Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-03-27
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE..

The Regular Meeting Yesterday--The Sub
Ject of Sanitary Observation-Disclosures
Paper by DIR. Leasure--The New Build
ing-A Sanitary Engineer Criticizes DR.
Leasure's Opinions on Earth Closets.
The board of directors of the chamber
of commerce held regular meeting yes
terday morning.
SANITARY BUSINESS.
Mr.. McClung stated that he had asked
DR.. Leasure to put upon paper his views
upon the subject of dry earth closets some
thing like those he expressed at the sani-
tary meeting last Thursday evening. The
doctor had complied with the request,
and placed his ideas on paper, which Mr..
McClung proceeded to read, and the cham
Der desired to have published. The fol-
lowing is the paper:
A dry earth closet can be constructed
either in the house or out of doors, as may
be desired, under any circumstances. To
construct closet communicating with
dwelling it is only necessary to construct
a structure resembling outwardly bay
window, with two or three feet at the base
left open, to be filled with lattice work, SO
as to admit the free circulation of air.
Inside the dwelling an ordinary door opens
into the closet, which is fitted with stool
seats, as in an ordinary water closet, ex-
cept that there is nothing in the way of a
basin or other obstruction to interfere
with any matter dropped down the we'll
of the closet. The seat openings are
closed with drop-lid when not in use.
The closet may be on any floor of the
dwelling. promising that there must be
clear fall to the ground, so that no inter
vening obstacle can catch and detain drop
pings. The bottom of the closet must be
simply the ground, few inches above the
level of the surrounding ground, SO as to
make sure that no water gravitates into
the closet. Over the bottom there should
first be placed layer of perfectly dry
earth, from three to six inches deep, to re-
ceive the droppings from the closet seat
above. In the closet there should be dry
earth chest, filled with dry earth, in which
should be placed a shovel, or better still,
an ordinary grocer's tin scoop. A barrel
of dry earth will last an ordinary family
two or three months. Once each day
small portion of dry earth should be
taken up with the shovel or scoop
and dropped upon the exposed portion
of the deposits of the last twenty-four
hours, just sufficient to cover it lightly.
The earth should be ordinary mould, such
as is good for garden cultivation mot clay)
and should be we'll pulverized, and thor
oaghly dried by exposure to several days
of hot sunshine in the summer, or dried
artifcially in the winter. The same earth
may be used many times by merely redry-
ing it and removing all bits of foreign
matters, such as rags, paper, etc. About
5 per cent. of coarsely powdered charcoal
added to the dry mould adds greatly to its
deodorizing and disinfecting properties.
The modus operandi is about as follows:
The dry earth being very open and porous,
at once absorbs all the moisture
by taking up the water and giving
it off in vapor to the atmosphere.
This exposes the solid portions of animal
matter and the earthly salts to the action
of oxygen, which Immediately sets at work
its terrible resolvent and decomposing
powers, and in an incredibly short time
every portion of animal debris is resolved
into its component gases and carried off
by the atmosphere. Yet this hidden and
most energetic metamorphosis, the
odorous particles, are almost the first to
be disintegrated, and SO completely per-
feet is the deodorization that the earth re-
tains no suspicious faint of the uses to
which it has been put, even within few
hours. With proper exposure of the
earthly receptacle to free currents
of air, there is never the least odor
reaches the closet above, and the most dis
agreeable sequence of house closet is en-
tirely avoided. If properly constructed
and cared for, it is decidedly the most
satisfactory arrangement that can possibly
be made. Outdoor closets can be made
on the same general principle, and small
portable closets can be improvised for
chamber use or in the sick room, as in the
following instance:
In 1871 the city of Allegheny, Pa, with
a population of $4,000, found itself enter
tanning an epidemic of smallpox, without
any provision whatever for the care of
those who fell victims to it. pest house
was hastily constructed on the city farm,
eight miles from the city, and I was in
structed to build, equip and run it. In
forty eight hours it was built and equipped
for 100 patients. There were
no water closets or out door privies, but
small portable dry earth closets were put
beside the beds in several wards, and as
often as used a small portion of dry earth
was dropped in, and after several days the
closets were carried out and they were
emptied, and there was never at any time
any odor in wards, that would indicate the
presence of clsoe stool. There could hard
ly be any more severe test of the deodor-
izing powers of the earth than the use of
the dry earth closets in smallpox hospi-
tai, where from twenty to thirty smallpox
patients in ward would use six closets
interspersed amongst their heads without
producing any Of the annoyance usually
attending upon the presence of chamber
vessels in the sick room.
A few points must be observed The
earth must be rich mould and quite dry.
There must be no object to interfere with
solid matter, or fluids dropping from the
closet seat, so as to keep them out of reach
of the depositing bed of earth. the bot
tom of the earth bed must be little above
the level of the surrounding ground, SO as
to avoid the capillary attraction which
would "suck up" the water into the dry
earth bed from underlying moisture.
There must be no floor of any kind bet
tween the earth bed and the ground. The
advantages of the dry earth cIosetover the
water closet are many. The animal de-
posts are at once thrown out of the house