198 
Value of Earth- Closet Manure. 
pains to ascertain what profit was realized by the disposal of 
these matters in different towns on the Continent. 
As the result of personal observations and inquiries on the 
spot, I may state that in Belgium the town population seldom 
realizes by the disposal of their excretal matters as much as one 
franc (9Jfl'.) per head per annum. In many cases I found nothing 
whatever is realized by the town populations when their excretal 
matters are collected in tanks or cesspools as free as possible 
from all extraneous matters ; and in not a few cases their removal 
entails some cost to the inhabitants. 
In 1864, the Prussian Government commissioned Messrs. 
C. v. Salviati, O. Roder, and Dr. Eichhorn to investigate the 
modes of collection, removal, and utilization, in various Con- 
tinental towns ; and, in their report, the Prussian Commissioners, 
who visited various towns in Belgium, France, and Germany, 
showed not only that the householders seldom realized anything 
like a franc per head per annum for their excretal matters, but 
that, in the majority of towns, they had to pay something for the 
removal. It is surprising that, in the face of the reports of indi- 
viduals who have investigated the subject on the spot, and in spite 
of reliable official reports, embodying the results of personal 
observations and dealing with plain matters of fact, many people 
should still give credence to the unwarranted statement that in 
Belgium excretal matters are sold at 1/. per head per annum, and 
that most Continental towns derive a more or less considerable 
income from the sale and utilization of human excreta. In the 
endeavour to correct the erroneous and exaggerated notions which 
not a few persons entertain with regard to the money value of 
human excrements, I have purposely confined myself to a state- 
ment of facts, which everyone may verify who will take the trouble 
to visit Continental towns and make inquiry into the manner 
in which human excreta are disposed of, and what is realized bv 
the towns by their utilization. The practical conclusion to 
which an unbiassed inquirer into this subject will arrive is that, 
as liir as the inhabitants of towns are concerned, human excreta 
are a nuisance, for the removal of which, in most towns, they 
have to pay something. 
It can be shown, however, on other grounds, that the theoretical 
or calculated value of human excreta is nothing like 1/. per ton ; 
and it may not be altogether unprofitable for me to point out 
what may be fairly regarded as their theoretical value. Their 
composition, I need hardly say, is subject to considerable varia- 
tions ; and, consequently, all calculations based upon analyses 
of these matters are liable to considerable fluctuations. Speak- 
ing gencrallv, solid human excreta, as they leave the body "con- 
