Vol. XXm. No. 5.] 



POt^tTLAIi SCTEiTOE KEA\^S. 



79 



or rock, verv certainly. But even the fact that the 

 well is situated quite a distance from the vault does 

 not insure it from contamination. Compact rocks 

 do not generally supply enough water for a well, 

 and consequently fissured rocks must furnish the 

 supply, and, under some circumstances, these are 

 decidedly dangerous. If a fissured rock lies a few- 

 feet helow the surface, the cracks in it may act like 

 so many pipes, carrying nearly undiluted sewage 

 from a great distance. Consequently, if the cracks 

 of a rock lie in the direction between a well and a 

 vault, the contents of the latter will flow through 

 the cracks into the well, together with the water 

 which enters during rains. The dangers of using 

 water thus polluted are not always manifest. Gen- 

 eral ill-health exists ibr a long time but the cause 

 is not determined. Perhaps no one is seriously af- 

 fected until specific poisons are transmitted, and 

 then the outbreak of an epidemic or of special cases 

 renders the evil obvious. So long as ordinary privy- 

 vaults — to say hothing of cesspools, drains, etc. — 

 are allowed, so long does danger exist in every well, 

 except in sparsely populated communities. There 

 is little doubt but that the foul exhalations pollute 

 the atmosphere sufficiently to produce sickness and 

 death. It is true that, if they are diffused into our 

 vast ocean of atmosphere, they become greatly di- 

 luted and practically harmless, but this does not 

 always occur. On account of the saturation of the 

 earth and the contamination of the ground-water, 

 the ground-air also becomes contaminated. In all 

 but the warmest months of the year the whole of 

 an inhabited house, and through the entire year 

 that part heated by the kitchen fire, is, on account 

 of its temperature being higher than the out-door 

 air, drawing in air from the surface of the ground 

 and from the ground itself. Consequently, the 

 ground-air, befouled with decaying organic matter, 

 and containing the germs of disease, enters the 

 house whose interior arrangements may be in them- 

 selves without fault, and becomes a menace to health 

 and happiness. Thus thousands of victims die 

 annually of avoidable diseases caused by practices 

 which nature condemns, common-sense deplores, 

 and which reproach our intelligence. 



The question now arises, how shall we remedy 

 these evils and what shall we substitute for the 

 time-worn privy.' The need of improvement has 

 been realized before and the subject is not new, but 

 it has not received due attention. Where there is an 

 abundant supply of water and where good drainage 

 exists, water-closets constructed on strictly sanitary 

 principles are probably the best substitutes, and al- 

 though we cannot praise the means now generally 

 made use of for the disposal of sewage, nevertheless 

 where a city is provided with a good system of 

 sewerage, the arrangement of proper water-closets 

 in dwellings, and their connections with the common 

 sewer is indeed feasible. Careful study of the appa- 

 ratus and its proper arrangement is necessary for 

 all who own and build houses, but their considera- 

 tion cannot now detain us. 



In towns and hamlets where the water-supply 

 and drainage will not permit of water-closets, a sys- 

 tem of earth-closets should be adopted. Their ar- 

 rangement is simple and inexpensive, and they have 

 numerous advantages, both of economy and con- 

 venience. They may be connected with the house 

 without danger or incsnvenience, w hile privies must 

 necessarily be pLiced at some distance from dwell- 

 ings, and delicate persons are very apt to suffer 

 from exposure in going out-of-doors in cold or 

 rainy weather; while many persons are apt under 

 such circumstances to delay that which nature 

 teaches us should receive immediate attention, and 

 thus bring on complaints of indigestion, constipa- 



tion,, etc. No such dangers threaten those who 

 substitute the harmless earth-closet. 



In detail these closets have certain unimportant 

 differences, but the principle is always the same and 

 depends upon the extraordinary absorbing and de- 

 odorizing powers of earth, ashes, etc. Every vault 

 should be cleaned and filled with fresh, pure earth. 

