 Section 80 of London Labour and the London Poor Volume 2 by Henry Mayhew. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Gillian Henry. Of the rats in the sewers. I will now state what I have learned from long-experienced men as to the characteristics of the rats in the sewers. To arrive even at a conjecture as to the numbers of these creatures, now as it were the population of the sewers, I found impossible for no statistical observations have been made on the subject. But all my informants agreed that the number of the animals had been greatly diminished within these four or five years. In the better constructed sewers there are no rats. In the old sewers they abound. The sewer rat is the ordinary house or brown rat accepting at the outlets near the river and here the water rat is seen. The sewer rat is the common brown or Hanoverian rat said by the Jacobites to have come in with the first George and established itself after the fashion of his royal family and undoubtedly such was about the era of their appearance. One man who had worked twelve years in the sewers before flushing was general told me he had never seen but two black or old English rats. Another man of ten years experience had seen but one. Others had noted no difference in the rats. I may observe that in my inquiries as to the sale of rats as a part of the live animals dealt in by a class in the metropolis I ascertained that in the older granaries where there were series of floors there were black as well as brown rats. Great black fellows said one man who managed a vermincy granary as would frighten a lady into asterisks to see of a sudden. The rat is the only animal found in the sewers. I met with no flisherman or other sewer worker who had ever seen a lizard, toad or frog there although the existence of these creatures in such circumstances has been presumed. A few live cats find their way into the subterranean channels when a house drain is being built or is opened for repairs or for any purpose and have been seen by the flisherman and so on wondering about looking lost, mewing as if in misery and avoiding any contact with the sewage. The rats also, for they are not of the water rat breed are exceedingly avert to wetting their feet and take to the sewage, as it was worded to me only in prospect of danger. That is, they then swim across or along the current to escape with their lives. It is said that when a luckless cat has ventured into the sewers she is sometimes literally worried by the rats. I could not hear of such an attack having been witnessed by anyone but one intelligent and trustworthy man said that a few years back, he believed about eight years, he had in one week found the skeletons of two cats in a particular part of an old sewer 21 feet wide and in the drains opening into it were perfect colonies of rats raging with hunger he had no doubt because a system of trapping newly resorted to had prevented their usual ingress into the houses up the drains. A portion of their fur adhered to the two cats but the flesh had been eaten from their bones. About that time a troop of rats flew at the feet of another of my informants and would no doubt have maimed him seriously but my boots said he stopped the devils. The sewer's generally swarms with rats said another man I runs away from them I don't like them they in general gets away from us but in case we comes to a stunt end where there's a wall and no place for him to get away and we goes to touch them they fly at us there's some of them as big as good-sized kittens one of our men caught hold of one the other day by the tail and he found it trying to release itself and the tail slipping through his fingers so he put up his left hand to stop it and the rat caught hold of his finger and the man's got an arm now as big as his thigh I heard from several that there had been occasionally battles among the rats one with another Why sir said one flisherman as to the number of rats it ain't possible to say there hasn't been a census note laughing and note taking of them but I can tell you this I was one of the first flisherman when flushing came in general I think it was before Christmas 1847 under Mr. Rowe and there was cartloads and cartloads of drowned rats carried into the Thames it was in a West Strand shore that I saw the most I don't exactly remember which but I think Northumberland Street by a block or a hitch of some sort there was I should say just a bushel of drowned rats stopped at the corner of one of the gates which I swept into the next stream I see far fewer drowned rats now than before the shores was flushed they're not so plenty that's one thing perhaps two they may have got to understand about flushing they're that cute and managed to keep out of the way about Newgate Market was at one time the worst for rats men couldn't venture into the sewers then on account of the varment it's bad enough still I hear but I haven't worked in the city for a few years the rats from the best information at my command do not derive much of their sustenance from the matter in the sewers or only in particular localities these localities are the sewers neighbouring a connected series of slaughterhouses as in Newgate Market, Whitechapel, Clearmarket parts adjoining Smithfield Market and so on their animal awful being and having been to a much greater extent five or six years ago swept into the drains and sewers the rats find their food in the sewers generally there is little food for them and none at all in the best constructed sewers where there is a regular and sometimes rapid flow and little or no deposit the sewers are these animals breeding grounds in them the broods are usually safe from the molestation of men, dogs or cats these breeding grounds are sometimes in the holes excavated by the industry of the rats into caves which have been formed in the old sewers by a crumbled brick having fallen out their nests however are in some parts even more frequent in places where old rotting large house drains or smaller sewers empty themselves into a first class sewer here then the rats breed and in spite of precautions find their way up the drains or pipes even through the openings into water closets into the houses for their food and almost always at night of this fact builders and those best informed are confident and it is proved indirectly by what I have stated as to the deficiency of food for a voracious creature in all the sewers except a few one man long in the service of the commissioners of sewers and in different capacities gave me the following account of what may be called a rat settlement the statement I found confirmed by other working men and by superior officers under the same employment why sir in the Milford lane sewer a goodish bit before you get to the river or to the strand I can't say how far a few hundred yards perhaps I've seen and reported what was a regular chamber of rats if a brick didn't fall out from being rotted the rats would get it out and send it among other rubbish into the sewer for this place was just the corner of a big drain I couldn't get into the rat hole of course not but I've brought my lamp to the opening and as well as others have seen it playing it was an open place like a lot of tunnels one over another like a lot of rabbit burrows in the country as I've known to be or like the partitions in the pigeon houses one here and another there the rat holes as far as I could tell were worked one after another I should say in moderation that it was the size of a small room well say about six yards by four I can't say about the height from the lowest tunnel to the highest I don't see that anyone could bless you sir I've sometimes heard the rats fighting and squeaking there like a parcel of drunken Irishmen I have indeed some of them were rare big fellows if you threw the light of your lamp on them sudden they'd be off like a shot well I should say there was a hundred pair of rats there there might be more besides all their young'uns if a poor cat strayed into that sewer she'd turns to tackle the rats not she there's lots of such places sir here and there and everywhere I believe rats says a late enthusiastic writer on the subject under the cognomen of Uncle James to be one of the most fertile causes of national and universal distress and their attendance misery and starvation from the author's inquiries among practical men and from his own study of the natural history of the rat he shows that these animals will have 6, 7 or 8 nests of young in the year from 3 or 4 years together that they have from 12 to 23 at a litter and breed at 3 months old and that there are more female than male rats by 10 to 6 the author seems somewhat of an enthusiast about rats and as the sewerage is often the headquarters of these animals their breeding ground indeed I extract the following curious matter he says quote now I propose to lay down my calculations at something less than one half in the first place I say 4 litters in the year beginning and ending with a litter so making 13 litters in 3 years secondly to have 8 young ones at a birth half male and half female thirdly the young ones to have a litter at 6 months old at this calculation I will take one pair of rats and at the expiration of 3 years what do you suppose will be the amount of living rats why no less a number than 646,808 Mr Shaw's little dog, Tiny under 6 pounds weight has destroyed 2,525 pairs of rats which had they been permitted to live would at the same calculation and in the same time have produced 1,633,190,200 living rats and the rats destroyed by Mr Shaw and Sabin in one year amounting to 17,000 pairs would had they been permitted to live have produced at the above calculation and in the same time no less a number than 10,995,736,000 living rats now let us calculate the amount of human food that these rats would destroy in the first place my informants tell me that 6 rats will consume day by day as much food as a man secondly that the thing has been tested and that my estimate given was that 8 rats would consume more than an ordinary man now I to place the thing beyond the smallest shadow of a doubt will set down 10 rats to eat as much as a man not a child nor will I say anything about what rats waste and what shall we find to be the alarming result why that the first pair of rats with the three years progeny would consume in the night more food than 64,680 men the year round and leaving 8 rats to spare end quote the author then puts forth the following curious statement quote now for the