128 The Essentials of House Sanitation — 



fession, and by the architects, and I now wish to speak as a 

 plumber — I may say as a master plumber. Mr. Gray did good 

 in drawing the attention of the public to the insanitary condi- 

 tion of some of our National Schools, as there is one at least, 

 not very far distant from this place, where the means of the 

 people would lead you to expect a different state of things, 

 where the sanitary arrangments are, to say the least of it, most 

 ridiculous and far from what they ought to be. I cannot agree 

 with Mr. Gray that the pattern of bath waste which he has 

 exhibited would be an improvement on that generally in use. 

 In the modern bath the waste is placed in an enclosure at the 

 lower end of the bath, the outlet being close to but not in the 

 bottom, and with perhaps two or three bars across it to prevent 

 anything passing down that would stop the waste pipe. The 

 water is all drained off, leaving nothing perceptible in the 

 bottom. Mr. Gray's suggestion with reference to placing the 

 waste of the bath convenient to the outer wall, instead of 

 as at present being fixed the opposite way, is a great improve- 

 ment, and it is a wonder we did not think of this sooner. The 

 old pan water closets are now out of date ; but with reference 

 to the flush of the closets which are being used in their stead, 

 I agree with some of the previous speakers that there should 

 be a flush of four gallons, as three gallons will not always 

 effectually cleanse the apparatus. I do not quite agree with 

 Mr. Gray that water closets should be always placed at the 

 outside wall of the building ; they should be placed there if 

 convenient, but it is possible to fit up this apparatus so that it 

 shall be free from anything of an obnoxious character, and we 

 must have it in a convenient and comfortable place. The 

 lecturer did not mention any of the methods of testing, nor 

 explain whether he would have recommended the " smoke test " 

 or the " peppermint test." The smoke test is the popular one, 

 but architects are not agreed that it is the best one ; perhaps in 

 his reply he can give us some information on this point. I 

 have no sympathy with the recommendation for the formation 

 of a " sanitary exhibition," but rather think it would divert 



