A CYCLOPÆDIA OF PRACTICAL RECEIPTS, &c. VOLUME II (continued 31)

Sauces, American. White vinegar, 15 gall.; walnut ketchup, 10 gall.; Madeira wine, 5 gall.; mushroom ketchup, 10 gall,; table salt, 25 lbs. (troy); Canton soy, 4 gall.; powdered capsicum 2 lbs. (troy); allspice, powdered, coriander powder, of each 1 lb. (troy); cloves, mace, cinnamon, of each ¹⁄₂ lb. (troy); assafœtida, ¹⁄₄ lb. (troy); dissolved in brandy, 1 gall.; 20 lbs. of hog’s liver is boiled for 12

2. White vinegar, 240 gall.; Canton soy, 36 gall.; sugar-house syrup, 30 gall.; walnut ketchup, 50 gall.; mushroom ketchup, 50 gall.; table salt, 120 lbs. (troy); powdered capsicum, 15 lbs. (troy); allspice, coriander, of each 7 lbs. (troy); cloves, mace, cinnamon, of each 4 lbs. (troy); assafœtida, 2¹⁄₂ lbs. (troy), dissolved in St Croix rum, 1 gall.

3. White vinegar, 1 gall. Canton soy, molasses, of each 1 pint; walnut ketchup, 1¹⁄₂ pint; table salt, 4 oz.; powdered capsicum, allspice, of each 1 oz.; coriander, ¹⁄₂ oz.; cloves, mace, of each ¹⁄₂ oz.; cinnamon, 6 dr., assafœtida ¹⁄₄ oz. in 4 oz. of rum.

SAUERKRAUT. [Ger.] Prep. Clean white cabbages, cut them into small pieces, and stratify them in a cask along with culinary salt and a few juniper berries and caraway seeds, observing to pack them down as hard as possible, without crushing them, and to cover them with a lid pressed down with a heavy weight. The cask should be placed in a cold situation as soon as a sour smell is perceived. Used by the Germans and other northern nations of Europe, like our ‘pickled cabbage,’ but more extensively.

SAU′SAGES. From the fat and lean of pork (PORK SAUSAGES), or of beef (BEEF SAUSAGES), chopped small, flavoured with spice, and put into gut skins, or pressed into pots or balls (SAUSAGE MEAT). Crum of bread is also added. Their quality is proportionate to that of the ingredients, and to the care and cleanliness employed in preparing them.

A pea sausage, composed of pea flour, fat pork, and a little salt, was largely consumed by the German soldiers during the Franco-German campaign. Dr Parkes found 100 parts of this sausage to consist of—16·2 parts of water, 7·19 of salts, 12·297 of albuminates, 33·65 of fat, and 30·663 of carbohydrates. It is ready cooked, but can be made into soup, although much relished for a few days. The soldiers soon became tired of it. In some cases it gave rise to flatulence and diarrhœa. See Meat.

SAV′ELOYS. Pork sausages made in such a way that they keep good for a considerable time. Prep. (Mrs Rundell.) Take of young pork, free from bone and skin, 3 lbs.; salt it with 1 oz. of saltpetre, and ¹⁄₂ lb. of common salt, for 2 days; then chop it fine, add, 3 teaspoonfuls of pepper, 1 doz. sage leaves, chopped fine, and 1 lb. of grated bread; mix well, fill the skins, and steam them or bake them half an hour in a slack oven. They are said to be good either hot or cold.

SAV′INE. Syn. Savin; Folia sabinæ, Sabina (Ph. L., E., & D.), L. “The recent and dried tops of Juniperis sabina, Linn.,” or common savine. (Ph. L.) It is a powerful stimulant, diaphoretic, emmenagogue, and anthelmintic; and, externally, rubefacient, escharotic and vesicant. In large doses it is apt to occasion abortion, and acts as a poison. Savine powder mixed with verdigris is often applied to corns and warts. It is now chiefly used in the form of ointment.—Dose, 5 to 15 gr., twice or thrice daily (with care), in amenorrhœa and worms. See Cerate.