vermin destroyed by Messers Shaw and Sabin 34,000 yearly taken at the same calculation with their three years progeny can you believe it they would consume more food than the whole population of the earth yes if omnipotence would raise up 29,573,600 more people these rats would consume as much food as them all you may wonder but I will prove it to you the population of the earth including men women and children is estimated to be 970 million souls and the 17,000 rats in three years would produce 10,995,736,000 consequently at 10 rats per man there would be sufficient rats to eat as much food as all the people on the earth and leaving 1,295,736,000 so that if the human family were increased to 1099,573,600 instead of the 970 million there would be rats enough to eat the food of them all now sirs is not this a most appalling thing to think that there are at the present time in the British Empire thousands, nay, millions of human beings in a state of utter starvation while rats are consuming that which would place them and their families in a state of affluence and comfort I ask this simple question has not Parliament, or now been summoned upon matters of far less importance to the empire? I think it has end quote the author then advocates the repeal of the rat tax that is the tax on what he calls the true friend of man and remorseless destroyer of rats the well-bred terrier dog take the tax of rat killing dogs he says and give a legality to rat killing and let there be in each parish a man who will pay a reward per head for dead rats which are valuable for manure note as was done in the case of wolves in the old days and then rats would be extinguished forever Uncle James seems to be a perfect mouth-less among rats the overpopulation and over-rat theories are about equal in reason end of section 80 section 81 of London Labour and the London poor volume 2 by Henry Mayhew this LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by Gillian Henry of the cesspoolage and nightmare of the metropolis I have already shown it may be necessary to remind the reader that there are two modes of removing the wet refuse of the metropolis the one by carrying it off by means of sewers or as it is designated sewerage and the other by depositing it in some neighbouring cesspool or what is termed cesspoolage the object of sewerage is quote to transport the wet refuse of a town to a river or some powerfully current stream by a series of ducts end quote by the system of cesspoolage the wet refuse of the household is collected in an adjacent tank and when the reservoir is full the contents are removed to some other part the gross quantity of wet refuse annually produced in the metropolis and which consequently has to be removed by one or other of the above means is as we have seen liquid 24,000 million gallons solid 100,000 tons or altogether by ad-measurement 3,820 million cubic feet the quantity of this wet refuse which finds its way into the sewers by street and house drainage is according to the experiments of the commissioners of sewers as detailed at page 388 10 million cubic feet per day or 3,650 million cubic feet per annum so that there remain about 170 million cubic feet to be accounted for but as we have before seen the extent of surface from which the amount of so called metropolitan sewage was removed was only 58 square miles whereas that from which the calculation was made concerning the gross quantity of wet refuse produced throughout the metropolis was 115 square miles or double the size the 58 miles measured by the commissioners however was by far the denser moiety of the town and that in which the houses and streets were as 15 to 1 so that allowing the remaining 58 miles of the suburban districts to have produced times less sewage than the urban half of the metropolis the extra yield would have been about 180,500,000 cubic feet but the greater proportion if not the whole of the latter quantity of wet house refuse would be drained into open ditches where a considerable amount of evaporation and absorption is continually going on so that a large allowance must be made for loss by these means if we estimate the quantity of sewage thus absorbed and evaporated at between 10 and 20% of the whole we shall not be wide of the truth so that we shall have to reduce the 182,000,000 cubic feet of suburban sewage to somewhere about 150,000,000 cubic feet this gives us the quantity of wet refuse carried off by the sewers covered and open of the metropolis and deducted from the gross quantity of wet house refuse annually produced 3,820,000,000 cubic feet leaves 20,000,000 cubic feet for the gross quantity carried off by other means than the sewers that is to say the 20,000,000 cubic feet if the calculation be right should be about the quantity deposited every year in the London cesspools let us see whether this approximates to anything like the real quantity to ascertain the absolute quantity of wet refuse annually conveyed into the metropolitan cesspools we must first ascertain the number and capacity of the cesspools themselves of the City of London where the sewer cesspool details are given with a minuteness highly commendable as affording statistical data of great value Mr. Haywood gives the following returns house drainage of the city the total number of premises drained during the year was 10,923 the approximate number of premises drained at the expiration of the year 1850 was 10,923 the total number of premises which may now therefore be said to be drained is 11,233 and undrained 5,067 I am induced as Mr. Haywood to believe from the reports of the district inspectors a very far larger number of houses are already drained than are herein given indeed my impression is that as many as 3,000 might be deducted from the 5,067 houses as to the drainage of which you have no information now until the inspectors have completed their survey of the whole of the houses within the city continues the city surveyor precise information cannot be given as to the number of houses yet undrained such information appears to me very important to obtain speedily and I beg to recommend that instructions be given to the inspectors to proceed with their survey as rapidly as possible hence it appears that out of the 16,290 houses comprised within the boundaries of the city rather less than one third are reported to have cesspools concerning the number of cesspools without the city the board of health in a report on the cholera in 1849 put forward one of its usual extraordinary statements at the last census in 1841 runs a report there were 270,859 houses in the metropolis it is known that there is scarcely a house without a cesspool under it and that a large number have 2, 3, 4 and more so that the number of such receptacles in the metropolis may be taken at 300,000 the exposed surface of each cesspool measures on an average 9 feet and the mean depth of the hole is about 6 and a half feet so that each contains 58 and a half cubic feet of fermenting filth of the most poisonous, noisome and disgusting nature the exhaling surface of all the cesspools 300,000 times 9 equals 2,700,000 feet or equal to 62 acres nearly and the total quantity of file matter contained within them 300,000 times 58 and a half equals 17,550,000 cubic feet or equal to one enormous elongated stagnant cesspool 50 feet in width 6 feet 6 inches in depth and extending through London from the Broadway at Hammersmith to Bow Bridge, a length of 10 miles this says the Metropolitan Sanitary Commissioners a body of functionaries so intimately connected with the board that the one is ever ready to swear to what the other asserts there is reason to believe is an under estimate let us now compare this statement which declared it to be known that there is scarcely a house in London without a cesspool and many have two, three, four and even more under them let us compare this I say with the facts which were elicited by the same functionaries by means of a house-to-house inquiry in three different parishes a poor, a middle class and a rich one the average rental of each being 22 pounds, 119 pounds and 128 pounds results of a house-to-house inquiry in the parishes of St George the Martyr Sulloch, St Anne's Soho and St James's as to the state of the works of water supply and drainage from which replies have been received St George the Martyr Sulloch 5,713 St Anne's Soho 1,339 St James's 2,960 Condition of the houses with supply of water to the house or premises St George the Martyr 80.97% St Anne's 95.56% St James's 96.48% near the privy St George 48.87% St Anne's 38.99% St James's 43.42% Butts or cisterns covered 1,879 St Anne's 776 St James's 1,621 Uncovered St George 2,074 St Anne's 294 St James's 393 With a sink St George 86.7% With a well on or near the premises St George 5,32% St Anne's 13.97% St James's 13.85% Well tainted or foul St George 46.92% St Anne's 3.71% In lower parts St George 52.13% St Anne's 36.67% Houses with stagnant water on premises St George 18.54% St Anne's 7.95% St James's 2.95% Houses flooded in times of storm St George 5.04% St James's 4.05% Houses with drain To the premises St George 87.56% St Anne's 97.12% St James's 96.42% Houses with drains emitting offensive smells St George 45.11% St James's 21.41% Houses with drains stopped at times St George 22.37% St Anne's 28.5% St James's 13.97% Houses with dustbin St George 42.69% St Anne's 92.34% St James's 89.8% Houses receiving offensive smells from adjoining premises St George 27.82% St Anne's 22.54% St James's 16.74% Houses with privy St George 97.03% St Anne's 70.63% St James's 62.53% Houses with cesspool St George 72.12% St Anne's 47.27% St James's 36.62% Houses with water closet St George 10.06% St Anne's 45.99% St James's 65.86% In this minute and searching investigation there is not only an official guide but a curious indication of the character of the houses in the respective parishes. In the poorer parish of St George the Martyr Southwark the cesspools were to every 100 houses as 82.12% In the aristocratic parish of St James Westminster as only 36.62% While in what may be represented perhaps as the middle class parish of St Anne's Soho the cesspools were 47.27% The number of wells on or near the premises and the proportion of those tainted the ratio of the dampness of the lower parts of the houses of the stagnant water on the premises and of the flooding of the houses on occasions of storms are all significant indications of the difference in the circumstances of the inhabitants of these parishes of the