further delays, with the result that the electric lighting station is only now in working order.

There are twelve destructor cells, each having a grate area of 25 square feet, and heating six water-tube boilers working at a pressure of 200 pounds to the square inch. The chimney is 150 feet high and seven feet in internal diameter at the top, and, in addition, there are threee electrically-driven fans, which each delivers 8,000 cubic feet of air per minute, with a maximum ash-pit pressure of three inches of water. An interesting feature is the employment of Dr. Druitt Halpin's system of feed thermal storage. As it is necessary to keep the destructors burning continuously, steam is generated during all the twenty-four hours. But as power is required on a large scale during only a portion of that time, in order to reduce waste a plan of heat storage has been introduced by which during the day steam is mixed in a vessel with cold water in such proportions that at evening the cylinder is full of water at the temperature and pressure of the steam required by the engines. The boilers are fed with this heated water, and are said to be enabled in consequence to produce one-third more steam than they would if working with water direct from the mains. The electrical plant at present consists of three generators working at 1,100 volts, and three low-tension dynamos at 165 volts. All are driven by Willans' three-crank engines, coupled direct. The current supplied is continuous, the choice being determined by the large employment of electric motors that is anticipated in the district, and the distribution is on the continuous current motor transformer (Oxford) system.

At present the vestry pay 3s. 2d. per ton for the disposal of their refuse, and they calculate that burning it will save about 25. In consequence they are prepared to supply electricity at 6d. per unit for the first two hours and 4d. an hour afterwards, while during the hours of daylight the price charged will be 2d. per unit. A contract has been concluded with a syndicate which will supply electricity at 6d. per unit at all hours by means of the pennyin-the-slot system, and will also supply fittings free of charge to the consumer; while another syndicate will supply free fittings to consumers who are ready to pay 3d. per unit more than the vestry's actual charges. Orders have already been received to nearly the full capacity of the present plant. It is anticipated that if the scheme proves successful Shoreditch will consume about 20,000 tons of refuse in the course of a year.-The Surveyor, July 9, 1897.

VILLAGE SANITATION.

BY HARVEY B. BASHORE, M.D., OF WEST FAIRVIEW, PA.

VILLAGE sanitation resolves itself into two chapters-first, the house, and, second, its surroundings.

Village houses are always poor sanitary structures. The cellars and foundations are improperly constructed, and as a result groundair permeates the whole dwelling, especially in winter. A dampproof course in the walls and a cellar floor of concrete and asphalt would be considered a luxury rather than a necessity in the country. Another point about cellars is the fact that they are frequently the receptacle for decomposing potatoes and other vegetables, a fact which certainly does not add to the healthfulness of the house.

In the winter, the heating and ventilation are very poor, because almost all village houses are stove-heated; and for a house to be effectually heated by stoves there must be a series of fresh air inlets and foul air outlets suitably arranged; and these do not exist in village dwellings.

Outside the house the first thing that strikes the sanitarian is the garden, filled perhaps with decaying cabbage, kitchen refuse and the like. It is needless to state that a lawn is the best thing to have about a dwelling; if there is a garden it must be cultivated thoroughly, or it will be worse than none at all; decaying vegetables, in fact all putrescible refuse, should be buried.

There should be no stagnant water about the place, but garden and lawn should be protected by ample surface drainage leading to the nearest street gutter. The next point that would likely claim the attention of our sanitary inspector would be the foulsmelling privy vault, to which the inmates of the house must go, rain or shine, subject to all sorts of exposure, both summer and winter. An arbor covered with grape vines, Virginia creeper or a vine of any kind should screen the privy from public view, and make it more inviting than it is in most villages.

The privy structure may remain the same, but the vault or pit should be filled with earth and a dry closet substituted, which is easily done in a crude way, by simply putting a coal bucket under the seat. The contents of the bucket, which have been mixed with a little dry earth, should be emptied in the garden bed and covered with a thin layer of earth. It is really astonishing how quickly

a small quantity of earth-humus, I mean-will arrest odor. These little hills of closet earth may be raked over every two weeks, for in that time all fecal matter will have disappeared.

Near the privy vauit-surely never very far away-is the well, and herein lies the greatest defect in rural sanitation; for from the wells, in the majority of cases, comes the typhoid fever so prevalent in small towns and villages. Deep tube wells are no better than any other kind, especially if the well is drilled in a bed of slate, sandstone or gravel; in a good many villages the deep wells show the greatest amount of pollution.

In one village known to the writer, the greatest number of typhoid cases, in fact all the cases which have occurred within recent years in the village, have occurred in the district watered by deep tube wells. One man who spent $185 to have a well drilled in his back yard is now ill with typhoid gotten from this very well.

To eliminate this rural plague we must eliminate either the wells or the privy pits. Experience in the country districts of Pennsylvania has taught me that there at least the elimination of wells and their substitution with cisterns is the most feasible plan and the one most likely to be adopted by the people.