SAVONETTES. [Fr.] Syn. Wash balls. These are made of any of the mild toilet soaps, scented at will, generally with the addition of some powdered starch or farina, and sometimes sand. The spherical or spheroidal form is given to them by pressure in moulds, or by first roughly forming them with the hands, and, when quite hard, turning them in a lathe. According to Mr Beasley, “they are formed into spherical balls by taking a mass of the prepared soap in the left hand, and a conical drinking-glass with rather thin edges in the right. By turning the glass and ball of soap in every direction, the rounded form is soon given; when dry, the surface is scraped, to render it more smooth and even.”

Prep. 1. Take of curd soap, 3 lbs.; finest yellow soap, 2 lbs. (both in shavings); soft water, ³⁄₄ pint; melt by a gentle heat, stir in of powdered starch (farina), 1¹⁄₂ lb.; when the mass has considerably cooled, further add of essence of lemon or bergamot, 1 oz., and make it into balls.

2. (Camphor.) Melt spermaceti, 2 oz.; add camphor (cut small), 1 oz.; dissolve, and add the liquid mass to white curd soap, 1¹⁄₂ lb., previously melted by the aid of a little water and a gentle heat, and allowed to cool considerably as above. These should be covered with tin-foil.

3. (Honey.) From the finest bright-coloured yellow soap, 7 lbs.; palm oil, ¹⁄₄ lb.; melt, and add of oil of verbena, rose-geranium, or ginger-grass, 1 oz.; as No. 1. Sometimes ¹⁄₂ oz. of oil of rosemary is also added.

4. (Mottled.)—a. Red. Cut white curd or Windsor soap (not too dry) into small square pieces, and roll these in a mixture of powder bole or rouge, either with or without the addition of some starch; then squeeze them strongly into balls, observing to mix the colour as little as possible.—b. Blue. Roll the pieces in powdered blue, and proceed as before.—c. Green. Roll the pieces in a mixture of powder blue and bright yellow ochre. By varying the colour of the powder, mottled savonettes of any colour may be produced.

5. (Sand.) From soap (at will), 2 lbs.; fine siliceous sand, 1 lb.; scent, q. s.; as No. 1. For the finer qualities, finely powdered pumice-stone is substituted for sand.

6. (Violet.) From palm-oil soap, 4 lbs.; farina, 2 lbs.; finely powdered orris root, 1 lb. Sometimes a little smalts, or indigo, is added.

SAWDUST, Preparation of Alcohol from. M. Zetterland[146] states that he has obtained alcohol from sawdust by the following process:—Into

The acid was next saturated with chalk, so as to leave in the liquid only a small quantity (¹⁄₂ degree by Ludersdorf’s acid areometer); when the saccharine liquid was cooled down to 30° yeast was added, and the fermentation finished in twenty-four hours. By distillation there were obtained 26·5 litres of alcohol of 50 per cent. at 15°, quite free from any smell of turpentine, and of excellent taste. It appears that the preparation of alcohol from sawdust may be successfully carried on industrially when it is precisely ascertained what degree of dilution of acid is required, and how long the liquid has to be boiled.

If all the cellulose present in sawdust could be converted into sugar, 50 kilos of the former substance would yield, after fermentation, 12 litres of alcohol at 50 per cent.

SCAB′IES. See Itch.

SCAB IN SHEEP. This disease, corresponding to mange in the dog, the horse, or in cattle, is caused by a species of acaris, a minute insect which burrows under the skin of the sheep, and sets up therein a considerable amount of irritation, which is followed by an irruption of pimples, accompanied with scurf, but frequently the wool comes off from the affected part.

