AN EXPERIMENT IN CIVIC HYGIENE 



307 



of solid wastes is a tremendous task. In Manhattan the dry 

 wastes are estimated to be 1,000,000 tons a year in addition to about 

 175,000 tons of garbage. Prior to 1895 in the city of New York 

 garbage was not separated from ashes ; now the law requires that 

 garbage be placed in separate receptacles from ashes. Do you 

 see why? In some cities, such as Minneapolis, garbage must be 

 wrapped in paper. This aids burning it in the city incinerator. 

 The street-cleaning department should be aided by every citizen ; 

 rules for the separation of garbage, papers, and ashes should be 

 obeyed. Garbage and ash cans should be covered. Best results 

 in street cleaning in summer are obtained by washing or flushing 

 the streets, for thus the dirt containing germs is prevented from 

 getting into the air. The garbage is removed in carts, and part 

 of it is burned in huge furnaces. The animal and plant refuse 

 may be cooked in great tanks, the fats extracted from this material, 

 and the solid matter sold for fertilizer. Ashes are used in some 

 places for filling marsh 

 land. Thus the removal 

 of waste matter may pay 

 for itself in a large city. 



An Experiment in Civic 

 Hygiene. — During the 

 summer of 1913 an inter- 

 esting experiment on the 

 relation of flies and filth 

 to disease was carried on 

 in the city of New York 

 by the Bureau of Public 

 Health and Hygiene of 

 the New York Associa- 

 tion for Improving the 

 Condition of the Poor. Two adjoining blocks were chosen in a 

 thickly populated part of the Bronx near stables which were the 

 breeding places of great numbers of flies. In one block all houses 

 were screened, garbage pails were furnished with covers, refuse was 

 removed, and the surroundings made as sanitary as possible. In 

 the adjoining block conditions were left unchanged. During the 

 summer as flies began to breed in the manure heaps near the stables, 



Dumping a load of ashes and rubbish into a scow, 

 to be taken out to sea for final disposal. 



