades.=—The legal enactments relating to offensive trades are contained in sect. 112 of the Public Health Act, 1875, which states, any person who, after the passing of this Act, establishes within the district of an urban sanitary authority, without their consent in writing, any offensive trade, that is to say, the trade of—

Blood boiler, or Bone boiler, or Fellmonger, or Soap boiler, or Tallow melter, or Tripe boiler, or any other noxious or offensive trade, business, or manufacture,

shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding fifty pounds in respect of the establishment thereof, and a penalty not exceeding forty shillings for every day on which the offence is continued.

These provisions can only be enforced in rural districts with the sanction of the Local Government Board.

The “other noxious or offensive trades,” in order to be brought within the operation of the section, must be analogous to those which are specially enumerated.

The most exhaustive and authoritative report on this subject is by the late Dr. Ballard, whose report is largely quoted in the following remarks.

We may consider (1) _the extent to which the public is inconvenienced by various effluvium nuisances_. The majority of the nuisances arise from trade processes in which animal matters are chiefly used. Among the most disgusting are the effluvia from gut-scraping, and the preparation of sausage skins and catgut, the preparation of artificial manures from “skutch” (the refuse matter of the manufacture of glue), the manufacture of some kinds of artificial manures, and the melting of some kinds of fat. Manufacturing businesses dealing with vegetable substances are often offensive, but rarely give out disgusting effluvia. The most offensive vegetable effluvia are probably those thrown off during the heating of vegetable oils, as in the boiling of linseed oil, the manufacture of palmitic acid from cotton oil or palm oil, the manufacture of some kinds of varnish, the drying of fabrics coated with such varnishes, and the burning of painted articles, such as disused meat-tins.

Occasionally offensive effluvia arise in connection with industries in which neither vegetable nor animal matters are used; as in the manufacture of sulphate or chloride of ammonia, and some other processes in which sulphuretted hydrogen is copiously evolved; and in the making of gas and the distillation of tar. The fumes from the manufacture of alkali and bleaching powder are acid and irritating, and produce very injurious effects on vegetation in the neighbourhood.

The distances to which nuisances extend vary greatly according to circumstances—as, for instance, the elevation at which the effluvia are discharged into the air. Discharge from a high chimney may relieve the immediate vicinity of the works at the partial expense of those living at a greater distance. With a damp and comparatively stagnant atmosphere, effluvia have a much greater tendency to cling about a neighbourhood.

(2) The industrial processes in which offensive effluvia are produced are _classified_ by Dr. Ballard as follows:—

1. The keeping of animals.

2. The slaughtering of animals.

3. Other branches of industry in which animal matters or substances of animal origin are chiefly dealt with.

4. Branches of industry in which vegetable matters are chiefly dealt with.

5. Branches of industry in which mineral matters are chiefly dealt with.

6. Branches of industry in which matters of mixed origin (animal, vegetable, and mineral) are dealt with.

(3) It is important to inquire _to what extent offensive trade effluvia are injurious to the public health_. It is impossible to bring statistics to bear on the inquiry, as other influences, apart from occupation, can scarcely be eliminated. The term “injurious to health” is capable of a double interpretation. It might mean either serious damage to health, or the mere production of bodily discomfort or other functional disturbance by the offensive effluvia, leading by its continuance to an appreciable impairment of vigour, though not to any actual disease.

In the latter sense offensive effluvia have a deleterious effect on health. Such symptoms as loss of appetite, nausea, headache, occasionally diarrhœa, and general malaise are produced by effluvia of various kinds, but agreeing in being all offensive. “A condition of _dis_-ease or _mal_-aise is produced.”

