SEWAGE AND SEWAGE RIVERS. 1 57 



pumped into airtight barrels, the pump-tube being made to 

 dip down to the bottom of the cesspool so as to bring up the 

 solid and leave the liquid. Some disinfecting liquid, chloride 

 of zinc, is put into the barrel so as to prevent any nuisance in 

 the streets. When this deposit has been pumped up into the" 

 barrels, it is carted off to La Villette or taken to the canal 

 boats and conveyed by them. Here the barrels are emptied 

 and the contents conveyed by pipes to Bondy. There the 

 matter is allowed to deposit in a large reservoir, or filthy lake, 

 from that it flows to another, where more is deposited, and so 

 on ta a fourth, where the deposit is small. The liquid is then 

 used for the manufacture of ammonia and its salts. 



The establishment at La Villette consists chiefly of a great 

 underground tank completely arched over, and above this a 

 building consisting mainly of a series of archways, into which 

 the carts may enter to deposit the contents of the barrels into 

 the holes in the floor. The contents flow, as before stated, 

 to Bondy, sent by a forcing pump. Bondy is seven feet 

 higher in level. The pipe is one foot in diameter, made of 

 tinned iron, covered with asphalt. The number of barrels 

 emptied here daily is from 1,200 to 1,500. 



This is the manner in 'which the heavier soil is treated 

 when it is taken from the cesspool. The liquid matter is 

 then disinfected with chloride of zinc, and pumped out into 

 the streets, from which it runs into the sewers. Four men 

 are appointed to do this, three and a foreman. They are 

 provided with test paper, in order to see when the sul- 

 phuretted hydrogen is removed. But the smell is beyond 

 their management apparently, as the operation fills the cellars 

 with the most violent stench, and the street has the same 

 unpleasant odour to a great distance. Certainly we may be 

 too particular in such things. A French writer, to whom 

 this subject is dear, considers that the pruderie of the English 

 in such matters prevents them from enjoying the great blessings 

 of the Paris method, adding that the dislike of these substances 



