w^m^K^^-^MP^ 
 
 Ws 
 
 km. 
 
 W^y--^ 
 
 *35 
 
 %4 
 
 "^■^
 
 LI E) RARY 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVER^SITY 
 or ILLINOU
 
 -V
 
 LECTUKE 
 
 THE BEST MODE OF UTILISING SEWAGE 
 OF TOWNS, 
 
 DELIA'EEED BEFORE 
 
 THE DORCHESTER FARMERS' CLUB, 
 
 EEV. H. MOULE, 
 
 (VIC.VP. OF FORblXOTON,) 
 
 ON SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1864. 
 
 REVISED AND ENLARGED FROM A PAPER READ AT THE 
 
 MEETING OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION, AT 
 
 SHEFFIELD, OCTOBER 8, 1865.
 
 LONDON : 
 BRADBURY, EVANS, AND CO., PRINTERS, WHITEFRIAHS.
 
 LECTURE 
 
 THE BEST MODE OF UTILISINa SEWAGE 
 OF TOWNS. 
 
 There was a very large attendance at the monthly 
 meeting of the Dorchester Farmers' Club, in the large 
 room at the Antelope Hotel, ou Saturday, the 12th of 
 November, 1864, it having been announced that the 
 Rev. H. Moule, vicar of Fordiugton, v^ould give a lecture 
 *'0n the best Mode of Utilising Town Sewage." The 
 chair was occupied by Mr. G. J. Wood, the president, 
 and Mr. Genge officiated as deputy vice-chairman, in the 
 place of Mr. James Hardiug. After transacting some 
 minor business, the meeting proceeded to the more 
 immediate and important matter before them. 
 
 The Rev. H. Moule, v?-ho was received with applause, 
 said : Gentlemen, — Although you have requested me to 
 read this paper on the best mode of utilising the sewage 
 of towns, there are those who doubtless will inquire, 
 ' ' What has a clergyman to do with such a question 1 " 
 And my reply to such an inquiry is simply this, that 
 from the directions contained in Holy Scripture and 
 from the example of the blessed Saviour himself, I learn 
 that the great and supreme object of a clergyman's life
 
 must be the promotion of his Master's glory in' the ^salva- 
 tion of souls. But from the same sources I also learn, 
 that he, certainly no less than others, must seek to do 
 good to the bodies of men, to promote their temporal 
 welfare, and perhaps especially to seek to feed the hungry 
 and to clothe the nake,]. Now in the discovery, to 
 which I have been led, of the marvellous capability of 
 dry earth and of various subsoils for the absorption and 
 deodorisation of excrementitious and other offensive 
 matters, and of their consequeut applicability to the 
 removal of such matters from our premises, our houses, 
 and even from crowded towns, a means of doing an 
 incalculable amount of good has been placed within my 
 reach. And noihing but a deep sense of the obligation 
 to seek to do that good has prompted and sustained me 
 during six or seven years against the contempt, and 
 riiicule, and reproach, and the strong dissuasion of many 
 in my eflbrts first to publish the principles of my pro- 
 posed system, and then, when no one else would do it, 
 to work out, with the help, however, of Mr. James White, 
 of this town, what I think 1 may now call the perfect 
 application of those principles. 
 
 The benefits to be derived from the dry-earth system, 
 are varied in their kind. They are sanatory, social, 
 moral, and economical. The subject, however, which 
 you have assigned me, will limit my observations this 
 evening exclusively to the latter class of benefits. Not- 
 withstanding this, I still feel that I am within that 
 sphere of duty of which I have before spoken ; for 
 while seeking, and with great pleasure to myself, to 
 promote the true interests of agriculturists, yet at the 
 ^•■i.me time, in placing before you a means of rendering 
 
 !uiuc' 
 
 % /
 
 food and clothing cheaper and more abundant, I am 
 helping to feed the hungry, and to clothe the naked. In 
 farther justification of this you must allow me to make 
 another reference to Scripture ; and I do it the more 
 readily, because the passage I shall quote contains within 
 it the basis of all true political economy, and places agri- 
 culture in its proper position. "Moreover the profit of 
 the earth is for all ; the King himself is served by the 
 field." — Ecclesiastes v. 9. 
 