There is little difficulty in proving bad effects on the workmen, though the invariable defence of manufacturers is an appeal to the condition of health of their workmen. The workmen only remain such so long as they are healthy, and as they become disabled they necessarily cease to rank among workmen. The decomposition of putrefying organic matters is unquestionably dangerous. The general doctrine of sanitation that filth is one of the chief factors in producing disease is certainly applicable to trade effluvia as well as to general sanitation. It has been alleged on behalf of such effluvia as chlorine sulphurous acid and tar vapours that they are useful disinfectants; but modern research has shown that disinfectants, in order to be of practical use, must be in such a concentrated condition that the air containing them is irrespirable. Probably such septic diseases as erysipelas are favoured by organic trade effluvia.

(4) _The means available_ to prevent or minimise the nuisances arising from trade effluvia vary with the character of the processes. The general principles on which treatment must be founded depend, as Dr. Ballard points out, on a recognition of the following kinds of effluvia:—

Effluvia dependent—

1. On the accumulation of filth on or about business premises, or on its removal in an offensive condition.

2. On a generally filthy condition of the interior of buildings and premises and utensils generally.

3. On an improper mode of disposal of offensive refuse, liquid or otherwise.

4. On insufficient or careless arrangements in reception of offensive materials of the trade, or in removal of offensive products.

5. On an improper mode of storing offensive materials or products.

6. On the escape of offensive gases or vapours given off during some part of the trade processes.

It is evident that under the first two headings the proper remedy is cleanliness. Filth should be removed in impervious covered vessels, at regular intervals. Structural arrangements should be made, which will facilitate cleansing operations. Solid refuse should, as far as possible, be separated from liquid refuse, as thus putrefaction is retarded.

Under the last head important remedies are applicable. In many cases a careful selection of the materials of manufacture will form an effective remedy. Thus much of the nuisance connected with soap or candle works arises from the putrid condition of the fat collected from butchers and marine store dealers, and might be obviated by more regular and more frequent collection of the materials of manufacture. The offensive vapours arising during processes of manufacture may be intercepted before reaching the external air, and so treated that they lose their obnoxious character. Various methods of interception are adopted, according to the processes involved. Occasionally it is necessary to have the air of the entire workshop drawn by means of artificial ventilation in a special direction; usually the interception of air from special chambers suffices. When thus collected, the offensive air may be dealt with by (1) passing it through water or some other liquid capable of absorbing the offensive materials; or (2) passing it through some powder with which it has chemical affinity; or (3) if its offensive materials are capable of condensation by cold, passing them through an appropriate condensing apparatus; or (4) if the evolved matters are organic in nature, conducting them through a fire. (5) Occasionally it is sufficient to discharge the offensive gases into the air from a high chimney; and this always produces a mitigation of nuisance, as compared with discharge at a low level.

It is usually found that the adoption of one or other of these methods is directly or indirectly profitable to the offender.

=Nuisances from the Keeping of Animals.=—The 47th section of the Public Heath Act prohibits the _keeping of pigs_ in towns so as to be a nuisance, and, as a general rule, it is possible to obtain a magistrate’s order, entirely prohibiting the keeping of pigs in towns. The excreta of the pig have a very offensive and penetrating odour, and however carefully kept, pigs in towns form an intolerable nuisance.

Not only is there nuisance from the accumulation of manure and dirtiness of the piggeries, but also from the storage and subsequent preparation of food. The boiling of hog-wash is often an even greater nuisance than the filth of the styes.

_Cow-keeping_ and _horse-keeping_ in towns are still allowed and, as compared with pig-keeping, form a small nuisance. Mews, if kept clean and well drained, need not be offensive, though it is objectionable for persons to sleep over stables. The removal of manure also constitutes a difficulty. The manure should not be allowed to accumulate in deep wet pits, but in an iron cage-work over a cement paving at or above the ground-level, thus allowing free drainage, and keeping the manure dry, and reducing ammoniacal decomposition to a minimum.

Cowsheds are generally very badly ventilated, as the cowkeeper finds that more milk is produced by the cows when the temperature of the shed is maintained at 65° or higher; and he does not see the necessity for providing artificial means of warmth. The grains which are used so largely for food are stored in a wet condition, and speedily give rise to nuisance. Cowsheds and stables should be well paved and well drained. At least 800 cubic feet should be allowed for each cow in the shed.

