The Sun.
London, England, 1866-12-19 00:00:00

Were there a public prosecutor, whose duty it should
be to proceed against all who conspire to defraud
their neighbours, without respect of persons, can any
one doubt that i‘ highly respectable parties" would
be more frequently missing from their accustomed
haunts ? In the meantime, we can but make an
example of those who, perhaps not more guilty than
others, have the misfortune to be found out. The
South Eastern Railway Company is, happily, strong
enough to protect itself, and we heartily trust that
its directors will yield to no private representations,
but patiently track their cowardly assailant, and
fearlessly drag him, be he who he may, to justice.
POST.—The British public are now well aware,
from painful experience in various ways, that ha-
perfectlydrained towns and villages are very liable to
be visited by epidemics which frequently spread
from house to house. Bad water and noxious
exhalations are the predisposing causes of cholera
and of other complaints. If the mere refuse water
of towns were turned into rivers, it would cause
little injury to their purity ; but when, as is now
the case, the execreta of thousands of human beings
are mixed up with it, the result is that hundreds of
English streams have been terribly polluted, to the
detriment of man and beast. Absolute failures and
terrible expenses, including in some cases law costs,
have convinced local authorities in various parts of
the country that any attempts at deodorising and
clarifying town sewage previous to its being cast
into a river are delusions so far as they are con-
cerned, and have not lessened the nuisance to those
below them. Under existing arrangements the irri-
gation scheme, so successful in many place, especi-
ally where ryegrass is grown, evidently commends
itself to public notice in this country as a rough and
ready way of disposing of town sewage, and is
being extensively adopted. It is not to be inferred
from this circumstance, however, that all arguments
on the subject are exhausted, or that the best way
of collecting and utilising the valuable refuse of
urban populations has been finally settled. Captain
Liernur, of Holland, has within the last few weeks
given partial publicity in this country to his
plan for dealing with this matter. His scheme
is altogether distinct from and independent of
the water supply and of the facilities for drain-
age within the reach of towns. These may in
every instanee remain as they are at present.
The name of the Pneumatic Sewage System is
given to the various appliances by which Captain
Liernur hopes to improve the existing state of
things. The equal pressure of the atmosphere on
all parts of any given object lies at the foundation
of his plan, which is perfectly familiar to the pro-
moters of abortive railways got up on this principle,
as well as to the originators of pneumatic tubes for
the conveyance of. parcels. Captain Liernur ac-
knowledges that cesspools on the Continent have
for many years been emptied in the way now re-
commended by him. His project is an extension of
an existing practice. He has succeeded in getting
his plan adopted at the Hague, a city containing a
population of 80,000 ; and as the Dutch are a prac-
tical people, the authorities there must have been
favourably impressed with the utility of the scheme,
or they would not have undertaken to carry it out,
which, however, they have, and it will be in actual
operation in the course of a few months. Captain
Liernur proposes to insert reservoirs, made of boiler
plate, under the street crossings, at such intervals
as may be required. Connected with these a main
pipe runs up every street, with branches diverging
into each house. The present water closets are to
be modified ; the water turned off and the branch
pipe from the main continued throughout every
storey in the house until it reaches the height of the
roof. A stone ware pipe without bottom or valve,
and removable, would take the place of the existing
pan in water closets. The result would be that the
whole faecal matter of an entire household would
fall to the bottom of the tube and remain there for
the day, while the vapours arising therefrom would
escape by the chimney-like contrivance just alluded
to. This chimney, moreover, answers another pur-
pose, viz., supplying a column of air for expelling the
contents of the pipes during the night, which it is pro-
posed thus to accomplish. The reservoir is air tight,
and at a certain hour a travelling steam engine with
tank of requisite size for holding the contents of the
adjoining pipes, pumps out theair from the reservoir; a
hose is screwed on to it, a elide removed, and the
pressure of the atmosphere in the chimneys a'ready
alluded to instantly forces all the excreta into the
tank, which can be either conveyed to the land at
once, or packed in barrels, and removed to any dis-
tance. The plan appears to be simple as well as in-
genious. It professes only to deal with excreta, and
there are many particulars connected with it which
we cannot now describe. If it should succeed in
practice, it will be a great boon not only to towns,
but also to agriculturists, by furnishing them with a
valuable manure, unmixed with water and other
substances, for stimulating the growth of cereal,
root, and other crops. The results of the experi-
ment at the Hague will be looked forward to with
considerable interest. Large sums of money have
been expended in this country in the drainage of
towns, and in arranging the present water-closet
system in c:mnection with the sewers. Without
prunouncing, any (lecidal opinion upon the merits
or demerits of Captain Liernur's p'an, we at the
same time think it deserves the attention of the Bri-
tish public. Municipal bodies not yet comm:tted to
any scheme for freeing their sewage from faecal
matters would do well to make themselves familiar
with the specific objects which it proposes to accom-
plish. In large establishments, such as gaols, work-
houses, hospitals, and the like, and which already
possess motive power for pumping purposes, Capt.
Liernur's scheme deserves consideration. The value
of the material is rated at a very high figure, suffi-
cient not only to pay all expenses but also to leave
a profit on all capital employed. As to this we
have no means of judging ; but we have little doubt
that our readers will be glad to find that human in-
genuity is still busily engaged in trying to devise
effectual methods for removing and utilising sub-
stances which the land could absorb with advan-
tage, but which at present too often prove only a
nuisance to all those who have to deal with them, as
well as a fruitful cause of disease and death.