Report by Dr. Kelly to the Town Council of Worthing, on M. Hermite's treatment of sewage.

  • Kelly, Charles, 1845-1904.
Date:
[1894]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report by Dr. Kelly to the Town Council of Worthing, on M. Hermite's treatment of sewage. 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.

    1/10
    REPORT ON To the Sanitary Committee of the Worthing Town Council Gentlemen, In accordance with your request, I have examined carefully the process which has lately been carried out in Worthing for the treatment of sewage by M. Hermite. After having made numerous experiments, and having obtained the assistance of Dr. Klein, F.R S., and Dr. Duprb, F.R.S., for a bacteriological and chemical inquiry, I now submit to you the following Report :— The whole of the plant has been erected under the direction of M. Hermite, and the method adopted is that carried out by the inventor himself, so that this Report does not deal with the treatment of sewage at the outfall, nor with the mixed sewage of a town, but only with such sewage as the author of the process has seen fit to include. The Hermite solution is obtained by the partial electrolysis of sea water. Two galvanized iron tanks, each capable of holding 1,000 litres, or 220 gallons, are placed side by side, while between and above them an electrolyser is placed in a small metal box. There are four rows of vertical rods, covered in their lower half by a mesh of fine platinum wire, which dip into the sea water contained in the box ; each row contains eleven such rods. Between these rows circular discs of zinc revolve when the machinery D in motion. The current, generated by a dynamo, which is driven by a portable steam engine, passes through the sea water between the electrodes of zinc and platinum, and in doing so it is said to decompose the magnesium chloride, and so to produce a disinfecting fluid.