Use of Town Seicage as Manure. 
149 
fall in a large city finds its way into the soil as it passes directly 
from the streets and houses into the sewers. There are some 
curious facts, however, connected with street drainage which 
are worth mentioning. Several years ago I examined some 
samples of water collected in the gully-holes of the sewers of 
London, and sent to me by the General Board of Health; 
they were samples of rain-water which, having fallen in the 
streets, had been intercepted in their passage to the sewers. They 
were collected from streets of diflerent kinds, some being paved 
with granite and others Macadamized. In some cases also the 
traffic in the streets was considerable, in others very limited. 
All these circumstances had, as the analyses show, a perceptible 
influence on the quality of the waters. The mechanically 
abraded matters of the streets were collected, as well as the waters 
themselves. The following table shows the quantity of matter 
both in solution and in the solid state, in an imperial gallon of 
the different samples : — * 
Street Water. 
Number 
Quality 
of 
Quality 
Eesidue in an Imperial Gallon. 
of 
Name of Street. 
of 
Bottle. 
Paving. 
Traffic. 
Soluble. 
Insoluble. 
Both. 
Grains. 
Grains. 
Grains. 
1 
Duke-Street, Man- 
Macadam 
Middling 
92-80 
105-95 
198-75 
chester-square. 
7 
Foley-street(upper 
7 7 
Little . 
95-13 
116-30 
211-43 
part) 
Middling 
5 
Gowerstreet 
Granite 
126-00 
168-30 
294-30 
12 
Norton-street 
5 7 
Ballasted 
Little . 
123-87 
3-00 
126-87 
3 
Hampstead-road 
(above the canal). 
Great . 
96-00 
84-00 
180-00 
4 
Ferdinand-street 
) ) 
Middling 
44-00 
48*30 
92-30 
2 
Ferdinand-place 
Granite 
Little . 
50-80 
34-30 
85-10 
10 
Oxford-street . 
Great . 
276-23 
537-10 
813-33 
6 
f > 
Macadam 
Great • 
194-62 
390 30 
584-92 
11 
5 > 
Wood . 
Great . 
34'00 
5-00 
39-00 
It will be seen by this table that the quantity of soluble salts 
derived from some varieties of street pavement is very great; in 
one case (No. 10), for instance, there being no less than 276 
grains of such salts in a gallon of the water. I do not propose 
entering at length upon this subject here, and it will be enough 
to say that the nature of the pavement, and the greater or less 
amount of traffic, evidently determine the quantity of soluble 
matter in solution in the water. 
Four samples of these waters were further analysed, and the 
results are very interesting. Two samples were from granite, 
and the other two from Macadamized roads. 
* For full account of these experiments see Report of General Board of Health 
on Metropolitan Water-supply, Appendix 3, page 140. 