difference between the abodes of the rich and the poor the capitalists and the labouring classes but more significant still perhaps of the domestic wants or comforts of these dwellings is the proportion of water closets to the houses in the poor parish and the rich in the one they were but 10.06% in the other 65.86% These returns are sufficient to show the extravagance of the board's previous statement that there is quote scarcely a house in London and a pool under it while a large number have two, three, four and more end quote for we find that even in the poorer parishes there are only 82 cesspools to 100 houses Moreover, the engineers after an official examination and inquiry reported that in the Fever Nest known as Jacobs Island Bermondsey there were 1317 dwelling houses of 68 cesspools or not quite 50 cesspools to 100 houses In rich, middle class and poor parishes the proportion of cesspools then it appears from the inquiries of the Board of Health their guesses are of no earthly value gives us an average of something between 50 or 60 cesspools to every 100 houses a subordinate officer whom I saw and who was engaged in the cleansing of cesspools when condemned or when the houses are to be drained anew into the sewers and the cesspools abolished thought from his own experience the number of cesspools to be less than one half but others thought it more On the other hand a nightmare told me he was confident that every two houses in three throughout London had cesspools in the city however we perceive that there is at the utmost only one house in every three undrained it will therefore be safest to adopt a middle course and assume 50% of the houses of the metropolis to be still without drainage into the sewers now the number of houses being 300,000 it follows that the number of cesspools within the area of the metropolis are about 150,000 consequently the next step in the investigation is to ascertain the average capacity of each at the gross quantity of wet house refuse annually deposited in cesspools throughout London the average size of the cesspools throughout the metropolis is said by the Board of Health to be nine feet by six and a half which gives a capacity of 58 and a half cubic feet and this for 150,000 houses equals 8,775,000 cubic feet but according to all accounts these cesspools require on an average two years to fill so that the gross quantity of wet refuse annually deposited in such places can be taken at only half the above quantity namely in round numbers 4,500,000 cubic feet this by weight at the rate of 35.9 cubic feet to the ton gives 125,345 tons this however would appear to be of a piece with the generality of the statistics of the Board of Health and as wide of the truth as was the statement that there was scarcely a house in London without a cesspool while many had three, four and even more but I am credibly informed that the average size of a cesspool is rather more than five feet square and six and a half deep so that the ordinary capacity would be five and three quarters times five and a quarter and a half equals 197 cubic feet and this multiplied by 150,000 gives an aggregate capacity of 29,550,000 cubic feet but as the cesspools according to all accounts become full only once in two years it follows that the gross quantity of cesspoolage annually deposited throughout the metropolis must be only one half that quantity of 14,775,000 cubic feet the calculation may be made another way namely by the experience of the nightmare and the sewer cesspoolman as to the average quantity of refuse removed from the London cesspools whenever emptied as well as the average number emptied yearly the contents of a cesspool are never estimated for any purpose of sale or labour by the weight but always as regards the nightmare's work by the load each night cart load of soil is considered on an average a ton in weight so that the nightmare regularly estimate the number of tonnes by the number of cart loads obtained the men employed in the cleansing of the cesspools by the new system of pumping agree with the nightmare as to the average contents of a cesspool as a general rule a cesspool is filled every two years in full about five tonnes one man who had been upwards of 30 years in the nightmare's business who had worked at it more or less all that time himself and who is now foreman to a parish contractor and master nightmare in a large way spoke positively on the subject the cesspools he declared were emptied as an average by nightmare once in two years and their average contents were five loads of night soil and having been always understood in the trade that a night cart load was about a ton note in one of their reports the board of health has spoken of the yearly cleansing of the cesspools but a cesspool I am assured is rarely emptied by manual labour unless it be full for as the process is generally regarded as a nuisance it is resorted to as seldom as possible it may perhaps be different with the cesspool emptying by the hydraulic process which is not a nuisance end note the total of the cesspool matter is not affected by the frequency or paucity of the cleansing away of the filth for if one cesspool be emptied yearly another is emptied every second, third, fourth or fifth year and according to the size the fair average is five tonnes of cesspoolage emptied from each every other year one master nightmare had emptied as much as 14 tonnes of night soil from a cesspool or soil tank and a contractor's man had once emptied as many as 18 tonnes but both agreed as to the average of five tonnes every two years from all neither knew the period of the accumulation of the 14 or the 18 tonnes but supposed to be about five or six years according to this mode of estimate the quantity of wet house refuse deposited in cesspools would be equal to 150,000 times five or 750,000 tonnes every two years this by a measurement at the rate of 35.9 cubic feet to the ton gives 26,925,000 cubic feet and as this is the accumulation of two years it follows that 13,462,500 cubic feet is the quantity of cesspoolage deposited yearly there is still another mode of checking this estimate I have already given c page 385 anti the average production of each individual to the wet refuse of the metropolis according to the experiments of Bozingo confirmed by Liebig this as I have stated amounted to a quarter pound of solid and one and a quarter pound of liquid excrement from each individual per diem equal to 150 pounds for every 100 persons while including the wet refuse from culinary operations the average yield according to the surveyor of the commissioners of sewers was equal to about 250 pounds for every 100 individuals daily I may add that this calculation was made officially with engineering my newtness with a view to ascertain what quantity of water and what inclination in its flow would be required for the effective working of a system of drainage to supersede the cesspools note it was ascertained that three gallons half a cubic foot of water would carry off one pound of the more solid excrement matter through a six inch pipe with an inclination of one in ten end note now the census of 1841 shows us that the average number of inhabitants to each house throughout the metropolis was 7.6 and this for 150,000 houses would give 1,140,000 people consequently the gross quantity of wet refuse proceeding from this number of persons at the rate of 250 pounds to every 100 people daily would be 464,400 tonnes per annum at the rate of 35.9 cubic feet to the ton it would be equal to 16,670,950 cubic feet a small proportion of this amount of cesspoolage ultimately makes its appearance in the sewers being pumped into them directly from the cesspools when full by means of a special apparatus and thus tends not only to swell the bulk of sewage but to decrease in a like proportion the aggregate quantity of wet house refuse which is removed by cartage but though the proportion of cesspoolage which finally appears as sewage is daily increasing still it is but trifling compared with the quantity removed by cartage here then we have three different estimates as to the gross quantity of the London cesspoolage each slightly varying from the other two the first drawn from the average capacity of the London cesspools makes the gross annual amount of cesspoolage 14,775,000 cubic feet the second deduced from the average quantity removed from each cesspool 13,462,500 cubic feet and the third calculated from the individual production of wet refuse 16,670,950 cubic feet the mean of these three results is in round numbers 15,000,000 cubic feet so that the statement would stand thus the quantity of wet house refuse annually carried off by sewers chiefly covered from the urban moiety of the metropolis is in cubic feet 3,650,000 the quantity annually carried off by sewers principally open from the suburban moiety of the metropolis 150,000,000 the total amount of wet house refuse annually carried off by the sewers of the metropolis 3,800,000,000 cubic feet the gross amount of wet house refuse annually deposited in cesspools throughout the metropolis 15,000,000 cubic feet giving the total amount of sewage and cesspoolage of the metropolis in cubic feet thus we perceive that the total quantity of wet house refuse annually removed corresponds so closely with the gross quantity of wet house refuse annually produced that we may briefly conclude the gross sewage of London to be equal to 3,800,000,000 cubic feet and the gross cesspoolage to be equal to 15,000,000 cubic feet the accuracy of the above conclusion may be tested by another process for unless the Board of Health's conjectural mode of getting at facts be adopted it is absolutely necessary that statistics not only upon this but indeed any subject be checked by all the different modes there may be of arriving at the same conclusion false facts are worse than no facts at all the number of nightmen may be summed up as follows masters 521 labourers 200,000 the number of cesspools emptied during the past year by these men may be estimated at 50,692 and the quantity of soil removed 253,460 loads or tonnes and this at the rate of 35.9 cubic feet to the ton gives a total of 6,099,214 cubic feet it might perhaps be expected that from the quantity of fecal refuse proceeding from the inhabitants of the metropolis a greater quantity would be found in the existent cesspools but there are many reasons for the contrary one prime cause of the dispersion of cesspoolage is that a considerable quantity of the night soil