SANITATION 587 



A small portion of earth is thrown doAvn daily from a box 

 of loam kept in the little house for the purpose. A 

 latrine like this may last a family for a year or more, 

 after which time it is filled in, another hole dug, and 

 the house removed over it. This method can only be 

 adopted where there are small communities, and where 

 there can be no possibilit}^ of drainage affecting the water 

 supply. Flies do not descend deeply to breed. There 

 is no nuisance with latrines of this kind when kept 

 properly. 

 (8) Chinese Latrines. — Men use public latrines; the women and 

 children use vases and pots in the house, which are 

 emptied dailv. The public latrines may be platforms 

 over fish ponds or raised masonry reservoirs with holes 

 over which the user squats. The use of petroleum will 

 remove all objections to these masonry latrines, and they 

 are useful. 



These can be made elaborate and the system applied to 

 private dwellings. It is always much better to use pails 

 beneath holes so that the excreta can be removed daily 

 from outside the house. The floor and sides of the recess 

 for the pail should be cemented. The buckets should 

 have a special lid to prevent splashing. 



A double number of pails is required to replace those 

 removed. The pails should be washed out with cyllin 

 before being replaced. 



Some of these latrines are modified so as to separate the 

 solid from the fluid excreta. The former can be applied 

 to the land, and is of more value than the fluids. When 

 they are not separated decomposition sets in more rapidly 

 and gives rise to liberated ammonia, carburetted hydrogen 

 and foetid organic gases. The solid matter is mixed with 

 •earth, the urine passing down an inclined plane in front 

 of it and treated separately, but in the same way. 



The solids are removed, deposited in pits on the farms, 

 covered with earth, kept three to six months, and then 

 used upon the land. 



The urine is used for manuring soon after collection. 

 The Chinese are the most careful people in the world in the 

 conservation and profitable disposal of sewage, and the 

 most careless with regard to personal cleanliness. 



Solid excreta is often used in the production of silkworms 

 by applying it to the mulberry trees and also for breeding 

 maggots for the fattening of ducks. 



