NOVA ET VETERA. Would Scarcely Be Perceptible, and Would Not, It Is Believed, Interrupt the Processes Going on in the Tank, Provided a Suffi- an OLD DIRECTORY
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_AL"J ] AN MD PR.J effluents. In reply to this it is stated that (a) the Exeter vii. Nui8ance.-There has been no complaint of any nuisance sewage is of average strength when compared with the arising from the works by anyone in the neighbourhood of domestic sewage of other towns; and (b) that the Yeovil Exeter, Yeovil, or Barrhead, since they were first con- sewage, which is of a very foul nature, has been successfully structed. treated by this system for the past three years. Critics, how- viii. Cost.-The initial cost of erection is held to be small ever, still maintain, first, that the Exeter (that is, St. as compared with other systems, and the subsequent outlay Leonards) sewage must be exceptionally weak, since it is equally so. derived from a high-class residential neighbourhood, contain- ix. General Applicability.-The system seems to be best ing good houses, using a plentiful quantity of bath water, and adapted to small towns, villages, or large country establish- having a larger superficial ground for the catchment and ments, as for example: I. Hospitals (general and fever). The Fever Hospital at Exeter employs subsequent drainage of rain water than a poorer district with the system. small houses on a congested area. Secondly, that the chlorine 2. Country institutions. The system is used at the convent at Great is only 4 to 6 parts per ico,ooo as against 8 to 12 parts per Maplestead, and might be employed at lunatic asylums and workhouses. ioo,ooo in that of the sewage of most other towns; the volatile 3. Schools. 4. Sanatoria. solids under 30 parts per Ioo,ooo, and the free and albuminoid 5. Barracks. The system is in use at the barracks at Tipperary and ammonia 1.4 and 0.17 respectively. Thirdly, that the effluent Dublin. of Yeovil and its trade sewage is not at all so satisfactory at a 6. Standing or permanent camps. The system is in use at Okehampton. 7. Cottage lhomes. Near Manchester there are homes for over ioo lower point as it is immediately at its point of entry. children where the septic tank is used. iii. Storm Water.-In many places the overflow or storm 8. Racing stables. water is allowed to run straight into a river or stream without 9. Iarge mansions where it has been employed with good results in some any preliminary treatment whatever. This is extremely un- instances. desirable, owing to the fact that the first rush of storm water At present it would seem that the larger towns and cities is far more polluting than ordinary dry-weather sewage, would be well advised to wait until a longer experience of the because the old deposits in the sewer are swept away to the working of the system in disposing of the sewage of smaller outfall. Therefore the entire amount of storm water, or at communities has been gained. all events the earlier and fouler portions of it, should be Finally, with the fear of Sir William Crookes and Dr. Poore passed into the works before any overflow is allowed to occur. before my eyes it must be admitted that though the eeptic- Storm water has no very appreciable effect on the flow of the tank system is theoretically and practically an extremely good contents of the tank. Thus, if the velocity of the flow in the one, it is not the last word on sewage disposal. tanks, with three times the volume of the dry weather sewage passing through them, is 2 inches a minute, then, with even six or twelve times the dry-weather flow, the velocity would only be 4 or 8 inches a minute respectively; this increase NOVA ET VETERA. would scarcely be perceptible, and would not, it is believed, interrupt the processes going on in the tank, provided a suffi- AN OLD DIRECTORY. cient length of time were allowed for proper action to take place. By E. MUIRHEAD LITTLE, F.R.C.S.Eng. iv. 1wfluent.-The ultimate effluent from the septic system AMONG the " books which are nobooks " (biblia a-biblia) Charles is apparently good; it is clear, bright, and has an almost im- Lamb included directories. He looked at them from a literary perceptible smell, and does not appear to undergo any point of view. No doubt the Directory of the current year is secondary decomposition; it, morover, stands the " incubator not a fascinating study, but one only a generation old has a test " fairly well, and it is stated that an ill odour has been considerable interest. " The lives of streets are as the lives detected on rare occasions only. of men, and shall not the street preacher if Eo minded take v. Sludge.-The amount of sludge is extremely small, even for the text of his sermon the stones in the gutter?" It after the lapse of months or years, and its rate of increase is seems to me that the lives of streets in the sense in which so slow that the necessity to clear the tanks out can only arise Thackeray used the phrase are written in directories more at long intervals. It is probable that when this necessity than anywhere else, and I therefore claim the author of Philip does arise no difficulty will be found in emptying out the as my backer in the opinion that an old directory may be in- sludge. The sludge consists of a fine black ash. Its small teresting. quantity would greatly facilitate its disposal in any manner The particular one in question is the first issue of the found most convenient, and this question would only have to London Medical Directory, that for the year 1845, and is a small be considered at very long intervals. The Septic Tank Syndi- and slim octavo volume. No definition of "London" is given cate in their prospectus aver that there is no sludge, but this on the title page or in the preface ; but as Stratford-Lang- statement is one which obviously requires modification. On thorne, and Deptford in the East, and Kensington and Notting precipitation works the sludge has to be dug up, pressed into Hill in the West, Stoke Newington and Hampstead on the cakes, and dried, before any use can be made of it, and at the North, and Brixton and Clapham on the South are included, best it is a very poor manure, as all the principal manurial it would seem to have covered the whole of London and its agents pass away in the effluent. then suburbs. The number of names in this book is 2,165. vi. Waterborne Diseases.-The pathogenic organisms of There are 6,I 17 in the London division of the Medical Directory typhoid fever and other waterborne diseases are generally for I899. supposed to be destroyed in the tank on the following grounds: The population of London in I841, according to the Registrar- (a) That they do not as a rule thrive much below 370 C.; (b) General's returns was 1,948,369. We may assume that four that the foul contents of the tank are not suitable for the years later it was 2,ooo,ooo at least. The estimated popula- growth of the organisms of cholera or typhoid fever, requiring tion of the Administrative County of London in October, I899, as they do a much purer medium for their development; and was 4,546,752. Roughly speaking the proportion of medical (c) that in all probability the other bacteria are distinctly men to population in 1899 was i in 750, while in i845 it was inimical to their existence and crowd them out. 2 These I in goo. The overcrowding of which the medical, like other statements have been called in question by many authorities, professions, complains at the present day would thus seem to but it would be as well, until our knowledge on the subject has be greater than it was fifty years ago. Yet probably doctors increased, not to be too assertive one way or the other. were, on the whole, better paid in 1845, when the Poor-law infirmaries were few and small, and the out-patients of the 28ome engineers are disposed to urge that if medical men in charge of general hospitals were few in numbers compared with the cases of typhoid fever, choler, yellow fever, etc would persuade the treated free. True, there were patient's friends to have the stools burnt immediately on their evacuation enormous crowds who are now itbis question with regard to sewage effluent, the pollution of water suP- dispensaries, and the medical journals of the " Thirties " even plies, and the dissemination of disease, would never arise. It is urged al contain bitter complaints of them, and allegations of whole- that is required is a small open space (a back yard), a few bricks, and sale abuse of these charities side by side with accusations of lenty of sawdust or shavings, and kerosene. A small crematory would of patients. ge better, and save time and trouble; and it is suggested that municipal gross carelessness or neglect in their treatment councils should keep portable crematories for distribution. It would, The iniquity of paying only 45. a year per pauper was at that however, be necessary in the case of typhoid fever at least to have the time descanted on; now medical aid aseociations consider urine burnt also, and unless conducted under skilled supervision the process might introduce new risks. uIn the 1846 Directory 5 miles from G.P.O. is stated as the limit.