 But now to my subject, on which, for the sake of 
 simplification, and of rendering my remarks more prac- 
 tical, I must place a further limitation ; for unless I do 
 this at the outset, it will be almost impossible that you 
 should divest your minds of the difficulty, which I 
 believe to be insurmountable, of disposing of the immense 
 proportion of water now necessary in the ordinary mode 
 of removing the sewage of towns. On the utilisation of 
 sewage in a liquid form, such for instance as that which 
 the Metropolis pours forth at the rate of from 90,000,000 
 to 100,000,000 of gallons daily, I have nothing to say ; 
 nor do I believe that any one has anything to say that, 
 in the true sense of utilisation, is either practical or 
 practicable. I propose rather to consider the best mode 
 of utilising the excrementitious matter, and the animal 
 and vegetable refuse of houses and towns. For, under the 
 sanatory point of view, these are the great and general 
 source of evil ; and if we can dispose of them we shall 
 find it easy to deal with the minor and more special 
 difficulties of factories, <fec. Whereas, under the econo- 
 mical point of view, in these substances of which I speak 
 lies so much the larger proportion of the value of the 
 sewage of towns, that if I can show how these can be 
 
 B 2
 
 secured, instead of being wholly or partially wasted, 1 
 shall show to a certainty the best mode of utilising that 
 sawage. All other substances, however, of any value, 
 may be secured too. But this may well be a matter of 
 subsequent consideration, and in the event of the appli- 
 cation of my system to any town or village, it may be a 
 matter of easy subsequent arrangement. 
 
 By the adoption of the dry-earth system, then, I assert, 
 and will show you, that the excrementitious matter of 
 our population, whether in town or country, together 
 with all the animal and vegetable refuse of our houses, 
 may be utilised. And by this I beg to be understood to 
 mean, that it may be turned to advantage, or be made a 
 source of profit, and that a profit not merely partial and 
 local — not just to the company that, at a nominal price, 
 may rent the sewage, nor to the town that supplies it — 
 but an advantage and a source of profit at least to the 
 country around. In order, however, to institute a com- 
 parison between, this and any other system, it will be 
 necessary first to be satisfied as to some well-grounded 
 estimate of the value of the substances of which I am 
 speaking, when secured and removed in a state undiluted 
 and unencumbered by water, and. then to agree on certain 
 requisites in the mode of saving, removing, and disposing 
 of them, the existence or the absence of which will render 
 that mode of removal as a mode of utilising either good 
 cr bad. 
 
 Now, as to an estimate of the value of these substances, 
 I have met with none more reasonable in itself, nor 
 resting on more simple and common-sense data, than 
 that given me by one of your own society, Mr. R. 
 Damen, and which, with his permission, I have inserted
 
 in the second and third editions of my pamphlet, 
 "National Health and Wealth." That estiaiate is £1 
 a-head, annually, for the members of a family or the 
 population of a town ; and he arrives at it in the following 
 way : — He says, that any intelligent farmer, who under- 
 stands his business, wUl admit that one-third of the value 
 of the corn given to his cattle goes on to his ground in 
 the form of manure. And, applying this to the food and 
 excrement of human beings (and I suppose he would 
 include the kitchen waste), he reasons thus : — Take the 
 average value of the meat and corn food of each indivi- 
 dual at 2.S. a-head per week, or at £5 a year ; then, 
 instead of one-third, take only one-fifth of this as the 
 average value of the manure made by each person, and 
 you have as that average value, £1 per annum. So that, 
 for this town of Dorchester, the gross produce would 
 stand for the whole population at £7,000 ; and for 
 Carlisle, a city of 30,000 inhabitants, of which I shall 
 presently have to speak, it would stand at £30,000 ; 
 while the manure that might be saved from the whole 
 population of Great Britain and Ireland, would, if rightly 
 saved, be worth £30,000,000 sterling a year. Many 
 I know will think this estimate extravagant. If, how- 
 ever, the manure be saved without water, I am sure 
 that it is not extravagant. But suppose, for one moment, 
 that this value were reduced to one-half, or even one- 
 third, and you estimate it for the whole country at 
 £15,000,000, or at £10,000,000, or for Carlisle at 
 £15,000, or £10,000, or for Dorchester at £3,500, or 
 £2,303, is not the question of the right mode of saving 
 and utilising these substances a question relating not 
 merely to the various towns and their immediate vicin-
 
