View report page

186
The latter recommendation arose out of a favourable notice by
Sir Henry Roscoe of a method of ventilating sewers recommended
by Mr. Parker, late Surveyor to the Poplar District
Board of Works, long in use in that district, viz., "by carrying
a shaft from the sewer to the side of the road, and connecting
to it a vertical pipe, attached to the head of which is fixed a
cowl.'" The Flushing Inspector of the Metropolitan Board's
Sewers in the district, "spoke well in favour of the system
and I must say for myself that, upon hearing Mr. Parker
describe his system, some years ago, and looking at his
drawings; the Medical Officer of Health for the district, moreover,
testifying to the good results obtained, I formed the
opinion that the method was likely to afford a solution to the
difficulty; based, as I understand it to be, upon the principle of
Hooding the sewers with fresh air, so as to dilute, oxidize, and
favour the escape of the foul emanations from the sewage.
Sir Henry Roscoe, in December, 1888, presented a further
report to the Board, dealing with The Deodorization of Sewage
at the Outfalls, setting out the proceedings taken in 1888;
and in March, 1889, yet another report on The Chemical
Examination of the Foreshores and Mod Deposits of the
River Thames and its Estuary, the outcome of a resolution of
the Board, approving of a recommendation of Sir Henry Roscoe,
to the effect," That an examination should be made of the condition
of the Thames deposits from Barking down the river to the
mouth, including the whole of the estuary." In my annual report
for 1888, these reports also, were summarized (pages 162-167).
Sir Henry Roscoe's engagement with the Board expired at Lady
Day, before which date the Board itself came to a premature end.
Subsequently, 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