Town excreta, its utilization : London sewage, shall it be wasted? or economised? : being a plan for the collection and treatment of the faecal matter of towns, for purifying the sewers and rivers, and removing the chief impurities which render them dangerous to the health of communities : with especial and immediate reference to the metropolis, the River Thames, and the Board of Works' main drainage scheme / by Charles F.O. Glassford.

  • Glassford, Charles F.O.
Date:
1858
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Town excreta, its utilization : London sewage, shall it be wasted? or economised? : being a plan for the collection and treatment of the faecal matter of towns, for purifying the sewers and rivers, and removing the chief impurities which render them dangerous to the health of communities : with especial and immediate reference to the metropolis, the River Thames, and the Board of Works' main drainage scheme / by Charles F.O. Glassford. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    They arrive at nearly the same result by a careful examination of the sewage, and determination of the constituents by the usual agricultural values, and they thus state the Daily value of the sewage to be .. .. £3,796 Or total annual value .. .. .. 1,385,540 In these calculations the population is assumed to be about 2,600,000, and the average quantity of sewage flowing into the river daily at about 95,000,000 of gallons. Mr. Dugald Campbell, analytical chemist, London, in his evidence before the government referees on the Main Drainage of London Plans, has estimated the value of the London sewage, assuming the population to be 2,600,000, at 836,O00Z. He values the solid matter in it at rather more than 15L per ton, the salts of ammonia being worth 141., salts of potash, magnesia, &c., making up the difference. But these valuable fertilizing materials are carried off into the sewers, and finally into the river, with such an enormous body of water as to render their separation from the sewage a matter of utter impossibility; besides this, the organic matter of the excreta begins to decompose instantly it enters the sewers, yields from that instant the most offensive exhalations, and is constantly reducing in amount and value. Dr. Letheby, in his late excellent Report presented to the City Commission of Sewers, has entered very minutely into the nature of the sewage, its constitution and changes, and very clearly shown the great evils attendant upon the present sewage system. I must refer the reader to that paper for much most valuable information and details, which I have not space to enter upon here. Briefly, however, I may state that the average daily sewage amounts to about 95,000,000 of gallons, equal in weight to about 424,107 tons, and is calculated (by Dr. Letheby) to contain about 2993-J tons of moist excrements, or of dry material, daily, about 162J tons; from this it appears that each ton of moist excreta (that is mine and faces) sent into the sewers is dissolved in, and diluted with, about 141|- tons of water; that with each ton of dry matter of excreta there is the enormous quantity of about 2781 tons of water. Each ton of sewage, therefore, on the average, only contains about 16lbs. of moist, or about 13| oz. of dry excreta. In tlris calculation there is not included the matter derived from the water supplied to the metropolis, pulverization of the streets, wasliing Abaters, nor Avastes from factories, &c., Avliich, hoAvever, possess but little value as manure. Mr. LaAves computes the dry solid matters contained in one ton of sewage to be still less than this, viz. at only 9 oz., but his estimate Avas made upwards of three and a half years ago, and such estimates depend upon the