does not find its way into the cesspools at all but is when the inhabitants have no privies to their dwellings thrown into streets and courts and waste places I cannot show this better than by a few extracts from Dr Hector Gavin's work published in 1848 entitled sanitary ramblings being sketches and illustrations of Bethnal Green and so on quote digby walk globe road part of this place is private property and the landlord of the new houses has built a cesspool into which to drain his houses does not permit the other houses to drain into this cesspool unless the parish pay to him one pound a sum which it will not pay end quote of course the inhabitants throw their garbage and filth into the streets or the by places quote whiskers gardens this is a very extensive piece of ground which is laid out in neat plots as gardens the choices flowers are frequently raised here and great taste and considerable refinement are evidently possessed by those who cultivate them now among the cultivators are the poor even the very poor of Bethnal Green attached to all these little plots of ground are summer houses in the generality of cases they are mere wooden sheds cabins or huts it is very greatly to be regretted that the proprietors of these gardens should permit the slight and fragile sheds in them to be converted into abodes for human beings sometimes they are divided into rooms they are planted on the damp undrained ground the privies are sheds erected over holes in the ground the soil itself is removed from these holes and is dug into the ground to promote its fertility three colt lane a deep ditch has been dug on either side of the eastern counties railway by the company these ditches were dug by the company to prevent the foundations of the arches being endangered and are in no way to be considered as having been dug to promote the health of the neighbourhood the double privies attached to the new houses 22 in number are immediately contiguous to this ditch and are constructed so that the night soil shall drain into it for this purpose the cesspools are small and the bottoms are above the level of the ditch end quote it would be easy to multiply such proofs of night soil not finding its way into the cesspools but the subject need not be further pursued important as in many respects it may be I need but say that in the several reports of the Board of Health are similar accounts of other localities the same deficiency of cesspoolage is found in Paris and from the same cause what may be the quantity of night soil which becomes part of the contents of the street scavengers instead of the nightman's cart no steps have been taken or perhaps can be taken by the public sanitary bodies to ascertain many of the worst of the nuisances such as that in Digby Street have been abolished but they are still too characteristic of the very poor districts the fault however appears to be with the owners of the property and it is seldom they are coerced into doing their duty of its paying a capitalist landlord to improve the unwholesome dwellings of the poor seems to be regarded as a far more sacred right than the right of the people to be delivered from the foul air and vile stenches to which their poverty may condemn them there is moreover the great but unassertained waste from cesspool evaporation and it must be recollected that of the two and a half pounds of cesspool refuse calculated as the daily produce of each individual two and a quarter pounds are liquid the gross cesspoolage of Paris should amount to upwards of 600,000 cubic meters or more than 21 million cubic feet at the estimate of 3 pints daily per head the quantity actually collected however amounts to only 230,000 cubic meters or rather more than 8 million cubic feet which is 13 million cubic feet less than the amount produced in London the cesspoolage of 150 undrained houses should at the rate of two and a half pounds to each individual and 15 inhabitants to every two houses amount to 16 500,000 cubic feet or about 460,000 loads whereas the quantity collected amounts to but little more than 250,000 loads or about 9 million cubic feet hence the deficiency is 210,000 loads or 7,500,000 cubic feet which is nearly half of the entire quantity in Paris then it would appear that only 38% of the refuse which is not removed by sewers is collected in the cesspools whereas in London about 54 and a half percent is so collected the remainder in both cases is part deposited in biplaces and removed by the scavengers part lost in evaporation whereas a large proportion of the deficiency arises from a less quantity of water than the amount stated being used by the very poor we have now to see the means by which this 15 million cubic feet of cesspoolage is annually removed as well as to ascertain the condition and incomes of the labourers engaged in the removal of it of the cesspool system of London a cesspool or some equivalent contrivance has long existed in connection with the structure of the better class of houses in the metropolis and there seems every reason to believe though I am assured on good authority that there is no public or official record of the matter known to exist that their use became more and more general as in the case of the sewers after the rebuilding of the city consequent upon the great fire of 1665 the older cesspools were of two kinds soil tanks and bog holes soil tanks were the filth receptacles of the larger houses and sometimes works of solid masonry they were almost every size and depth but always perhaps much deeper than the modern cesspools which present an average depth of 6 feet to 6 and a half feet the bog hole was and is a cavity dug into the earth having less masonry than the soil tank and sometimes no masonry at all being in like manner the receptacle for the wet refuse from the house the difference between these old contrivances and the present mode is principally in the following respect the soil tank or bog hole formed a receptacle immediately under the privy the floor of which has usually to be removed for purposes of cleansing whereas the refuse is now more frequently carried into the modern cesspool by a system of drainage sometimes the soil tank was when the nature of the situation of the premises permitted in some outer place such as an obscure part of the garden or courtyard and perhaps two or more bog holes while often enough by means of a grate or a trapdoor any kind of refuse to be got rid of was thrown into it I am informed that the average contents of a bog hole such as now exist are a cubic yard of matter some are round some oblong for there is or was great variation of the few remaining soil tanks the varying sizes prevent any average being computable what the old system of cesspoolage was may be judged from the fact that until somewhere about 1830 no cesspool matter could without an indictable offence being committed be drained into a sewer now no new house can be erected but it is an indictable offence if the cesspool or rather water closet matter be drained anywhere else than into the sewer the law at the period specified required most strangely so that quote the drains and sewers might not be choked that cesspool should be not only periodically emptied but made by nightman end quote the principle means of effecting the change from cesspoolage to sewerage was the introduction of Brahma's water closets patented in 1848 but not brought into general use for some 20 years or more after that date the houses of the rich owing to the refuse being drained away from the premises improved both in wholesomeness and agreeableness and so the law was relaxed there are two kinds of cesspools namely public and private the public cesspools are those situated in quartz alleys and places which though often packed thickly with inhabitants are not horse thoroughfares or thoroughfares at all and in such places one, two or more cesspools receive the refuse from all the houses I do not know that any official account of public cesspools has been published as to their number, character and so on but their number is insignificant when compared with those connected with private houses the public cesspools are cleansed and where possible filled up by order of the commissioners of sewers the cost being then defrayed out of the rate the private cesspools are cleansed at the expense of the occupiers of the houses end of section 81 section 82 of London Labour and the London poor volume 2 by Henry Mayhew this LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by Gillian Henry of the cesspool and sewer system of Paris part 1 as the court of sewers have recently adopted some of the French regulations concerning cesspoolage I will now give an account of the cesspool system of France when after the ravages of the epidemic cholera of 1848 to 1849 sanitary commissioners under the authority of the legislature pursued their inquiries it was deemed essential to report upon the cesspool system of Paris as that capital had also been ravaged by the epidemic the task was entrusted to Mr T.W. Rammel C.E. even in what the French delight to designate and in some respects justly the most refined city in the world a filthy and indolent custom once common as I have shown in England still prevails in Paris the kitchen and dry house refuse and formerly it was the fecal refuse also is deposited in the dark of the night in the streets and removed as soon as the morning light permits by the public scavengers but the refuse is not removed unexamined before being thrown into the cart of the proper functionary there is in Paris a large and peculiar class the chiffonnier literally in Anglo-Saxon rendering the raggers or ragfinders these men nightly traverse the streets each provided with a lantern and generally with a basket strapped to the back the poor sort however for poverty like rank has its gradations make a bag answer the purpose they have also a pole with an iron hook to its end and a small shovel the dirt heaps or mounds of dry house refuse are carefully turned over by these men for their morrows bred as in the case of our own streetfinders depends upon something saleable being acquired their prizes are bones which sometimes they are seen to know bits of bread wasted potatoes broken pots bottles and glass old pans and odd pieces of old metal cigar ends waste paper and rags known as rag pickers rags are perhaps the very thing of which they pick the least because the Parisians are least apt to throw them away in some of the criminal trials in the French capital the chiffonnier