Dee. 2, 1869 | 
NATURE 
37 
Prof. Wyville Thomson succeeded me on the roth of 
July, and made a short but very successful cruise to the 
northern part of the Bay of Biscay, where he dredged at 
the extraordinary depth of 2,435 fathoms, or 14,610 feet. 
Some particulars of this dredging I have already given. 
Dr. Carpenter replaced Prof. Wyville Thomson on the 12th 
of August, and explored the sea-bed lying between the 
north of Scotland and the Farée Isles. The depths there 
dredged did not exceed 650 fathoms ; but the results are 
most interesting and important in a biological as well as 
physical point of view. Prof. Wyville Thomson accom- 
panied Dr. Carpenter in the last part of the expedition. 
It terminated on the 7th of September. 
J. GWYN JEFFREYS 
(To be continued.) 
UTILISATION OF SEWAGE 
E have been requested by the Secretary of the 
Committee * of the British Association on the 
Treatment and Utilisation of Sewage, to print the follow- 
ing letter, which has been sent to the Municipal Authorities 
throughout the country :— 
22, Whitehall Place, London, S.W. 
November 18th, 1869. 
Si1r,—I have the honour to inform you that, last year, at the 
-meeting of the British Association at Norwich, a Committee was 
appointed to report on the Treatment and Utilisation of Sewage. 
In the first instance, a grant of £10 was placed at the disposal of 
the Committee, with which to defray the cost of printing and 
postage incidental to the collection of preliminary statistical in- 
formation. Through the kindness of Her Majesty’s Government, 
the Committee was enabled to obtain Reports respecting the 
methods of dealing with town refuse practised in most civilised 
countries, and that information has now been collected in a more 
complete form than hitherto existed in any country. 
This preliminary work being completed, the Committee was 
re-appointed at the meeting of the British Association this year at 
Exeter, and the inquiry was considered to present such important 
features of social and scientific interest, that the sum of 450 was 
voted towards enabling the Committee to enter more fully and 
practically upon the investigation of this subject. The British 
Association being a purely scientific body, has not at its disposal 
funds which would be adequate or applicable for the full prose- 
cution of this very large and pressingly-important inquiry. The 
Committee nevertheless desires to take advantage of the oppor- 
tunity created by the British Association, to investigate the entire 
subject in all its bearings—whether chemical, physiological, or 
engineering, sanitary, municipal, or agricultural—and in a manner 
worthy of the body they represent. 
It is unnecessary to point out the enormous importance, 
especially at the present time, of a full and complete inves- 
tigation of this question by the light of the knowledge and 
experience now gained in the several departments aboye alluded 
to ; but properly to carry out such an inquiry with a practical end, 
numerous observations, gaugings, and experiments, aided by simul- 
taneous analyses, are essential; and these cannot be accomplished, 
especially the analyses, without the continued aid of efficient 
and therefore highly-paid assistants. Moreover, from time to 
time it may be necessary for the Committee to purchase exten- 
‘sive apparatus, and to subject various inventions and processes to 
a thorough and complete test; for it is the desire of the Com- 
mittee, not only to ascertain, as far as possible, the causes of the 
sanitary inefficiency of existing works, but also to inquire into 
every suggestion which affords promise of practical utility, in 
order that this investigation may be searching, the report prac- 
tical, and any recommendations that may be made authoritative. 
It is the wish of the several members of the Committee to 
devote, to the utmost of their ability, their personal attention to 
the work thus sketched out; but the expenses absolutely necessary 
to enable them to conduct so extended an inquiry cannot but be 
* The following are the names of the Committee:—Richard B. Grantham, 
Esq., M. Inst. C.E., F.G.S., Chairman ; J. Bailey Denton, Esq., M. Inst. 
C.E., F.G.S.; J. Thornhill Harrison, Esq., M. Inst. C.E.; Benjamin H. 
Paul, Esq., Ph.D., F.C.S.; Profess Wanklyn, F.C.S.; William Hope, Esq. 
