58 



of Works took the best possible precautions, and went to 

 great expense in getting the best possible engineering skill 

 to design sewerage works at the time chemical processes 

 were not brought to such a state of perfection as they now 

 were. He had also been to the works at Aylesbury on 

 two occasions, and considered they were model works. 



Mr. MILNE HOME said most of the speakers had re- 

 ferred to the state of the Thames and to the effect of 

 sewage on fish, but this was a very large question, applica- 

 ble not merely to the Thames and rivers in England, but 

 to those of every part of the United Kingdom. He came 

 from Scotland, where many of the rivers had suffered in 

 exactly the same way as the Thames, and effects had been 

 produced not merely on the fish, but also on the health of 

 the inhabitants on the banks. A great deal had been said 

 about this subject, and though it did not come under the 

 title of the paper, they had an intimate connection with one 

 another. He remembered when reading the report of a 

 sanitary commission some time ago they asked M. Dumas, 

 the chemist, what was the simplest practicable method of 

 ascertaining the purity of water as fit for human beings and 

 animals to drink, and his answer was that it was not neces- 

 sary to have any chemical test, but if they put a young fish 

 into the river and it did not live it was a complete proof 

 that the water was not fit for the use of man. It was for- 

 tunate that various remedies were known, but the one 

 chiefly spoken of to-day was of a chemical character. 

 Allusion had also been made to the possibility of recti- 

 fying sewage and refuse of manufactories by means of 

 irrigation. He had various experience of the mode, 

 and had had the misfortune to be in two actions of 

 law connected with sewage. After studying various 

 remedies he was in favour of chemical appliances rather 



