768 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLI. No. 1064 



The Collecting System. — (1) Use self-cleansing 

 velocities where possible, but do not be bound by 

 them when they result in a cost incommensurate 

 with their benefits. (2) When self -cleansing veloc- 

 ities can not be wisely adopted, make adequate 

 provision for flushing. The sewers must be kept 

 clean. 



The Disposal Plant. — (1) The plant must be 

 adapted to great seasonal variations in flow. (2) 

 The capacity of the ocean to digest and purify the 

 sewage, being the most economical and effective 

 means of attaining this end, should be made use 

 of. (3) Where bathing is an asset, the discharge 

 of crude sewage to sea is not permissible. (4) 

 Single-story tanks furnish in general the method 

 best adapted to treating the sewage of resorts be- 

 fore its discharge to sea. (5) Nuisances from 

 such effluent do not arise if tanks and appurte- 

 nances are correctly planned and the discharge ef- 

 fected through a properly designed outlet, at a 

 sufdcient distance from shore, and in ten feet or 

 more of water. (6) It would appear from what 

 evidence we now possess that no ill effects to 

 health result from the proper discharge of such 

 efSuent. (7) Owing to the difiSiculties encountered 

 in work along the coast and under the surface of 

 the ocean, careful consideration must be given to 

 durability and to the means of executing the work 

 called for by the plans. 



Preservation of Wood: P. A. Maignen. 



The railroads are said to spend $121,500,000 a 

 year in cross ties. If all these ties were treated 

 properly by a good preservative process, it would 

 be possible to save more than $450,000,000 in 25 

 years. Wood is composed of two principal parts, 

 cellulose and sap. Cellulose resists decay a 

 long time. The decay begins in the sap and ex- 

 tends to the cellulose. It is therefore urged that 

 some ways and means of removing the sap from 

 the wood be found. Many attempts have been 

 made to render the sap proof against decay with- 

 out removing it, but the result has not been satis- 

 factory. 



The preservatives used in the United States in 

 1913 were: 108,373,359 gallons of creosote; 26,- 

 466,803 pounds of zinc chloride, and 3,885,758 gal- 

 lons of other preservatives. In that same year 

 there were 153,613,888 cubic feet of timber 

 treated by all preservatives. Of the creosote used 

 only 38 per cent, was produced in this country and 

 62 per cent, was imported. 



At present 30 per cent, of the railroad ties are 

 treated. If a satisfactory method of impregna- 



tion could be devised so that the wood could get 

 the full benefit of a thorough penetration it would 

 not be long before all the ties would be treated. 

 Unfortunately the impregnation, as carried out 

 now, does not penetrate the wood sufficiently. In 

 experiments it was found that one specimen from 

 which the sap had been removed was impregnated 

 throughout the whole length of the wood; whilst 

 the other specimen of the same kind, but whose 

 resins had not been extracted, was impregnated 

 not more than a few inches from each end. 



The second session was held on the afternoon of 

 Wednesday, December 30, Vice-president Dr. 

 Frederick W. Taylor and Mr. O. P. Hood in the 

 chair, with an attendance of about 95. The pro- 

 gram of the session was as follows: 



Municipal Highways — a Proilem in Maintenance: 



William H. Connell. 



The three foremost problems involved in the 

 operations of a highway department are: Organi- 

 zation, maintenance and construction. 



A good organization is essential particularly in 

 so far as maintenance is concerned, as it is prac- 

 tically impossible to continuously and systematic- 

 ally maintain pavements and roads in first-class 

 condition, in an economical manner, without a good 

 working organization built up along the lines best 

 adapted to cope with the conditions involved in this 

 important branch of work comiag under the juris- 

 diction of a highway department. By this it is not 

 intended to give the impression that the mainte- 

 nance organization should be separated from the 

 construction, as separate organizations are apt to 

 result in an overlapping of jurisdiction and a 

 tendency to shift responsibility, and open up a 

 field for unlimited excuses as to whether the con- 

 struction or maintenance division is responsible 

 for any unsatisfactory conditions that may arise 

 relative to the pavements. Furthermore, it is ob- 

 vious that the logical organization to maintain the 

 pavements is the one that saw them laid and is 

 familiar with every detail of the construction, as 

 very often a knowledge of apparently trivial con- 

 ditions in connection with the construction bears 

 an important part in the future maintenance. 



Routine maintenance includes such work as the 

 regular street cleaning in municipalities, and the 

 cleaning of country roads and gutters, and any 

 other work of this character that is more or less 

 routine and should be performed under definite 

 schedule. The streets in the thickly populated 

 sections of the city should be cleaned every day; 

 in less thickly populated sections, every other day; 

 every third day, and so on until we come to the 