The following are some of the numerous remedies employed for this disease:—

1. Quicksilver, 1 lb.; Venice turpentine, ¹⁄₂ lb.; rub them together until the globules are no longer visible; then add ¹⁄₂ pint of oil of turpentine, and 4 lbs. of lard. The mode of applying this ointment is as follows:—Begin at the head of the sheep, and proceeding from between the ears along the back to the end of the tail, divide the wool in a furrow till the skin can be touched; and let a finger, slightly dipped in the ointment, be drawn along the bottom of the furrow. From this furrow similar ones must be drawn along the shoulders and thighs to the legs, as far as the wool extends. And if much infected, 2 or more should also be drawn along each side, parallel with that on the back, and one down each side before the hind and fore legs. It kills the sheep-fag, and probably the tick and other vermin. It should not be used in very cold or wet weather. (Sir Joseph Banks.)

2. Tar oils. Tobacco juice. Stavesacre. (Finlay Dun.)

3. Strong mercurial ointment, 1 part; lard, 5 parts; mix. (Youatt.)

4. Quicksilver, 1 lb.; Venice turpentine, ¹⁄₂ lb.; spirit of turpentine, 2 oz., lard, 4¹⁄₂ lb.; to be made and used as No. 1. In summer 1 lb. of resin may be substituted for alike quantity of lard. (Clater.)

5. Strong mercurial ointment, 1 lb.; lard, 4 lbs.; oil of turpentine, 8 oz.; sulphur, 12 oz.—White.

6. Mild. Flowers of sulphur, 1 lb.; Venice turpentine, 4 oz.; rancid lard, 2 lbs.; strong mercurial ointment, 4 oz.; mix well.—Clater.

7. Lard or other fat, with an equal quantity of oil of turpentine.—Daubenton.

8. Without mercury. Lard, 1 lb.; oil of turpentine, 4 oz.; flowers of sulphur, 6 oz.—White.

9. Strong mercurial ointment, 1 lb.; lard, 4 lbs.; Venice turpentine, 8 oz.; oil of turpentine, 2 oz. If mixed by heat, care must be taken not to use more heat than is necessary, and to add the oil of turpentine when the other ingredients begin to cool and to stir till cold.—M’Ewen.

10. Corrosive sublimate, 2 oz.; white hellebore, 3 oz.; fish oil, 6 quarts; resin, ¹⁄₂ lb.; tallow, ¹⁄₂ lb. The sublimate and then the hellebore to be rubbed with a portion of the oil till perfectly smooth, and then mixed with the other ingredients melted together.—Stevenson.

11. The following once had considerable local celebrity, but it obviously requires to be used with caution. Dissolve 2¹⁄₄ oz. of corrosive sublimate in the same quantity of muriatic acid, and beat up the solution with 6 lbs. of strong mercurial ointment; put in a large pan, and pour on it 19¹⁄₂ lbs. of lard, and 1¹⁄₂ lb. of common turpentine, melted together and still hot, and stir the whole continually until it becomes solid.

12. Castor-oil seeds well bruised and steeped for 12 hours in sour milk, after straining rub the liquid briskly into the skin. (An Indian remedy.)

SCAGLIO′LA. A species of plaster or stucco, made of pure gypsum, with variegated colours, in imitation of marble. In general, the liquid employed is a weak solution of Flanders glue; and the colours, any which are not decomposed or destroyed by admixture with sulphate of lime and exposure to the light. The composition is often applied upon hollow columns formed of wood, or even of laths nailed together, and the surface, when hard, is turned smooth in a lathe, and polished.

SCALES. A special article under the head of “Balance” has been devoted to the scales employed by the chemist and analyst.

But although these claimed from their greater complexity of structure and the extreme delicacy of movement required of them a separate notice, every pharmacist and apothecary will recognise the importance of bestowing an equal amount of attention upon his dispensing scales; and, to ensure accurate weighing by them, will take care to keep them scrupulously clean, and properly poised.

For dispensing purposes, scales fitted with glass pans (or at least with one glass pan, in which medicinal substances can be weighed) should always be employed. The beams should

SCALD-HEAD. See Ringworm.

SCALDS. See Burns and Scalds.

SCALL. Syn. Scald. The popular name of several skin diseases distinguished by scabs or scurfiness, whether dry or humid. See Eruptions, Ringworm, &c.

