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is exclusively responsible for the experiment; an experiment on
a vast scale, made, it may be said, in defiance of the recommendations
of the Royal Commission, generally opposed by scientific
chemists and condemned by their own chosen adviser, Sir Henry
Roscoe himself.
[Addendum.—In May, 1889, Sir Henry Roscoe published a
paper "On the Metropolitan Sewage Question," in which
he summarized the conclusions of the Royal Commission of
1882; the proceedings of the late Metropolitan Board of Works
in regard to the treatment of the Sewage, in opposition to the
recommendations of the Commission ; the views of the Chemists
consulted by the Board; and his own reports of which, in my
Annual Reports for 1887, and (the present one for) 1888, I
submit abstracts. The paper is very brief, 24 pp. only, and is
well deserving of consideration by all concerned in metropolitan
sanitary administration. Primarily, it has been prepared for
the use of members of the County Council, whose Main Drainage
Committee, it is understood, are proceeding upon the lines of
the late Board, in carrying out a discredited system which, if I
am correctly informed, will involve an outlay in the present
year for disinfectants alone of £100,000, or four times as much
as was expended in 1888, under the direction of Sir Henry
Roscoe. After "A criticism of the system proposed by the
Metropolitan Board" (page 15), Sir Henry Roscoe concludes by
stating his opinion that" the proposal of the late Board for the
disposal of the sewage is based on false principles."
" (1") As regards the addition of lime and iron in the proportions
recommended.
" (2) As regards the addition of manganate of soda to the
effluent, after precipitation, in the quantities suggesled.
'. (3) As regards the formation of underground settling
tanks at Barking and Crossness.
" (4) As regards pumping the sludge into tank steamers
and sending it out to sea."