380 VETEEINAEY HYGIENE 



might be made a most perfect one and extremely simple, 

 doing away with drains, traps, and liquid manure tanks ; it 

 seems extraordinary it has not been adopted on a large 

 scale. 



The question of peat as litter is not here being con- 

 sidered, only its power of taking up urine and mixing with 

 faeces, which forms not only a fertilizer of great value, but 

 is an excellent and sanitary method of dealing with animal 

 excreta. One pound of peat will absorb about 1 gallon of 

 water ; it is obvious that for this method to prove successful 

 a sufBcient supply of fresh peat should be allowed daily. 



Disposal by Incineration. — No consideration of the ques- 

 tion of the disposal of refuse would be complete without 

 reference to incineration. It is an excellent but expensive 

 system of getting rid of the refuse of large communities. 

 To incinerate the excreta of animals so long as agriculture 

 is practised is a waste of good material, but no hesitation 

 should be experienced in destroying by fire that of animals 

 affected with infectious disease. This, however, comes 

 under the subject of disinfection, and in the chapter dealing 

 with this matter the question will be found fully discussed, 

 and the needful apparatus described. 



Testing Drains and Traps. — After drains are laid it is 

 well to test them, in fact they should not be covered up 

 until this is done. A simple method is to close the outlet 

 and fill up the pipes with water from the inlet. If, for 

 example, in Fig. 158, D is plugged at its outlet, where 

 it empties into the disconnecting syphon, and the system 

 filled with water until it reaches the grating G, the level of 

 the water should remain unchanged ; if it falls there is a 

 leak, which with an uncovered drain is easily seen. 



Another method employed is the smoke test, either by 

 means of a specially prepared rocket which emits a dense 

 smoke, or by burning cotton waste in the pipes. If, for 

 instance, the trap F (Fig. 158) require to be tested, smoke 

 generated in B, where it empties into the disconnecting 

 syphon — the grating G being completely closed — would 

 reveal a defect by issuing from the trap in the stable. 



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