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Page 14
1st. A cesspit should never be located under a dwelling. It should be
placed outside, and as far removed from the immediate neighborhood of
the dwelling as circumstances will allow. There should be a ventilated
trap placed on the pipe leading from the watercloset to the cesspit.
2d. It should be formed of impervious material so as to permit of no
leakage. 3d. It should be ventilated. 4th. No overflow should be
permitted from it. 5th. When full it should be thoroughly emptied and
cleaned out; for the matter left at the bottom of a cesspit is liable
to be in a highly putrescible condition.
Where a cesspit is unavoidable, perhaps the best and least offensive
system for emptying it is the pneumatic system. This is applicable to
the water closet refuse alone. The pneumatic system acts as follows: A
large air-tight cylinder on wheels, or, what answers equally, a series
of air-tight barrels connected together by tubes about 3 in. diameter,
placed on a cart, brought as near to the cesspit as is convenient; a
tube of about the same diameter is led from them to the cesspit; the
air is then exhausted in the barrels or cylinder either by means of an
air pump or by means of steam injected into it, which, on
condensation, forms a vacuum; and the contents of the cesspit are
drawn through the tube by the atmospheric pressure into the cylinder
or barrels. A plan which is practically an extension of this system
has been introduced by Captain Liernur in Holland. He removes the
f�cal matter from water closets and the sedimentary production of
kitchen sinks by pneumatic agency. He places large air-tight tanks in
a suitable part of the town, to which he leads pipes from all houses.
He creates a vacuum in the tanks, and thus sucks into one center the
f�cal matter from all the houses. Various substitutes have been tried
for the cesspit, which retain the principle of the hand removal of
excreta. The first was the combination of the privy with an ashpit
above the surface of the ground, the ashes and excreta being mixed
together, and both being removed periodically. The next improvement
was the provision of a movable receptacle. Of this type the simplest
arrangement is a box placed under the seat, which is taken out, the
contents emptied into the scavenger's cart, and the box replaced. The
difficulty of cleansing the angles of the boxes led to the adoption of
oval or round pails. The pail is placed under the seat, and removed at
stated intervals, or when full, and replaced by a clean pail. In
Marseilles and Nice a somewhat similar system is in use. They employ
cylindrical metal vessels furnished with a lid which closes
hermetically, each capable of holding 11 gallons. The household is
furnished with three or four of these vessels, and when one is full
the lid is closed hermetically, the vessel thus remaining in a
harmless condition in the house till taken away by the authorities and
replaced by a clean one. The contents are converted into manure. In
consequence of the offensiveness of the open pail, the next
improvement was to throw in some form of deodorizing material daily.
In the north of England the arrangement generally is that the ashes
shall be passed through a shoot, on which they are sifted--the finer
fall into the pail to deodorize it, the coarser pass into a box,
whence they can be taken to be again burned--while a separate shoot is
provided for kitchen refuse, which falls into another pail adjacent.
Probably the best known contrivance for deodorizing the excreta is the
dry earth system as applied in the earth closet, in which advantage is
taken of the deodorizing properties of earth. Dry earth is a good
deodorizer; 1� lb. of dry earth of good garden ground or clay will
deodorize such excretion. A larger quantity is required of sand or
gravel. If the earth after use is dried, it can be applied again, and
it is stated that the deodorizing powers of earth are not destroyed
until it has been used ten or twelve times. This system requires close
attention, or the dry earth closet will get out of order; as compared
with water closets, it is cheaper in first construction, and is not
liable to injury by frost; and it has this advantage over any form of
cesspit--that it necessitates the daily removal of refuse. The cost of
the dry earth system per 1,000 persons may be assumed as follows: Cost
of closet, say, �500; expense of ovens, carts, horses, etc., �250;
total capital, �750, at 6 per cent. �37 10_s._ interest. Wages of two
men and a boy per week, �1 12_s._; keep of horses, stables, etc., 18_s._;
fuel for drying earth, 1_s._ 6_d._ per ton dried daily, �1 10_s._; cost of
earth and repairs, etc., 14_s._; weekly expenses, �4 14_s._ Yearly
expenses, �247 (equal to 4_s._ 11_d._ per ton per annum); interest, �37
10_s._--total, �284 10_s._, against which should be put the value of the
manure. But the value of the manure is simply a question of carriage.
If the manure is highly concentrated, like guano, it can stand a high
carriage. If the manuring elements are diffused through a large bulk
of passive substances, the cost of the carriage of the extra, or
non-manuring, elements absorbs all profit. If a town, therefore, by
adding deodorants to the contents of pails produces a large quantity
of manure, containing much besides the actual manuring elements--such
as is generally the case with dry earth--as soon as the districts
immediately around have been fully supplied, a point is soon reached
at which it is impossible to continue to find purchasers. The dry
earth system is applicable to separate houses, or to institutions
where much attention can be given to it, but it is inapplicable to
large towns from the practical difficulties connected with procuring,
carting, and storing the dry earth.
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