Part 136

“They do not occur when the wind is in a dry quarter, as for instance when it is in the east; notwithstanding that there may be very considerable difference in the temperature of the air and of the water or the ground. The peculiar odour which attends the London fogs has not yet been satisfactorily explained; although the uniformity of its recurrence, and its very marked character, would appear to challenge elaborate examination.”

[59] The quantity of soot deposited depends greatly on the length, draught, and irregular surface of the chimney. The kitchen flue yields by far the most soot for an equal quantity of coals burnt, because it is of greater length. The quantity above cited is the average yield from the several chimneys of a house. It will be seen hereafter that the quantity collected is only 800,000 bushels; a great proportion of the chimneys of the poor being seldom swept, and some cleansed by themselves.

[60] Soot of coal is said, by Dr. Ure, in his admirable Dictionary of Arts and Manufactures, to contain “sulphate and carbonate of ammonia along with bituminous matter.”

[61] Querying means literally inquiring or asking for work at the different houses. The “queriers” among the sweeps are a kind of pedlar operatives.

[62] In East and West London there are rather more than 32 houses to the acre, which gives an average of 151 square yards to each dwelling, so that, allowing the streets here to occupy one-third of the area, we have 100 square yards for the space covered by each house. In Lewisham, Hampstead, and Wandsworth, there is not one house to the acre. The average number of houses per acre throughout London is 4.

[63] _Gully_ here is a corruption of the word _Gullet_, or throat; the Norman is _guelle_ (Lat. _gula_), and the French, _goulet_; from this the word _gully_ appears to be directly derived. A _gully_-drain is literally a _gullet_-drain, that is, a drain serving the purposes of a gullet or channel for liquids, and a gully-hole the mouth, orifice, or opening to the _gullet_ or gully-drain.

[64] Of the derivation of the word _Sewer_ there have been many conjectures, but no approximation to the truth. One of the earliest instances I have met with of any detailed mention of sewers, is in an address delivered by a “Coroner,” whose name does not appear, to “a jury of sewers.” This address was delivered somewhere between the years 1660 and 1670. The coroner having first spoken of the importance of “Navigation and Drayning” (draining), then came to the question of sewers.

“Sewars,” he said, “are to be accounted your grand Issuers of Water, from whence I conceive they carry their name (_Sewars quasi Issuers_). I shall take his opinion who delivers them to be Currents of Water, kept in on both sides with banks, and, in some sense, they may be called a certain kind of a little or small river. But as for the derivation of the word Sewar, from two of our English words, _Sea_ and _Were_, or, as others will have it, _Sea_ and _Ward_, give me leave, now I have mentioned it, to--leave it to your judgments.

“However, this word _Sewar_ is very famous amongst us, both for giving the title of the Commission of Sewars itself, and for being the ordinary name of most of your common water-courses, for Drayning, and therefore, I presume, there are none of you of these juries but both know--

“1. What Sewars signify, and also, in particular,

“2. What they are; and of a thing so generally known, and of such general use.”

The Rev. Dr. Lemon, who gave the world a work on “English Etymology,” from the Greek and Latin, and from the Saxon and Norman, was regarded as a high authority during the latter part of the last century, when his quarto first appeared. The following is his account, under the head “Sewers”--

“Skinn. rejects Minsh’s. deriv. of ‘olim scriptum fuisse _seward_ à sea-ward, quod versus mare factæ sunt: longè verisimilius à Fr. Gall. _eauier_; sentina; _incile_, supple. aquarum:’--then why did not the Dr. trace this Fr. Gall. _eauier_? if he had, he would have found it distorted ab Ὑδωρ, _aqua_; _sewers_ being a species of _aqueduct_:--Lye, in his Add., gives another deriv., viz. ‘ab Iceland. _sua_, _colare_; ut existimo; ad quod referre vellem _sewer_; _cloaca_; per _sordes_ urbis ejiciuntur:’--the very word _sordes_ gives me a hint that _sewer_ may be derived à ‘Σαιρω, _vel_ Σαροω, _verro_: nempe quia _sordes_, quæ _everruntur_ è domo, in unum locum _accumulantur_; R. Σωρος, _cumulus_: Voss.’--_a collection of sweepings, slop, dirt, &c._”