V.C.; Professor Williamson, Ph.D., F.R.S ; Professor Marshall, F.R.S., 
F.R.C.S.; Professor Corfield, M.A., M.D.; M.C. Cooke, Esq-; and Sir John 
Lubbock, Bart., F.R.S., Treasurer. Subscriptions should be paid to the 
credit of Sir John Lubbock, on behalf of the Committee, at Messrs. Robarts, 
Lubbock, and Co.'s, 15, Lombard Street, London, E.C, 
very heavy, and, unless they are able to secure an adequate fund, 
they must abandon the attempt to investigate the subject in this 
broad and comprehensive manner. However, since there is no 
subject of greater practical and social importance to the public 
generally, and thus to the various municipal authorities and other 
governing bodies throughout the country, it is believed that many 
will share the opinion expressed at the recent meeting of the 
British Association at Exeter, that the existence of this Commit- 
tee affords a specially favourable opportunity for such a wide 
inquiry, and for that reason its members confidently appeal to 
those authorities who are officially interested in the subject to 
supply the funds necessary for the investigation. 
I am therefore desired to request that you will kindly submit 
this letter to the body you represent, and I venture to hope you 
will give the Committee the benefit of your good offices in pro- 
curing a subscription proportionate to the population of your town 
or district. 
It is suggested that the subscriptions of towns of different 
populations might be graduated somewhat in the following pro- 
portions :-— 
Where the population does not exceed 10,000 . £5 5 O 
Between 10,000 and 25,000. . . .. =. . I1010 O 
Between 25,000 and 50,000. . . » . » . 21 0) © 
Between! 50)000%and 755000) fi) ss) he) BON ONO) 
Between 75,000'and 100,000. =. «(ss «Ce «(850 0 
FANN Goons Shoe G loo! oF oO ole lod: GC) ©) 
I beg to call your attention to the accompanying list of mem- 
bers of the Committee, and to inform you that all public bodies 
subscribing not less than 5/. 5s. od. will have the benefit of the 
information from time to time, as the results of the inquiry par- 
take of a conclusive character, and will receive a copy of the 
report of the Committee when published. 
I have the honour to be, &c., 
GEORGE F. BARNES, 
Honorary Secretary pro tent. 
TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION WITH 
FRANCE 
[ie Tuesday, November 30, the S.S. Walliam Cory 
left Greenhithe with a heavy submarine cable, to be 
laid between Salcombe in Great Britain and Cape 
Finisterre in France. This cable, 105 miles long, has just 
been made bythe Telegraph Construction and Maintenance 
Company, at their works at North Woolwich, and its special 
object is to establish direct telegraphic communication 
between London and Brest, so as to expedite the trans- 
mission of messages between Great Britain and America 
by the French Atlantic Cable. 
The new cable is very strong and heavy. The shore 
ends weigh 20 tons to the mile, and the deep-sea portion 
weighs very nearly 10 tons to the mile. It contains one 
conductor only, consisting of a strand composed of seven 
copper wires, and weighing, when twisted together, 107 
pounds tothe mile. The insulting medium is gutta-percha, 
and weighs 166 pounds to the mile. The contractors 
undertook that the electrical resistance of the conducting 
strand should not exceed 12°25 ohms per mile, and that 
the insulation resistance should not be less than 200 
megohms (million ohms), at the standard temperature of 
24 degrees centigrade. So well have the contractors 
done their work, that the quality of the cable is better than 
agreed upon, the conductivity resistance being only 11°8 
ohms, and the insulation resistance nearly 400 instead of 
only 200 megohms per knot. The inductive capacity of 
this cable is as nearly as possible *333 Farad. per mile. 
The William Cory, since 1858, has laid many submarine _ 
cables; she carried and laid portions of the French 
Atlantic cables last summer, and is now employed solely 
in this new branch of industry. Captain Donaldson has 
been in charge of her throughout the whole of this period, 
and he took her out again last Tuesday, on which day she 
left Greenhithe for Salcombe. For the above details 
relating to the conductivity, insulation, and capacity of the 
cable, we are indebted to Mr. C. F. Varley, C.E., engineer 
to the French Atlantic Telegraph Company, who accom- 
paniesthe expedition. Theapparatus used in testing the cable 