Cowsheds are regulated under the Dairies’, Cowsheds’, and Milkshops’ Order of the Local Government Board. This order provides for and insists on the registration of cowkeepers, dairymen, and purveyors of milk, by the local authority. It also provides that no cowshed or dairy shall be occupied as such, unless provision is made to the satisfaction of the local authority, for the lighting and ventilation, including air-space, and the cleansing, drainage, and water-supply of the same; and for the protection of the milk against infection or contamination. With the view of preventing contamination of milk, no person suffering from an infectious disorder, or having recently been in contact with a person so suffering, is allowed to milk cows or take any part in any stage of the business of a milk-seller. The milk of a cow suffering from cattle plague, pleuro-pneumonia, or foot and mouth disease must not be mixed with other milk, must not be sold or used for human food, nor for food for swine or other animals, unless it has been boiled. By the order of 1899 this regulation is made to extend to tubercular disease of the udder.

_Slaughtering of Animals._—Nuisance may arise in slaughter-houses from various causes:—(1) the uncleanly way in which animals are kept in the pound or lair before being killed; (2) the insanitary condition, bad paving, lack of lime-whiting of walls, etc., of the slaughter-house; (3) the accumulation of hides, blood, fat, offal, dung, or garbage on the premises; (4) the uncleanly condition of the blood-pits, or the receptacles for garbage; (5) the flowing of blood or offal into the drains and thence into the public sewer.

Private slaughter-houses ought to be abolished, and all animals intended for human food slaughtered in public abattoirs under efficient supervision. When a large number of private slaughter-houses exist in different parts of a large town, it is impossible for the sanitary officials to properly supervise the slaughtering, or to ensure that diseased meat shall not enter the market. The inspector may only have the opportunity of examining the flesh, the internal organs which more particularly show the presence of a diseased condition having been concealed. Such concealment and the consequent foisting of diseased meat upon the public, can only be efficiently prevented by forbidding the slaughtering of any animal intended for food in a private slaughter-house.

Most local authorities have bye-laws regulating the slaughtering of animals. These provide for a cleanly condition of the lairs, and prevent keeping the animals longer in the lairs than is necessary for the purpose of preparation for slaughtering. They also insist on the provision of proper covered receptacles of iron or other non-absorbent material for the reception of garbage, and similar receptacles for blood; for cleansing of the floor, etc. after slaughtering; for lime-whiting of the walls four times a year; and for other matters of detail.

For _knackers’ yards_ similar regulations are applicable. The flesh should not be kept until it becomes putrid before being boiled, and the boiling of the flesh and fat should be so arranged as to avoid the escape of offensive vapours into the external air.

In _smoking bacon_, the singeing has formed a serious nuisance. _Fish-frying_ in small shops is often a most troublesome nuisance. A hopper over the pan in which the frying is conducted has not been always successful in carrying the fumes up the chimney. The frying should preferably be done in a closed outhouse, close to a chimney with a good up-draught.

The _fellmonger_ prepares skins for the leather-dresser, the chief operations being taking off the wool, liming the skins, etc. The skins deprived of wool are called “pelts.” The pelts are thrown into a pit containing milk of lime, and thence sent direct to the leather-dresser. Nuisance may arise from (1) the odour of the raw skins; (2) the ammoniacal odour from the lime-painted skins hanging in the yard; (3) the emptying and cleansing of the “poke” or tank in which the hides are washed; (4) the foul condition of the waste lime taken from the exhausted lime pits; (5) the odour from the dirty unpaved yards.

The _leather-dresser_ only deals with “pelts,” derived from sheep-skins; the tanner with bullocks’-hides. The skins brought from the fellmonger to the leather-dresser are first deprived of lime, and then soaked in a solution of dog’s dung, called “pure,” until they become soft. In winter this “pure” solution is warmed for use. The odour is very abominable, both from the “pure” tub, and from the discharge of the exhausted “pure” liquid into the drain.