But these are the follies of learning. Had our lexicographers known that the vulgar were, as Dr. Latham says, “the conservators of the Saxon language” with us, they would have sought information from the word “shore,” which the uneducated, and, consequently, unperverted, invariably use in the place of the more polite “sewer”--the common _sewer_ is always termed by them “the common _shore_.” Now the word _shore_, in Saxon, is written _score_ and _scor_ (for _c_ = _h_), and means not only a bank, the land immediately next to the sea, but a _score_, a tally--for they are both substantives, made from the verb _sceran_ (p. _scear_, _scær_, pp. _scoren_, _gescoren_), to _shear_, cut off, _share_, divide; and hence they meant, in the one case, the division of the land from the sea; and in the other, a division cut in a piece of wood, with a view to counting. The substantive _scar_ has the same origin; as well as the verb to _score_, to cut, to gash. The Scandinavian cognates for the Saxon _scor_ may be cited as proofs of what is here asserted. They are, Icel., _skor_, a notch; Swed., _skâra_, a notch; and Dan., _skaar_ and _skure_, a notch, an incision. It would seem, therefore, that the word _shore_, in the sense of _sewer_ (Dan., _skure_; Anglice, _shure_, for _k_ = _h_), originally meant merely a _score_ or incision made in the ground, a _ditch_ sunk with the view of carrying off the refuse-water, a watercourse, and consequently a drain. A sewer is now a covered ditch, or channel for refuse water.

[65] This outlet is known to the flushermen, &c., as “below the backs of houses,” from its devious course _under the houses_ without pursuing any direct line parallel with the open part of the streets.

[66] The following is the analysis of a gallon of sewage, also dried to evaporation, by Professor Miller:--

Ammonia 3·26 Phosphoric acid 0·44 Potash 1·02 Silica 0·54 Lime 7·54 Magnesia 1·87 Common salt 13·66 Sulphuric acid 7·04 Carbonic acid 4·41 Combustible matter, containing 0·34 nitrogen 5·80 Traces of oxide of iron. ----- Making in solution 45·58 ----- Matters in suspension, consisting of combustible matters, sand, lime, and oxide of iron 44·50

[67] The following note appears in Mr. Fortescue’s statement:--“In some trial works near the metropolis sewer water was applied to land, on the condition that the value of half the extra crop should be taken as payment. The dressings were only single dressings. The officer making the valuation reported, that there was at the least one sack of wheat and one load of straw per acre extra from its application on one breadth of land; in another, full one quarter of wheat more, and one load of straw extra per acre. The reports of the effects of sewer-water in increasing the yield of oats as well as of wheat were equally good. It is stated by Captain Vetch that in South America irrigation is used with great advantage for wheat.”

[68] The following statement may, according to the work above alluded to, be presented as an approximate.

[69] Rental of the districts now rated.

[70] Rental of the districts within the active jurisdiction in which expenses have been incurred, and which are about to be rated.

[71] These officers are paid only during the period of service, and are chiefly engaged on special works.

The corresponding officers for London are under the City Commissioners.

[72] In one of their Reports the Board of Health has spoken of the yearly cleansing of the cesspools; but a cesspool, I am assured, is rarely emptied by manual labour, unless it be full, for as the process is generally regarded as a nuisance, it is resorted to as seldom as possible. It may, perhaps, be different with the cesspool-emptying by the hydraulic process, which is _not_ a nuisance.

[73] It was ascertained that 3 gallons (half a cubic foot) of water would carry off 1 lb. of the more solid excrementitious matter through a 6-inch pipe, with an inclination of 1 in 10.

[74] Mr. Rammell supplies the following note on the use of “Poudrette.”

“In connexion with this subject,” he says, “a few observations upon the application of poudrette in agricultural process may not be without interest.

“With regard to the fertilizing properties of this preparation, M. Maxime Paulet, in his work entitled ‘Théorie et Pratique des Engrais,’ gives a table of the fertilizing qualities of various descriptions of manure, the value of each being determined by the quantity of nitrogen it contains. Taking for a standard good farm-yard dung, which contains on an average 4 per 1000 of nitrogen, and assuming that 10,000 kilogrammes (about 22,000 lbs. English) of this manure (containing 40 kilogrammes of nitrogen) are necessary to manure one hectare (2-1/2 acres nearly) of land, the quantities of poudrette and of some other animal manures required to produce a similar effect would be as follows:--

Kilogr. “Good farm-yard dung, the quantity usually spread upon one hectare of land 10,000 Equivalent quantities of human urine, not having undergone fermentation 5,600 Equivalent quantities of poudrette of Montfaucon 2,550 Equivalent quantities of mixed human excrements (this quantity I have calculated from data given in the same work) 1,333 Equivalent quantities of liquid blood of the abattoirs 1,333 Equivalent quantities of bones 650 Equivalent quantities of average of guano (two specimens are given) 512 Equivalent quantities of urine of the public urinals in fermentation, and incompletely dried 233

“M. Paulet estimates the loss of the ammoniacal products contained in the fæcal matters when they are withdrawn from the cesspools, by the time they have been ultimately reduced into poudrette, at from 80 to 90 per cent.