have given evidence but not much of late of what they have found in a certain locality and supplied a link sometimes an important one to the evidence against a criminal with these refuse heaps which should have found its way into the cesspools although this is an offence punishable and occasionally punished before the habits of the Parisians are too freely condemned let it be borne in mind that the houses of the French capital are much larger than in London and that each floor is often the dwelling place of a family such is generally the case in London in the poorer districts but in Paris it pervades almost all districts there some of the houses contain 70 not fugitive but permanent inmates the average number of inhabitants to each house according to the last census was upwards of 24 in London the average is 7.6 the extremes being 11 to each house in St Giles's and between 5 and 6 in the immediate suburbs see page 165 persons who are circumstance then as are the Parisians can hardly have at their command the proper means and appliances for a sufficient cleanliness and for the promotion of what we consider but the two words are unknown to the French language the comforts of a home the greater portion of the liquid refuse writes Mr Rammel including water which has been used in culinary or cleansing processes is got rid of by means of open channels laid across the courtyards and the foot pavements to the street gutters along which it flows until it falls through the nearest gully into the sewers and ultimately into the same if produced in the upper part of a house this description of refuse is first poured into an external chute branching out of the rainwater pipe with one of which every floor is usually provided iron pipes have been lately much introduced in place of the open channels and foot pavements these are laid level with the surface and are cast with an open slit about one inch in width at the top to afford facility for cleansing during the busy parts of the day there are constant streams of such fluids running through most of the streets of Paris the smell arising from which is by no means agreeable in hot weather it is the practice to turn on the public standpipes for an hour or two and accelerate its flow with respect to fecal refuse says Mr. Rammel and much of the house slopes particularly those of bed chambers the cesspool is universally adopted in Paris as the immediate receptacle end quote by far the greater proportion of the wet house refuse of Paris therefore is deposited in cesspools I shall then immediately proceed to show the quantity of matter thus collected yearly as well as the means by which it is removed the aggregate quantity of the cesspool matter of Paris has greatly increased in quantity within the present century though this might have been expected as well from the increase of population as from the improved construction of cesspools preventing leakage and the increased supply of water in the French metropolis the following figures show both the aggregate quantity and the increase that has taken place in the cesspoolage of Paris from 1810 to the present time in 1810 the total quantity of refuse matter deposited in the basins at Montfasson amounted to 50,151 cubic meters equal to 1,770,330 cubic feet in 1811 the quantity was 49,545 cubic meters equal to 1,748,938 cubic feet in 1812 49,235 cubic meters equal to 1,737,995 cubic feet giving an average from the three years of 49,877 cubic meters equal to 1,760,000 cubic feet the quantity at present conveyed to Montfasson and Bondy amounts according to Monsieur Elouin a very good authority to from 600 to 700 cubic meters daily giving in round numbers an annual quantity of 230,000 cubic meters equal to 8,119,000 cubic feet this shows an increase in 36 years of very nearly 400% but still it constitutes little more than one half of the cesspoolage of London the quantity of refuse matter which is daily drawn from the cesspools Mr Rammel states and he had every assistance from the authorities in prosecuting his inquiries at between 600 and 700 cubic meters 21,180 and 24,710 cubic feet giving in round numbers the annual quantity of 230,000 cubic meters quote dividing this annual quantity at 230,000 cubic meters or 8 million cubic feet by the number of the population of Paris 94,721 individuals according to the last census we have 243 litres only as the annual produce from each individual the daily quantity of matter including water necessary for cleanliness passing from each person into the cesspool in the better class of houses is stated to be 1 and 3 quarter litres 3.08 pints or 638 litres annually the discrepancy between these two quantities wide as it is must be accounted for by the fact of a large proportion of the lower orders in Paris rarely or ever using any privy at all and by allowing for the small quantity of water made use of in the inferior class of houses there can be no doubt that this latter quantity of 1 and 3 quarter litres daily is very nearly correct and not above the average quantity used in houses where a moderate degree of cleanliness is observed this proportion was ascertained to hold good in the case of some barracks in Paris where the contents of the cesspools were accurately measured the total quantity divided by the number of men occupying the barracks and the quotient by the number of days since the cesspools had been last emptied the result showing a daily quantity of 1 and 3 quarter litres from each individual the average charge per cubic metre for extraction and transport of the cesspoolage is 9 francs giving a gross annual charge of 2 million and 70,000 francs 82,800 pounds sterling which sum it would appear is paid every year by the house proprietors of Paris for the extraction of the matter from their cesspools and its transport to the foyer end quote Mr Rammel says that where a tubular system of house drainage such as has been described under the proper head adopted in Paris in lieu of the present mode it would cost less than one tenth of the expense now incurred the principal place of deposit for the general refuse of Paris has long been at Montfasson a French writer Monsieur Jules Garnier in a recent work, a visit to Montfasson says quote for more than 900 years Montfasson has been devoted to this purpose there the citizens of Paris deposited their filth before the walls of the capital extended beyond what is now the central quarter the distance between Paris and Montfasson was then more than a mile and a half end quote thus it appears that Montfasson was devoted to its present purposes of course in a much more limited degree as early as the reign of King Charles the simple deposit of cesspool matter is the property of the commune as in the city of London it would be said to belong to the corporation and it is farmed out for terms of nine years to the highest bidders the amount received by the commune has greatly increased as the following returns which are official will show in 1808 the cesspoolage fetched 97,000 francs about 880 pounds in 1817 the cesspoolage fetched 75,000 francs about 3,000 pounds in 1834 the cesspoolage fetched 165,000 francs about 7,000 pounds in 1843 the cesspoolage fetched 525,000 francs about 21,000 pounds it is here that the poudrette of which I have spoken elsewhere is prepared note, Mr Rammel supplies the following note on the use of poudrette in connection with this subject he says a few observations upon the application of poudrette in agricultural process may not be without interest with regard to the fertilising properties of this preparation Monsieur Maxime Poulet in his work entitled a pratique des ancrets gives a table of the fertilising qualities of various descriptions of manure the value of each being determined by the quantity of nitrogen it contains taking for a standard good farm yard d'un which contains on an average 4 per 1000 of nitrogen and assuming that 10,000 kilograms about 22,000 pounds English of this manure containing 40 kilograms of nitrogen are necessary to manure 1 hectare 2.5 acres nearly of land the quantities of poudrette and of some other animal manures require to produce a similar effect would be as follows good farm yard d'un the quantity usually spread upon 1 hectare of land 10,000 kilograms the equivalent quantities of human urine not having undergone fermentation 600 kilograms equivalent quantities of poudrette of Mont-Façon 2,550 kilograms equivalent quantities of mixed human excrements this quantity I have calculated from data given in the same work 1,333 kilograms equivalent quantities of liquid blood of the abattoirs 1,333 kilograms equivalent quantities of bones 650 kilograms equivalent quantities of average of guano 2 specimens are given 512 kilograms equivalent quantities of urine of the public urinals in fermentation and incompletely dried 2,333 kilograms Monsieur Poley estimates the loss of the ammoniacal products contained in the fecal matters when they are withdrawn from the cesspools by the time they have been ultimately reduced into poudrette at from 80 to 90 percent I have not been able to meet with an analysis of the matters found in the fixed and movable cesspools of Paris but in the Corde d'Aguicouture of Monsieur le Comte de Gasparin I found an analysis by Monsieur's païen and Boussingo of some matter taken from the cesspools of Lille and in the state in which it is thoroughly used in the suburbs of that city as manure this matter was found to contain on the average 0.205 percent of nitrogen and thus by the rule observed in drawing up the above table 19.512 kilograms of it would be necessary to produce the same effect upon one hectare of land as the other manures there mentioned the wide difference between this quantity and that 233 kilograms stated for the mixed human experiments in their undiluted state would lead to the conclusion that a very large proportion of water was present in the matter sent from Lille unless we are to attribute a portion of the difference to the accidental circumstance of the bad quality of this matter it appears that this is very variable according to the style of living of the persons producing it upon this subject Monsieur Paulet says the case of an agriculturalist in the neighbourhood of Paris is cited who bought the contents of the cesspools of one of the fashionable restaurants of the Palais Royal making a profitable speculation of it he purchased the matter of the cesspools of several barracks this bargain however resulted in a loss for the produce from this last matter came