for their uncleanliness and foul odors, and as the prolific source of pestilential disease. All such cellars have since been vacated, and the use of apartments below the street level for lodgers is now prohibited. Without a permit from the Health Department a lodging-house can not be maintained, and permits are granted only after a careful survey of the premises, and upon official reports that the buildings and fixtures conform to the laws and to the Sanitary Code. The number of lodgers allowed in each room is proportioned to the air space, four hundred cubic feet being the minimum for each person; and the overcrowding of lodging-houses is prevented, and the condition of the permits and proper sanitary rules are enforced by frequent official inspections, often made after midnight. In no particular is recent sanitary work more commendable than in the improved condition of the premises which for a pittance harbor with decency from night to night those unfortunate persons who, from want of employment or some other more deplorable cause, lead a precarious and nomadic existence, but have not yet become objects of public charity.
4. Slaughter-houses.—In 1865 there were one hundred and seventy-three slaughter-houses in New York, and many of them were located in the most populous parts of the city. After a long controversy they were removed from below Fortieth Street, and at a later period to limited districts on the North and East Rivers, and the business is now conducted without public or indecent exposure, in suitable buildings or abattoirs constructed especially for the purpose, with tight floors and proper sewer connections, and with the most improved appliances for utilizing all parts of the animals slaughtered, or disposing of them without offense. Cattle are not driven in the public streets, but reach the slaughterhouses directly from boats, and the adjacent cattle-yards are properly paved and drained. The daily and weekly inspection of these establishments by sanitary officers have secured habitual cleanliness and the observance of the necessary rules and regulations. By these changes and improvements an important industry, which for several years was threatened with banishment, has been retained within the city limits, with benefit to the food-supply and without detriment to the public health. The number of slaughter-houses or abattoirs in the city is now about thirty, and many of them are model establishments in construction, appliances, and management.
5. Stables and Stable Refuse.—The connection of stables with the street sewers, formerly the exception, is now the rule, and cleanliness and the regular and frequent removal of manure are required. Manure-vaults are only permitted as temporary receptacles; stable refuse is not allowed to be loaded in carts upon the sidewalk or from openings in vaults beneath; the carts are re-
