41 
At its best the pail system is an offensive method of collecting 
excreta, &c. The very fact of the foul matter being carted 
through the streets of any town is in itself a condemnation of 
the system. 
Tue Harts Cuoset system may be divided under three heads. 
lst. Tue Karrsa Crosser Proper. 
Qnp. Tue AsH Cioset. 
38rp. THe CuarcoaL Cuoset. 
I purpose mentioning the first-named only, as they are all more 
or less on the same model, the system being the mixture of some 
deodorizer with the excreta during its storage on the premises. 
This system may or may not include a movable receptacle or pail. 
The earth closet was designed and perfected by the Rev. Henry 
Moule, M.A., vicar of Fordington, Dorset. Dr. Buchanan (in 
his 12th report as Medical Officer of the Privy Council, in 1869 
thus describes the system :—“ It consists in the application, with 
the greatest procurable detail, of dry earth to fresh human excre- 
ment, and in the subsequent removal and use of the mixture for 
agricultural purposes. In so far as detailed application is not 
made, or the excrement not fresh, or the mixture otherwise dealt 
with, the dry earth system is departed from. As regards the 
principle of the earth closet, the evidence as to the powers of dry 
earth is unequivocal. If about a pound and a half of suitable 
earth, carefully dried, be thrown over a dejection, all smell from 
it is forthwith removed ; and if the same quantity be mixed with 
half a pint of urine, the latter is absorbed. The mixture of earth 
with stool and urine is not only inoffensive when fresh, but 
remains so after keeping for two or three months or longer.” 
To attain the required result, the quality of earth must be 
considered. Sand and gravel are almost useless in this respect. 
Chalk is little better. Clay is among the best; well dried it 
falls to a powder most suited to the requirements of the closet, 
and contains also great powers of absorption and of preventing 
offensive change. Loamy surface earth is also good, as is also 
brick drift earth. Earths which already contain some quantity 
of organic matter are very suitable. 
I have endeavoured to explain the three main systems of sew- 
age interception, viz.: The privy vault, pail system, and earth 
closet. From a sanitary standpoint I do not consider any of 
them good, as they all require the excreta to be stored on the 
premises for longer or shorter periods, as will depend on the 
scavenger removing it, and the method of such removal employ- 
ed. Now as sewage begins to putrefy in two or at the most three 
days, it must be clear to all that an immediate removal is far 
preferable to any system of storage. Still, as is well-known, 
there are many houses and even districts where a good sewage 
