104 Bacteria in Relation to Country Life 



ficient for the reception of the solid and liquid refuse, 

 larger and deeper pits had to be dug such was the 

 origin of the cess-pool. Later on, it was found necessary 

 to build a roof over the cess-pool to keep out the rain, 

 and to provide an opening in the roof for the escape of 

 the gases generated in the putrefying masses. Still 

 later, it was found desirable to line the pits with brick 

 and stone, in order to prevent, to some extent, the dif- 

 fusion of the offensive liquid into adjoining soil, and as a 

 protection against the pollution of shallow wells. Sub- 

 sequent improvements in the construction of cess-pools 

 made them less unsightly architecturally and more 

 easily accessible from the house. 



The cess-pool. The contents of the cess-pools and 

 privies had to be removed from time to time by scaveng- 

 ing. In the pail system, as well as in the dry-earth- 

 closet system, it was aimed to render the human excreta 

 less offensive by covering them up with ashes, lime, or 

 dry earth, and to remove them from time to time. In 

 the dry-earth system, particularly, the organic matter 

 was rapidly destroyed by bacteria and the same earth 

 could be used over and over again. The waste materials 

 removed by scavenging were either buried in trenches 

 or used as fertilizer on tilled land. Generally speaking, 

 therefore, these methods of disposal depended on bac- 

 terial action. It was the bacteria in the soil and in the 

 water that effected the rapid and satisfactory decom- 

 position of the waste products. 



From the agricultural standpoint, much may be 

 said in favor of these methods, since they provided for 

 the return to the earth of the plant-food that had been 



