Town Seicago. 469 



ra^s, whicli are washed and sold for paper-making. More dis- 

 infectant is then added, and the matter concentrated by distil- 

 lation, the distilled water being sold to dyers and bleachers. 

 The residue thus thickened is then mixed with coal-ashes, which 

 are collected in the houses in casks left for the purpose, and are 

 re-burnt in a reverberatory furnace, and finely ground before 

 being thus used. 



It appeared to Dr. Gilbert, on visiting Hyde in 1863, that 

 the mode of collection and preparation adopted was attended 

 with very little unpleasant odour. The advocates of the system 

 maintained that it had been successful in a sanitary point of 

 view. As to this, however, some difference of opinion existed. 



The system is still in operation. It has encountered opposition 

 in a legal shape ; but this " had reference not to the mode of 

 collection, but to the conducting the manufacture so near the town." 



However, the manure manufactured is by no means satis- 

 factory, for a sample analysed at Rothamsted contained only 

 between one and two per cent, of ammonia. 



One more dry system calls for a notice — that of the Rev. 

 Mr. Moule, already propounded in this Journal.* It professes 

 that by the deposit on the faecal matter of dry and finely 

 sifted clay (4 lbs. per head per day), it may be at once entirely 

 deodorised, and in a few weeks so entirely disintegrated, that 

 neither excreta nor paper can be detected in the mass, which 

 looks like fine earth, and after resifting, may be re-used, until 

 it has done service four times over. 



However available this system may be for sick rooms, 

 detached houses, or even villages and small country towns, where 

 the earth for preparation and absorption, and the land for utilisa- 

 tion, are in close proximity to the closet, " we are certainly not 

 so sanguine as the Rev. Mr. Moule, who seems to think that 

 with the aid of Earth-closet Companies, his plan is as practi- 

 cable for large towns as is the supply of water, gas, and coal at 

 present, and much more so than the removal and utilisation of 

 dilute town sewage." 



This rapid survey of the dry methods of utilisation may suffice ; 

 they have this common drawback, that much of the urine (which 

 is a very valuable part) escapes ; for little beyond that passed 

 once a-day with the faeces is secured. Moreover, either the 

 nuisance created is considerable, or the manure produced too 

 bulky to pay for long transport. We therefore pass on to 



The Water System. 

 Whatever be its short comings hitherto, this is the path of 



* See Series I., Vol. xxiv., p. 111. 

 VOL. III. — S. S. 2 I 