 8 
 
 ities, but to the great agricultural interest as well, and to 
 the whole country as affected by that interest ? 
 
 And yet, after a good deal of study of Parliamentary 
 inquiry and evidence, I am bold to assert that hitherto 
 there has been absolutely no reasonable attempt thus to 
 deal with this question. Every mode of utilising the 
 sewage of towns that I have seen has been either far too 
 partial, far too limited, or far too expensive ; and the 
 highest idea which those recommending these modes 
 seem to entertain of the word " utilise," is the prevention 
 of absolute and entire waste. Encumbered by the water 
 medium of removal, and thus compelled to apply the 
 manure in a liquid form, the sphere of operation is 
 necessarily confined to the vicinity of towns. And, if 
 dependent on the natural flow of the sewage water, the 
 area to be fertilised must either, by the nature of the 
 ground or by the season for applying the manure, 
 generally be very limited ; while the owners of that 
 ground will be very unlikely to give anything like the 
 real value of that with which their neighbours in the 
 town must of necessity part. But if, as some have pro- 
 posed with respect to the sewage of London, recourse 
 must be had to pumping this liquid sewage to a great 
 height, in order to send it to the higher ground of 
 Bagshot Heath, then the enormous expense of the water 
 drainage system will be vastly increased, and that at the 
 risk of a similar difliculty as to the demand. For either 
 as to extent or as to price, this demand will, under such 
 circumstances, almost of necessity fall far short of render- 
 ing a profitable return to these who furnish the supply. 
 And this matter of expense, and even of incurring by 
 such new works the risk of throwing additional burdens
 
 9 
 
 on the tradesmen and labouring classes of our towns, 
 ought to receive from our legislature, our boards of health, 
 our sanatory reformers, and our engineers, far greater 
 consideration than, in my humble opinion, it has hitherto 
 received. It is no light matter to take half a yearns rental^ 
 or one or two years' rental, of a town, for public works, 
 and thus add £1 a year to the rent of the poorest cottages, 
 and then, perhaps, in order to correct the mistake into 
 which for some few years men had been running headlong 
 — that of polluting rivers and streams — to add something 
 more in order to carry out some costly plan for utilising, 
 as they call it, this liquid sewage. 
 
 Let me state, then, as the first requisite of a good mode 
 of using that which is at the same time the most offen- 
 sive and the most valuable portion of the refuse of 
 our towns, that while improving the sanatory condi- 
 tion and the comfort of the town, it should make that 
 refuse a source of profit, or at all events prevent its 
 removal from being a matter of burdensome expense. 
 Then, and in order to this, the manure, so saved and 
 removed, must be of such power or virtue, and in such 
 a form, and obtainable at a price so moderate, that it 
 shall be able, by setting the inferior price against the 
 perhaps inferior power, to compete with foreign and arti- 
 ficial manures, and so command a ready sale. And again, 
 it is requisite that it shall be as easy of transmission to 
 the moit distant parts of the country, and as easily appli- 
 cable to the land as any of those manures. If these 
 requisites can be provided, there will be no need of my 
 saying that hill farms and doivn farms and farms, that 
 from a distance send their corn and meat to the towns, 
 have as great a claim on that manure as the valley helovj
 