very short of that given by the first Poudrette weighs 70 kilograms the hectoliter 154 pounds per 22 gallons and the quantity usually spread upon 1 hectare of land 2 and a half acres nearly is 1,750 kilograms being at the rate of about 1,540 pounds per acre English measure it is cast upon the land by the hand in the manner that corn is sown Poudrette packed in sacks very soon destroys them this is always the case whether it is whole or has been newly prepared a serious accident occurred in 1818 on board a vessel named the Artour which sailed from Rouen with a cargo of Poudrette for Guadeloupe during the voyage a disease broke out on board which carried off half the crew and left the remainder in a deplorable state of health when they reached their destination it attacked also the men who landed the cargo they all suffered in a greater or less degree the Poudrette was proved to have been shipped during a wet season and to have been exposed before and during shipment in a manner to allow it to absorb a considerable quantity of moisture the accident appears to have been due to the subsequent fermentation of the mass in the hold increased to an intense degree by the moisture it had acquired and by the heat of a tropical climate Monsieur Parent de Châtelet to whom the matter was referred recommended that to guard against similar accidents in future the Poudrette intended for exportation in order to deprive it entirely of humidity should be mixed with an absorbent powder such as quick lime and that it should be packed in casques to protect it from moisture during the voyage End note besides this branch of commerce Montfassant has establishments for the extracting of ammonia from the cesspool matter and the right of doing so is now farmed out for 80,000 francs a year £3,200 Montfassant is on the north side of Paris and the place of refuse deposit is known as the Voirey the following account of it and of the manufacture of Poudrette is curious in many respects quote 40 acres in extent is divided into three irregular compartments one, the system of basins two, the ground used for spreading and drying the matter three, the place where the matter is heaped up after having been dried the basins standing for the most part in gradations one above another by reason of the slope of the ground are six in number the two upper ones which are upon a level first receive the soil upon its arrival at the Voirey the four others are receptacles for the more liquid portion as it gradually flows off from the upper basins there is a great difference in the character of the soil brought that taken from the upper part of the cesspools and amounting to a large proportion of the whole being entirely liquid while the remainder is more or less solid according to the depth at which it is taken the whole however during winter any weather is indiscriminately deposited in the upper basins but in dry weather the nearly solid portion is at once thrown upon the drying ground note it is in the upper basins as the reports that the first separation of the liquids and solids takes place the latter falling to the bottom and the former gradually flowing off through a sluice into the lower basins this first separation however is by no means complete a considerable deposit taking place in the lower basins the mass in the upper basins after three or four years then appears like a thick mud half liquid half solid it is of depth varying from 12 to 15 feet in order entirely to get rid of the liquids deep channels are then cut across the mass by which they are drained off when the deposit soon becomes sufficiently stiff to permit of its being dug out and spread upon the drying ground where to assist the desiccation it is turned over two or three times a day by means of a harrow drawn by a horse the time necessary for the requisite desiccation varies a good deal according to the season of the year the temperature and the dry or moist state of the atmosphere air yet it is entirely deprived of humidity the matter is collected into heaps varying in size usually from 8 to 10 yards high and from 60 to 80 yards long by 20 or 30 yards wide these heaps or mounds generally remain a 12 month untouched sometimes even for two or three years but as fast as the material is required they are worked from one of the sides by means of pickaxes, shovels and rakes the pieces separated are then easily broken and reduced to powder foreign substances being carefully excluded this operation which is the last the matter undergoes is performed by women the pudret then appears like a mould of a grey-black colour light, greasy to the touch finely grained and giving out a particular faint and nauseous odour the finer particles of matter carried by the liquids into the lower basins and they are more gradually deposited in combination with a precipitate from the urine yield a variety of pudret preferred by the farmers for its superior fertilising properties in this case the drying process is conducted more slowly and with more difficulty than in the other but more completely in general the pudret is dried with great difficulty it appears to have an extreme affinity for water few substances give out moisture more slowly or absorb it more greedily from the air a good deal of heat is generated in the heaps of desiccated matter this is always sensible to the touch and sometimes results in spontaneous combustion the intensity of this heat is not in proportion to the elevation of temperature of the atmosphere it is promoted by moisture the only means of extinguishing the fire when it is once developed is to turn over the mass from top to bottom in order to expose it to the air water thrown upon it unless in very large quantities would only increase its activity and note the quantity of pudret sold in 1818 was at the foirier 50,000 cittiers note four and a quarter heat bushels each English measure and note sent into the departments 20,000 cittiers total sale 70,000 cittiers at prices of 7, 8 and 9 francs the cittiers this is equal at the average price of 8 francs to 22,400 pounds sterling the refuse liquids as fast as they overflow the basins or are passed through the chemical works are conducted into the public sewers and through them into the Seine nearly opposite the Jardin de Plante they thus fall into the river at the very commencement of its course through Paris and pollute its waters before they have reached the various works lower down and near the centre of the city where they are raised and distributed for household purposes for the supply of baths and for the public fountains rats are found by thousands in the foirier and their voracity is such that I have often known them during a single night convert into skeletons the carcasses of 20 horses which had been brought there the evening before the bones are burnt to heat the coppers or to get rid of them speaking of the disgusting practices at the foirier I have seen men stark naked passing entire days in the midst of the basins seeking for any objects of value they might contain I have seen others fishing for the rotten fish the market inspectors had caused to be thrown into the basins two cartloads of spoilt and stinking mackerel were thrown into the largest of the basins two hours afterwards all the fish had disappeared the emanations from the voireilles are, as may well be supposed most powerfully offensive to a stranger unaccustomed to the atmosphere surrounding them it would be almost impossible to make the tour of the basins without being more or less affected with the disposition to nausea large and numerous bubbles of gas are seen constantly rising from a lake of urine and water while evaporation of the most foul description is going on from many acres of surrounding ground upon which the solid matter is spread to dry the late Monsieur Parrand de Châtelet a high authority on this matter stated in 1833 that the emanations from the voireilles were insupportable within a circumference of 2000 metres about a mile and a quarter English measure while the winds carried them sometimes as was shown when an official inquiry was made as to the ravages and causes of cholera two and a half miles and in certain states of the atmosphere eight French miles not quite five English miles the same high authority has also stated that in addition to the emanations of the water at the voireilles the greater part of the carcasses of about 12,000 horses and between 25,000 and 30,000 smaller animals were allowed to rot upon the ground there to abate this nuisance a new voireilles was more than 20 years since formed in the forest of Bondy eight miles from Paris it consists of eight basins four on each side of the canal de l'orec each like those at Montfasson the area of these basins is little short of 96,000 square yards and their collective capacity upwards of 261,000 cubic yards the expectations of the relief that would be experienced from the establishment of the new voireilles in the forest have not been realised the movable cesspools only have been conveyed there by boats on the canal to be emptied empty casques being conveyed back by the same boats the basins are not yet full for the conveyance by the canal de l'orec is costly and in winter its traffic is sometimes suspended by its being frozen in one year the cost of conveying these movable cesspools to Bondy was little short of 1,500 pounds in the latest report on this subject, 1835 the commissioners of whom Monsieur Parrand or Châtelet was one recommend that all the cesspool matter at the voireilles should be disinfected Monsieur Salmont after a course of chemical experiments the report of the commission states disinfected and carbonised a mass of mud and filth containing much organic matter deposited from a sewer on the banks of the Seine the commissioners say the discovery of Monsieur Salmont awakened the attention of the contractors of Mont-Façon who employed one of our most skillful chemists to find for them a means of disinfection other than that for which Monsieur Salmont had taken out a patent Monsieur Salçon and some other persons made similar researches and from their joint investigations it resulted that disinfection might be equally well produced with turf ashes with carbonised turf and with the simple débris of this very abundant substance and that the same success might be obtained with sawdust with the refuse matter of the tanyards with garden mould so abundant in the environs of Paris and with many other substances a curious experiment has even shown that after mixing with