January 6, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



19 



not proved to be a success, or better still in 

 electrification. 



The theory of Rayleigh^ for dispelling 

 fog, and with it smoke, by electrification is 

 interesting and is demonstrable in a beau- 

 tiful way on a laboratory scale, but the ex- 

 pense entailed and practical difficulties 

 involved preclude its favorable considera- 

 tion. However, this method is being used 

 with more or less success in some of the 

 smelters in the Pacific states. 



One of the worst smoke nuisances about New 

 York during the past few years has been caused 

 by the garbage and other reduction plants at 

 Barren Island." During this process of reduction, 

 oil and grease are extracted from animal and 

 vegetable matter, leaving a dry residue, which is 

 used as a base for the manufacture of commercial 

 fertilizers, the discarded residue being burned in 

 the plant as fuel. 



At another plant in this same point the car- 

 casses of the larger dead animals, which are trans- 

 ported by a regular line of boats, are burned. 

 When the immense number of carcasses ordered 

 removed annually by the New York Department 

 of Health is taken into account, it is not sur- 

 prising that the smoke given off with the accom- 

 panying odors should give offense to residents for 

 miles around. The number removed during the 

 past year included 19,000 horses and about 380,- 

 000 dogs and eats, besides about 1,000,000 pounds 

 of condemned meat, about 80,000 pounds of " too 

 gamey " poultry, about 3,500,000 pounds of fish 

 and about 5,000,000 pounds of offal.'" 



The necessity for a suitable supply of 

 potable drinking water is now well recog- 

 nized in every civilized community, and it 

 is usually provided in the city, often at 

 great expense, yet an appalling degree of 

 ignorance is still encountered in the coun- 

 try districts that is difficult to overcome. 

 A large percentage of urban population 

 does, and it is most desirable that every 

 single individual in the city should, enjoy 



'Jour. Roy. San. Inst., 29, p. 42; and Elec. Rev., 

 47, p. 811. 



° Parsons, " Municipal Chemistry," McGraw- 

 Hill Publishing Co., 1910, p. 333. 



" Parsons, loc. cit. 



a few days or weeks in the country in the 

 summer. The ignorance of country habits 

 is proverbial with the urban citizen, who 

 takes certain matters for granted. It is, 

 therefore, not infrequent that these out- 

 ings, picnics, etc., which should make for 

 the better health, are the direct causes of 

 unnecessary illnesses attributable directly 

 to the drinking water, for all the liquid 

 refreshments on these occasions are not 

 limited to the national German beverage. 



This is largely a matter of education. 

 Every teacher of chemistry has a splendid 

 opportunity to drive these simple matters 

 home, and I never fail to do it with the five 

 or six hundred young men who sit under 

 me every year. But every citizen does not 

 listen to lectures on sanitation, although 

 frequent opportunities are given by the 

 various lecture bureaus. Popular bul- 

 letins, such as those splendid sheets which 

 come so regularly from Dr. Evans's office 

 in Chicago, can do much good. The press, 

 when appealed to, will render great assist- 

 ance. 



The public is inclined to believe that 

 when an ample potable water-supply has 

 been provided, all that is necessary has 

 been done. Sanitarians know that the 

 contrary is the case. They may point out 

 to the citizens that sewage disposal is quite 

 as important. They may cite the story of 

 Dantzic, which had good water in 1869, 

 but the typhoid rate did not decrease ma- 

 terially until 1872, when sewers were added. 

 Vienna had good sewerage and bad water 

 up to 1874 ; the death rate was 340 in 100,- 

 000. That year good water was supplied 

 and the rate dropped to 11 in 100,000. 

 With good water and no sewage the soil 

 becomes saturated with refuse matter, a 

 hot bed awaiting the planting of patho- 

 genic bacterial seed. Sedgwick, referring 

 to cholera, figuratively states that "Petten- 

 koffer has given the key to the whole situa- 

 tion by saying that filth is like gunpowder, 



