120 
Utilisation of Excrementitious Matter. 
for turning tlie sewage into the river, on tlie ground that the solid 
matter held in suspension in the sewage has filled up a mill- 
course ; on the other, legal proceedings are pending for dimi- 
nishing the supply of water to a mill-stream, by taking sewage 
out of the river, although the water mixed with the sewage is in a 
great measure not a natural, but an artificial supply, derived 
from the town's waterworks, it being found impossible to distin- 
guish natural fi'om artificial supplies of water Avhcn they arc 
mingled together. And yet again attempts to utilise the sewage 
are, to a considerable extent, thwarted by the gas-works, which, 
" slyly and secretly," pour into the river a great deal of matter 
which is injurious not only to vegetation, but to animal life ; so 
that further actions against the town, for the destruction of fish 
in the Trent, are also expected. 
We also learn that it is still quite an open question what new 
sanitary measures should here be adopted, because at present not 
more than one-twentieth part of the houses have water-closets. 
If the prospects held out by the water system are not promising, 
the older arrangements are as objectionable on the score of eco- 
nomy as of health. At present the cost of getting rid of the 
night-soil, the bulk of which is said to be enormous, comes to 
6000/. a year ; and about seven years ago (when Mr. Standbridge 
was appointed Town Clerk) it was 11,000/. 
Even at Birmingham, where such strenuous efforts have been 
made on behalf of the water system, we find that a measure is 
in contemplation which turns upon the admixture of soil and 
earth, though after a rude fashion. It is proposed to lift by steam- 
power the solid matter deposited by the sewage in the tanks 
(which by itself, unless given away, is in but little request as a 
manure), and to mix it with night-soil. The night-soil is to be' 
screened from the bulkier matters Avhich are added to it in large 
towns, and the remaining cinders and " breezes " (as they are 
there called) are to be crushed to powder. " 
" It is," according to Mr. Standbridge's statement, "a remark- 
able fact that when that carbonaceous matter, either in the shape 
of cinder or coal, is crushed, the most filthy night-soil that you 
can conceive becomes without smell, comparatively S])eaking ; so 
that the crushing process will be absolutely a means of preventing 
the accumulation of night-soil being a nuisance, and it will at the 
same time create a very valuable manure indeed. About the 
value of it there is not the least doubt." 
Thus while the onward course of water sewage is beset with 
expense and difficulty, a rude modification of the earth system, 
using but inferior materials, has forced itself into notice. 