 10 
 
 any particular town or the heath in its immediate vimiity. 
 Those farms in that case will take it, and the towns on 
 ihdr iiart u'ill be ready enough to supply it. All this 
 then I will now proceed to show you can, by the dry 
 earth system, be easily effected, and that in a way the 
 most conducive to health, and decency, and comfort, and 
 by a process of removal far less expensive than any that 
 has hitherto been devised. It will serve to strengthen 
 my statements of the necessity and the value of the 
 several requisites above mentioned, if, before I describe 
 the dry-earth system, I give you by way of contrast two 
 or three instances of what is considered a good mode of 
 utilising the sewage of towns. 
 
 One person, who represents, I think, a company formed 
 for utilising the sewage of the metropolis, states in his 
 evidence before the committee of the House of Commons, 
 that he would distribute that sewage over 30,000 acres. 
 Another gentleman, and he quite an authority in such 
 matters, says he should prefer 50,000 or 60,000 acres. 
 Now take the lower estimates of the excrementitious 
 matter and of other animal and vegetable substances 
 together, namely, 10s. or 6s. 8c?. a head, and add to this 
 value the cost of public and of private works, and 
 turning away your attention for one moment from the 
 pollution of the Thames, say is not this pouring of that, 
 on so limited an area, which cannot bs worth much less 
 than £1,000,000 sterling per annum, or say if you please 
 £500,000, and removed at the cost of many millions, is 
 not this to waste, or at least to squander rather than to 
 utilise ? 
 
 Next take the far-famed meadows near Edinburgh, 
 which are irrigated by the sewage of that city. It is
 
 11 
 
 perfectly true that the produce of those meadows is 
 almost fabulous. The sum of £40, and even £50, has 
 been received as the rent of an acre ; and every acre 
 will carry 10 cows. But what is the amount and 
 value of the manure given to this land ? The sewage of 
 300,000 people, worth at the lowest estimate, if pro- 
 perly saved, £100,000, is poured over some 260 or 300 
 acres ! 
 
 Then take Carlisle, which was placed in the schedule 
 of the same Act of Parliament that placed this town 
 of Dorchester under the Board of Health. If the cost 
 of the works in that city bears the same proportion 
 to the cost of ours as that population bears to this, 
 then they must have spent on them from £60,000 
 to £80,000. At first they polluted their river, as we 
 pollute ours — they thus throwing away £30,000, or if 
 you ple.iss £10,000, and we £7,000 or £2,300. But 
 they have recently made such a step in advance in the 
 way of utilising their sewage, that the chairman of the 
 Metropolitan Board of Works and his secretary thought 
 it worth their while, about a fortnight since, to go and 
 inspect the mode of utilisation adopted there, and the 
 tone of the paragraph in the Times newspaper describing 
 this visit, implies, I think, something like satisfaction. 
 But what is it ? The sewage of 7,000 of the population 
 is avowedly thrown away. That of 23,000 deodorised 
 by ;Mr. McDougal's admirable disinfecting powder is 
 poured over 60 acres. £23,000 worth of manure, or if 
 you choDse £8,000 worth, raised at such a cost, spent on 
 60 acres ! ! Is not this again to waste or to squander 
 rather than to utilise ? 
 
 Xow then for the contrast. Water, as you see, does
 
 12 
 
 not deodorise. It rather increases within a few hours 
 the oflfensiveness of the smell, and itself needs to be 
 deodorised. Whereas a pint and a half or 2 lbs. of dry 
 earth or clay, if the evil be taken at once and in detail, 
 deodorises immediately, and at the same time preserves 
 the value of the urine and of the solid faeces ; while 
 instead of diluting, as water does, it may for certain soils 
 add to the value of the manure, as, for instance, when 
 various clays and silicates shall be used and afterwards 
 applied in this mixed state to our heaths and light 
 lands. 
 