SCAM′MONY. Syn. Scammonium (B. P., Ph. L., E., & D.), L. The “gum resin emitted from the cut root of Convolvulus Scammonia, Linn.” (Ph. L.), or Aleppo scammony plant.

There are three principal varieties or qualities of scammony known in the market; viz. VIRGIN (sp. gr. 1·21); SECONDS (sp. gr. 1·460 to 1·463); and THIRDS (sp. gr. 1·465 to 1·500). The best, and that only intended to be used in medicine, is imported from Aleppo.

Pur. Scammony is not only largely adulterated in the country of its production, but again after its arrival in England. Smyrna scammony, a very inferior variety, is also commonly dressed up, and sold as Aleppo scammony. In many cases substances are sold at the public sales in London, and elsewhere, as scammony, which contain only a mere trace of that article. This is all ground up to form the scammony powder of the shops. (Vide ‘Evid. Com. Ho. Com.,’ 1155.) Pure scammony has a peculiar cheesy smell, and a greenish-grey colour. It is “porous and brittle, and the freshly broken surface shines; hydrochloric acid being dropped on it, it emits no bubbles; nor does the powder digested in water, at heat of 170° Fahr., become blue by the simultaneous addition of iodide of potassium and dilute nitric acid. Out of 100 gr., 78 (80—Ph. E.) should be soluble in ether.” (Ph. L.) The tincture of pure scammony is not turned green by nitric acid. If the powder effervesce with dilute acids, it contains chalk.

Uses, &c. Pure scammony is a powerful drastic purgative and anthelmintic, inadmissible in inflammatory conditions of the alimentary canal, but well adapted for torpid and inactive conditions of the abdominal organs. Associated with calomel, rhubarb, or sulphate of potassa, it is useful in all cases in which an active cathartic or vermifuge may be required, especially for children.—Dose. (For an adult) 5 to 15 gr., in powder, or made into a bolus or emulsion.

SCARLATI′NA. See Scarlet fever.

SCAR′LET DYE. Proc. (Poërner.)—a. The ‘Bouillon.’ Take of cream of tartar, 1³⁄₄ oz.; water, q. s.; boil in a block-tin vessel, and when dissolved, add of solution of tin (made by dissolving 2 oz. of grain tin in a mixture of 1 lb. each of nitric acid and water, and 1¹⁄₂ oz. of sal ammoniac), 1³⁄₄ oz.; boil for 3 minutes, then introduce the cloth, boil for 2 hours, drain it, and let it cool.—b. The ‘Rougie.’ Next take of cream of tartar, ¹⁄₄ oz.; water, q. s.; boil, and add powdered cochineal, 1 oz.; again boil for 5 minutes, then gradually add of solution of tin, 1 oz., stirring well all the time; lastly, put in the goods and dye as quickly as possible. The quantities given are those for 1 to 1¹⁄₄ lb. of woollen cloth. The result is a full scarlet. To make the colour turn on the ‘ponceau’ or poppy, a little turmeric is added to the bath.

Obs. Scarlet is red with a tinge of yellow; it is nearly always produced by cochineal. See Red dye.

SCARLET FE′VER. Syn. Scarlatina, Febris scarlatina, L. A highly contagious disease, so named after the peculiar eruption or efflorescence of the skin which accompanies it. The milder form of this disease (Scarlatina simplex, s. mitis) comes on with languor, chilliness alternated by fits of heat, nausea, vomiting (frequently), and other common symptoms of fever; followed, on the third or fourth day, by a scarlet efflorescence upon the skin, which after three or four days ends in the cuticle or scarf-skin peeling off in branny scales. Dropsical swelling of the whole body sometimes follows the disappearance of the eruption; but this, with the febrile symptoms, and the soreness of the throat (if any), then give way, and the patient gradually regains his former health and strength. In the malignant form of scarlet fever (SCARLATINA CYNANCHICA, S. ANGINOSA, S. MALIGNA) the febrile symptoms, from the first, are more alarming; there is bilious vomiting, great soreness and ulceration of the throat, the pulse is small and quick, and the breathing laborious. These symptoms rapidly increase on the appearance of the eruption; the body then becomes swollen, the nose and eyes inflamed, the breath fetid, the throat suppurates, putrid symptoms ensue, and the patient is either suddenly cut off or recovers very slowly.