At each stage of _tanning_ nuisance may arise unless great precautions are taken, as when the hides are soaked in lime and water, when the hair is being removed, when the loose inner skin of the hide is being removed, and especially when the hides are soaked in pits containing pigeons’ or other dung. Nuisance may arise again during the passage of offensive hides through the street. Cleanliness is the great rule. If every process is carried on with due precaution, including frequent washing out of receptacles and the free use of disinfectants, little complaint need arise.

The manufacturers of _glue_ and _size_ boil out the gelatine from bits of hides and “fleshings” from leather dressers and tanners, from damaged “pelts,” ox or calves’ feet, horns, and other similar substances. The raw material is apt to be offensive in collection or while accumulating on the premises. The process of boiling causes offence by the effluvia from the steam. The residue remaining after the process is known as “scutch,” and this, unless frequently removed, is a most serious source of nuisance.

_Prussiate of Potass_ is manufactured by heating carbonate of potass with refuse animal matters. In order to avoid nuisance the pot in which the boiling is done should have a pipe to conduct away the steam, first running horizontally and then vertically down to the back part of the fire.

_Fat-melting_ and _Dip-candle-making_, as usually carried on, give rise to nuisance. The fat which is melted down usually comes from butchers and marine-store dealers in a rancid or even putrid condition, and it may be stored on the premises for some time before it is boiled. The vapours from the melting-vat are very offensive. They should be carried by means of a pipe down until they discharge just under the boiler-fire. The residue from the fat-melting process (known as “greaves”) requires frequent removal to avoid nuisance.

_Bone-boiling_, in order to extract the fat and gelatine, is most offensive, and most difficult to deal with. After boiling, the bones are apt to give off offensive smells. The vapours from the closed boiler should be condensed as far as possible in a worm condenser, and the remainder passed through a furnace fire.

In the manufacture of _artificial manures_ nuisance is apt to arise (1) from the reception and accumulation of the raw materials, as putrid fish, putrid blood, scutch (the residue from the manufacture of glue), recently boiled bones, etc.; (2) from the preparation of the raw material for use. Thus the drying of condemned fish or meat on open kilns is very offensive; similarly the drying of sewage sludge. (3) From the process of mixing the materials of manufacture, irritant and offensive vapours being evolved, as for instance in the manufacture of manure by crushing bones, and converting into super-phosphate by the addition of sulphuric acid. (4) From the removal of the manure from the hot den, after it has been dried. When sulphuric acid is mixed with coprolites or other mineral phosphates, most irritant and offensive vapours are produced, which may be perceived in some cases at the distance of a mile.

_Blood-boiling_ is now almost obsolete, having been replaced by albumen-making and clot-drying. Nuisance may arise from the blood collected from slaughter-houses being in a putrid state; and from the effluvia evolved during the drying process.

_Gutscraping_, _gut-spinning_, and the _preparation of sausage-skins_ are very closely akin. In gut-scraping the putrid intestines are deprived of their interior soft parts by scraping with pieces of wood, and are then, after being cleansed, ready for sausage-skins. In gut-spinning the prepared gut is twisted into a cord. The small intestines of hogs and sheep are used for this purpose. The stench from these establishments is indescribably horrible. Extreme cleanliness is desirable. Immersion of the guts in common salt is useful; so also the use of impervious vessels, early removal of all refuse material, etc.

Brick and ballast burning are a frequent source of complaint in the neighbourhood of towns. _Brick burning_ is conducted either in kilns or clamps. When bricks are burnt in closed kilns comparatively little nuisance arises; but when they are burnt in open clamps the effluvia are very irritating, partly owing to the fact that very commonly house refuse, containing vegetable and animal matters, is burnt with the bricks. Clamp burning should be absolutely prohibited in the neighbourhood of large towns.

In _Ballast burning_ stiff clay is converted by the agency of heat into a brick-like material, which is of use in road-making. The clay is usually burnt in heaps, mixed with ashes and breeze from dust-bins. The process is offensive unless carried on with precautions similar to those for brick-burning.