 Next, for the application of this system, no public 
 works are required. For if by means of it you get rid 
 of the excrementitious matter and of the kitchen refuse, 
 you may then, without offence or injury, allow the water, 
 used in washing, to descend into a cesspool. Then, the 
 cost of the private works would not be above one-third 
 of that incurred in the water-drainage system. Whilst 
 the expense of maintaining the one in comparison with 
 that of mending pipes and cisterns and repairing closets 
 in the other would be as nothing. Indeed, as I will 
 presently show you, both the first cost of these works 
 and the cost of keeping them in repair and of the 
 supply of earth and of the removal of the soil, might be 
 no more than a percentage on the original outlay in the 
 form of rent. 
 
 Again, it will, perhaps, astonish some persons when I 
 assert that the supply of earth or clay for many towns, 
 such, for instance, as this town of Dorchester, would be 
 easier and less expensive than the supply of water. The 
 facility of this supply of earth to towns is the greater 
 from that property of dry earth or subsoil, to which I
 
 13 
 
 wish to call special attention, namely, its capability of 
 repeated action in the absorption and deodorisation of 
 offensive substances. For if after use and removal it be 
 intimately mixed with the offensive matter, it is easily 
 and inoffensively dried ; and when dried it absorbs and 
 deodorises the tenth time as readily and effectively as at 
 the first. In the country and in situations in which 
 the manure can at once be deposited in the earth, this 
 repeated use is unnecessary. But in the case of towns, 
 in which a manure company would be formed for the 
 purpose of the supply of earth and of its removal 
 after use, and of its sale when manufactured into a sale- 
 able manure, it will be of the utmost importance to 
 condense this manure as much as possible, with a view 
 to rendering it easy of carriage and of application to the 
 ground, either in the use of the drill or by sowing it. 
 Before stating the probable quantity of earth required 
 in any particular town, I would have you notice that the 
 value of urine as manure is about eight or ten times that 
 of the solid faeces, and that by the adoption of urinals 
 on this dry-earth system, both in public places, in large 
 establishments, and at railway stations, that which is 
 now to a great extent wasted and lost may, with vast 
 increase of comfort and ^to the great promotion of 
 decency, be almost entirely saved. 
 
 Now, first reminding you that I am perfectly un- 
 scientific, and no man of business, and admitting that 
 the estimates and plans of one who has so little time 
 for these matters are open to much modification, let 
 me give you a rough estimate of the supply of earth, 
 and of its treatment. For all the circumstances above 
 mentioned, for public and private places, for the family
 
 14 
 
 and the kitchen, for night and for day,'^ I would 
 estimate the quantity of dry earth per head at 12 lbs. 
 a day ; that is, supposing it to be used only ojico, 
 at two tons a yet»r. This, for a population such as that 
 of Weymouth, which, I think, is 14,000, would in 
 that case be 28,000 tons for the whole town, Dou't be 
 startled, however, at these figures. I am going to re;luoo 
 them. For supposing a drying shed to be erectel, 
 which in its erection aud its use might be very in- 
 expensive, and supposing the earth were used in every 
 case five times instead of oace, this would render the 
 quantity necessary for one year, for 14,000 people, only 
 5,600 tons. And if that earth so prepared by admixture 
 with the excremen titious and other matters, anl (as it 
 might be) mixed with some other valuable substance, 
 were in a well pulverised state sold at £3 a ton, there 
 would be a gross value attached to it of £1G, 8 00. Take, 
 however, only two thirds of that sum, say £12,000, and 
 supposing you have to purchase the soil from many of 
 the houses, and thus your expenses amount to half that 
 sum, or £6,000, then a clear profit might be derived to 
 the company of £6,000 a year. And if this can be done, 
 and that in a way more conducive than any other to the 
 health and comfort of the inhabitants, and at the same 
 time with vast advantage to the agriculturists of the 
 neighbourhood — if £12,000 worth of additional manure 
 can be thus provided for their land^ a manure applicable 
 with ease to land in any position — then I think, gentle- 
 men, this deserves to be styled a mode of utilising the 
 
 * For the removal of excrementitious matter alone from our 
 houses, I feel satisfied, as I have told the people of Sheffield, that 
 4 lbs. per head would be sufficient.
 