That the substitution of cisterns for wells will do much toward eradicating typhoid fever in country districts has been proved by experience.

In the great limestone belts of Pennsylvania many of the villages use cistern water, and the record of one is the story of all. This town of 2,800 inhabitants is well known to the author; here for some twenty years the people have been using almost exclusively cistern water. What is the result? Typhoid is practically eliminated. in the last five years, for example, there have been two or three cases, but every one has been traced to well water; and not in one instance during the last twenty years has a case been traced to cistern water.

Here, then, is a town-one of many-where the typhoid sick rate is almost nil, and where the typhoid death rate is an item not considered. With the removal of the few remaining wells in this town we have a right to expect that there would be absolutely no cases of typhoid save imported ones.

Far different is the case with near-by towns where well water is used. One hamlet not more than seven or eight miles distant from this model village has some typhoid every year, and at present is just recovering from a severe epidemic.

Our sanitary inspector next examines the stables, pig-pens, etc. He finds that these conform to the general negligence exposed elsewhere. The refuse from these places is generally shoveled into a pile in the alley and perhaps surrounded by a few boards to keep the material from being scattered.

Such refuse should be kept in a cemented pit, open at the top and fully exposed to sunlight and air; if there is much odor, a little earth thrown over the mass will destroy it.

Pig-pens and cow-stables are not cleaned often enough, and cow-stables are always too dark.

So our sanitary inspector has gone through house and grounds, and he finds many defects. The alleys, or if there are none the streets, are littered with piles of stable refuse, interspersed with here and there a dead cat or dog. As he passes the village green a pool of stagnant water tells why malaria is so prevalent. At last he departs, and no longer does he wonder how it is that the village doctor is a man of means.

FORMALDEHYDE AS A MILK PRESERVATIVE.

By J. N. HURTY, Ph. G., Indianapolis, Ind.

HAROLD STACEY, in his excellent article, entitled "The Preparation of Humanized Milk," in the June issue of the "American Druggist," advises strongly against the use of formaldehyde as a preservative for milk. "This agent," he says, "even in minute amounts, has a most injurious action on the mucous membranes, converting them, if the action is constant, into a substance closely resembling leather and setting up severe irritation. Given to infants in milk, its action on the coats of the stomach cannot be other than injurious, even in minutest amounts, and when used for this purpose may possibly prove to be the forerunner of life-long dyspepsia."

This conclusion is not, of course, drawn from experiment. The text plainly shows that the author feels warranted in this opinion from his knowledge of the fact that formaldehyde unites with flesh and skin to form something akin to leather. The inference seems fair that continued introduction of small amounts of the agent into the stomach will produce the "leather effect" upon its walls.

It is by no means absolutely certain that this will happen, for the stomach is an organ provided with most peculiar functions, and, possibly, for some reason, like that which prevents it from digest

ing itself, it might refuse to be affected by small quantities of formaldehyde, even when administered for a long time.

The well-known ability of the animal organism to adapt itself through gradual stages to conditions originally adverse without affecting length of life or general health, is an important factor in this question. Experiment only will finally decide. For a child affected with marked indigestion, obviously due to fermentation, I recently recommended that cow's milk be treated immediately after being taken from the animal, with five drops of 40 per cent. solution of formaldehyde to each quart, and that the child be fed with the milk thus treated. Two weeks' trial of pasteurized milk did not bring relief. Within ten days after commencing the use of the formol-milk a decided improvement was apparent. Its continuation resulted in complete cessation of the symptoms. Now, after ten weeks' trial, with two intermissions, which admonished a return to formol-milk, the child is in excellent condition. Upon the principle that it is best to do without all substances of this character, when not actually needed, the formol has been discontinued, and the strength gained while using it has so far (six days) sufficed to contend against the influences which were before prominent. The most careful examination fails to discover that any stomach or bowel lesion exists. If a "lifelong dyspepsia" should very soon begin, it would not be entirely unfair to conclude that the formaldehyde was causative to a considerable degree, although acute indigestion undoubtedly existed prior to its exhibition.

FORMALDEHYDE IN ACID INDIGESTION.

Being cursed myself occasionally with attacks of acid indigestion, I have used formaldehyde as a preventive of the fermentation which causes the acidity, with most excellent results. Whenever the acid condition develops, I immediately abandon all foods except milk, and this I take, drinking it slowly, after adding to each eight ounces ten drops of 40 per cent. solution of formaldehyde. The results have been excellent, and although I have taken the agent in this way many times during the last year and a half, only the most desirable effects have been observed. For one week, as experiment, I took three times a day, after meals, four ounces of milk containing five drops of 40 per cent. formaldehyde solution. Not the least untoward result at the time or since has been noted.

This experiment, so far as it might go, was made to support or condemn an idea that milk might be preserved for consumption by formaldehyde instead of by pasteurization. The procedure