SAFETY IN HOUSE-DRAINAGE. 



301 



were shown before the Suffolk District Medical Society of Massa- 

 chusetts, the Boston Society of Architects, and others. The re- 

 sults have been published in the " Boston Medical and Surgical 

 Journal," the " American Architect," the " Sanitary Record " of 

 London, and other periodicals. 



Without referring now directly to the experiments and inves- 

 tigations, we may consider briefly certain principles which have 

 been established by them. The first and cardinal principle of 

 science as applied to house-drainage is simplicity. In the place 

 of a wilderness of pipes tangled in hopeless confusion about every 

 fixture, modern science demands that there shall be only a simple 

 and positive system which shall act with directness and certainty 

 in every case. The old air-pipes from traps are discarded. There 

 are fewer joints, and the danger from leakage is lessened. In- 

 stead of traps that easily lose their seal, notwithstanding the 

 relief-pipes attached, traps are now used that in themselves will 

 resist the hostile influences of evaporation and siphonage. The 

 new system demands that basins, sinks, baths, and water-closets 

 shall be so constructed as to act after the manner of flush -tanks, 

 and scour the whole system of waste-pipes at each discharge. It 

 requires that there shall be no hidden and inaccessible recesses in 

 plumbing fixtures, where filth 

 •may collect and putrefy, so as 

 to become offensive and danger- 

 ous. The absolute 'prevention 

 of serious evils is considered 

 of far greater importance than 

 means to palliate them. 



Such, in brief, are the leading 

 principles of the new method 

 which are directly opposed to 

 those of the old. We may look 

 a little more closely into the 

 details of their execution. Sim- 

 plicity has been secured, as al- 

 ready stated, by the rejection 

 of complicated vent-pipes, and 

 by the adoption of traps secure 

 against siphonage or evapora- 

 tion. The gradual development of one form of such a trap is an 

 interesting study, but there is space only to outline the principles 

 upon which it is constructed. 



The experiments of Mr. Putnam on trap-siphonage showed in 

 what manner the water is withdrawn from traps by siphonic ac- 

 tion. It was seen that air, rushing through the seal to fill a 

 vacuum beyond, threw the water upward and outward through 



Fig. 6 • 



Showing the Principle op an Auti- 

 siPHONio Trap. 



