1837] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



165 



"I have designated six substances as being proper to 

 absorb the superabundant water of urine, and 1 have 

 onlynientibned them without pointing out any particu- 

 larone, as 1 thought Ihat no co;inlry is without sc ine 

 one of them. Biit in case 1 am niistaiven in this opin- 

 ion, very great ail\antages may still' he derived Irom 

 urines, "by mixing them with burnt earth, (that oi 

 h(5ath soil is to he preferred,) or with natural ashes, 

 (coidres nahtrelles.) I only estinjate the value of this 

 mixture as a means of obtaining all the salts of urine 

 in a solid state, which will facilitate its transportation 

 and employment in agriculture. 



"The ancients considered urine as the most powerful 

 of manures. This is not therefore the end ol my in- 

 vention, which consists alone in its sudden desiccation 

 and solidification, and the draining or drying up of 

 those infectious depositories of this substance to be 

 met with in the environs of large' cities, where they 

 furnish inexhaustible souices of unhealthy exhalations. 



"1 leave it to the learrjed societies to express their 

 judgment upon the qualities, of the urate, and restrict 

 myself to the application ibr a brevet of invention, for 

 a method of preparing it immediately, so as to destroy 

 at the same time the odor of -the urine. 



(Signed) DoNAT. 



"Paris, Jtinuaiy I9ih, 1819." 



'[Here follows the certificate granting the brevet or 

 patent to M. Doiiat, for 15 years, signed by the Ministe- 

 rial Secretary of the interior department, Count Deca- 

 zes.] 



'Signed for and on behalf of the board of health. 

 Samuel J. Eobhins. 



Attest, President.' 



Thos. H. Ritchie, Sec. 



Philadelphia, January 16/A, 1826.' 



However beneficial may be this plan, both for 

 cleansiiifr a city and lor forming rich manure, it is 

 evident that the. process? is not conducted upon uni- 

 form, and rarely upon correct pririciples^vvhich I 

 consider are only conlbrmed to when the absorb- 

 ing matter used is some form of ?)i/W calcareous 

 earth. By calcining this material; as the inventor 

 recommends, a destructive, instead of^ preserving 

 ingredient is formed — and one which never sh.ould 

 be used lo mix with Icecal or other animal maitqr, 

 if the value of the product, as manure, is of any 

 account. Far better than this French method. is 

 that which has been in use time out of mind among 

 the Chinese — a people, who however unenlight- 

 ened in science, are in advance of most other na- 

 tions in the means for preserving and, increasing 

 the fertility of the earth. Travellers have inliiirm- 

 ed us, that in that countrj', human excrements are 

 mixed with clay marl (doubtless rich in calcareous 

 earth). The mixture is made up in the (i^irm ot 

 cakes, which after being dried, are free from all 

 offensive odor, and indeed give to the senses no 

 indication of their composition; and they are ex- 

 posed in quantity in the. streets for sale, as manure 

 for the neighboring lands. 



There is an obvious objection to, or ground to 

 doubt, the effects imputed to decomposing filth as 

 causing disease, in this well known fact, that in 

 spite of this and all other sources of disease, our 

 towns are more free from autumnal sickness, (the 

 effects of malaria,) than much of the neighboring 

 and surrounding country; and thatthe towns have 

 all become more healthy, as they have increased 

 in age and population. These general facts are 

 admitted to be correct, but the inlt'rence from them 

 is denied, on the following grounds. 



In the first place — bad as may be the efl^ects of 

 the gaseous or aeriform products of animal putre»- 



faction, it is well known that they are much less 

 productive of malaria than are those of vegetable 

 putretaction. This 1 believe is a well establiished 

 and universally received medical liici. And as our 

 police (f health in the country is a^ least as hud as 

 in the towns, (ihoiioli ihe nuisances are of a dif- 

 ferent char;'uMer.) it n;!iy well ha| pen, ibai the ; ast 

 (quantity' ol de.c(.h!pcsii'g vcgetatile rnaitcr in the 

 woods and in l!ie fields, where' there is no calcare- 

 ous inoredieivt in the soil to condiine wiili the pro- 

 ducts of tfecorapo.=?iiion, and to fix them there — to- 

 geilier with the pestilential effluvia from the nu- 

 meroils mill ptnids, which miare or less afiiecl inju- 

 riously jialf the places of residence in lower and 

 middle Virfiinia— may produce more, malaria and 

 di?e«se^ than the decomposition of aninial filth in 

 the towns. Besides, there are coiiiiteraciing agen- 

 cies always operating to lessen the ill efiecis of de- 

 cpmposiiion-cf filth in towns, thoijgh such opera- 

 tion is neither intended, nor undersiood, by those 

 who profit by it. From various sources, the calca- 

 reous earih in towns is always accumulating. 

 The ashes of all ihe tv'ood consumed as fuel, flir- 

 nish a large and rich supply — and though these 

 are sometimes conveyed away Ibr manure, still the 

 fiir greater part is scattered about the toAvn. Coal 

 ashes, in a niuc<i less degree as to strengih, also 

 add' to the stock. The waste of lime, and the old 

 cernent of buildings repaired or demolished, all fur- 

 nish calcareous matter, and all, thouyh without its 

 liei'ngjesigned, are in lime spread every where. 

 But the burning of a town, or a large portion of it, 

 as stated in the first part ol'these papers, furnishes 

 the great supply of calcareous matter — enough in- 

 deed to give a very heavy dresssing to the whole 

 space burnt over, and much more — and to serve to 

 combine w\ith alltlie animal matlerfbra number of 

 years, and to give permanently to the soil of the 

 town, that valuable quijity which is entirely want- 

 inb- in that of the surrounding poor country. 



There is one still mor6 foul abomination in our 

 present system, which has grown out of the want 

 of proper public acccmrnodations, and the extreme 

 difficu'lly (not to say indecency) of daily removals 

 of uncombined and unchanged excrements fj-om 

 |)rivate houses. The practice alluded to belongs 

 to the most crowded parts ot cities, and has pro- 

 ceeded from them, and from .Europe, to this coun- 

 try, where as yet it is but little used. Where 

 space is ver}''costly, deep pits are dug beneath pri- 

 vies; from which the contents are not removed for 

 years together, and more probably never. They 

 do'not become full (or at least very slowly,) and 

 thereby compel their being emptied — because afier 

 a certain bulk of the highly putrescent matter has 

 been accumulated, the waste by decomposition 

 goes on nearly or quite as fast as the increase from 

 the daily additions of material. If quicklime is 

 added, this dccompositiop is hastened, and a dif- 

 li^rent, thou<'h but little less offensive odor is sub- 

 stituted. But whether these depositories are 

 cleaned out at long intervals, or not, there can be 

 no question but that nineteen-lwentielhs of the 

 whole mass goes off by decomposition, and is 

 mixed with the atmosphere; and however diluted, 

 or however altered bj> mixture, helps (o form the 

 air breathed by the inhabitants of towns— who are 

 too delicate, and too fastidious, to have all such 

 nuisances prevented by proper, general, and public 

 regulatioris. We have not yet been enough 

 crowded in our towns for the last mentioned prac- 