“I have not been able to meet with an analysis of the matters found in the fixed and movable cesspools of Paris, but in the ‘Cours d’Agriculture,’ of M. le Comte de Gasparin, I find an analysis by MM. Payen and Boussingault of some matter taken from the cesspools of Lille, and in the state in which it is ordinarily used in the suburbs of that city as manure. This matter was found to contain on the average 0·205 per cent of nitrogen, and thus by the rule observed in drawing up the above table, 19,512 kilogrammes of it would be necessary to produce the same effect upon one hectare of land as the other manures there mentioned. The wide difference between this quantity and that (1333 kilogrammes) stated for the mixed human excrements in their undiluted state, would lead to the conclusion that a very large proportion of water was present in the matter sent from Lille, unless we are to attribute a portion of the difference to the accidental circumstance of the bad quality of this matter. It appears that this is very variable, according to the style of living of the persons producing it. ‘Upon this subject,’ M. Paulet says, ‘the case of an agriculturist in the neighbourhood of Paris is cited, who bought the contents of the cesspools of one of the fashionable restaurants of the Palais Royal. Making a profitable speculation of it, he purchased the matter of the cesspools of several barracks. This bargain, however, resulted in a loss, for the produce from this last matter came very short of that given by the first.’

“Poudrette weighs 70 kilogrammes the hectolitre (154 lbs. per 22 gallons), and the quantity usually spread upon one hectare of land (2-1/2 acres nearly) is 1750 kilogrammes, being at the rate of about 1540 lbs. per acre English measure. It is cast upon the land by the hand, in the manner that corn is sown.

“Poudrette packed in sacks very soon destroys them. This is always the case, whether it is whole or has been newly prepared.

“A serious accident occurred in 1818, on board a vessel named the _Arthur_, which sailed from Rouen with a cargo of poudrette for Guadaloupe. During the voyage a disease broke out on board which carried off half the crew, and left the remainder in a deplorable state of health when they reached their destination. It attacked also the men who landed the cargo; they all suffered in a greater or less degree. The poudrette was proved to have been shipped during a wet season, and to have been exposed before and during shipment, in a manner to allow it to absorb a considerable quantity of moisture. The accident appears to have been due to the subsequent fermentation of the mass in the hold--increased to an intense degree by the moisture it had acquired, and by the heat of a tropical climate.

“M. Parent du Châtelet, to whom the matter was referred, recommended that to guard against similar accidents in future, the poudrette intended for exportation, in order to deprive it entirely of humidity, should be mixed with an absorbent powder, such as quicklime, and that it should be packed in casks to protect it from moisture during the voyage.”

[75] “It is in the upper basins,” adds the Reports, “that the first separation of the liquids and solids takes place, the latter falling to the bottom, and the former gradually flowing off through a sluice into the lower basins. This first separation, however, is by no means complete, a considerable deposit taking place in the lower basins. The mass in the upper basins, after three or four years, then appears like a thick mud, half liquid, half solid; it is of depth varying from 12 to 15 feet. In order entirely to get rid of the liquids, deep channels are then cut across the mass, by which they are drained off, when the deposit soon becomes sufficiently stiff to permit of its being dug out and spread upon the drying-ground, where, to assist the desiccation, it is turned over two or three times a-day by means of a harrow drawn by a horse.

“The time necessary for the requisite desiccation varies a good deal, according to the season of the year, the temperature, and the dry or moist state of the atmosphere. Ere yet it is entirely deprived of humidity, the matter is collected into heaps, varying in size usually from 8 to 10 yards high, and from 60 to 80 yards long, by 25 or 30 yards wide. These heaps or mounds generally remain a twelvemonth untouched, sometimes even for two or three years; but as fast as the material is required, they are worked from one of the sides by means of pickaxes, shovels, and rakes; the pieces separated are then easily broken and reduced to powder, foreign substances being carefully excluded. This operation, which is the last the matter undergoes, is performed by women. The poudrette then appears like a mould of a grey-black colour, light, greasy to the touch, finely grained, and giving out a particular faint and nauseous odour.

“The finer particles of matter carried by the liquids into the lower basins, and there more gradually deposited in combination with a precipitate from the urine, yield a variety of poudrette, preferred, by the farmers, for its superior fertilizing properties. In this case the drying process is conducted more slowly and with more difficulty than in the other, but more completely.

