operative (in effecting its abolition from the metropolis, although in very few cases were the premises at the prescribed distances from public highways or inhabited houses. The Metropolitan Board of Works were advised that it would be a good defence if a bone boiler could show that he had adopted the best known means for preventing nuisance from his business, and they came to the conclusion that they could obtain the adoption of such means more readily and economically by making and enforcing by-laws than by taking legal proceedings in the superior courts for enforcing the old sections.

That the Board have not been successful in entirely preventing nuisance from this trade is due chiefly to the fact that most of the premises in which it is carried on are old and unsuitable, and also to the fact that the premises are in some of the most thickly populated districts in London. One of the most effectual means for preventing nuisance from this business is, where the construction and arrangement of the buildings admit of it, to make the whole premises a series of close chambers, the outer one alone communicating with the external atmosphere, and then only by one opening on the ground level. This opening serves the double purpose of an air inlet and an entrance gateway. In the outer chamber carts can be loaded or unloaded, bones sorted, sawn or crushed, and, if necessary, the boiling pans (usually on a raised stage) can also be placed. The effluvia arising in this chamber can be disposed of and the place ventilated by the air being constantly drawn through it into an inner close chamber. The effluvia from the boiling-pans should not, however, be allowed to escape into the chamber, but should be drawn off from steam chests at the back of the covered boiling-pans, condensed, and then discharged through pipes into the enclosed ashpit under a furnace fire. In passing through this fire the organic vapours would be burnt.

The inner close chamber should be very solidly constructed, of concrete, if possible, but if of brick-work it should be thickly lined or coated with cement. This mode of construction is necessary, as the chamber is used for the storage of bones, the moist, pungent effluvium from which will otherwise gradually permeate the walls and thus cause external nuisance. This inner chamber should be ventilated by means of an air-shaft of sufficient dimensions leading into a condenser and then into a furnace. It will, I think, be obvious that, where the arrangement and construction of the buildings are good, where the motive power used is sufficient for ensuring that the air is always drawn into and never leaves the building except by means of the exhaust shaft, and where the processes of condensation and combustion are properly carried out, nuisance from this business is hardly possible. There are effectual methods of treating bones and of preventing nuisance other than that just dealt with; but I have described this method rather fully, because it has been applied with success to a variety of other businesses.

Manure Manufacture.—The business of a manure manufacturer was neither named in the Act of 1844, nor in the repealing section of the Act of 1874. It is, however, one of the businesses which are prohibited from being established anew in the metropolis, by the 2nd section of the lastnamed statute. There is no definition of ' manure manufacturer' in the Act, and the local authority has enforced by-laws in all cases where manure is

manufactured for sale. By manufactured, I mean any trade process, such as mixing, and no attempt to apply the Act has, of course, taken place in cases where stable or other refuse is merely collected and sold as manure. The term 'manure manufacturer' is, however, of wide range as practically applied in the metropolis, and includes on the one hand the collector of refuse fish and fish offal, who at once mixes his materials with such substances as sumach, seal dust, or other absorbent, and sells the mixture as fish manure; and on the other hand includes the large manure works (chiefly on the banks of the Thames), where superphosphates and other artificial or chemical' manures are made on a large scale in extensive premises. These latter works are included in the Alkali, &c., Works Regulation Act, 1881; but they were nevertheless under the operation of the Board's by-laws for some years before that Act came into force, and large sums were spent in making extensive alterations, in order to bring the business into compliance with the by-laws.

It will be impossible within the compass of this paper to describe, even briefly, the processes of the various nuisance trades which have been dealt with in London, and that is, perhaps, unnecessary, as they are more or less known to you; but I may say that the effluvia from artificial manure making are distinct in character from any arising in the other regulated trades, being chiefly evolved in the mixture of sulphuric acid with coprolites and other mineral phosphates. The fumes from this process are pungent, irritant, and most offensive, and they extend to a great distance from the works in some places, and in certain conditions of the atmosphere, for upwards of a mile. It was found that most of the firms carrying on this business in the metropolis had not studied the manufacture from a nuisancepreventing point of view, and as the subject involve i much technical detail, it proved convenient to prepare a set of suggestions for the prevention of nuisance in the manufacture, with drawings of appliances.

