SEWAGE OF LONDON AND OTHER LARGE Towns. 153 
evil of which they complain; a new patch is to be added 
to the old garment, and as a natural consequence the rent 
will be made worse. An evil ought to be honestly and 
fairly met, not merely slurred over and disguised. 
I now pass from the consideration of works which when 
completed will, there is every reason to believe, result in 
total failure, and will endeavour to show the practicability 
of realizing the first great object of removing sewage, viz., 
its utilization. Much has been said on this subject since 
Mr. John Martin in 1828 drew attention to the waste 
which was even then going on; but judging from the acts 
of public bodies, it would seem to be still doubtful in the 
minds of a great portion of the community whether the 
saving of the manure of cities is a matter of any consider- 
able importance. It is therefore desirable that the actual 
facts should be constantly brought under review. For 
this purpose I might bring the evidence of nearly every 
scientific chemist, but will content myself with quoting 
from Liebig, both on account of the great attention he has 
paid to the subject and the circumstance that, having been 
interested in artificial manures, he is not liable to be un- 
duly biassed in favour of natural ones. At page 177 of 
his Chemistry of Agriculture and Physiology this distin- 
guished philosopher says: “The mineral ingredients of 
food have been obtained from our fields, having been re- 
moved from them in the form of seeds, of roots, and of 
herbs. In the vital processes of animals the combustible 
elements of the food are converted into compounds of 
oxygen, while the urine and fceces contain the constituents 
of the soil abstracted from our fields; so that by incorpo- 
rating these excrements with our land we restore it to its 
original state of fertility. If they are given to a field 
deficient in ingredients necessary for the growth of plants, 
it will be rendered fertile for all kinds of crops. A part 
of a crop taken from a field is used in feeding and fat- 
