XII NOTES BY THE EDITOR. 



no doubt, will eventually supersede the water-closet in rural 

 districts, and in towns where a supply of water cannot readily be 

 obtained. The fact that it has been made the subject of a patent 

 adds to its cost, and will retard somewhat its adoption in this 

 country, but now that attention has been called to the matter, use 

 will be made, and with advantage in a sanitary aspect, of the 

 principle which is involved in it, — the disinfecting power of dr}' 

 earth. 



"Like some other valuable discoveries, it seems surprising that 

 nobody thought of it or applied it before. But the simple fact is, 

 that the privy may be made as inollensive as the corn-barn by the 

 application of about a pint and a half of dry earth every time it is 

 used. There are one or two things about it important to remem- 

 ber : (1.) It should be earth (not»sand or gravel), and should be 

 thoroughly dried by exposure to the sun or otherwise ; (2.) The 

 privy-vault should be kept free from rain, from slops, and from 

 excessive moisture of any sort. The more fluid thrown in, the 

 more dry earth required to absorb it. How often it happens that 

 a country hotel or boarding-house, crowded witii people, becomes 

 late in the season disgusting and unhealthy from decomposing 

 material when a few shovelsful of dried earth thrown into the 

 privy once a day would remove all offence." * 



It has been proposed for dried earth to substitute charcoal, 

 which would be regenerated by burning. It is stated that one 

 bundled weight of charcoal per month would be suflicient for a 

 closet used by six persons daily. It is not likely, however, that 

 this modification will find extensive adoption, except in localities 

 peculiarly situated." 



We incorporate herewith the notes of Dr. Kneeland on the 

 progress in biology : — 



•• The theory of Darwin is steadily progressing in the estimation 

 of naturalists ; indeed it may be said to be no longer simply a 

 theory, as it has been demonstrated, in a few instances at least, 

 both in the vegetable and animal kingdom, that ' natural selec- 

 tion,' or the survival of the fittest, is one of the causes of the ex- 

 isting varieties and so-called species among animals and plants. 

 Ko naturalist can now presume to sneer at or ignore this and kin- 

 dred theories, when such men as Lyell, Hooker, Huxley, and 

 Owen reject utterly the doctrine of innumerable special acts of 

 creation, and accept in variously modified forms the development 



• Report of Massachusetts State Board of Health, 1870. 



