Goffnrfe Saniiation, 
639 
(2) The closet and midden. — Perhaps the commonest form of 
convenience attached to country cottages is the privy-midden — 
a good enough arrangement when properly constructed at some 
distance from the house and frequently emptied. But unfor- 
tunately its contents are often allowed to accumulate for months or 
even years. The writer has known one attached to a school which 
had not been emptied for several years, attention being drawn 
to it by the fact that many of the scholars were in bad health. 
pipes referred to in the text, and which are admirably laid in cement. It is 
possible in this way to ascertain at once, in the case of stoppage of drainage, 
exactly in which pipe the obstruction occurs. Ventilation of the chambers 
and drain-pipes is provided for by separate air inlets. The liquid that runs 
away from the pigstyes is carried into these drains by a similar arrangement of 
sinks and traps. 
The whole work has been constructed in a very perfect manner, and the 
drainage is carried away into main channels, which empty themselves on to grass 
land at a suflScient distance from the cottages. Other inspection chambers 
are provided at the entry of the smaller drains into the main ones. Formerly, 
the refuse from the pigstyes was put into a kind of cesspool by the side of the 
sty, and owing to the scarcity of material for litter, the greater part of the 
liquid used to soak into the earth, and no doubt in some cases found its way 
into the wells. Wherever i t has been possible, the drains have been taken far 
away from the wells. The replacement of cesspools by the earth-closet system 
is now in progress, but the difficulty with a soil such as that at Claydon 
(which is mostly heavy clay) of providing sufficiently fine and dry earth for 
absorption purposes is likely to be a source of considerable trouble. — Ernest 
Clarke. 
Spa 
Spa 
Fig. 5. — Plan of Privy-Midden, 
