The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1896-03-04

The subject of sewage and its dis
posaI is too extensive to be treated in
popular lecture or in one evening.
The most we can hope to do in the
time at our disposal is to consider the
question in some of its more I'M
portant and evident relations to pub
lie health, engineering and economy,
aud to stimulate thought on subject
which is of the greatest concern TO us
all
The waste matters Of any COM
munity, may be divided into two
general classes; 1st. the liquid, or
putre.cible, these may also be called
the soluble; and 2ud, the solid, or non
putrescibl which may be called the
insoluble. While this classification
cannot he absolutely justified SCENT
ifically, it is convenient and Will help
us in our discussion.
The second class, viz: the solid or
nonputrescible matters, comprises
coarse garbage, the litter and sweep
ings of our streets and yards, and the
contents of our garbage boxes, for the
removal and disposal of which we
look to our STRENGTHENING and gar
bage removing department.
While there are substances which find
their way into the garbage-box that
might without detriment be discharg-
ed into the sewer, still, for reasons
that will appear it may be accepted as
a sound dictum, that the class of
waste matters which custom and con-
venience generally consigns to the
garbage box, should never be dis
charged into the sewer. This dictum
is in still higher degree true of the
litter and sweepings of yards and
streets. Is
4 II will also lay down another dictum,
(which is, that any town, or city,
which has not already perfected q
al and of street-sweeping, has not
advanced far enough to be ready to
consider the question of sewerage. r
To consider now the substances
that form our first class, they are
largely the solid and fluid dejecta of
our bodies, the debris of food and
drink, waste matters that moult from
our used up tissues. Now the waste
products that pass from the human
body are many but in this discussion
we are not dealing with the fOuled air
from the lungs but with the excre-
mentitious matter from the bowel,
the secretion of the kidneys, and to
certain extent the waste products that
are given Off through the innumer-
able pores that beset our skin-surface
by Precipitation, and which fOu
the waters of our lavatOries and
wash-hOuses All of these mat
tiers concern the physiology OF
our bodies. They represent either
the chaff and refuse left over
after digestion, or by dead and effete
matters separated from our living it's
sues by physiological processes.
Speaking now of state of health,
though these waste products, at the
time of elimination, are not yet in a
state of actual putridity, but on the
road thither, and soon to become
such, nature has wisely set upon
them the seal of degradation, and
indicates that they are to be cast out
as no longer fit to be retained in
mans environment.
1t is a popular error to suppose that
the more solid matters, those dis
charged from the bowel, represent the
bulk of our physiological waste.
1t will perhaps be a surprise to
some of us to be reminded of the ply
Biological fact, that the amount of
solid matter contained in the average
daily feculent discharge of a healthy
adult is only about 500 grains; while
the solid matters held in solution in
renal secretion of the same person
would weigh about 1928 grains, or
more than twice as much. The waste
matters filtered through the kidneys
also represent a much lower grade of
metamorphOsis, and arrive with
greater speed at a state of actual
putrescence.
These facts have practical bearing
on the question of the proper treat
ment and disposition of these two ex
crementitious matters; and they
answer with a strong negative, the
question whether, the solid faces
being properly disposed of, the liquid
may not receive less attention and
even be allowed to take care OF them
selves.
Sd. There is still a third class of
waste matters which should properly
go the same way as the excremen-
titious matters just spoken of. These
are the fluids and wash from our
kitchen sinks, restaurants, butchering
establishments and market stalls
which hold in solution, or suspen
sion, the juices and fragments of
meats and vegetables that form our
food
They represent chemically the same
elements as the eXcrementitious sub
stances that pass from our bodies, and
only differ from them in that they
have not been digested or passed
through the alimenIary canal.
They are, however, on the same
high road to decay and after very
short time there is nol perceptible or
chemical difference between the con-
tents of kitchen cess pool and a
privy-Vault
The combined waste matters above
described, l designate as sewage
proper.
The next question that presents it
self is how shall these waste matters
be removed.
There are various systems in use for
the removal of liquid refuse, or sew
age proper.
1st. The first method 1 shall men
ton is the dry earth system. The |
LIQUID and solid eXcreta are received |
directly into boxes, or bins, contain
ing powdered earth or ashes, of which |