San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-07-18
ABOUT SEWERS.
UNDER GROUND SYSTEM VS..
EARTH CLOSET.
A Strong Article Prepared for the
Light by a Government Ar
chitect and Engineer.

the same. In the prospectus of Moules
earth closet company, it is stated that the
system is founded on the fact of the de-
Oderizing power of earth, given guam
tity of dry earth destroying all smell and
entirely preventing noxious vapors and
other discomfOrtS. The practical appli-
cation of this power consists in the reSer-
yoir containing dry earth, and in an APP
paratus for measuring and delivering the
requisite quantity, so as to deal with
every operation in detail
This is the claim made for all systems
OF dry earth cauSeway, and it might work
fairly could all LIQUID be kept out of it,
which, however, is impossible. The earth
closet is a great improvement over the
cess pool, and, in fact, that by its use,
eXremental matter is allowed to remain a
short period of time about our dwellings
But why have it remain any time when
by water carriage it can be Immediately
removed at the least possible expense?
When earth closets are used, means must
be provided for carrying off slop, water
and other liquids. To properly accom-
necessary. Drains and sewers pro-
yided for this purpose must be
constructed with all sanitary precau
tionS that would be required were they to
receive the eXcrement as well for SlOp
water and liquid. House refuse are pro-
nounced to be nearly identical with Ordi
nary sewerage. The dry earth system at
its best is inferior to the water closet syS
TEN from a sanitary point of view, in
that the one cOntemplateS retaining filth
about the dwelling il only for limited
time, while by the other its immediate
and entire removal is accomplished.
DR.. Parker says, (Hygiene 3rd ed, page
354: There is one evident objection to all
these dry plans, viz: that the eXcreta are
retained about our houses for some time.
No doubt when mixed with dry earth they
are inodorous, and it is presumed harm
less, but of this no evidence has been
given. What would be the result of chol-
era on typhoid discharges received in
earth and allowed to remain in the house?
DR.. DeRenZy'S statement in the fourth
annual report of the sanitary commits
SiOner with the government of India, 1867,
Calcutta, 1869 page 211, paragraph 440.
reads" DIR. MOnat states although dy-
manic levers may occur occasionally in
an endemic form, they will never become
contagious as long as present cOnServan
cy arrangements be obtained; actual eX-
perience has unfortunately already falSi
fled this prediction, In 1866 the fever APP
peared with all its former Virulance in
the UmbuIla jail, and caused weight
deaths out of a strength of Cos COnyictS,
and last year it appeared in the PeShaw
en- and Rawul Pindar jailS. Nowhere
venture to say is the dry earth system
carried out to a greater perfection than
in the Puniaub jailS, but the fact remains
in spite of the most thorough deodOriza
ton of eXcreta, the cOntagOuSneSS of Jail
fever remains unchanged"
DR.. w. III. COrfeld, professor of hygiene
and public health at University College,
London. writes CThe Treatment and
Utilization of Sewage, Bird ed, page 265):
''All other systems than the removal by
water go upon the principle that it is not
dangerous TO leave eXcretal matters,
either in a crude state pail clOSctS) or
mixed with some absorbing or deOderiZing
material various other forms of clOSets)
for a certain time in and about houses.
The fundamental principle being Obvi-
OuSly a wrong one, it is not to be wonder
ed at that such systems continually fail.
When pals get over filled. or Stops are
thrown down earth closets, the results
may be better imagined than described;
and it has practically been found neceS-
Sary to construct earth and ash closets so
that the fluids may run away into sewers.
while the solids are carefully kept upon
the premises, being partially rendered in
offensive by admlXture of ashes or earth,
or dried by rotary disk under the seat,
or by some other cOnJriVance. The water
carriage system, on the contrary. sends
all the refuse matter at once to distance
in the cheapest manner possible, by a
mere action of gravity, this is plainly a
safe principal to go upon, and that it acts
in practice may be seen by any one who
chooses to examine the focal matters in
the sewerage at the Outfall of town sup
piled with imperViOuS sewer pipes proper
ly flushed, he will find them fresh and un-
decOmpOSed. The committee of the Brit.
| iSh association on the treatment and util'
| izatiOn of sewage arrived at the following
conclusion. Report 1873, page 449):
The water carriage system il
| based on a sound principal, that o.
removing all the refuse matters at once
and in the cheapest manner possible, b!
| gravitatiOn, and ought to be reSOrted t
in all but the most exceptional cases"
George +. Waring, practical civil en-
| gineer, who in all his writings from lS6s
to 1876, was great champion of the DRY
cOnservancy system, now says under dat
| of 1889, Sewage and land drainage, pag,
1861 1T is hardly necessary for me to Sa!
| that am now convinced that focal mat
ter may be regarded as almost tritlin!
| when compared with other wastes; tina
water, whenever it is available, is mucl
better vehicle for the removal of offensive
matters than earth is. In IN,
judgment the future claim for the eartl
closet must rest solely on its convenienc
and on its sanitary benefit as com
pared with the cruder method
now in common use; from this point O
view. it is an important step in the RICH
direction. This opinion is radically diff
ferent from that which impelled me t
secure the introduction of the dry cart
system in this country, but it is the out
growth of incOntrovertible proof.
Dry earth closets are not economical, fO
~ pounds of dry earth are cOnsidere
necessary to deOdOrize and maintain in