I believe these suggestions and drawings proved useful beyond the limits of the metropolis, as the Artificial Manure Manufacturers' Association caused them to be printed and supplied to their members in various parts of the kingdom. In the London works great improvement has taken place, and I do not think that any complaint has been made of them for some years past, either by the public or by the Board's inspectors

Soap Boiling.-Of the business of a soap boiler it is only necessary to say that improved trade processes have so altered the character of soap boiling that it can hardly be now considered an offensive trade. Where, however, tallow or stuff melting is carried on in addition to soap boiling, as is usually the case, very great nuisance may arise. Stuff melting is the liquefaction, usually by free steam, of the refuse fat collected by marine store dealers and others; and, as this material is always in a more or less decomposed condition, the melting of it will prove offensive unless the effluvia are collected, carefully washed in a scrubber, and then passed through a furnace. Very great care is also necessary in the storage of the material, in the disposal of the residue, and in the conduct of the business generally.

Tallow Melting.-The same may be said of tallow-melting, which is a most offensive process when improperly carried on. Tallow-melters' pre

will be readily admitted by those engaged in work of this nature. The method adopted in the metropolis is for the officials to meet weekly to take instructions and to compare notes. This method ensures that the instructions are uniform, and that the experience of each officer benefits the whole.

Investigation of Complaints.-Notwithstanding all the care a local authority may exercise, complaints will now and then be made, and in investigating them no trouble should be spared, because they indicate weakness of supervision. Judicious inquiry should be made of disinterested persons in the neighbourhood of the implicated works, special observation should be kept thereon, and the arrangements for preventing nuisance should be carefully re-examined. The difficulty that a local authority experiences in tracing the source of a nuisance, which is, perhaps, only at times noticeable, is sometimes very great indeed and several such inquiries, undertaken by the Metropolitan Board of Works during the present year, have terminated unsatisfactorily, the chief reason being the reluctance of householders to give information, and their apparent inability to take precise observations and notes as to the nuisance of which they complain. Although the conduct of those offensive businesses carried on in the metropolis, which are now under statutory regulation and supervision, cannot be said to be entirely satisfactory, it can, I think, fairly be claimed in respect of them that marked improvement has taken place, that such improvement continues, and that, on the whole, the resulting public benefit has amply justified the special legislation on the subject.

Nuisances from Mineral or Vegetable Substances. I pass now to nuisance trades dealing with mineral or vegetable substances, but to these I can only briefly refer.

It will doubtless be in the recollection of members that a Royal Commission on noxious vapours was appointed, and took evidence during 1876 and 1877. The Metropolitan Board of Works gave evidence before the Commission as to trade nuisances in the metropolis, other than those with which they had power to deal, and urged that such trades should be brought under regulation.

No practical outcome appears to have immediately followed the labours of the Commission, but in 1881 the Alkali, &c., Works Regulation Act was passed. This Act does not deal with the greater part of the trades as to which the Board had given evidence before the Royal Commission, but it includes within its operations sulphuric acid works, gas liquor works, nitric acid works, sulphate and muriate of ammonia works, some of which are carried on in London. I do not know whether any benefit to the metropolis has resulted from the passing of this Act, as its administration is entirely in the hands of inspectors appointed by the Local Government Board.

Brick and Ballast Burners.-There are, however, other trade processes carried on in London which are productive of far greater and more widespread nuisance than any of those trades now under regulation; but of these I will only specially mention the processes of brick burning and ballast burning. Of the horribly offensive nature of the nuisance from these sources, I need scarcely speak, for it is notorious; and hardly a part of London, and especially of the suburbs, has escaped it. The nuisances consist in the pungent and irritating emanations, mostly also

of a putrid character, which are given off in immense volume during the processes. This putridity is frequently the cause of the effluvia being mistaken for sewer gases, especially as such effluvia in some atmospheric conditions are carried over a considerable area, extending, in several instances, within my own experience, for nearly a mile from the place of burning. It is unnecessary for me to describe the causes of the intolerable nuisances arising in these processes, as now carried on in London and its suburbs, beyond mentioning that the worst of them are probably caused by the use of improper materials for combustion, and that the whole, or nearly the whole, of the nuisances would cease, if proper methods were adopted and proper materials used. There would be no hardship whatever in placing such processes as these, when carried on in, or close to, towns, under regulation and supervision; and if this were done, the metropolis, at any rate, would be relieved of an intolerable and unnecessary source of nuisance.

