242 
Village Sanitary Econoiny. 
would still be that part of the refuse resulting from the use of 
5 gallons of water per head in washing, cooking, &c., which 
must be dealt with. At the present moment, the slops are thrown 
from the cottage-door, or they are run from the scullerv sink upon 
the ground surrounding the dwelling ; and considering that the 
quantity discharged from each cottage, whenever a public supply 
may be adopted, would amount to 25 gallons, weighing 250 lbs., 
a day, the importance of the question assumes its proper magni- 
tude. It may be easy enough to absorb and deodorise the smaller 
proportion represented by human excreta ; but, inasmuch as it 
requires 2 lbs. of dry earth to absorb 1 lb. of fluid, so as to render 
it capable of ready removal, it would require between 4 and 5 cwts. 
of earth to absorb and deodorise the 250 lbs. weight of refuse 
which does not find its way to the closet. 
It is the disposal of this large share of refuse and the preju- 
dicial influence of patent rights that form the great difficulty 
standing in the way of the earth system of sewerage. Several 
modes of dealing with house-slops have been suggested ; sub- 
irrigation is one ; filtration through a prepared soil heap, 
allowing the effluent liquid to sink into the ground after it is 
filtered, is another ; and filtration through prepared earth in 
tanks, allowing the effluent liquid to pass away by a sewer 
or drain into the river or outfall of the watershed, a third. 
The first two methods contemplate the absorption of the liquid 
refuse by the soil, and with the knowledge that the saturation of 
the soil and sub-soil surrounding the dwelling, even with pure 
water, is detrimental to health, it is manifest that we must be 
very cautious as to the adoption of, if we do not altogether 
reject, any method having this object in view. A study of the 
views of Pettenkofer, the German physiologist, will help to 
decide this question. He is represented to have laid it down as 
a maxim that water impregnated with contagium conveys it 
through the earth to the level of the water in the sub-soil, where 
it collects and stagnates, and that when the water level sinks, and 
air takes the place of water in the soil, the morbific germ or 
poison retained in the soil is raised by evaporation, and so 
communicated to man.* Deferring all remarks on this point, it 
is enough to state here that the existence of excrementitious or 
putrid organic matter in the soil under foot, either with or 
without sufficient water to completely saturate the soil, has been 
shown to be highly pernicious, and this alone should induce all 
sewer authorities to prevent the absorption of sewage by the soil 
rather than sub-irrigate that surrounding the dwelling with 
* See the very able address of Dr. Rumsey to the Health Department of tho 
Association for the Promotion cf Social Science, delivered at the Congress held at 
Birmingham, 18G8. 
