"It seems to me that the public is hitherto very imperfectly protected against certain extreme dangers which the malfeasance of a water company may suddenly bring upon great masses of population. Its colossal power of life and death is something for which till recently there has been no precedent in the history of the world; and such a power, in whatever hands it is vested, ought most sedulously to be guarded against abuse." Cholera was once more a blessing in disguise, though it seems hard that the sacrifice of thousands of lives should have been required to move Government and Parliament to fresh measures for the protection of the people from it and the other deadly diseases which unceasingly worked such deadly havoc among them. But the proof given by it was so overwhelming and decisive as to the insufficiency of the existing sanitary law, and the inefficiency of the local authorities, that Parliament felt forced to take action. The measures taken were of such increased comprehensiveness and stringency, that the passing of the Sanitary Act of 1866[107] marked another great step in the sanitary evolution of London. The Act applied to England and Wales--and this time actually included the metropolis. The previous definition of the term "nuisance" was enlarged, and "overcrowding" was now for the first time declared to be a "nuisance." "Any house or part of a house so overcrowded as to be dangerous or prejudicial to the health of the inmates" was henceforward a "nuisance" and punishable as such. And it was further enacted that "where two convictions for overcrowding of a house, or for the occupation of a cellar as a separate tenement dwelling-place" should have taken place within three months, it should be lawful for the magistrate to direct the closing of such premises for such time as he might deem necessary. Under another extension of the term "nuisance" the industrial classes got the shadowy boon of all factories, workshops, and workplaces (not already under special Acts), being made subject to the sanitary supervision of the local authorities; and those authorities were given power to inspect such places to ascertain if they were kept in a cleanly state, were properly ventilated, and not overcrowded so as to be dangerous or prejudicial to the health of the inmates. A section in the Act aimed at the inefficiency and inaction of the local authorities, and made it obligatory (no longer optional) upon them to make inspection of their districts. "It shall be the duty of the Nuisance Authority to make from time to time, either by itself or its officers, inspection of the district, with a view to ascertain what nuisances exist calling for abatement under the powers of the Nuisances Removal Acts, and to enforce the provisions of the said Acts in order to cause the abatement thereof."