DISCUSSION.

The President, Dr. Orme Dudfield, in moving a vote of thanks to Mr. Spencer for his interesting paper, said he would be glad to be informed whether it was really practicable to so destroy the vapours of organic matters in an offensive state by fire, that no unpleasant smell could possibly escape by the chimney-shaft? He cited a case, within Mr. Spencer's knowledge, which seemed to cast a doubt upon the point. He was glad to hear that there was a probability of improvement in the method of collecting and removing fish offal and similar matters, as the present system was attended with nuisance. Referring to the trades not regulated, he said it was desirable something should be done to diminish the annoyance from the usual system of burning bricks, which caused offensive effluvia over large portions of the metropolis during the brickmaking season. He noted that the most offensive features of the trade of a bone-boiler arose from the practice of storing the bones after boiling in the 'bonehole.' This was no part of the 'process' of the business, but the nuisance was analogous to that created by the storage of bones and other matters of animal origin on the premises of marine store dealers-a trade which was just as offensive in practice as any of the regulated businesses, and one which he was of opinion should be dealt with under the Act, so as to insure proper control by the officers of the sanitary authorities. He was able to concur, from personal experience, with the statement that stuff-melting' was a trade from which nuisance was very likely to arise, and often did arise, at the present time. This was due largely to the fact that the 'stuff' went to the melter in an offensive condition from the collecting shops-in other words, from the marine stores. Very great care is necessary in the storage of the material,' as Mr. Spencer properly says. He means on the premises of the melter, but the same care was necessary, but under the provisions of the Nuisances Removal Acts could not be secured, at the marine stores.

Dr. Rogers said that in the East of London several manufactures were carried on of a more or less offensive character; that he had had some experience of the nuisance from blood-boiling; and that at the present time a considerable nuisance was created in Shadwell by the process of bone-burning, and so offensive is this process that it might cer

tainly have been included in the list of offensive trades dealt with by the Metropolitan Board of Works.

Dr. C. E. Saunders referred to a very common nuisance, which had not been mentioned by Mr. Spencer. He alluded to the effluvium from fishfrying. He believed this was due to the very inferior quality of the oil which was used, and to certain structural defects in the houses in which the business was carried on. A difficulty in applying a remedy seemed to be due to the fact that it was necessary to have frequent access to the fat-pans, and that any kind of hood' which had been designed to keep the vapours confined failed on this account. He would be glad to hear any practical suggestion from Mr. Spencer. He also confirmed what had been said as to the nuisance from fish and poultry offal. This was taken to the outskirts of London, there sorted to extract such of the material as was good for pigs' food, or for the use of size-makers, &c.; and the rest was used as manure on the fields, causing a great nuisance, and one lasting for a considerable time.

Mr. Shirley Murphy referred to the nuisance caused by brick-burning when bricks were burnt in clamps and the out-puts of dust-bins used, and to the comparative absence of nuisance when this operation was conducted in kilns, with small coal for fuel. The Vestry of St. Pancras had, four years before, proceeded against a builder who persisted in burning his bricks in the former method after due notice had been given him by the Vestry. Although the evidence before the magistrate as to injury to health was admitted by him to be proved, he eventually decided in favour of the defendant, evidence having been given that it was the custom of the trade to burn bricks in the manner which was the subject of prosecution. Mr. Murphy argued that if brick-burning were to be permitted in close proximity to inhabited houses, the method adopted should be strictly regulated.

Dr. Gwynn quoted, as showing the necessity for constant supervision and inspection of certain trades, the case of some tripe-dressers at Hampstead, who were carrying on their trade, surreptitiously, in a shed and stable. Offal was thrust down the drains until the public sewer became blocked with a mass of putrid and horribly offensive entrails. The result was a serious and dangerous nuisance. With regard to brickfields, the nuisance arising from burning bricks in open clamps with sifted dustbin refuse was the cause of very great complaint and annoyance in Hampstead. A distinction must be made between burning bricks in properly constructed kilns, in which coal-dust was used as fuel. Here little nuisance was caused beyond the smoke given off, but when dust-bin refuse was used in open clamps, no amount of sifting out of soft core would prevent the putrid emanations. So great had the nuisance become in the Fleet Road brickfields that the Hampstead Vestry had applied for an interim injunction to restrain owners from carrying on the business, but, owing to the application having been made on the last day but one before the legal vacation, Vice-Chancellor Bacon had declined to hear the case on the plea that the nuisance had been going on for three years. The Hampstead Vestry has now commenced an action at Common Law against the owners of the brickfield, which, it is expected, will be shortly tried.

