Sewage utilisation / edited by James Forrest.

Date:
1876
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Sewage utilisation / edited by James Forrest. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    that is utterly wrong” 1—constructed as it is of porous materials, and permitting free soakage of filth into the surrounding soil; capable of containing the entire dejections from a house, or from a block of houses, for months and even years; uncovered and open to the rain, the wind, and the sun; difficult of access for cleansing purposes, and wholly unventilated and undrained. Of this foul and disgusting type there are only too many examples in all old towns; and midden-closets of this description prevail almost without exception throughout the manufacturing districts. It will hardly be credited that in the year 1871 there were in Birmingham 13i acres of space devoted to middens, “ practically open to the air.”2 The first step towards improvement in midden construction is to provide a roof or covering to keep out the wet; and when this is done, precautions should at the same time be taken to insure efficient ventilation through safe channels, that is to say, other than through the privy seat. The old tunnel middens of Liverpool weie among the worst types of covered middens. Thus, in the First Beport of the Rivers’ Pollution Commissioners, mention is made of a single midden 160 feet in length by 6 feet 4- inches in height, and 3 feet in width, entirely devoid of egress for foul gases excepting through the privies. A further stage of improvement consists in rendering the mid- den impervious, by constructing it of non-porous materials, and in furnishing a drain to carry off the excess of liquids. The next advance in the right direction shows some simple arrangement for deodorising the contents of the midden with ashes, or some other cheap deodorizer ; while the form is modified to permit this to be accomplished readily, and to render it capable of being easily cleansed. As instances of such improvements, Plate 3, Fig. 1, shows the midden privy used at Nottingham, and Fig. 2 the modification of this form of privy adopted at Stamford. In these examples the receptacle is concave, in order that the dejections may gravitate to the centre, and the brickwork is carefully cemented on the inside, to render it impervious. There is also a special opening through which ashes may be thrown on the excreta, and a shaft is car- ried up for ventilation. The riser of the seat is of brickwork, oi in the Stamford example of 2-inch stone; the floors also in both cases are of non-porous materials. The Stamford model is the 1 Vide Report on Certain Means of Preventing Excrement Nuisances in Towns and Villages. Reports of the Medical Officer of the Privy Council and Local Government Board. New Series, No. II., p. 144. 5 Vide Report of the Public Works Committee on the Sewage Question, 1871, p. xi.