94 YEAR-BOOK OF FACTS. 



concussion on the change of valve. Mr. Chadwick more minutely 

 explained his invention by a diagram suspended from the wall ; but 

 to the general reader the explanation would prove unintelligible un- 

 less we could furnish a diagram of a similar nature. Nearly 100 of 

 these meters have been in use for periods varying from one to twelve 

 months, and the result has been to confirm in every respect the 

 anticipations of their correctness under all variations in discharge, 

 and great durability. Those parts which in other meters are gene- 

 rally referred to as liable to great wear, namely the slide-valves, arc 

 in this meter scarcely affected in consequence of their working in 

 equilibrium, and subject comparatively to no unequal pressure. The 

 well-known cupped leather packing for pistons whicli work in cylin- 

 ders lined with brass tube, has proved to be in every respect the 

 most efficient, satisfactory, and durable of any. 



We quote the above from an able report of the meeting of the 

 Association in the Oxford University Herald. The reports in the 

 metropolitan journals were unusually meagre, notwithstanding the 

 Association met but 50 miles distant. 



THE SEWAGE QUESTION. 



Dr. Daubeny, Professor of Rural Economy in the University of 

 Oxford, has delivered in Oxford a lecture "On Sewage, with special 

 reference to Baron Liebig's remarks relative to the system of dis- 

 posing of sewage adopted in the principal cities of this country." 



The lecturer remarked that when a man of Baron Liebig's ex- 

 tended European reputation lifted up his warning voice to the British 

 nation on a subject on which he had a right to speak with authority, 

 and staked, as it were, his character as a man of science, by fore- 

 telling the ruinous consequences of a system in which the inhabi- 

 tants of our large cities are embarked, it seemed to be the duty of 

 all who thought they could either directly or indirectly influence 

 public opinion, to secure, if possible, a calm and impartial hearing 

 to the arguments advanced. He proceeded to point out three 

 methods by which it had been attempted to render the sewage of 

 large cities available for agricultural purposes. The first of these 

 methods was to detain the excrementitious matter in its passage 

 towards its outfall for a sufficient time to allow of the solid matter 

 Suspended in it to deposit itself, and then to collect this portion as a 

 manure : the second arrived at the same object by a different expe- 

 dient, vi/.., by bringing about a separation of the solid matter from 

 thr water, which was its vehicle, through the instrumentality of cer- 

 taiikchemioa] re-agents ; and the third was to convey the whole in a 

 liquid state to the very spot whan it could be usefully applied, by 

 the aid of pipes and other mechanical contrivances calculated to 

 supersede the necessity lor employing cartage and Vessels capacious 



enough to contain bo bulky a material, Ine first of these methods 

 was adopted at Cheltenham, the second at Leicester, and the third 

 at Rugby. It would appear, however, that except in a few small 

 places, like Rugby, which scarcely held out an example which great 