 15 
 
 sewage of such a town, and I venture to think it the 
 best mode. Soaii perhaps may wonder whence the 
 supply of earth is to be deri\^eL Some of the Wey- 
 mouth i^eople, for instance, have a^ked this of me. To 
 say nothing of other substances, there are clays around 
 that town to supply its population for centuries. Some 
 may be .'startled at the diflSculty of the carriage of so 
 much earth through the streets. Let such think of the 
 carriage of coal and of ashes, of which I will say more 
 presently. 
 
 But, gentlemen, I wo-ild place before you, in as few- 
 words as I can, a scheme wh'ch has been suggested to 
 me for the application of this system to such a town as I 
 have ju.st now mentioned. Let a co-iipany be formed 
 with a capital of, say £30,000. Remember, there would 
 be no public works required, neither at the cost of 
 the inhabitants nor of this company. All that the 
 company would require would be, first, warehouses and 
 drying sheds, and a staff of men au'l trucks and 
 horses, with something of a mill for mixing and pul- 
 verising. Then they would have to supply, both for 
 private houses and large establishments and other public 
 places, closets and urinals, which would be their own (just 
 as the gas-meter is the property of the gas company), to 
 keep in repair ; and for the use of which, together with 
 the removal of all this offensive matter, the owner or occu- 
 pier of the property would pay a per-ceutige of say 10 or 
 15 per cent, on the first cost. This for a cottage need not 
 be above 55. a year, and for some of the largest houses, 
 in which several apparatuses would be required, £5 or 
 £6. My belief is, that the whole cost of these private 
 works would not exceed, for such a population. £12,000
 
 16 
 
 or £15,000. But then I would propose that the shares 
 should be so many and at so low a figure, that the owner 
 or occupier even of a £5 cottage might take one, and 
 that the shares should at first be taken in a number pro- 
 portioned to the first outlay on the respective houses or 
 properties, Now supposing the company should, on its 
 capital of £30,000, make, beyond the rental of 10 per 
 cent, on £15,000, a profit of £6,000, that rental would 
 be repaid to the inhabitants at least twice over. In- 
 stead of the removal, then, of oflTensive matters being 
 to them a heavy burden, it would be a source of profit. 
 This then, again I say, is to utilise ; this I venture to 
 thiuk is the '* best mode of utilising the sewage of towns," 
 But will the dry-earth system of which I have spoken 
 do all this that I say ? To reply satisfactorily to this 
 question, I shall, at the risk of some repetition, 1st, recur 
 to first principles ; 2ndly, speak of the mode of the 
 application of those principles ; and 3rdly, show the 
 applicability of the system to towns. 
 
 1st. As to principles. These are, first, the marvellous 
 capability of dry and sifted earth, or of clayey subsoil, 
 for deodorisation. This is such that 2 lbs. weight of 
 earth, or 1^ pint, is amply sufficient for one use ; so 
 much so, that though this in practice is now discovered 
 to be quite unnecessary, yet if the mass should be at 
 once intimately mixed, all ofiensive smell and all ofien- 
 sive appearance are immediately removed. And not only 
 this, but if that so mixed should be dried, its deodoris- 
 ing powers continue the same as the earth possessed 
 before the admixture, and would continue, I believe, to 
 the twentieth time. I have myself tried it so many as 
 ten times.
 
