112 
Utilisation of Excrementitious Matter. 
have added %d. a-week to the rent of the cottage of the mechanic 
and labourer : while the earth svstem, fully and fairly carried out, 
would have increased his income. At all events there is a great 
national evil to be dealt with which urgently demands remedial 
measures. 
This remedy is not restricted to towns, but is equallv applic- 
able to that great portion of our population M hich is scattered 
abroad in villages and detached houses, under circumstances 
which call for sjiecial consideration, since such districts often 
exhibit a higher rate of mortality than that of the metropolis 
and other first-rate towns which have hitherto almost exclusively 
occupied the attention of sanitary reformers. 
I. Principles of the £a7ih-si/sfein. 
I. — The first fact or principle on which this svstem is based 
— viz. the power of dr\ and sifted earth, especially if it par- 
takes of the nature of clay, to absorb and retain ammonia 
and other fertilisers, — was first pointed out by Professor Way 
in his two papers, printed in this Journal, on ' The Power of 
Soils to absorb Manure,' in which reference was made to the 
observations of the Rev. A. Huxtable and Mr. H. S. Thompson. 
The object of those papers, however, differed considerably from 
that now entertained. Then the power of the earth to retain 
gaseous soluble fertilisers was the point chiefly dwelt upon ; 
now, attention is specially directed to its efficient action in the 
removal of the effluvia from our animal and vegetable refuse. 
It was to this point, but particularly to the repeated action and 
consequently the repeated use of the same earth, that I first 
directed the attention of the public. I then pointed out — IsL 
that a very small portion of dry and sifted earth (li pint) is 
sufficient, bv covering the deposit, to anest effluvium, to pre- 
vent fermentation (which so soon sets in wherever water is used), 
and the consequent generation and emission of noxious gases. 
2ndlv. That if within a few hours, or even a few days, the mass 
which would be formed by the repeated layers of deposit be 
intimately mixed by a coarse rake or spade, or by a mixer made 
for the purpose, then in five or ten minutes neither to the eye 
nor sense of smell is anything ]KTceptible but so much earth. 
Mv first attempts to carry out this principle were extreme! v 
rude. After closing up the vault or cesspool on my premises, 
1 employed movable buckets, which were emptied from time 
to time and mixed with garden earth. Even this mode of 
removal, though offensive in idea, in great measure remedied 
pre-existing evils. The removal and mixing only occupied a 
boy's time for a quarter of an hour ; and after all was com- 
