EXPLOSION OF PICRATE OF POTASH IN PARIS. 
381 
price. The engraving has been executed by Sir Edwin’s brother, Mr. Thomas 
Landseer, and the prints are now ready, and may be obtained from the Secre¬ 
tary, Mr. Bremridge, 17, Bloomsbury Square. There are two classes of prints, 
namely, proofs before letters, with the signatures of the artist and the en¬ 
graver, at two guineas each, and proofs without the signatures at one guinea. 
Any profit that may result from the sale of these prints is to form a fund, the 
proceeds of which will be applied in providing prizes to be given to those who 
distinguish themselves at the examinations for aduiission_mto the Pharmaceu¬ 
tical Society. 
THE TREATMENT AND UTILIZATION OE SEWAGE. 
There is no question which, in a sanitary and economic point of view, is more 
important, and at the same time, apparently more difficult of solution, than that 
of the best means of disposing of town sewage. The old cesspool system was 
so obviously bad, and its use was attended with such injurious effects upon the 
health of the inhabitants in populous districts, that nothing short of a radical 
change, involving the complete and immediate removal of excreta, with other 
dirt, to as great a distance as possible from human habitations, was thought 
likely to afford am efficient remedy for the evils which had been traced to the 
festering pit at the base of every house. The use of the mop and the pail, w itn 
their adjunct water, was well known and approved as a means of getting rid of 
dirt, and a little modification of this method constituted the new drainage sys¬ 
tem of our towns. Plenty of water and well-trapped drains, were found to 
carry off all that was offensive, and to keep our houses and streets free from nox¬ 
ious effluvia. The immediate cause of annoyance being thus removed, w e con¬ 
gratulated ourselves on having effected a great sanitary reform, and never dreamt 
that the new system would soon have to answer for a new class of evil* 3 whicn, 
if less grave in their nature, are certainly more widespread in their operation, than 
those of the system which had been superseded. . 
Many propositions have been made for the treatment and utilization of sewage, 
or otherwise for the disposal of the excreta of towns, so as to obviate the neces¬ 
sity for polluting the rivers and rendering useless and dangerous that which 
otherwise applied might be made a valuable fertilizing agent foi the land. 
Mr. E. C. Stanford, who, personally to many, and by name to still more, is 
known to our readers as formerly a student in the Society s laboiatory, and now 
a chemical manufacturer, has suggested a method of collecting excieta in a solid 
state, by the use of charcoal, as described in a paper, an abstract of which was 
given in the last number of this Journal. Mr. Stanford’s paper was read at a 
meeting of the British Association at Exeter, and we are glad to find that the 
treatment and utilization of sewage has been considered by the Association of 
sufficient importance to justify the appointment of a Committee of eminent sci¬ 
entific and practical men, who have undertaken, if the means should be placed 
at their disposal, to endeavour to solve this question M e have inserted else¬ 
where (page 433) a letter which has been addressed by the Committee to the 
municipal authorities throughout the country, and we sincerely hope the appeal 
thus made will not be without effect. 
THE LATE FATAL EXPLOSION OF PICRATE OF POTASH 
IN PARIS. 
In the early part of last year (March, 1869), a disastrous explosion of picrate 
of potash took place in the premises of a manufacturing chemist, M. Fontaine, 
