Report by the deputation appointed by the Town Council and Board of Police of Glasgow to inquire into the methods of disposing of sewage adopted in various towns in England.

  • Glasgow (Scotland). Town Council
Date:
1878
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report by the deputation appointed by the Town Council and Board of Police of Glasgow to inquire into the methods of disposing of sewage adopted in various towns in England. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    Opinions re- Deputation to this and other sewage farms, tlie weather was garding sewage ° farms. Comparatively cold, and this may account for the fact that no j odours of a truly offensive nature were observed; but if we can accept the testimony of others, this satisfactory state of matters does not appear, at all times, to exist. Mr. Thomas Mr. T. Hawksiey, Hawksley, C.E., gave the following evidence before a Com- mittee of the House of Commons in 1870 (Blackburn Cor- poration Inprovement Bill):—“ Water irrigation carried on | in warm weather is exceedingly unhealthy; in fact, you make, , so to speak, a kind of fen of the large area of land you put the . water over.” . . . “ Where the water is foul [that is, not purified by precipitation] I can speak positively to it, from repeated observation in different places, that the odour, par- ticularly at night, and particularly upon still damp evenings in autumn, is very sickly indeed, and that in all these cases < a great deal of disease prevails.” . . . “ With regard to I sewage irrigation, this happens :—The sewage forms a deposit I on the surface of the ground; that deposit forms a cake of 1 organic matter, and that organic matter, when it is in a damp ; state, as it usually is, gives off in warm weather a most odious ! stench.” Dr. Letheby. The late Dr. Letheby, Medical Officer of Health to the City of London, also gave powerful evidence against sewage t farming as affecting the health of a district. It is right to 'j add, that at Edinburgh, Croydon, and several other places no evil effects have been traced to the influence of the farms irrigated by their sewage, and that many of the most reliable medical authorities, both in this country and on the continent, confidently affirm that sewage farming is not attended with injurious effects upon health. Mr. Crookes. Mr. Crookes, F.R.S., a distinguished chemist, makes the following observations on sewage farming:—“ The finest
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