28z THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



rial diseases of severe nature uncommon; even the milder forms in 

 most localities not common. Typhoid and typhus rarely epidemic, 

 the latter uncommon." With these facts before us, let us examine 

 the conditions of living among these people. It is well known that 

 their houses are so arranged that the winds blow through them from 

 one end to the other. In summer they are entirely open. The privies 

 are never connected immediately with the houses except among the 

 lower classes in the larger cities, where, as in Tokio for example, among 

 the poorer houses the privy is in the back part of the house, but even 

 in these cases a close sliding-door always separates this apartment 

 from the living-room, and a grated window without glass permits 

 thorough ventilation. In the public inns, too, the privy is some- 

 times connected with the building, to the great discomfort of for- 

 eigners. In the country villages it stands alongside the road, separate 

 from the house. Their sewage system, so far as I am aware, is su- 

 perficial, and there is no sewage-gas to contaminate the air. The 

 houses have no cellars, and consequently the air in them is not pol- 

 luted from this source. On the other band, their wells are not always 

 properly situated, and the water is liable to pollution from gutters. 

 The important point to be noted, however, is in regard to the dispo- 

 sition of their offal, and it is well known that every day or two this 

 is removed and scattered on their rice-fields and other cultivated 

 areas. The vaults consist of water-tight vessels of limited capacity. 

 In Tokio they use for this purpose oil-barrels, which they coat with 

 a kind of varnish inside and out. From the small size of this vessel 

 accumulation never occurs, and from its nature the soil never becomes 

 saturated by its contents. Men, instead of being paid to remove it, 

 actually pay for it ! 



The Japanese having no cattle or sheep, but few horses, no pigs, 

 and but few fowls at the most, depend entirely upon the sewage 

 of towns for the fertilizing material of their farms. No one at home 

 can form any idea of the perfect manner of this work. Even in as 

 large a city as Tokio, with its million inhabitants, this service is 

 performed with a neatness and thoroughness which surpasses belief. 

 The foreigner finds one of his senses rudely assailed at times, though, 

 as to that matter, he may go into one of the most refined cities of 

 America, and, with the exception of a few summer months, encounter 

 the same discomforts. Dr. David Murray has called my attention to 

 the very important service performed by the crows and a kind of 

 hawk which act as scavengers. We are so accustomed at home to 

 find these birds especially wild and wary, that it is a somewhat 

 startling sight to see them perching on the buildings in a crowded 

 city like Tokio, and swooping down in front of you in quest of 

 food, which might otherwise decay and vitiate the atmosphere. The 

 destructiveness and brutality, generally speaking, of the children of 

 Christian nations lead to the stoning of dogs, cats, and birds of all 



