Bad Drains; and How to Test Them With notes on the ventilation of sewers, drains, and sanitary fittings, and the origin and transmission of zymotic disease

“Bad Drains; and How to Test Them” by R. Harris Reeves is a late 19th-century scientific work focused on the critical public health problems caused by faulty drains and sanitation. Centered around detailed testing methods to identify drain flaws, the book stresses the significant role that defective systems play in spreading disease and the necessity of sound engineering for maintaining sanitary living conditions. The author starts by explaining the reasons he wrote the book, talking about the urgent requirement for improved sanitation practices after numerous health crises linked to poor drainage. He is critical of past mistakes made by engineers and builders that threatened public safety and argues for a structured way to find and fix drainage system problems. Reeves presents his new ways to check drains without digging a lot, preparing to thoroughly discuss sanitation practices and how they affect disease prevention.