Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1879-11-29
WHOLE NO. 2,297.

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!. adopting means for agricultural di,
E pOsal. Pumping, and the seperat
r removal of foul wastes, puts it i
3 our power, undei'all circumstances
( to adopt this means for purifyin
; our outflow.
Along g0urgreatest rivers, from tn
sanitary standpoint, the dispOsa
: question counts for nothing. Thl
Mississippi river will annihilate tn,
sewage of st. Louis to whatever size
she may grow: but there is an enor
nous proportion of our towns which
must, for purely sanitary reasons
adopt some other means OF outlet
than delivery into rivers and har.
bors. There is an agricultural con.
sideration, and an important one
which looks to the utilization of all
our sewage, but in the present con.
ditiOn of our agriculture this must
remain secondary argument.
Wherever we resort to irrigation as
a means Of publication, the manural
value of the sewage willserve to les
sen the cost of our work. Probably
it will nowhere repay the whole
| cost. The methods OF irrigation dis
posal are various, and all are not
equally well adapted to all condi-
tiOns. The outflow of large town
can be purified satisfactorily, either
by simple irrigation over large areas
or by intermittent downward filtra-
tion over much smaller areas ofland
properly graded and deeply under
drained. Under this system the dis
charge is intermittent, and during
the intervals the soil-filter is purified
by atmospheric action. The out
flow of smaller towns, or public in
stitutions and Of suburbs and coun-
try houses, may be much the most
satisfactory treated by the absOrp-
ton drain or sub-surface irrigation
system, working in conjunction
with Fields flush tank. BY this
system small area of land, natural
ly or artiticially well drained, Is
underlaid at depth of ten inches
from the surface, by a series of open
jointed, agricultural drain tiles. At
each discharge of the flush tank the
accumulated sewage is sent rapidly
into the tiles, whence it escapes
through the open joints into the soil.
During the interval between the
discharges the water, purified by
filtration, settles away to the SUBJ
soil, and fresh air enters to supple 1
ment, by oxidation, the purifying
action of the roots of the grass or
other crop growing on the Land.
This latter system has now been so
thoroughly tested under various 4
conditions as to climate and quality
of soil as to have proved itself Of /
almost universal applicability. 1t /
has the very great advantage that,
as the sewerage never appears at
the surface of the ground, it may be
carried on in immediate proximity
to the dwelling. 1t would be equal
~ effective, under proper arrange
ment, in dealing with thesewage of
cities; out for such use 1t would be
much more costly than would the
of the sewage to distant
field, where surface irrigation would
be unobjectionable. trust that, as
am neither a southerner nor a
/ may be excused for at
more importance than many
Of you do the proper drainage and
cleansing of a city, and to the proper
disposal of its outflow, than to any
system of quarantine. My knowl-
edge of the history of the yellow-fe-
YER epidemics in this valley is in
initely less than yours, but feel
and / take my warrant
rom the history of the plaques
which devastated the filthy med
eval cities of Europe, and from my |
)wn knowledge of the want of
cleanliness and want of drainage in
he city of Memphis, in venturing {
he suggestion that even that fever
mitten town may be made an inn {
possible field for the invasion Of yell
ow fever in an epidemic form.
While yellow fever is for the mo-
nent uppermost in all our minds,
md while its sudden and more fa- {
al outbreak strike the public imag- (
nation with peculiar force, we
hOuld, as sanitarians, never lose /
light of the fact that is is one of our 6
minor diseases; that, indeed along g
he banks of the Mississippi river
ar greater mortality and Infinitely
.reater disability results from the l
onstant operation of diseases which s
hohld come equally within our t
and which are equally {
by measures of santa !
y improvement. \