666 Transactions of the American Institute. 



Prague it was used in the barracks. At Amsterdam the work is far 

 advanced for trying it on an extensive scale. 



The President said that in a city like New York, with plenty of 

 water, the ordinary system seemed preferable, as we have not yet any 

 necessity for saving the sewage. But in many places where the sup- 

 ply of water is small, the plan presented advantages worthy of con- 

 sideration. 



Mr. J. K. Fisher did not consider the system in New York as satis- 

 factory. The gas rising into the houses from the sewers was some- 

 time3 \ ery offensive and noxious. 



Dr. J. Y. C. Smith considered the proposed system too complicated 

 for general use, although it would undoubtedly work well for bar- 

 racks, or in similar positions. He stated the customs at Cairo, where 

 a tub was placed in the back room of the dwelling, and emptied 

 every day, and on Mount Lebanon, among the Druses, where deep 

 wells are employed which require no attention. In no place in the 

 world was a better system than in New York or Boston ; and there 

 was no necessity for any modification of it. 



Mr. T. D. Stetson said it would not be necessary to go from New 

 York city to find a place where the system is not satisfactory. Even 

 here there is something to complain of, as the traps at the street 

 crossings, which are sometimes four inches deep, while in the houses 

 the traps are only two inches deep, so that the first escape of the foul 

 air, when forced back by high tides or heavy rains, is into the houses 

 instead of the open air. If we go to Newark, we find a beautiful 

 growing city, with a good supply of water. Go up to Belleville, and 

 we find them pumping up this water from the Passaic river to send 

 to Newark and Jersey City. Go a few miles further up, and we find 

 the active and growing city of Paterson, and we see rows of machine 

 shops, whose out-houses overhang the river. We remonstrate, and 

 suggest that the people of Newark and Jersey City have to drink this 

 water. But, says the Patersonian, if you place them anywhere else, 

 it all washes into the river ; and what can we do ? There are plenty 

 of such instances, and as the country is filled up they will become 

 more and more numerous. We may be happily situated in New 

 York, but should take a cosmopolitan view of the question, and con- 

 sider the interests of humanity generally. The earth-closet is valua- 

 ble in many respects. It is wonderful how completely a deposit of 

 half an inch of fine earth — not sand or gravel — will absorb all the 

 gases from fecal matter. The earth can be used four or five times, 

 being dried, before it becomes really offensive ; and in the case of a 