a clay earth a portion of fecal matter it was only necessary to carbonise this mixture to obtain a perfect disinfectant powder theory had already indicated the result this disinfection however has not been carried out in the foie nor in the manufacture of poudrette end of section 82 section 83 of London Labour and the London Poor volume 2 by Henry Mayhew this LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by Gillian Henry of the cesspool and sewer system of Paris part 2 from the account of the general refuse depositories of Paris we pass to the particular receptacles or cesspools of the French capital the Parisian cesspools are of two sorts one fixed or excavated cesspools two movable cesspools quote in early times the excavated cesspools or pits were constructed in the rudest manner and cleaned out more or less frequently or utterly neglected at the discretion of their owners as the city increased in size however and as the permeations necessarily taking place into the soil accumulated in the laps of centuries the evil resulting was found to be of grave magnitude calling for prompt and vigorous interference on the part of the authorities it appears certain that prior to the year 1819 when a strict ordinance was issued on the subject the cesspools were very carelessly constructed for the most part they were far from watertight and very probably were not intended to be otherwise consequently nearly the whole of the fluid matter within them drained into the springs beneath the substratum or became absorbed by the surrounding soil nor was this the only evil the walls of the houses became saturated with the offensive permeations and the atmosphere more particularly in the interior of the dwellings tainted with their exhalations the movable cesspools for the most part consist simply of tanks or barrels which when full are removed to some convenient spot for the purpose of their contents being discharged this form of cesspool though not leading to that contamination of the substratum which is naturally induced by the fixed or excavated cesspool may occasion many offensive nuisances from carelessness in overfilling or in the process of emptying end quote the movable cesspools are of two kinds the one, says Mr Rammel extremely simple and primitive in construction the other more complicated the former retains all the refuse both liquid and solid into it the latter retains only the solid matter the liquid being separated by a sort of strainer and running off into another receptacle the advantage of this separating apparatus is that those cesspools provided with it require to be emptied less frequently than the others the solid matter being alone retained in the movable part the liquid portion is withdrawn from the tank into which it is received by pumping the other kind of movable cesspool consists simply of a wooden cask set on end and having its top pierced to admit the soil pipe it is intended to retain both solid and liquid matter when full it is detached and the aperture in the top having been closed by a tight fitting lid secured by an iron bar placed across it is removed and an empty one immediately substituted for it the movable cesspool last described is much more generally used than the other kind very few are furnished with the separating apparatus but the use of either sort I am told is not on the increase the movable cesspools are found on the whole to be more expensive than the fixed besides entailing many inconveniences one of which is the frequent entrance of workmen upon the premises for the purpose of removing them at times has to be done every second or third day moreover if the cask becomes in the slightest degree overcharged there is an overflow of matter indeed the movable system of cesspools it appears from further accounts seems to be now adopted only in those places where fixed cesspools could not be altered in accordance with the ordinance or where it is desired to avoid the first cost of a fixed cesspool an ordinance of 1819 enact peremptorily that all cesspools fixed or excavated then existing shall be altered in accordance with its provisions upon the first subsequent emptying after the date of the enactment or if that be found impracticable they shall be filled up this full delegation of power to a centralized authority was the example prompting our late stringent enactments as to buildings and sewerage the French ordinance provides also that the walls, arches and bottoms of the cesspools shall be constructed of a very hard description of stone known as pierre-mouillet millstone the mortar used is to be hydraulic lime and clean river sand each arch is to be 30 to 35 centimetres 12 to 14 inches in thickness and the walls 45 to 50 centimetres 18 to 20 inches the interior height not to be less than 2 metres 2 yards 6 inches a soil pipe is always to be placed in the middle of the cesspool its interior diameter is not to be less than 9 and 7 eighths inches in pottery ware piping or 7 and 7 eighths inches in cast iron event pipe not less than 9 and 7 eighths inches in diameter is to be carried up to the level of the chimney tops or to that of the chimneys of the adjoining houses this is if possible to divert the smell from the house to which the cesspool is attached a principal object of the ordinance it is stated in the reports was to ensure the cesspools being thenceforth made watertight so that further pollution of the substratum and springs might be prevented and the provisions for its attainment have been very strictly enforced by the police the present cesspools are in fact watertight constructions retaining the whole of the liquids passed into them until the same are withdrawn by artificial means the advantage has its attendant inconveniences and moreover has been dearly paid for for independently of the cost of the alterations and the increased cost of making the cesspools in the outset the liquids no longer draining away by natural permeation the constant expense of emptying them has enormously increased in the better class of houses where water is more freely used the operation has now to be repeated every 3, 4 or 5 months whereas formerly the cesspool was emptied every 18 months or 2 years an increased water supply has added to the evil moderate even now as the extent of that supply is it is estimated that in the better class of houses the daily quantity of matter including the water necessary for cleanliness and to ensure the passage of the solids through the soil pipe passing into the cesspool from each individual amounts to 1 and 3 quarter litres 3.08 English pints foreign substances are found in great abundance in the cesspools the large soil pipes permitting their easy introduction so that the cesspool becomes the common receptacle for a great variety of articles that it is desired secretly to get rid of article 19 of the police regulations directs that nightmen finding any articles in the cesspools especially such as lead to the suspicion of a crime or misdemeanour shall make a declaration of the fact the same day to a commissary of police in all such matters the police regulations of France are far more stringent and exacting than those of England the cesspools very considerably in felonies continues the report and it is remarkable that those containing the greatest proportion of water are the most foul and dangerous this is accounted for by the increased quantity of sulfurated hydrogen gas evolved and is more particularly the case when from their large size or from the small number of people using them much time is allowed for the matter to stagnate and decompose in them soapsads are said to add materially to their offensive and dangerous condition the foulness of the cesspools therefore would appear to be in direct proportion to the cleanly habits of the inmates of the houses which they respectively belong where urine predominates ammoniacal vapours are given off in considerable quantities and although these affect the eyes of those exposed to them and the nightmen suffer much from inflammation of these organs no danger to life results the inflammation however is often sufficiently acute to produce temporary blindness and from this cause the men are at times thrown out of work days together note I did not hear any of the London nightmen or sewer men complain of inflammation in the eyes and no such effect was visible nor that they suffered from temporary blindness or were indeed thrown out of work from any such cause they merely remarked that they were first dazzled or dazed with the soil but the labour of the Parisian is far more continuous and regular than the London nightmen owing in a great degree to the system of movable cesspools in Paris and note the emptying of the cesspools is the next point to be considered no cesspool is allowed to be emptied in Paris and no nightmen's cart containing soil is allowed to be in the streets from 8am to 10pm from October 1st to March 31st nor from 6am to 11pm from April 1st to September 30th in the winter season the hours of labour permitted by law are 10 and in the summer season 7 out of the 24 while in London the hours of night work are limited to 5 without any distinction of season these hours however only relate to the cleansing of the fixed cesspools of Paris fixed or excavated cesspools are emptied into carts which are driven to the receptacles as far as regards the removal of night soil along the streets there are far more frequent complaints of stench and annoyance in Paris than in London none of these cesspools can be emptied without authority from the police and the police exercise a vigilant supervision over the whole arrangements neither can any cesspool after being emptied be closed without a written authority after inspection by the director of health nor can a cesspool if found effective when emptied be repaired without such authority with regard to the movable cesspool it is reported the process of emptying is very simple though undoubtedly demanding a considerable expenditure of labour the tank or barrel when filled is disconnected from the soil pipe an empty one being immediately substituted in its place and the bunghole being securely closed it is conveyed away on a vehicle somewhat resembling a brewer's tray which holds about 8 or 10 of them to the spot appointed as the depository of its discharged contents the removal of movable cesspools is allowed to take place during the day in opening a cesspool in Paris precautions are always taken to prevent accidents which might result from the escape or