, was requested to drain it properly, and it has been very
successfully accomplished.

I would now draw your attention to some points of detail in the
fittings for carrying away waste water.

First, with regard to lavatories. As already mentioned, every waste
pipe from the sink should deliver in the open air, but it should have
an opening at its upper end as well as at its lower end, to permit a
current of air to pass through it; and it should be trapped close to
the sink, so as to prevent the air being drawn through it into the
house; otherwise you will have an offensive smell from it. I will give
you an instance: At the University College Hospital there are some
fire tanks on the several landings. The water flows in every day, and
some flows away through the waste pipes; these pipes, which carry away
nothing but fresh London water to empty in the yard, got most
offensive simply from the decomposition of the sediment left in them
by the London water passing through them day after day. A small waste
pipe from a bath or a basin is a great inconvenience. It should be of
a size to empty rapidly--for a bath 2 inches, a basin 11/2, inches.
There are other points connected with fittings to which I would call
your attention. The great inventive powers which have been applied to
the w.c. pan are an evidence of how unsatisfactory they all are. Many
kinds of water-closet apparatus and of so-called "traps" have a
tendency to retain foul matter in the house, and therefore, in
reality, partake more or less of the nature of small cesspools, and
nuisances are frequently attributed to the ingress of "sewer gas"
which have nothing whatever to do with the sewers, but arise from foul
air generated in the house drains and internal fittings. The old form
was always made with what is called a D-trap. Avoid the D-trap. It is
simply a small cesspool which cannot be cleaned out. Any trap in which
refuse remains is an objectionable cesspool. It is a receptacle for
putrescrible matter. In a lead pipe your trap should always be smooth
and without corners. The depth of dip of a trap should depend on the
frequency of use of the trap. It varies from 1/2 inch to 31/2 inches. When
a trap is rarely used, the dip should be deeper than when frequently
used, to allow of evaporation. In the section of a w.c. pan, the
object to be attained is to take that form in which all the parts of
the trap can be easily examined and cleaned, in which both the pan and