Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1879-07-26
PHIVY VAULTS AND EARTH
CLOSETS.
Something that Concerns Every
body.
Memphis Appeal.

Memphis Appeal.
At a meeting of the Memphis
Auxiliary Sanitary Association, the
following report was read and adop-
ted:
To the Auxiliary Sanitary AssO-
citation Gentlemen-Your com
mittee appointed on ''Privy vaults,
and the best method Of discarding
them from general use in our com
munity," beg leave to report as the
result of our investigation that a
modern constructed earth closet is
the most convenient for families
able to purchase them, but a simple
box placed under the seat of the
priVy will answer every purpose, to
be removed and emptied when full.
Or without even a box, fill up the
pit within two feet Of the seat, en-
close as tightly as possible to eX-
Clude dampnesS ; when the space
is filed up it is a small job to re-
move it with q spade, as it is but a
heap of rich earth, not offensive in
the least, and is valuable as a ferti-
lizer for flower yards and vegetable
I
dry and as free from sand and gray
el as possible. In fact, there is moth
ing superior to the dust 50 abund-
ant on our uapaVed streets and
country roads leading into the city.
This dust placed in a vessel, box or
barrel in the privy, is ready for i'm
mediate use, and can be used to
cover every evacuation, one and a
quarter pounds Of earth being esti-
mated as necessary for covering
every discharge. We estimate that
a flour barrel of dry earth would
last an ordinary sized family two
months, or six for the year ; at a
cost of fifty cents each, would cost
only three dollars annually. This
is an outside estimate. The earth
really could be furnished for one
half the sum, if attended to in the
summer months. This would be
cheaper than cleaning out our pres
ent vile cess-pools at cost Of from
ten to twenty-five dollars yearly.
Your committee find that the dis
cussion of this subject in our COun-
try has in the main degeneratCd in
to Il 81 eculative scheme for the pur-
pose of selling some expensive and
complicated earth-clOSet, thus dwarf
ing the principal idea and causing
the masses to pass it by unnOticed.
But the principle of earth drainage
is as broad as the universe, and as
old as the family of man. Moses, in
his wanderings in the wilderness,
was taught the principle by the
same authority who prepared the
tables of stone. Destitute Of a sup
ply Wuter-ciOSetS, no means of build
ing costly sewers, no garbage carts,
and his thousands to provide for.
he simply required each individual
to use a rustic paddle to bury the
eXcrement a few inches deep. To
say that earth de1dOrizeS eXcreta is
a detractiOn of the idea. 1t does
more; it absorbs and annihilates it,
and destroys its identity; this, by
actual experiment, has been found
will be accomplished in twenty-fOur
hours after the eXcreta is covered
with earth. The eXcreta becomes
Incorporated with the earth, and
loses its identity. We bury the Au-
man body, which putTities, decays,
and is assimilated to mother earth.
Why not bury the refuse matters
of the body likewise ? To-day, in
Memphis, hundreds of these dread
full privy-vaults are reeking with
filth. and at night, when the suns
ravs have ceased to drive them back,
give out their noxious odors, which
fasten on the vitals of the uncon-
scious sleeper with almost as unerr-
ing a destruction as the assassin's
knife. After careful inquiry and
investigation, it is now believed that
our lamented Judge Ray and his
sons contracted the yellow fever
from some privy-vaults immedi-
atelv in the rear Of his premises.
hut not under his control. These
vaults were, no doubt, used as re