62 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



tilizing residua of human food. It is precisely against what may be 

 termed " the martyrdom of stencil," and the still fiercer martyrdoms of 

 blood-pollution and loathsome pestilence which stench engenders, 

 that the English Sanitary Reformers protest and struggle with all their 

 force. The organization of the so-called " continuous tubular circu- 

 lating system," by which, with the aid of steam-power, the healthy and 

 ceaseless interchange of pure water and manurial liquor between town 

 and country is now sought to be achieved, seems destined to consti- 

 tute the mechanical complement of the great cheuiico-physiological 

 truths promulgated by Liebig. It is not, however, pretended by the 

 warmest advocates of tins system, that it can be accomplished by a 

 single generation. It is admitted, on the contrary, that the complete 

 tubuiarization of the farnw of Europe must be a task as gradual as the 

 complete drain and water-pipeage of her towns, or as the universal ex- 

 tension of her raihvav and electric communications. But as the mag- 







iiitude of such a project may be, for many minds the very pivot on 

 which their judgment of it, favorable or adverse, may turn, the IlepoHer 

 quotes here, from a speech of Mr. F. O. Ward (in 1855), some re- 

 marks bearing on this point. 



" It is argued," said the speaker, after adverting to the cost of the 

 requisite pipeage. "it is argued from this vast expenditure and 

 widely extended range of distribution that the plan is impracticable. 

 But I think this resembles the arguments urged against gas-lighting at 

 the outset. 'What!' it was said in the old days of oil-lamps, to 

 the daring innovators who proposed gas-lighting, 'do you seriously 

 ask us to tear up all the streets of our towns, and lay down thousands 

 of miles of subterranean arteries, to circulate a subtle vapor through 

 every street and into every house, to do, at a cost of millions upon 

 millions, what our lamps and candles already do sufficiently well ?' 

 Such was the language used ; and the proposal of gas-lighting was 

 regarded at the outset, bv the majority of mankind, as the wildest 

 and most visionary hallucination. But when Murdoch's factory had 

 been illuminated with gas. the whole problem was virtually solved ; 

 and when the first line of gas-lights burned along Pall Mall, the illu- 

 mination of all the towns of Europe became merely a question of 

 time. Just so, when the first farm was successfully laid down with 

 irrigating tubes for the distribution of liquid manure, there ceased to 

 be any argument about the cost and quantity of pipeage for this pur- 

 pose. Xor should we be deterred from grappling with the sewage 

 problem by contemplating the vast magnitude of the results which it 

 it will lead in the course of time, of generations perhaps, when the 

 whole subsoil of Europe will probably l)e "piped for the distribution of 

 liquid manure, just as all Flanders is already honeycombed with tanks 



fur its storage. 



CONSUMPTION OF WATER. 



A man is generally supposed to require about one-half gallon of 

 ivater per day for drinking, cooking, &c. ; and about four gallons 

 m >re for washing, bathing, and other purposes ; a family of five heads 

 will require about nine gallons per day. In Paris, the consumption 

 of this liquid is officially stated to be 4 gallons for every man per 

 day ; JG for every horse ; nine for a two-wheeled carriage ; and 