 2ndly. The second principle is the immediate application 
 of this deodorising power to the matter to he deodorised — 
 the taking the evil in detail. I would not drive the 
 stench, by means of water, out of the house into the 
 cesspool or sewer, there to ferment and become more and 
 more noxious, and in that state to be driven back again, 
 it may be, through a trapped closet into the house, or 
 through gulley-holes and ventilators to contaminate the 
 atmosphere in the open streets. I would cat the evil off 
 at its source. 
 
 3rdly. The third principle, which has very recently been 
 observed, and which so increases, as I will presently show 
 you, the feasibility of the introduction of this system 
 into large towns, is this, that if the evil be so taken in 
 detail, and the earth be regularly applied, then there is 
 no need of that which, for some time, I had thought 
 necessary, namely, a process of mixing, and of a machine 
 for that purpose. For if the deposits fall into a vault 
 3 feet or 4 feet deep, then the superincumbent weight of 
 the repeated additions of 2 lbs. weight of earth, and an 
 occasional act of levelKug with a common road scraper, 
 are sufficient for mixing ; so that within six weeks from 
 the deposits falling, the excreta and any vegetable matter, 
 like paper, disappear, and the mass looks and smells like 
 fresh earth. And in that vault, without the emission of 
 any offensive smell, it may continue three, four, or five 
 months. 
 
 Before I pass from this mention of principles, let me 
 observe that this deodorising power of earth is not pos- 
 sessed either by sand or by coal ashes. The latter may, 
 as an absorbent, be mixed in certain proportions with 
 earth or clay, and so, together with street sweepings,
 
 18 
 
 help greatly towards supplying the means of cleansing a 
 town. But they are not and cannot be made a substitute 
 for earth. 
 
 II. But next, let me speak of the application of these 
 principles. For commodes in sick rooms and wards of 
 hospitals, and for some closets, a galvanised pail must be 
 used as a receptacle, and placed in a case. For closets 
 generally, whether up-stairs or down-stairs, whether in 
 the house or out of the house, there should be a vault 
 prepared some 4 feet square or less, according to circum- 
 stances, and 2 feet, 3 feet, or 4 feet deep, with an opening 
 for the levelling, of which I have before spoken, and for 
 the removal of the substance when required. This open- 
 ing may be either behind, or in the front, or in the floor, 
 as most convenient. 
 
 In many a cottage and in some schools, and, as I 
 conclude, in the now general adoption of my system 
 throughout British India, a box of earth is placed in the 
 closet, furnished with a scoop holding 1^ pint of earth, 
 and the process is by hand. But as this process cannot 
 always be reckoned on, a simple piece of machinery has 
 been devised for the purpose. A description of this, 
 with drawings, will be found in the prospectus of White 
 & Co., 29, Bedford Street, Covent Garden, London. I 
 will only add to that description that, in the case of 
 commodes, through the efficiency of this machinery 
 there will arise one of the greatest reliefs to suffering 
 humanity. For thus, and especially through the use of 
 commodes in which a lifting handle is used, all offensive 
 smell, and all noxious gases, may for ever be hanisJied 
 from sick rooms. And who is there who does not know 
 the necessity of some such relief as this in our large
 
 schools, our hospital wards, our asylums, and gaols and 
 union houses ? 
 
 I must also add, that by the use of a 10 or 12 inch 
 pipe attached to the seat, these closets can be used up- 
 f^tairs without the necessity of carrying up any earth. 
 The reservoir of earth, with the hopper attached, can be 
 placed just above the level of the ground-floor, and 
 worked as easily by a descending wire or rod from above, 
 as if attached to the seats. 
 
