The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1871-07-08
Earth Closets.

Inc 1nVcnGlVc genius Ol GuC ulilelecutu IL
century has made few nobler achievements
than the introduction of tho earth closet.
! Health, decency, and comfort, together
with the utilizing ola manure ESTIMATED
to be worth $40 per annum for each men,
! Der of the family are some of its advan-
tages.
| DR.. A. B. Palmer, In an article in the
Michigan Medical Journal, sums up the
benefits of the system as follows:
"The earth system, with its accessories
of closets and commodes, rs now contrived,
; promises to effect several specific objects,
among which are the following:
! /. 1t affords u comfortable closet on any
floor of the house, which may be supplied
with earth and cleaned of its deposits with
out annoyance or Inconvenience.
/ 9. a portable commode in any dressing
room, bedroom, or closet, the care of
which is no more disagteeable than that of
. q stove.
S. Appliances for the use of immovable
inyalids which entirely remove tho unplea-
SAINT Accomplishments Of their care:
4, The removal of the most fertile source
of typhoid fever and various other dis
eases.
! 5. The complete suppression of the
odors, which, despite the comfort and ele-
eance of modern living, still hang about
our cesspools and Trivy vaults, and attend
the removal OF their contents. ---
6. The complete deodorization OF the
bucket so commonly used IN Jails and
prisons.
7. The realization of fertilizer of mate
rial value to the agriculturist. s"E
Col. Geo. e. Waring, Jr., in work enti-
tied Earth Closets and Earth Sewage"
published by the Tribune Association,
writes as follows: ...s 4
"Out-of door privies, those temples of de-
fame and graves Of decency, that dshgure
almost every country home in America, and
raise their suggestive heads above the gar
den walls of elegant town houses, are, ! be-
lieve, doomed to disappear from off the face
Of the earth. Twenty years ago every back
yard in New York city was provided with
one of these buildings; now, since the wa
ter. closet has come into universal use, pro-
badly there are not twenty Of them to the
square mile. Twenty years hence, it is to
! be hoped, they will become equally rare in
smaller towns and In the country. That
they are Objectionable on the score of de-
cency and comfort, will be confessed by all.
"What is not generally understood is
their pernicious effect upon health. The
influence of subterranean stores of f9cal
matter in the propagation Of disease has
already been referred to, but that which
produces in the aggregate far worse re-
sults-the aggravation of the difficulties OF
delicate females-has attracted less htten-
ton than its importance deserves. 1t IS
universally admitted that nothing Is more
injurious to health than irregularity and
the undue retention of the reJectamenta OF
the intestines. s ..e
NAdmitting the business Of this view, let
us see what chance woman living in the
country has to escapestbe direst evil that
delicate health has in store for its victims.
The privy stands, perhaps, ut the bottom
of the garden, fifty yards from the house,
approached by a walk bordered by long
grass, which is always wet except during
the sunny part Of the day, overhung
by shrubpery and vines, which are often
dripping with wet, and exposed frequently
to the public gaze. In winter snow-dritts
block the way, and during rain there is no
shelter from any side. The house itself is
fearfully cold, if mot drifted half full of
snow, or flooded with rain. a woman who
is comfortably housed during stormy wea-
ther will, il 1t is possible, postpone for
DAYS together the dreadful necessity for eX-
pOsure that such circumstances require.
If the walk is exposed to neigh.
boring workshop WINDOW tLne VlslL VIII
probably be put off until dusk. In either
case no amount of reasoning will convince
woman that it Is her duty, for the sake Of
preventing trouble, Of which: she is..yet
ignorant, to expose herself TO the danger!
the discomfort, and the annoyance that res
rnIarity under such circumstances implies
! pass over now the barbarous ioulness
aud sitting odor. Of the Prlyy vault. 1t is
only as an unavoidable evil that these have
been tolerated !; but i cannot too strongly
urge attention to the point taken above,
and insist on the fact that every consloeEa.
.iion of humanity, and Of the welfare not
only of our own families, but of the whole
community, demands q speedy reform ol
this abuse. 4s@s so + !
The water-eloset, says the Country Gem
tsemlan, has come into almost universal use
In cities, but has found its way Into but
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