2 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



If these sanitary engineers, plumbers, chemists, and hygienists, who were re- 

 quested to take part in the discussion because of their acknowledged scientific 

 attainments, experience, and practical skill, have nothing more to suggest, how 

 is the evil to be successfully met ? 



With all respect to the distinguished gentlemen, I must say that they have 

 suggested nothing of any importance which is new ; nothing that was not known 

 before ; nothing, indeed, which has not been tried, and which has not, for one 

 reason or another, proved itself to be either impracticable or insufficient, and in 

 many cases totally inefficient. 



My reply to this question is that, in reference to these matters, science has 

 not kept pace with civilization, and that, without concessions on the part of 

 civilization, there is at present no adequate remedy. . . . 



I repeat, then, that in order to render pure and innocuous the atmosphere of 

 our houses, whether the sources of its impurity are to be found in our present 

 systems of lighting, heating, or drainage, it will be necessary, first of all, that 

 civilization should make some concessions. 



The term " civilization " is here used in its broad and legitimate sense, as in- 

 cluding not only mental culture, with progress in science and art, but also the 

 comforts, luxuries, and aesthetics of life, which are its natural and inevitable con- 

 comitants. If certain of the latter elements of civilization can not be dispensed 

 with, it will be found impossible, I fear, to contend successfully with typhoid 

 fever, diphtheria, and many other diseases which now contribute so largely to 

 the increase of our mortality rates. 



If we liinit ourselves to the consideration of the unwholesome atmosphere of 

 our houses although this does not by any means constitute the only possible or 

 probable source of sickness and physical decay incident to civilization the con- 

 cessions demanded, as a condition of the successful application of our present 

 knowledge of the laws of hygiene, are : 



1. That all plumbing having any direct or indirect communication with the 

 sewers shall be excluded from those portions of our houses which we habit- 

 ually occupy. In other words, that it shall be placed in a separate building, or 

 annex. 



2. That we return to the open fire-place, or the grate, as a means of warm- 

 ing our private houses. 



3. A diminished consumption of oxygen by gas-burners. It is still an open 

 question whether we shall be able to light our dwellings with electricity ; but 

 so long as we are obliged to depend upon gas we must content ourselves with 

 light, and not insist upon illumination. 



The concessions demanded have been named in the order of their importance. 

 The necessity for each is urgent, but the first admits of no compromise.* 



The purpose of the present paper is to determine whether, after the 

 citation and careful study of other facts and observations than those 

 laid before the Academy, my conclusions, so far as relates to the mat- 

 ters of sewer-gas and plumbing, can be regarded as defensible. 



What is " seicer-gas " ? 



This term has been employed a long time by chemists, sanitarians, 

 plumbers, and others, to indicate the ordinary emanations from sew- 

 ers ; but recently certain gentlemen have taken exceptions to the term, 



* "New York Medical Gazette," March 25, 1882. 