ignition of the gases the general not to say universal of emptying the fixed or excavated cesspools is to pump the contents into closed carts for transport this operation is says Mr. Rammel performed with two descriptions of pumps one working on what may be called the hydraulic principle the other on the pneumatic in the former the valves are placed in the pipe communicating between the cesspool and the cart and the matter itself is pumped in the latter the valves are placed beyond the cart and the air being pumped out of the cart the matter flows into it to fill up the vacuum so occasioned the real principle is of course the same in both cases the matter being forced up by atmospheric pressure one advantage of the pneumatic system is that there are no valves to impede the free passage of matter through the suction pipe another that it permits the use of a pipe of larger diameter the cart employed for the pneumatic system consists of an iron cylinder mounted sometimes upon four but generally upon two wheels the latter arrangement being found to be the more convenient previous to use at the cesspools the carts are drawn to a branch establishment situate just within the barrier to combat where they are exhausted of air with an air pump worked by steam power a 12 horse engine erected there is capable of exhausting five carts at the same time the vacuum produced being equal to 28 and three eighths inches 72 centimetres of mercury a cart in good repair and upon two wheels will preserve a practical vacuum for 48 hours after exhaustion end quote the total weight of one of these carts when full is about three tonnes and 800 weight this is somewhat more than the weight of a London wagon employed in nightsoil carriage three horses are attached to each cart when an opening into the cesspool has been affected a suction pipe on the pneumatic principle is laid from the cesspool to the cart this pipe is three and 15 sixteenths inches in diameter and is in separate pieces of about 10 feet each with others shorter down even to one foot to make up any exact length required two kinds are commonly used one made of leather having iron wire wound spirally inside to prevent collapse the other of copper the leather pipe is used where a certain degree of pliability is required the copper for the straight parts of the line and for determined curves pieces struck from various radii being made for the purpose gutta percha has been tried as a substitute for in the piping but was pronounced liable to split and its use was abandoned so with india rubber in London the communication between the suction pipe and the vehicle used by the nightman is opened by withdrawing a plug by means of a forked rod into the recess hollow of the machine an operation tasking the muscular powers of two men this done the cesspool contents rush into the cart being forced up by the weight of the atmosphere to occupy the existing vacuum this occupies about three minutes the cart however is then but three fourths filled with matter the remaining fourth being occupied by the rarefied air previously in the cart and by the air contained in the suction pipe the air is next withdrawn by the action of a small air pump worked usually by two but sometimes by one man the air pump is placed on the ground at a little distance from the cesspool cart and communicates with it by a flexible india rubber tube an inch in diameter the air as fast as it is pumped out is forced through another india rubber tube of similar dimensions which communicates with a furnace also placed on the ground at a little distance from the air pump the pump occupying the middle space between the cart and the furnace the furnace and the pump being portable to ascertain when the vehicle is full a short glass tube is inserted in the end of the air pipe the end being of brass and through this with the help of a small lantern the matter is seen to rise the number of carts required for each operation states Mr Ramel of course varies according to the size of the cesspool to be emptied but as these contain on the average about five cart loads that is the number usually sent note it must be recollected to account for the greater quantity of matter between the cesspools of Paris and London that the French fixed cesspool from the greater average of inmates to each house must necessarily contain about three times and a half as much as that of a London cesspool if the dwellers in a Parisian house instead of averaging 24 averaged between seven and eight as in London the cesspool contents in Paris would at the above rate be between four and five tonnes as it is in London for the average of each house end note in addition to the carts for the transport of the night soil a light covered spring van drawn by one horse is used to carry the tools and so on required in the process these tools consist of an air pump when the work is to be done on the pneumatic system of a hydraulic pump when it is to be done on the hydraulic system to about 50 metres of suction pipe of various forms and lengths three a furnace for the purpose of burning the gases four wooden hods for the removal of the solid night soil five pails a ladder pincers levers hammers and other articles I have hitherto spoken of the pneumatic system of emptying the Parisian cesspools the results of the hydraulic system are so similar as regards time and so on that only a brief notice is required the hydraulic pump is worked by four men it is placed on the ground in the place most convenient for the operation and the cart is filled in the space of from three to five minutes a furnace is used the furnace says the report consists of a sheet iron cylinder about nine inches in diameter pierced with small holes and covered with a conical cap to prevent the flame spreading the vent pipe first communicates underneath with a small reservoir intended to contain the matter in case the operation should be carried too far a piece is inserted in the bottom of this reservoir by unscrewing which it may be emptied the furnace is sometimes fixed upon a plank which rests upon two projecting pieces behind the cart an indicator is also used to show the advancement of the filling of the cart a glass tube and a cork float are the chief portions of the apparatus of the indicator towards the end of the operation when the quantity of matter remaining in the cesspool although sufficiently fluid is too shallow for pumping it is scooped into a large pail and the end of the suction pipe being introduced drawn up into the cart the matter is in too solid a state to pass through the pipe it is carried to the cart in hods unless it is in considerable quantity in that case it is removed in vessels called tinettes in the shape of a truncated cone holding each about three and a half cubic feet these vessels are closed with a lid and are lifted into an open wagon for transport of these two systems the pneumatic is the more costly it is likely to be supplanted by the hydraulic each system according to Mr. Rammel is still a nuisance as in spite of every precaution the gasses escape the moment the cesspool emptying is commenced and vitiate the atmosphere they force their way very often through the joints of the pipes and are insufficiently consumed in the furnaces Mr. Rammel mentions his having twice after witnessing two of these operations from attacks of illness on the first occasion the men omitted to burn the fowl air and the atmosphere being heavy with moisture the odour was so intense that it was smelt from the from the more than 400 yards distant the emptying of the cesspools is let by contract the commune acting in the light of a proprietor to obtain a contract a man must have licence from the prefect of police and such licence is only granted after proof that the applicant is provided with the necessary apparatus carts and so on and also with a suitable depot for the reception of the pumps, carts and so on when not in use the stock and trade of a contractor is inspected at least twice a year and if found inadequate or out of repair the licence is commonly withdrawn the gangs of nightmen employed by the contractors are fixed by the law at four men each the number employed in London but without any legal provision on the subject the terms of these contracts are not stated but they appear to have cease to be undertakings by individual capitalists being all in the hands of companies known as compagnie de widonge filth companies there are now eight companies in Paris carrying on these operations more than half of the whole work however is accomplished by one company the compagnie richet the capital invested in their working stock is said to exceed 4,800,000 francs £200,000 they now require the labour of 350 horses and the use of 120 vehicles of different descriptions the construction of a cesspool in Paris costs about 18 pounds as an average the houses containing from 30 to 70 inmates may have two and occasionally more cesspools taking the average at one and a half the capital sunk in a cesspool is 27 pounds Mr Rammel says adopting these calculations of the number of cesspools to each house and their cost and allowing only the small quantity of one and three quarter litre 3.08 pints each individual the annual expense of the cesspool system in Paris per house containing 24 persons will be for interest at 5% upon capital sunk in works of construction £1.07 shillings for extraction and removal of matter £5.11 shillings total £6.18 shillings the annual expense per inhabitant will be £5.09 later then may be taken as the average yearly sum per head actually paid by that portion of the inhabitants of Paris who use the cesspools the following among others before shown are the conclusions arrived at by Mr Rammel one that with the most perfect regulations and the application of machines constructed upon scientific principles the operation of emptying cesspools is still a nuisance not only to the inmates of the house to which it belongs but to those of the neighbouring houses and to persons passing in the street two that the cesspool system of Paris presents an obstacle to the proper extension of the water supply and consequently represses the growth of habits of personal and domestic cleanliness with their immense moral results and that in this respect it may be said to be inconsistent with a high degree of civilisation of the masses of any community three that compared with a tubular system of refuse drainage it is an exceedingly expensive mode of disposing of the fecal refuse of a town end of section 83