Dr. Iliff drew attention to the arrangements at work in the parish of Newington for the disposal of

The

dust, house-refuse, manure, road-slop, &c. Vestry of Newington own a piece of ground in the centre of the parish, through which the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway runs; they have a siding on the railway for trucks, a hydraulic lift, and below arches for stables. At first house-refuse and road sweepings were simply mixed together and sent down into the country, but the farmers objected to the broken glass and pots it contained. The hard core is therefore separated, the vegetable refuse is mixed with road scrapings and stable dung, and it is allowed to rest for several weeks and then sent into the country. Fish and meat offal is shot at once into trucks and covered with disinfectants and ashes. The Vestry pay about Is. 8d. per ton for any distance within a radius of twenty-five miles, with an extra penny per ton per mile to stations beyond that distance. During the year ending Lady Day nearly 2,500l. was received above the cost of carriage. Depots in the country were found to be necessary to prevent accumulation in town, and a furnace was required for destruction of useless material.

Dr. Kelly spoke of the intolerable nuisance produced in some villages by the conveyance of offal from the metropolis. Much depended on the way in which the material was treated at the time of conveyance and deposit. Fish offal was especially offensive, but stable manure was not.

Dr. Corfield said that most of the improvements in the conduct of noxious businesses at Belle Isle, Islington, were due to Dr. Ballard, who was formerly Medical Officer of Health for that parish. The most offensive trades were the making of artificial manure from coprolites and gut-scraping. He could also corroborate what other speakers had said as to the nuisance caused by brick-burning where the outputs of dust-bins were used. After referring to the health of persons engaged in these trades, he mentioned a suggestion of Professor Bouchardat, that all such businesses should be grouped together, so that the fumes given out by the chemical works would counteract the effects of foul organic vapours from other trades.

Mr. Spencer, in summing up the discussion, stated in answer to Dr. Dudfield, that it was quite practicable to destroy offensive effluvia arising from organic mattei by passing such effluvia through a good furnace fire. He found it difficult to ensure such fires being always maintained, excepting where a mechanical stoker was used. Such a stoker was in use at the works referred to by Dr. Dudfield, and any occasional nuisance caused by these works did not arise from unconsumed organic vapours passing out of the chimney shaft. Mr. Spencer, however, recommended that offensive vapours should, where practicable, be passed through a coke or other washer before reaching the furnace.

With regard to the nuisance caused by the collection of offensive material on the premises of marine store dealers, Mr. Spencer said that the Metropolitan Board of Works were of opinion that the remedy could be found under the Nuisances Removal Acts, and that appeared also to be the opinion of the Medical Officers of Health of the Metropolis generally.

With reference to the case of nuisance from the burning of bones for the manufacture of animal charcoal, cited by Dr. Rogers, Mr. Spencer stated that improvements were being made in the processes carried on at the works in question which would, he thought, get rid of the nuisance.

As to the nuisance from fish-frying, mentioned by Dr. Saunders, Mr. Spencer said he concurred in the opinion that the adoption of a hood connected with a chimney shaft did not dispose of the effluvia. He believed a remedy would be found in carrying on the process in an inner room, instead of in the open shop, as is usually the case. The room should have only one opening, protected by a canvas curtain reaching nearly to the floor. The fire and the ashpit should be inclosed, and a large air-shaft should lead from the upper part of the room into the ashpit. This plan, he said, had been tried with success in small tallow-melting works. The fire draws the hot offensive vapours out of the room through the shaft and burns them, the fresh air enters the room under the curtain, and no offensive smell escapes into the external atmosphere.

Replying to Dr. Cortield, Mr. Spencer said that Dr. Ballard had reduced the amount of nuisance from the offensive trades carried on in Belle Isle, Islington, while he was the Medical Officer of Health for that parish, but that great improvement had been made in Belle Isle since Dr. Ballard's time, especially in getting rid of the nuisance caused in the manufacture of catgut.

