Disease and putrescent air. Some principles which must govern the efficient ventilation of sewers, and the effective hygenic treatment of "sewer gas" : also, the sanitary ventilation of house drains and connections / by Thomas Rowan.

  • Rowan, Thomas.
Date:
1883
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Disease and putrescent air. Some principles which must govern the efficient ventilation of sewers, and the effective hygenic treatment of "sewer gas" : also, the sanitary ventilation of house drains and connections / by Thomas Rowan. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    14/72 (page 10)
    It is not my present intention in dealing with this subject to take up the purely engineering aspect of it, as involved in a discussion of size, gradients, &c., or to review the work of others in this respect. I purpose considering it from a more purely hygienic point of view, and to point out what I consider necessary or advisable, in order that sewers may be efficiently ventilated, and sewer emanations effectively treated,— the com- plete absence of practical methods for dealing with such in cities or towns, having justly caused sewers to be viewed with disfavour and distrust, if not with exaggerated alarm. The atmosphere of sewers, commonly designated “ sewer gas,” is a mixture of several gases, some of which are harmless, and others again in their undiluted state are highly poisonous. The sewerage matter from which these gases emanate is of a complex and varying character, and is derived from the evacuations from the water closets and urinals of houses, &c.—■ the waste water from kitchen sinks, &c., containing various vegetable and animal refuse,—the drainage from washhouses, stables, cowhouses, slaughter houses, public works, and the like,— and also from various refuse matter from the streets. The gases evolved from these, both as to composition and quantity, depend not only on the nature of this refuse matter itself, but are con- trolled by several conditions, such as temperature, moisture, the free or limited presence of air, mechanical agitation, light, &c. The chief elements which take part in the changes developing what is termed “sewer gas” are carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen, and these elements, acted on by the different circumstances affecting their chemical affinities, react on one another, and are transformed or metamorphosed into various compounds, in which the original elements exist in different proportions and altered relations.