 The frame of the privy is not objectionable, and con- 

 sequently may be used as the frame of the new- 

 closet, and to this end, should be placed upon a firm 

 foundation, convenient to the house. It remains to 

 provide the edifice with a suitable receptacle, or re- 

 ceptacles, for the excrement. Single large boxes of 

 metal, or wood lined with galvanized iron, have 

 been employed but are too large and heavy for con- 

 venience. The following is a ver^' inexpensive and 

 convenient arrangement. Procure from the grocer 

 a kerosene-barrel, and saw- it transversely into two 

 halves, thus forming two tub-like vessels. Strength- 

 en these if necessary by an additional band, and 

 fasten to each, near the top and on opposite sides, 

 two suitable handles — strong loops of leather 

 answering very nicely — for convenience in handling 

 them. The "seat" of the closet is next arranged 

 for the reception of these vessels, one of which is 

 to be placed beneath each aperture, their insertion 

 and removal being effected by means of a hinged 

 door at the rear of the building. The usual pro- 

 portions of the seat may be maintained by making 

 an extension at the lower part of the rear of the 

 building, which extension should be covered by a 

 tight, slanting roof to facilitate the flow of rain- 

 water from its surface. A box of convenient size 

 and provided with a cover is now arranged in one 

 corner of the building and filled with dry dirt or 

 ashes. The bottoms of the tubs are then covered 

 with the dirt or ashes to the depth of a few inches 

 by means of a fire-shovel which is to be left in the 

 dirt-box, and the structure is complete. During the 

 day small amounts of earth are sprinkled over the 

 contents of the tubs by means of the shovel, and 

 they are removed and emptied as occasion may re- 

 quire. In the country — where the closets are es- 

 pecially indicated — the refuse which is thus ren- 

 dered dry and almost entirely odorless, is thrown 

 on the manure-heap or spread over the garden, 

 where the saltpetre microbes immediately attack it 

 and prepare it for the nourishment of plants and 

 vegetables; while in large towns and cities the scav- 

 engers will be found to be particularly anxious to 

 contract for its removal, on account of its rich ferti- 

 lizing properties. Light galvanized iron boxes of 

 convenient size, or wooden ones rendered water- 

 tight by a lining of coal-tar pitch, may be substi- 

 tuted for the receptacles just described, but, regard- 

 less of the material, they should always be of such 

 proportions as to admit of easy removal and trans- 

 portation. Lime, or copperas, or charcoal, may be 

 added to the earth employed, as occasion may seem 

 to require, but the ashes from the house will be 

 found quite sufficient. Sand should not be em- 

 ployed. 



That the excrement thus treated can do no harm, 

 but rather becomes of positive benefit when deposit- 

 ed in or upon the upper layer of the soil, is well 

 understood by all who have given the subject due 

 consideration. There are certain destroying or 

 converting organisms in the surface soil which act 

 upon organic matter, changing it into pabulum for 

 vegetation, enriching the land and causing a des- 

 ert waste to "bloom and blossom as the rose." 

 There is, however, no substitute for these organisms 

 in the sub-soil, no matter how porous it may be, and 

 thus the folly of the privy-vault becomes more and 

 more obvious. The privy set upon four stones and 

 not provided with a vault is by no means the worst 

 type of this nuisance, for a few shovelfuls of dirt 



and ashes each day render it quite harmless ; it is, 

 however, very inconvenient. 



It is true that our cities have odorless companies 

 which take off the excreta without any offense to 

 the people, but thty invariably do their work after 

 decomposition has taken place, after the ground- 

 water and the ground-air have become saturated, 

 and the city is permeated by foul gases which kill 

 the little children, the weak, and the aged, by 

 hundreds ; whereas, by the system above advocated 

 all human excreta are removed and rendered harm- 

 less before these results can occur. 



J. H. E. 



f** 



[Specially Compiled for The Popular Science News.] 



MONTHLY SUMMARY OF MEDICAL 

 PROGRESS. 



BY W. S. WELLS, M. D. 



A REMARKABLE case of amputation through the 

 thigh, after rupture of the sciatic nerve, followed by 

 escape of cerebro-spinal fluid, is reported in the 

 British Med. Jour. A man had one of his legs 

 caught between the spokes o( a wheel of a rapidly 

 moving chaise; the leg was torn off above the knee. 

 The peculiar feature of the accident was, that the 

 entire .sciatic nerve, and enough of the sacral plexus 

 to open the spinal canal, were removed with the 

 avulsed limb. 



Amputation was performed through the middle 

 third of the thigh. On the eighth day, somewhere 

 near thirty ounces of cerebro-spinal fluid — it is 

 stated — escaped from the wound, through the drain- 

 age tube. The following day it ceased, and the 

 patient made a good recovery in due time. 



In the Deutsche Med. Wochenschr. a novel method 

 is proposed to remove foreign bodies lodging in the 

 nose. A rubber tube, i to 2 feet long, with an end 

 of wood or rubber to fit the nostril, only, is neces- 

 sary. The end-piece is introduced into the side in 

 which the foreign body is not; the physician places 

 the other end in his mouth and blows "sharply 

 through the tube. 



If this does not cause the foreign body to fly out, 

 the physician may hold the other nostril, too, and 

 blow, compressing the air, and then removing sud- 

 denly his hand. The foreign body is certain to fly 

 out. This procedure is simple and does not injure 

 the mucous membrane. 



M. GoLTz, Jour. Amer. Med. Ass'n. is still en- 

 gaged in studying the functions of the brain. 

 Among other experiments he has destroyed exten- 

 sive areas of the cerebra in dogs, without killing the 

 animals, and in one case a dog lived five months 

 after the whole of the left hemisphere was removed, 

 but showed modifications of character and mental 

 enfeeblement. Goltz advises surgeons to be more 

 bold in cases of cerebral tumors. 



Dr. Stewart (Peoria Med. Mo.) states that, for 

 the relief of facial neuralgia, ergot injected hypo- 

 dermically is incomparably superior to either 

 aconite or gelsemium. Generally one injection re- 

 lieves the pain permanently. He puts it into the 

 temple, as nearly over the seat of pain as conven- 

 ient. He uses the plain extract, which he has made 

 so that one minim represents two grains of ergot, 

 throwing in eight to twelve minims, blood-warm, 

 at one injection, without diluting. The extract 

 must be pure and reasonably fresh. If old, it is in- 

 efficient and irritating. Injection of the fresh pro- 

 duct causes more or less pain for a few minutes, but 

 when it disappears the neuralgia has usually dis- 

 appeared, not to return. 



The London Lancet calls attention to the large 

 number of fatal cases of concealed nasal diphtheria 

 in children. Even the most practiced observer can- 



