SECTION III., 1902 [87] Trans. R.S. C. 
IX.— On an Improved Method of Producing Concentrated Manure from 
Human Refuse. 
By Tuomas MACFARLANE. 
(Read May 27, 1902.) 
For many years moss litter has been in use for bedding horses 
and cattle in Germany, England and the United States, and twenty 
years ago, the first mention of its applicability as a deodorizer and 
absorbent for human excreta was made by Dr. Ludwig Happe, in 
Braunschweig. Since then, its application for this purpose has been 
on the increase in Europe, and even half dried moss has been found 
useful at Caledonia Springs, in Canada. ‘This, of course, at once 
recalls the dry earth system, in connection with which great improve- 
ments in sanitary arrangements were at one time expected. The 
advantages of dry moss over dry earth for the purposes referred to 
are, however, very decided. They consist in the perfect inoffensive- 
ness of the moss manure, in the fact that one part of moss will dry 
and deodorize six parts of mixed excreta and in the greater agricul- 
tural value of the resulting manure. 
Although this country possesses in its numerous bogs and swamps 
an inexhaustible supply of this absorbent, still its use for disinfecting 
purposes is trifling. This is, perhaps, owing to a fear that the quan- 
tity required would be too great and the quality of manure produced 
too low in fertilizing constituents. In order to produce, with a 
minimum quantity of moss, the best quality of manure, the author 
undertook to conduct certain experiments in a closet of peculiar con- 
struction, which have been so successful as to entitle them to be 
minutely described. 
The closet is constructed either in a separate house, in the 
manner shown in the drawing hereto appended, or in any outhouse 
attached to a dwelling, or in any apartment of the same. It is quite 
possible to place the closet or cabinet in the latter places, because, 
although used for the purposes of a privy, no disagreeable odours 
are produced from the excreta received and treated in it. In the 
drawing, the letter A indicates the seat occupied by the person using 
the moss closet, which consists of a movable lid with an opening in 
it, hinged at the back, so that it can be lifted up, completely exposing 
the receptacle for the excreta, marked C. Behind the latter, on the 
other side of a dividing partition, and marked F’ and F?, are shown 
boxes or hoppers, which are filled with the moss, turf powder, or peat 
dust, and which communicates with the excreta receptacle by the slit 
