Polytechnic Association. QQ± 



deposits into the casks. Each house is provided with a fresh cask 

 every three or four days, and at the same time with a certain amount 

 of disinfecting material. The tilled casks are carted out of the city, 

 where their contents are partly disposed of to the farmers, and partly 

 manufactured into poudrette. With the assistance of a very small 

 contribution from those who use the system, the company working it 

 have carried it on successfully for more than ten years. The incon- 

 veniences of this system would no doubt render it objectionable to 

 our American ideas ; nevertheless it has one important feature to 

 recommend it, and that is a giving back to the soil its natural ele- 

 ments of productiveness. 



The mole, or earth-closet, is already so well known here that it is 

 unnecessary for me to comment upon it. My opinion is, that for 

 small towns and villages it could be made to answer most satis- 

 factorily. 



" The Gaux system " is a kind of combination of the " cask system " 

 and earth-closet. It consists of a cask in which a conical core is 

 placed and the earth filled in around this core, after which the core is 

 removed and the cask with its earth contents is placed under the 

 privy seat where it remains until the whole mass becomes a sort of 

 muck. It is said that, for an ordinary family, one of these casks will 

 suffice for two or three weeks. When the casks are removed their 

 contents are formed into blocks and allowed to dry, when the sub- 

 stance is in a marketable form. I learn that the Gaux system is 

 already patented in this country, and efforts are being made to 

 introduce it here. There is no doubt that each of the above systems 

 has much to recommend it, but the great objection now, and that 

 will remain to them, is the manner in which they must be worked. 

 Few persons in this country will tolerate the continued entrance into 

 their houses of a class of persons that must necessarily be employed 

 in working either of the systems referred to ; besides, the disagreeable- 

 ness of having those vessels carried in and out at inconvenient times 

 will be an objection that I think will hardly be surmounted. 



The Pneumatic Sewage System. 

 I will now refer to another system somewhat more complicated than 

 either of those above mentioned — but at the same time one that is 

 attracting considerable attention in Europe at the present time. In 

 the last annual of the Agriculturist I had occasion to bring this 

 system into notice; but as I did not enter into its details at that time, 

 I shall endeavor to give you as clear an understanding of its prin- 

 ciples and workings as it is possible for me to do. 



