1889.] Effect of Floor-deafening in Dwelling Houses. 347 



nowhere in nature, nob even in the neighbourhood of human dwellings, 

 a (natural) soil so highly contaminated with nitrogenous organic 

 substances and their decomposition products as the deafening material 

 under the floor of dwelling-rooms." 



As some of Emmerich's results appear to have been called in 

 question, and for the purpose of ascertaining whether a similar state 

 of matters exists in houses in this country, we obtained samples of 

 deafening from dwellings in different parts of Dundee, through the 

 kindness of Mr. Kinnear, of the Sanitary Department. Some of 

 these were taken from ordinary middle-class houses, others from one-, 

 two-, and three-roomed houses of the poorer class, while two were 

 obtained from houses (in Fish Street ? Dundee) about 200 years old, 

 and occupied by the poorest class of artisans. The deafening from 

 the lower class of houses, and especially that from the oldest houses, 

 had a most disgusting and filthy smell. All the houses examined, 

 even those of the better class, had been built and occupied more than 

 twelve years. For analysis the material was passed through a wire 

 sieve of -^-inch mesh, and the percentage of fine dust and coarse 

 lumps noted. The fine dust was bottled, and the following sub- 

 stances determined therein by the usual methods : (1.) Moisture. 

 (2.) Total combustible matter (exclusive of moisture). (3.) Chlorine. 

 (4.) Nitrogen. 



The results are given in the following table : 



VOL. XLv. 



2 A 



