94 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
The fertilizing constituents and their values were as follows: — 






Fertilizing Value. 
Per cent. Constituents. 
Per 2000 lbs. Per ton. 
Nitrogen : 
3 Lbs Price 
Organic MP Es TAN Le RENE URNNRRRE 058, 0 ASSIS NI PRE PEN EEE 
A8 AMMONIA EU NUE RAR MEL CPE DAG. VER CRAN AE RARE PRE 
IAS NICTIC ACIER AE 0:22. SOS ne AE Ae le eS iy 
320 | 64:0 13c 88-32 
Phosphoric Acid .......... RM Gua 1°16 23°2 dc. 1°16 
IROLASD TG Lae: owen See Me PEN Oe mer: 1°34 26°8 5ic. 1°41 



Total $10°89 
The product of the experiment just described was found perfectly 
capable of absorbing fresh quantities of urine, and of giving off only 
its moisture, retaining the dried matter and its manurial constituents. 
410 grammes of it mixed with 150 of fresh moss litter were, in the 
course of eighteen days treated with 2,206 grammes of urine and 
exposed to evaporation in various ways at ordinary temperatures. 
The resulting manure weighed 483 grammes. During the experiment 
2,283 grammes of water had, therefore, been evaporated by the instru- 
mentality of 522 grammes moss litter. Calculated on the weight 
of the latter this amounts to 437 per cent, or, in other words, the 
moss litter was capable of dissipating 24 per cent of its weight of 
moisture per diem. ‘This is the average of various modes of treat- 
ment, the rate of evaporation increasing from 10 to 100 per cent, 
according as the moss was kept in a mass 6 inches in diameter, spread 
out in a thinner layer, or agitated more and more vigorously. The 
capability of dry moss or moss litter for absorbing moisture is suffi- 
ciently well known, but its property of also giving it off to the atmo- 
sphere does not yet appear to have been appreciated, and it is, this 
quality which will be found valuable in the manufacture of concen- 
trated manures from human refuse. 
I may say that these experiments are not by any means completed, 
and that I expect: to obtain even more favourable results than those 
I have described. But, without considering future possibilities, I 
consider myself justified in maintaining that I have already practically 
demonstrated that human refuse need no longer be a source of danger 
to the public health, nor a cause of expense to any community. 
Indeed, it can be so treated, either privately or under municipal 
management, as to become a source of profit to towns and cities, and 
