Primer of hygiene / by Ernest S. Reynolds.

  • Reynolds, Ernest Septimus, 1861-1926.
Date:
1894
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Primer of hygiene / by Ernest S. Reynolds. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    less when fresh, yet when kept for a short time and especially when exposed to the action of warmth and moisture, it will soon putrefy and be a danger to health, either by poisoning the air or the water supply. It must all, therefore, be either destroyed or removed to a safe distance as soon as possible, lhe difficulty of doing this satisfactorily is as great a puzzle, at any rate in large towns, as a perfect system of ventilation. I will give shortly a few of the methods which have been used. There are, broadly speaking, two systems of refuse removal, one called the conservancy system (Lat conservans, keeping), in which the excreta is mixed with the dry refuse, and though kept near the house for a short time, ought to be removed regularly and often; and the other, called the water-carriage system, in which the excreta are carried away from the house by a flow of water and taken at once to the drains. Of these the water-carriage system is for towns the best, cheapest, cleanest, and most rapid. In either system the liquid refuse is always removed by pipes to the drains. No refuse of any kind should be allowed to accumulate near a house for a length of time, and such abominations as middens and cesspools (except as explained below) must be forbidden. Removal of Dry Refuse.—In water-closet towns this contains, as we have said, no excreta. The greater part of this refuse, including the animal and vegetable scraps, should be burnt in the kitchen fire, drying it first, if necessary, under the grate. The ashes should be riddled and the cinders used for fuel. What cannot be used or burnt should be put into a dust bin, which is kept dry under cover in a