Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1875-04-30

Now we nave IL Inc puzzle II
practical scientists has been, how to
dispose Of the wartage and sewage
Of large cities. The richness Of the
soil ~accumulates in the densest abodes
Of humanity, creating disease and
death, instead of fresh subsistence and
increased vitality. Efforts to return
the ofal of kitchen and chamber to
the country as a fertilizer have been
made at various times and places; but
the lack Of effective cooperation on
the part of municipal officials, and the
failure to provide r~eceptacles conve-
nient to citizens or the means of ready
deportation, have initiated against
success. Meanwhile, the sewerage
system Of buTying noisomeness out Of
sight, continually returns to plague its
inventors. Imperfect sewerage allows
the filth to seep and saturate the
earth, gradually but surely rising
to the surface, occasionally poisoning
springs, and frequently converting the
very ground on which a city stands in
to a hot bed for the maturing and null.
DUPLICATION of malarial germs. On the
other hand, the most perfect system Of
sewerage, water-tight and air-tight,
only serves to concentrate the gases
of decomposing matter, which viii not
down, but up ascend, retracing their
course and escaping by the same aper-
lures through which the decomposing
matter was cast into the sewer. In
this manner, some Of the most elegant
and finished residences of modern
build in our large cities become almost
untenabe from a completely of doors
and gases. II is very handy to have
a drain beside the kitchen stove, into
which the cook may cast all her slops
without walking three feet; but
it is not altogether pleasant to
have the gases arising from the
same slops coming back through the
drain reinforced with all the doors Of
the city to permeate the entire dwelling.
D~isinfectants may be resorted to, but
they are generally the substitution Of
one bad smell for another, neither be-
ing agreeable or healthy; besides, they
must be applied continuously. Various
mechanical co~ntriyances called traps -
and generally taking the form Of a
syphon, have been employed to inter
cept the upward progress Of the gases;
but these only confne the noxious va
pors till they become dense enough to
follow the sinuosities Of the trap
being buoyed or pushed up by the
lighter gases forming below. Besides,
the least leakage IL the pipes gives es-
cape TO the nuisance IN a more highly
concentrated condition, ready to spread
ever an enormous surface ard Ti1iate
a large volume Of air the moment it is
liberated.
In view Of these facts, al doomed to
city life viii rejoice to learn that the
utilization Of sewer refuse for gas-an
industry originating with II. Sender
mann, a Swiss engineer, has proved so
successful as to yield an excellent IL
Illumination, and this, it is stated, on a
scale sufficiently great to warrant the
belief that the plan might be extended
TO meet the requirements Of large COM
munities. The apparatus employed,
which is built under ground, consists
of a large reservoir in which the ma
terial Is collected and thence run off to
retort5 located at a still lower
level. The gas is here generated
in the usual way, and conducted
to a tar-cistern and then to
a condenser. The publication
is effected by milk of lime, and finally
by passage through clean water. The
gas lhus obtained IS said to burn with
evs n a brighter flame than that made
from coal, and It's odor, though slightly
acid, is lot at all .disagreeable. The
common residues, such as coke, tar and
fatty matter, are ~inOdorable and per-
fectly ~utilizable. The cost of the ap-
paTayus does not exceed that of the or
oinary description, while the expense
Of the product is necessarily less than
that Of coal gas. Thus science prom
ises to convert a curse into q blessing.
The malariaI elements that light the
itful JACKIE lantern in the marsh are
being ~harnessed to mans service Ike
tie lightning, and the cities Of the
viii be Illuminated with dOmes-
wiil-O'- the-wisDs!