“In general the poudrette is dried with great difficulty; it appears to have an extreme affinity for water; few substances give out moisture more slowly, or absorb it more greedily from the air.

“A good deal of heat is generated in the heaps of desiccated matter. This is always sensible to the touch, and sometimes results in spontaneous combustion.

“The intensity of this heat is not in proportion to the elevation of temperature of the atmosphere. It is promoted by moisture. The only means of extinguishing the fire when it is once developed is to turn over the mass from top to bottom, in order to expose it to the air. Water thrown upon it, unless in very large quantities, would only increase its activity.”

[76] 4-1/4 heaped bushels each, English measure.

[77] I did not hear any of the London nightmen or sewermen complain of inflammation in the eyes, and no such effect was visible; nor that they suffered from temporary blindness, or were, indeed, thrown out of work from any such cause; they merely remarked that they were first dazzled, or “_dazed_,” with the soil. But the labour of the Parisian is far more continuous and regular than the London nightman, owing in a great degree to the system of _movable cesspools_ in Paris.

[78] It must be recollected, to account for the greater quantity of matter between the cesspools of Paris and London, that the French fixed cesspool, from the greater average of inmates to each house, must necessarily contain about three times and a half as much as that of a London cesspool. If the dwellers in a Parisian house, instead of averaging twenty-four, averaged between seven and eight, as in London, the cesspool contents in Paris would, at the above rate, be between four and five tons (as it is in London) for the average of each house.

Transcriber's Note

Transcribed from the 1967 reprinting of the 1865 edition.

Larger tables have been refactored to improve readability on smaller screens.

Images and tables have been moved to avoid breaking paragraphs.

The following apparent errors have been corrected:

p. 8 "arts" changed to "‘arts"

p. 9 "_s_" changed to "_s._"

p. 9 "per lb." changed to "per lb.)"

p. 9 "year’s" changed to "years"

p. 14 "streets." changed to "streets,"

p. 14 "the second hand" changed to "the second-hand"

p. 14 "“slaughter-houses.”" changed to "“slaughter-houses")."

p. 15 "&c.," changed to "&c.),"

p. 16 "trooper." changed to "trooper.”"

p. 20 "pawbroker" changed to "pawnbroker"

p. 23 "been" changed to "being"

p. 24 "Second hand" changed to "Second-hand"

p. 29 "insufcient" changed to "insufficient"

p. 29 "fermerly" changed to "formerly"

p. 30 "In the upper" changed to "“In the upper"

p. 36 "habilments" changed to "habiliments"

p. 42 "day’s" changed to "days"

p. 43 "them go.”" changed to "them go."

p. 48 "Amdassador" changed to "Ambassador"

p. 49 "Barnard (v. t)" changed to "Barnard (v. t.)"

p. 58 " bird-cather’s" changed to " bird-catcher’s"

p. 64 "‘Why" changed to "“‘Why"

p. 69 "When" changed to "“When"

p. 72 "6_d_;" changed to "6_d._;"

p. 72 "fern." changed to "fern)."

p. 73 "gentlemen" changed to "gentleman"

p. 75 "After father" changed to "“After father"

p. 91 "cwt;" changed to "cwt.;" (two instances)

p. 93 "naval stimulate" changed to "stimulate"

p. 93 "navel" changed to "naval"

p. 100 "early" changed to "yearly"

pp. 104-5 "alalthough" changed to "although"

p. 105 "formant" changed to "informant"

p. 111 "wife," changed to "wife,”"

(illustration) "_by_ BKARD" changed to "_by_ BEARD"

p. 131 "officating" changed to "officiating"

(illustration) "BEARD." changed to "BEARD.]"

p. 143 "disgreeable" changed to "disagreeable"

p. 160 "to-enjoy" changed to "to enjoy"

p. 164 "many others." changed to "many others.”"

p. 167 "Ditto" changed to "Ditto."

p. 174 "commisioners" changed to "commissioners"

p. 191 "250 ton" changed to "250 tons"

p. 202 "Daniel" changed to "Daniell"

p. 209 "Somers-town." changed to "Somers-town.”"

p. 227 "daily, “he" changed to "daily, he"

p. 227 "average" changed to "average)"

p. 228 "pursuaded" changed to "persuaded"

p. 232 "two" changed to "two."

p. 241 (note) "cheapening, labour" changed to "cheapening labour,"

p. 241 "work)," changed to "work,"

p. 243 "willingnes" changed to "willingness"

p. 244 "2_s_,"ct "2_s._,"

p. 249 "16_s_," changed to "16_s._,"

p. 249 "100,000_l_," changed to "100,000_l._,"

p. 249 "lost 6_s._’”" changed to "lost 6_s._”"

p. 249 "and though" changed to "“and though"

p. 249 "and very few" changed to "“and very few"

p. 262 "_stoneyard_.”" changed to "_stoneyard_."

