47 
polis. If desired, the hardness could be easily diminished by the " liming n 
process, but that very hardness rendered the water more safe to store in 
leaden cisterns, &c. Mr. Noble then pointed out that although it was 
generally conceded that pure air and good water were the two essentials 
for healthy living, and although both these could be had in abundance in 
London, yet that both were poisoned by the defectiveness of local arrange- 
ments. For instance, in the smaller houses, two or three days' supply of 
water was stored in wooden butts, in very close proximity to the privies . 
Enormous quantities of good water, too, were wasted by being made the 
vehicle for carrying away the sewage, without in the slightest degree disin- 
fecting it. It was necessary to find some remedy for this state of things, 
and for his own part, he was convinced that there was no disinfectant so 
powerful as dry earth, especially dry clay, which, by its porosity, oxidised 
the decomposing matters. On a former occasion he had described the 
practical application of this substance, by the Rev. Mr. Moule, of Dor- 
chester, for the disposal of sewage, and he would therefore only now allude 
to it. Mr. Noble then referred to an article in the last number of the 
Quarterly Journal of Science, in which the state of things in Manchester 
at present, under the old cesspool system, was described. These cesspools 
were emptied every night, and hence that city would be a very suitable 
place to experiment with Moule's process, on a large scale as all the ma- 
chinery for it was, as it were, ready to hand. The water supply of Man- 
chester was naturally very good, but was greatly injured by the draining and 
leaking of sewage into it. The difficulties in the way of carrying out the 
earth- system were purely mechanical and commercial, that is, it was a 
question of comparative cost — chemically speaking, the process was 
almost perfect. 
Mr. Carpenter spoke of his practical experience with Moule's 
process for the disinfection of sewage by dry earth, and its use as manure, 
at the Park Row Certified Industrial School, as well as ha\ing seen it in 
operation at the Kingswood Reformatory, and at the Netham Chemical 
Works. He also stated that the arrangements in many foreign hotels and 
inns were such, that a very slight modification would enable them to be 
worked according to Moule's plan. 
Mr. Thos. Coomber, F.C.S., mentioned one or two instances of water 
which had been sent to him for examination, into which, originally pure, 
sewage matter had found its way, and caused serious consequences. 
A conversational discussion then occurred, m which the members already 
named, together with Mr. Gillford and Mr. E. J. Gibbons, took part, 
upon the amount of reliance to be placed upon the permanganate of potash 
test for organic matter. Mr. Coomber maintained that the results obtained 