 III. Bud now, in the last place, as to the general 
 applicability of this system. It may be all very well in 
 those special cases of sick rooms, <fec., and even, some 
 will say, you may get it into public institutions, or 
 into detached houses, or even into villages ; but you can- 
 not be so wild as to suppose that into a large town 
 it could be introduced. (One gentleman stated at 
 Sheffield that a person must be mad to propose to intro- 
 duce it into that town of 200,000 inhabitants.) But 
 truly I am so wedded to the system that for eight years 
 I have been working out, that I am wild enough to be 
 quite confident that Sheffield might easily adopt it. And 
 I am strongly inclined to think, that if the men of 
 business in Sheffield will fairly and calmly strike the balance 
 between the two systems proposed to them, they will adopt 
 it. On the one side let them place the proposed expen- 
 diture, of which I have heard, of £250,000, on sewers, 
 (fee, which shall scarcely diminish, if it do not increase, 
 the contamination of the air, and which shall either throw 
 away the manure or expend it on a tract of land that 
 shall pay next to nothing in comparison with the outlay, 
 and in comparison with the real value of the manure. 
 And on the other side place — first, that this main source of
 
 20 
 
 the contamination of the air is entirely cut off; secondly, 
 thnt all public works are for this system wnnecessary ; and 
 thirdly, that by a company formed for the supply and 
 removal of the earth, and so for the manufacture of 
 manure, an income of at least £25,000 or even £50,000 a 
 year might be made. Let the balance between these two 
 systems, I say, be fairly struck, and I feel a strong con- 
 viction that there are men of intelligence and spirit and 
 philanthropy who will make the attempt. One great 
 advantage of the system is, that you have not to commit 
 yourselves at once and for ever to very expensive works. 
 You may try it partially. You may commence on public 
 buildings. Take your Corn Exchange, for instance, your 
 schools, and that act of public charity which I will be 
 bold to mention — let public conveniences he erected on this 
 system. 
 
 I will, in conclusion, give you a rough estimate of the 
 quantity of earth or earthy substance formed by the clay 
 of this town and neighbourhood, mixed with certain pro- 
 X)ortions of ashes and street sweepings ; or you may take 
 it, if you please, as composed of dry and sifted clay alone. 
 4 lbs. a head would be sufficient for each individual per 
 day. Taking the population at 200,000, this would be 
 800,000 lbs., or about 360 tons a day, or 130,000 tons 
 a year, if used only once ; but if used, which it well 
 might be, four times, and the manure be thus increased 
 in value, and be more easy of carriage, no more than 
 33,000 tons would be required ; and those 33,000 tons 
 ought to be worth at least £60,000. To this might be 
 added the refuse of slaughter-houses, the soot of chimnies, 
 and the animal and vegetable matters of sinks. But some 
 people say, "Only think of the labour involved in all
 
 21 
 
 this." Well, suppose it be so, in this, as in all useful 
 labour, there is profit. But what is that labour as 
 compared with that involved in the supply of only one 
 necessary of life, even our coal ? At the rate of 4 lbs. of 
 earth per head per day, -| cwt. would be required by a 
 single person ouce a fortnight ; 2h cwts. would be required 
 for a family of five persons in that time, or 1 ton every 
 sixteen weeks. Is it considered a great trouble to have 
 1 ton of coal delivered every sixteen weeks ? And the 
 removal need not be more frequent than this ; and that 
 removal, remember, would be far less ofiensive than the 
 present removal of the ashes from your ash-pits. Nay, 
 it need be no more tban the removal of fresh earth. In 
 conclu-^ion, I would say, that I have thought it right to 
 give the two e.stimates for Weymouth and Sheffield, and 
 at the difierent rates of 12 lbs. a head for all purposes, 
 and 4 lbs a head for excrementitious matter alone. 
 
 XoTE. — It may f-eem strange that I should thus 
 have given two difierent estimates for Weymouth and 
 for Sheffield, acd at first sight they may appear incon- 
 sistent ; but it will readily be perceived that the rate of 
 12 lbs. a head is for all purposes — that of 4 lbs. a head 
 for excrementitious matter only. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 BRADBCRy, EV.aXS, AND CO., PEINTEP..?, WHITKFi'.IARS.
 
 1
 
 '0^';^^^>-^^i: 
 
 'S':.K^ir^- 
 
 j\ \ -f