Medical Officer of the Privy Council) where refuse matters are removed more speedily than they were formerly, the general death rate has been lessened. The improvements that have been made, then, in these conservancy systems, consist in diminishing in various ways the size of the receptacles, so that the refuse matters cannot be collected in so large an amount, or kept for so long in and near the house, and in making receptacles impervious to water, so that liquids cannot escape from them into the soil around, nor water get into them. Sometimes the receptacles are drained into the sewers, so that the liquid part can run away, leaving the contents of the receptacle drier. In other cases they are not. The improvements in cesspools, then, have consisted in making them smaller and smaller, and, lastly, moveable the fosses mobiles of the Continent; the pans, pails, tubs, etc., of some of our large towns. These movable receptacles are placed underneath the seats of the closets, fetched away

when full by the scavenger, and replaced by the empty ones. They are, or ought to be, fitted with air-tight lids, so, that as little nuisance as possible may be caused by carrying them to the carts; but, as may be expected, in many instances they are allowed to get too full, and a great nuisance is often caused in the houses. Nevertheless, this plan is a considerable improvement upon the plan of large buried cesspools. One of these pails that is largely in use is Haresceugh's spring-lid receptacle, a specimen of which may be seen in the Parkes Museum.

Similar improvements have been made in middens. The pits, in which the excretal matter and ashes are collected, have been made smaller and smaller, and impervious to water, until, at last, in some towns, they are above the ground, and consist only of the space beneath the seat of the closet made into an impervious receptacle, and usually drained. into a sewer or drain. This, of course, necessitates their being emptied fre

quently, which is done by hand and spade labor. A capital plan is that adopted by Dr. Bayliss, the Medical Officer of Health for the West Kent Combined Districts, in which there is a ventilating shaft from the back part of the receptacle, rising above the roof of the closet. This allows the foul air to escape above the roof, while fresh air enters through openings cut in the door. Sometimes boxes or pails are used and removed periodically, as in the case of the tubs and pails, previously described as moveable cesspools, the only difference being that ashes, &c., are thrown in with a scoop, or by means of some selfacting apparatus. A contrivance which is now largely used, in towns where this system is in vogue, is Morell's cindersifting ash-closet, of which I have a model here. (A full-sized specimen may be seen in the Parkes Museum). The ashes are thrown on to the sifter, through the interstices of which the fine ash passes into a hopper, and the cinders fall off and may be collected and used

again. The hopper is connected with the seat in such a manner that the weight of the person moves the seat a little, and jerks some of the fine ash down into the lower part of the hopper, from which it is thrown into the midden by another jerk when the person rises. Another contrivance of this kind is Moser's, which is also of very simple construction, and others are Taylor's and Wier's. The Eureka and Goux, and some other systems are varieties of the pail system in which an absorbent of some kind or another is used.

We now come to a consideration of the dry-earth system, which was brought into prominence by the Rev. Henry Moule. It consists in throwing over the excretal matters a certain quantity of dried and sifted earth, when an absorption takes place, and a compost is produced which is perfectly inoffensive to the sense of smell. The earth may be dried and used over and over again for five or six times, or even more, and any earth except chalk or sand will answer

the purpose. It may be thrown by hand, or by a self-acting apparatus moved by the weight of the person, or by the door of the closet, or by a pull-up apparatus similar to that ordinarily used in waterclosets. It will be seen at once that with this system there is not only something to be taken away, but something to be brought into the towns and into the houses the dried earth; and this constitutes a very serious objection. However, it is an objection that might perhaps be waived, if the system could be satisfactorily worked on a large scale and by careless persons, for it is essential, in a large town at any rate, that a system for the removal of refuse matters must be used which can be worked by the most careless persons. When we consider that, if the supply of earth were to fail for a day, a serious nuisance would be caused in every house; that if a servant throws a pail of slops into an earth closet it becomes a cesspool; that the apparatus may get out of order, so that earth is not thrown in even