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been made the dust-bin, the receptacle of the refuse
in transitu, of a large section of the Metropolis. At
present the Vestry collects and removes the dust of the
parish, without again depositing it upon the wharves,
or in any part of the parish. Should the Vestry carry
out the whole of its own scavenging after the same
method—the removal of manure, slops, &c., in addition
to the dust—would the parishioners be asking too much,
if they demanded of Parliament the necessary powers
to abolish the too long-continued nuisance gratuitously
inflicted by the adjoining parishes.
THE VENTILATION OF SEWERS.
Much consideration has been bestowed upon this
important question by the Sanitary Department. It
has also been discussed in the Vestry. There have
been frequent complaints of the bad smells from the
ventilating openings (ventilators) in the streets.
Wherever there are such openings, there is necessarily
an escape of sewer air, charged, it may be, with more or
less unpleasant odours. The law of the diffusion of
gases necessitates this interchange or commixture of
the sewer air and the external atmosphere. But the
sewer air is composed of several gases of different
specific gravities. If the law of diffusion be interrupted,
the lighter gases, owing to their greater
buoyancy, will rise to the higher levels while confined
in the sewers. So also these lighter gases will pass
through the ventilators into the external atmosphere—
and while in the atmosphere will be diluted, and