CHEMISTRY. 215 



are well spent in spreading any new or positive inforaiation on 

 the subject before the readers of the 'Journal.' One very great 

 source of trouble and expense, especiall}^ where there is no head 

 of water with an abundant supply, is the arrangement of suitable 

 water-closets, and subsequent!}' the constant supervision and ex- 

 pensive repairs which they usually require. Dr. Allen has obviated 

 the whole difficult3% in the case of his establishment, at one stroke, 

 and not only gets rid of excrementitious matters by a very simple 

 method, but actually makes it a source of no inconsiderable protit. 

 He has secured this result by the adoption of the above system, 

 which he calls the ' earth closet.' He found, on assuming charge 

 of the asylum, the dormitories constant!}^ offensive from the gases 

 emanating from the badly constructed drains, and diseases gen- 

 erated thereby. He closed up all these at once, and in each closet 

 placed a suitable vessel, and alongside a covered box of ordinary 

 dry earth. This is the whole contrivance. A little of the earth, 

 say 2 or 3 handfuls, is first thrown in, and after the vessel has 

 been used the same amount is thrown over, just enough to cover 

 it well. All odor is checked at once. In fact, odor is almost en- 

 tirely prevented by tlie earth already in the vessel. This may re- 

 main until it is convenient for the attendant to remove it. The 

 doctor has extended the system to the bedside, and I can testify 

 that it answers perfectly. Each commode has an earth-box at- 

 tached, and if a bedpan is used a little earth is thrown in ; and, 

 what is remarkable, the discharge may be left upon it for inspec- 

 tion when necessar}^ and the odor is completely absorbed. The 

 contents of the vessel, when emptied, are thrown into a box or 

 barrel imder shelter; when full, this is allowed to stand a couple 

 of weeks or so, when it becomes perfectly dry, and may be used 

 over again" several times, if necessary, without any change either 

 in its appearance or odor. Dr. Allen has also used it in his own 

 house, where he carries out the earth system, as a matter of ex- 

 periment, as many as five times successively. In places where earth 

 is difficult to be had, this is a fact worth remembering. Of course, 

 its value as a manure is thus multiplied by as many times as it is 

 used. AVhen assistants are scarce, ihe receptacle for the contents 

 of the vessels may be kept in the hall or ward, without any danger 

 of contamination of the air. Instead of china or earthen ware 

 vessels for the closets or commodes. Dr. Allen lias had constructed 

 by a carpenter small cubical boxes, which slide in and out as a 

 drawer, and which are not even lined, but merely well pitched, 

 and then painted on the inside with gas tar; a shallow box for the 

 earth forms the back of the commode. This answers every pur- 

 pose and costs him almost nothing. This system has also been 

 introduced into the general hospital by Dr. Steventon, and I saw 

 tliere a closet to which 80 negroes were having access for all 

 purposes, and there was not the least unpleasant odor about it, 

 which cannot be said of any water-closet accommodating half 

 that number, Avith the thermometer at 85°, that ever came under 

 my observation. With the old system of drains, — but, it must 

 be confessed, a very imperfect one, — in that hospital, although 

 the closets were in a detached buikling, and every care taken to 



