UTILIZATION OF SEWAGE. 55 



authorities of Boston that the time was coming, speedily, 

 ■when an intercepting sewer must be constructed, to convey 

 the sewage away from our very doors, I was ridiculed. In 

 twelve years the present system of an intercepting sewer 

 was adopted. Then the sewers were scattered in every 

 direction, taking the most direct course to the nearest docks ; 

 and by the time they had introduced the new system, there 

 were one hundred and twenty-five egregious nuisances dis- 

 tributed all about the city of Boston. To-day they have 

 united them into one, which discharges into the harbor at 

 Moon Island, and in five years it wuU have formed the most 

 unmitigated nuisance to be found on this planet. 



When Ave come to examine sewage, it is a very simple 

 looking thing. I have brought some here to show you. 

 There is a bottle filled with the sewage of Boston (showing 

 a bottle of liquid). I don't know how badly it smells ; not 

 very bad, I guess. That was taken Sunday afternoon from 

 the pumping station, and a little sediment has collected in it 

 since. But one would not think that such an apparently 

 simple fluid as that could contain so many elements of offence. 

 But Avhen deposited in salt water, the deleterious elements 

 contained in it speedily become serious cause of offence. I 

 suppose an analysis of that water would give five parts in a 

 million of phosphoric acid and about thirty parts in a million 

 of nitrogen. That is all there is in it that is good for any- 

 thing. That, if put upon the soil, under favorable circum- 

 stances, would be a profitable thing to do. But it has cost 

 Boston two cents a thousand gallons for interest on the 

 cost of the works requisite to get it as far as they have car- 

 ried it, and one cent a thousand gallons additional for main- 

 tenance of works and pumping. Consequently, every gallon 

 of that matter that is poured into the harbor costs Boston at 

 the rate of three cents per thousand gallons ; in reality, it 

 costs Boston about nine hundred dollars per day to make a 

 nuisance. 



Now, where else shall it go? Do 3'ou want to put it on 

 your land? Will you treat it by subsidence, chemical pre- 

 cipitation or irrigation? How much territory will you want? 

 Mr. J. Bailey Denton, who has written much on the subject, 

 wanted one acre for every thousand people for sewage irri- 



