* 



THE 



POPULAR SCIENCE 



* 



MONTHLY. 



NOVEMBER, 1882. 



SEWEK-GAS. 



By FRANK HASTINGS HAMILTON, M. D. 



ON the 2d of February last Mr. Charles F. Wingate, sanitary- 

 engineer, read before the New York Academy of Medicine a 

 paper entitled " Practical Points in Plumbing," etc. Before intro- 

 ducing Mr. Wingate, the president, Dr. Fordyce Barker, read a brief 

 paper, relating his personal experience as to the dangerous nature of 

 sewer-gas, and asking for the earnest attention of the Academy to this 

 subject. The reading of Mr. Wingate's paper was followed by a series 

 of experiments, made by Professor R. Ogden Doremus, intended to 

 illustrate the difficulty of preventing the escape of these gases by 

 either water-traps, lead, iron, or earthen pipes. A large number of 

 physicians and surgeons were present, among whom were many who, 

 on account of their practical experience in matters of hygiene, had 

 been invited by the president to take part in the discussion. 



Reflecting subsequently upon the great importance of the subject 

 which had been under debate, I prepared and read before the Acad- 

 emy, on the evening of March 16th, a paper entitled " The Struggle 

 for Life against Civilization and iEstheticism." The purpose of this 

 paper was to furnish a resume of the papers, experiments, and discus- 

 sions of the February meeting, and to suggest the conclusions which 

 seemed to be authorized, but which the Academy had not attempted 

 to formulate or declare. 



Before closing my communication, attention was drawn by me to 

 other matters than plumbing, such, for example, as house sanitation in 

 general and physical hygiene ; but which subjects, at my request, were 

 not made matters of discussion on that occasion. My conclusions were 

 given as follows : 



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