p. 266 "National School" changed to "National School."

p. 267 "dispensary" changed to "dispensary."

p. 269 "boys boys" changed to "boys"

p. 272 "cartage, &c." changed to "cartage, &c.)"

p. 273 "2 Years" changed to "2 Years."

p. 278 "(3000_l._) per annum" changed to "(3000_l._) per annum;"

p. 280 "Gracechurch-streeet" changed to "Gracechurch-street"

p. 284 "St, Martin’s" changed to "St. Martin’s"

p. 288 "which is the the" changed to "which is the"

p. 291 "Wandsworth" changed to "Wandsworth."

p. 297 "some 3_d_" changed to "some 3_d._"

p. 304 "at present." changed to "at present.”"

p. 305 "were some" changed to "where some"

p. 307 "_production_" changed to "_production_."

p. 308 "tenants were," changed to "tenants, were"

p. 309 "An act was passed" changed to "an Act was passed"

p. 312 "veneers.”" changed to "veneers.’"

p. 313 "decideded" changed to "decided"

p. 334 "they don’t" changed to "‘they don’t"

p. 335 "Londonreceive" changed to "London receive"

p. 337 "became" changed to "become"

p. 344 "small master" changed to "a small master"

p. 348 "“Soon after" changed to "Soon after"

p. 349 "The way" changed to "“The way"

p. 361 "St.James’s" changed to "St. James’s"

p. 362 "Hammersmith." changed to "Hammersmith"

p. 362 "_d_" changed to "_d._" (eleven instances)

p. 363 "_s_" changed to "_s._"

p. 363 "_d_" changed to "_d._" (six instances)

p. 364 "intances" changed to "instances"

p. 369 "don t care" changed to "don’t care"

p. 371 "term term" changed to "term"

p. 375 "“She’s a ironer" changed to "She’s a ironer"

p. 376 "trading workmen" changed to "trading workman"

p. 376 "desk-makers,’" changed to "desk-makers’,"

p. 377 "deseribed" changed to "described"

p. 377 "Retherhithe" changed to "Rotherhithe"

p. 378 "I could" changed to "I could."

p. 378 "know that I" changed to "know that"

p. 385 "as cannot be be" changed to "as cannot be"

p. 385 "Dr Paley" changed to "Dr. Paley"

p. 388 "mattter" changed to "matter"

p. 388 "degreee" changed to "degree"

p. 388 "fœcal" changed to "fæcal"

p. 393 "contant" changed to "constant"

p. 404 "“The more ancient" changed to "The more ancient"

p. 407 "surveyer" changed to "surveyor"

p. 407 "1849,” have" changed to "1849, “have"

p. 419 "marsh-bailliff" changed to "marsh-bailiff"

p. 420 "Commissionors" changed to "Commissioners"

p. 421 "an approximate" changed to "an approximate."

p. 437 "of 1665" changed to "of 1666"

p. 440 (note) "Paulett" changed to "Paulet"

p. 440 (note) "19 512" changed to "19,512"

p. 442 "the result." changed to "the result.”"

p. 446 "pump-and hose" changed to "pump-and-hose"

p. 463 "300 colls each." changed to "300 colls. each"

p. 463 "visites, &c" changed to "visites, &c."

p. 467 "“His hair" changed to "His hair"

p. 470 "butler, in?" changed to "butler, in?’"

p. 472 "“They only" changed to "They only"

p. 477 "New Kent-roads.”" changed to "New Kent-roads."

p. 485 "“Baked taters" changed to "‘Baked taters"

p. 486 "gentleman, after for" changed to "gentleman after, for"

p. 487 "a shame?" changed to "a shame?’"

p. 487 "respectabl" changed to "respectable"

p. 489 "they re" changed to "they’re"

p. 491 "vessed rounded" changed to "vessel rounded"

p. 491 "he his ready" changed to "he is ready"

p. 494 "I am laid" changed to "Iam laid"

p. 494 "CROSSING-SWEEPERS" changed to "CROSSING-SWEEPERS."

p. 504 "as if condered" changed to "as if considered"

p. 505 "home, as she said.”" changed to "home,” as she said."

p. 510 "wild rabbits, &c," changed to "wild rabbits, &c.,"

p. 511 "Dickens s" changed to "Dickens’s"

In the List of Illustrations, "The Crippled Street Bird-seller" and "Street-Seller of Birds’-Nests" were printed in reverse order and have been moved.