Mr. Spencer said it was quite practicable to burn bricks without public nuisance. Probably the chief source of offence from the existing system was from the burning of soft core, which consists of vegetable and other offensive matters collected from the London dustbins. This is usually separated at the brickfields from the cinders, &c., and is burnt in the open air without any precautions, causing a horrible nuisance throughout the district. In addition to the successful method of disposing of such refuse adopted by the Vestry of Newington, many towns had got over the difficulty by using Fryer's 'Destructor,' or some other similar appliance in which the material is burned without offence.

SALE OF FOOD AND DRUGS ACT.-Mr Bernard Dyer, F.C.S., F.I.C., has been appointed public analyst for Southend.

MR. A. TAYLOR, inspector of the Local Government Board, has recently been making inquiries as to the watersupply in certain colliery villages in the county of Durham, especially those in the rural sanitary district of the Chester-le-Street, Durham, and Lanchester Unions, and has made an interesting and exhaustive report on the subject. Mr. Taylor says the common practice in these colliery districts is for the water to be supplied by the

owners to their own workmen alone; the occupants of houses belonging to other landlords must get their supply as best they can. The universal opinion of colliery managers, as far as Mr. Taylor's experience went, is that water is properly and abundantly supplied if a single stout pipe be fixed at one end, or possibly at either end, of a long pit-row, numbering from fifty to one hundred cottages-double or single, as the case may be. The too common practice is to derive the supply from water pumped from the pit's sump,' which receives the urine and excreta from the horses and men down the pit. The inhabitants very naturally manifest a dislike to use such water more than they can possibly help, and often have to travel a considerable distance to get a purer, if scanty, supply from natural springs. He adds that the existing system of supply is radically bad, and ought to be everywhere superseded by the rural sanitary authorities taking the matter into their own hands. Several members of the Lanchester Rural Sanitary Authority, who are also colliery managers, have challenged the statements and inferences of the nspector, and a special committee has been appointed to inquire into the matter.

THE WOOD ENCLOSURES OF SANITARY FITTINGS.

By D. J. EBBetts.

THOUGH SO much attention has been paid to sanitary fittings of late years, but little has been said, so far as I know, of their enclosures.

It may be conceded at once that the sanitary fitting is of very much more importance than its wood enclosure, but, if we are to have perfect fittings, surely it is desirable that we should consider whether the woodwork generally employed is capable or not of improvement.

We all remember the early w.c. enclosures, with a lid hinged, but with seat and riser screwed. This arrangement satisfied all the requirements of the time. If any repairs were necessary to the apparatus, the workmen could readily remove the woodwork. Its removal by the householder for any other purpose was never dreamt of by the most advanced sanitarian if such a being existed at the time of which I am speaking. A w.c. apparatus was a thing to conceal as much as possible, and when you had well cased it in and had shut down the lid, it was felt that you had effectually cut off any communication with the offensive drains, and had done all that the most careful regard for decency could expect.

Our ideas on such subjects are greatly altered nowadays, and I think it is not difficult to show how eminently desirable it is that sanitary fittings of all kinds should be capable of being readily uncovered and exposed on all side.

In boxed-in w.c.'s (in nearly all cases) the brickwork and flooring within the wood enclosures, being out of sight, are left by the builder in a rough unfinished and untidy state, such that the most fastidious housekeeper would find it impossible to keep sweet and clean, even if she were not obstructed by the woodwork in her efforts to do so. And as water will occasionally slop over the edge of the pan, and leakages occur, and dust and cobwebs settle and collect upon the apparatus, as well as upon the surrounding brickwork, it results that generally the precincts of the fitting are in a very dirty, sloppy, and grimy state. It needs no argument of mine to show that this ought not to be, and I think all will admit that, in order to insure the proper periodical cleansing of the space referred to, it ought to be readily accessible, if not constantly in sight.

Something of this kind has been felt, no doubt, from time to time, and the enclosure has been made more easily removable. Many plans have been advocated. In one which you may sometimes meet with, the seat is hinged to throw back, and the riser is hinged to open against the wall. This, no doubt, is a good arrangement as far as it goes, but it involves more fixed woodwork than necessary, encumbering seriously any examination or cleansing of the apparatus. Besides, it would appear very desirable that it should not only be possible to examine the apparatus readily, but that it should always be in evidence and accessible.