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41
remain a sewer in every sense of the term, unless some
system be adopted by which the soil, &c. at present flowing
into it from populous places above the commencement of
the great culvert at Putney can likewise be intercepted.
To effect this, no better plan can perhaps be adopted than
that suggested for another part of the kingdom by an able
writer in the Dublin Medical Press, viz., that "barges
should be placed under each outlet of a sewer, and provided
with a filtering apparatus containing disinfecting materials,
through which the sewage should be allowed to flow, the
apparatus being so contrived as to retain the more solid
part and the sediment of the sewage."
The question of the utilization of sewage is becoming
one of national importance. "It is neither fantastic nor
ridiculous," writes Baron Liebig, "to believe that without
purchasing foreign manure, and by a judicious utilization
of the sewage of towns and villages, England would be
able to dispense with the importation of food from abroad."
If we are to attach any importance to the opinions of this
great chemist, it is alone the manufacturers of artificial
manures who are inimical to the utilization of sewage, and
it is from that quarter the most strenuous opposition may
still be expected. It would, however, it is believed, ensure
the utter discomforture of the parties referred to, was the
suggested experiment tried upon the sewage of the towns
and villages bordering the river above Putney, and the
result submitted to the impartial judgment of the public.
It is hoped so excellent an opportunity of disposing of this
vexed question will not be lost sight of.
I cannot conclude this report without briefly referring,
as I have done in former years, to the subject of overcrowding
in the cottages of the poor. This evil, I regret
to say, is increasing. Should the threatened epidemic of
Cholera unfortunately reach us, this would prove assuredly
one of the greatest possible drawbacks to efficient treatment,
not only in this, but in every other Sub-district.
In those localities where alone dwellings are to be found
suitable to the limited means of the labouring man,