334 ASHFORD— APPLICATION OF SANITARY SCIENCE TO 



most feasible and certainly the most sanitary arrangement ; the 

 bucket latrine and incinerator. Pits could not be dug in many places 

 ten feet deep without striking water or rock. Besides, the French 

 bitterly opposed, and with reason, the digging of pits for feces. The 

 incinerators built by the British usually served 800 men and were 

 models of practical common sense and good sanitation. They usu- 

 ally presented a hopper leading down onto a hot plate for drying of 

 excreta before dumping the contents upon the fire and this served 

 for solid garbage as well. Often a few coils of pipe were led around 

 the fire box and heated water for an ablution bench nearby. Every- 

 thing about the incinerator could be built with stones, old bricks, a 

 little cement, old rails, old bits of iron sheeting, etc., and in an in- 

 credibly short time. The fuel was ostensibly at the rate of 100 

 pounds a day. In reality 2 pounds of coke was used to start the fire 

 and the thing was kept at full blast eternally, like the altar fires of 

 the Vestal Virgins, by camp trash. This kept the camp clean be- 

 cause the incinerator was served, as were these altar fires, day and 

 night, by a husky soldier looking for a fuel economy record ; the 

 camp was carefully gleaned daily and gleanings deposited by that 

 incinerator. The latrine was nearby, a long shack with usually a 

 cement floor, flyproof seats and, under each seat, a bucket. In front 

 of the seats was a urinal, a metal water way leading down into a 

 soakage pit. A little cresol stood in each bucket and before incin- 

 erating the contents a good 20 per cent, of saw dust was added to 

 insure incineration. The buckets were emptied twice a day and 

 smeared with crude oil, which they secured in some manner, before 

 replacing. I never detected the odor of feces in any British camp I 

 visited. Critical eyes may challenge this statement, but no one will 

 testify that the bucket latrine was a failure if they saw enough of 

 them. The English became so bold that they would place their 

 bucket latrines near their kitchens and mess halls. This, with the 

 proximity to ablution benches, where hot water was obtainable for 

 the morning shave, very much simplified daily routine and stimu- 

 lated cleanliness and an orderly observation of sanitary principles. 

 The answer of the British to an objecting theorist would invari- 

 ably be : 



