e
it advisable that the cost of any form of public sewerage should be
assumed. In all such villages, the public authority or the active
influence of the village improvement association should be exerted to
secure a regular and systematic adoption of some more perfect system for
the private disposal of household drainage than is usual. Fortunately,
the best system is the cheapest.

No form of cesspool, no leaching vault, and no cemented tank, should be
allowed under any circumstances. Neither should there be permitted any
form of the old-fashioned out-of-door privy with a vault. Every
household should be supplied with water-closets or well-arranged
earth-closets, to which reference will be made below.

[Illustration: FIG. 9.--SETTLING BASIN.]

The foul water discharge of kitchen sinks, or of whatever form of
slop-sink is used for the water of bedrooms, should discharge into a
flush-tank, and should be led from this by a tightly cemented four-inch
drain to a tight settling basin in the ground beyond. If water-closets
are used, the soil-pipe should deliver into the drain between the
flush-tank and the settling basin. The settling basin should be
constructed as shown in Figure 9; and this, as well as the flush-tank,
the soil-pipe, and the connecting drains, should be amply ventilated.
The outlet from the settling basin should be carried by well-cemented
vitrified pipes (four-inch) to the connection with the subsoil
irrigation pipes. The flush-tank discharging at each operation of its
siphon about thirty gallons of liquid, two hundred feet of drain,
unless the soil is very compact, will dispose of the whole discharge
with sufficient rapidity. The tank being emptied, the flow ceases; and
within a very short time the drain becomes empty of its contents, which
are absorbed by the sponge-like action of the earth, and are subjected
to the combined influence of the roots of plants, and of the
concentrated oxygen contained among the particles of the soil. They will
soon have their character entirely changed, so that the earth will
become purified, and will be ready to receive the next discharge from
the tank. In the case of my own drains, after five years of unremitted
use, the gradual accumulation of bits of grease and more solid matters
obstructed the drains, and there appeared undue moisture about their
upper ends. All that was then necessary was to re-open the trenches, and
remove, wash, and replace the tiles. This operation