ON THE TREATMENT AND UTILIZATION OF SEWAGE. 59 



company from springs at Cherry Hinton into a covered reservoir of a storage 

 capacity of 1,000,000 gallons, situated about three miles from Cambridge. 



The average daily supply to Cambridge by the company is 427,000 gallons, — 

 that is to say, 280,000 gallons for the domestic consumption of 21,500 persons, 

 or 13 gallons per head, and 147,000 gallons for trade consumption, of which 

 the railway company takes 68,500, general trade 60,500, and watering streets 

 18,000 gallons. 



There is also a supply from private sources, including Artesian wells sunk 

 to the Gault, estimated at 50,000 gallons per day ; and " Hobson's Brook " 

 supplies during the dry weather season about 789,000 gallons per day to the 

 town. It rises at a spot called Nine Wells, about three miles from Cambridge, 

 and terminates in a head near the Botanic Gardens, from which point it is 

 distributed^to different parts of the town, namely, — first to the public conduit 

 or drinking-fountain in the market-place ; secondly, by two open channels or 

 " runs," one on each side of Trumpington Street; thirdly, by pipes and open 

 course to the Hospital andjPembroke College ; and, fourthly, along Lensfield 

 Road to Hyde Park Corner, thence in two open street-channels along St. 

 Andrew's Street, and also to Emanuel and Christ Colleges. The water from 

 the two channels is discharged constantly into the sewers at Trumpington 

 Street and St. Andrew's Street, and can, when desired, be diverted into the 

 sewers at a higher level for the purposes of flushing. These open channels 

 are each provided with a silt-pit just previously to their entering the sewers. 

 There is also an ingenious arrangement for flushing by means of the water 

 supplied to the public drinking-fountain in the market-place. It consists of 

 a large octagonal chamber surmounted by a central fountain, from which the 

 water overflows by eight drinking- spouts into a basin that discharges itself 

 into the chamber beneath ; and the arrangement permits of the periodical dis- 

 charge of the contents of this chamber to flush the sewers leading from the 

 market-place. The sewers of ninety streets and lanes are flushed quarterly 

 from the water company's works. The street-guUeys are also periodically 

 flushed or washed by means of water-carts in dry weather ; and provisions of 

 minor importance are also made to carry on the flushing. A tank in Trinity 

 Place fiUed from an Artesian well, another tank in St. Andrew's Court, 

 opposite Emanuel College, and a smaller cast-iron tank in King's Arms Court, 

 King Street, are all used for flushing once a week. The contents of these 

 sinks are discharged into the sewers by penstocks. 



All houses are provided with water-closets without any system of venti- 

 lation, the pipes being trapped by earthenware or lead D-traps. It was 

 stated that some closets were ventilated by means of the water-pipes, and 

 these, which were supposed to act, were found to be totally inefiicient ; but an 

 attempt is being made to improve the system in new biiildings. The only 

 instance in which earth-closets have been adopted is at Queen's College, where 

 there are two. 



Most, if not all, of the colleges on the banks of the river preserve arrange- 

 ments of the most primitive possible description overhanging the classic 

 waters of the Cam, identical in construction with those that were in existence 

 when the great author of the ' Principia' discovered the laws of gravity. Those 

 of the privies which do not overhang the river are provided with cesspools 

 which overflow directly into the river ; and many of these are in a most offen- 

 sive condition. Pinally, the accommodation of this nature, such as it is, 

 which is provided in this great University exists only in the proportion of 

 7-4 per cent, of the residents, or less than one for every thirteen persons. 

 Nearly the whole area is provided with a general system of underground 