The early symptoms of scarlet fever are distinguished from those of the MEASLES and SMALLPOX by the greater extent and want of elevation of the eruption, and by its not congregating into patches. Nor are there the cough or running from the eyes and nose which usher in the measles.

The treatment of the milder form of scarlet fever, especially that of childhood, may consist of the administration of an emetic, followed by a saline aperient, to clear the bowels; the latter being repeated as occasion may require. The patient should be kept in a cool and well-ventilated room, the diet should be light and farinaceous, and the use of diluent drinks copiously indulged in. If the febrile symptoms are severe, or the throat much affected, small doses of some mild mercurial, as calomel, mercurial pill, or quicksilver with chalk, may be administered, either separately or combined with antimonial diaphoretics or

According to Hahnemann, Koreff, and Randhahn, belladonna is a prophylactic against scarlet fever. The homœopathists also hold it to be almost a specific in the disease.

Dr Renfrew’s medicinal treatment consists in the administration of a mixture consisting of tincture of perchloride of iron and chlorate of potash. He contends that the chlorine which the mixture contains destroys the blood poison, that the hydrochloric acid supplies a desirable ingredient for the blood, that the iron improves the impaired red blood disks and assists in forming new ones, whilst the chlorate of potash is a source of oxygen whereby the disintegrated matters floating in the blood are burnt up and destroyed.

Scarlet fever is common to all ages of life, but children and young persons are the most subject to it. Unlike the smallpox, it occasionally attacks the same person more than once. It is most common in dirty, close, damp situations.

In horses, the commencing symptoms are very similar to those in man—indisposition to movement, febrile symptoms as indicated by a hot and dry skin, and sore throat, the glands about the head and neck being frequently tender and swollen. The respiration becomes quickened and the pulse thready. In about 48 hours scarlet spots about the size of a pea show themselves on the mucous membrane about the lips and nostrils, the spots after a time becoming confluent. Except the attack be a very mild one, similar spots spread all over the body, but are most plentiful about the animal’s head and neck. After about a fortnight or three weeks, the hair leaves the parts on which the spots are, and then desquamation sets in, and bare bald patches are left. The after results bear a great resemblance to those which frequently follow an attack of the same disease in the human being. The best treatment consists in placing the animal in a cool, well-ventilated loose box, applying bandages to the legs, and a linen cover to the body, with a warm rug over that.

A dose of nitre and Mindererus spirit should be given in water three times a day, combined with mild tonics, stimulants, and diuretics. See Disinfectants.

SCENE′-PAINTING. A variety of distemper painting employed in theatres, &c., governed by perspective, and having for its object the production of striking effects when viewed at a distance. Water, size, turpentine, and the ordinary pigments, are the materials used for the purpose.

SCENT BAGS. See Sachets.

SCENT BALLS. Syn. Pastilles de toilette odorantes, Fr. These are prepared from any of the materials noticed under POT POURRI, SCENTED POWDERS, and SACHETS, made into a paste with mucilage of gum tragacanth, and moulded into any desired forms, as that of balls, beads, medallions, &c. The larger ones are frequently polished.

SCENTED CAS′SOLETTES. See Pot pourri, and above.

SCENTS (Pommade). Prep. 1. (Cowslip.) From essence of bergamot, 8 oz.; essence of lemon, 4 oz.; oil of cloves, 2 oz,; essence de petit grain, 1 oz.

2. (Jonquille.) From essence of bergamot and lemon, of each 8 oz.; oils of orange peel and cloves, of each 2 oz.; oil of sassafras, 1 oz.; liquid storax, ¹⁄₂ oz,; digest, with warmth and agitation, for a few hours, and decant the clear portion in a week.

3. (Millefleur.) From essence of ambergris (finest), 4 oz.; essence of lemon, 3 oz.; oil of cloves and English oil of lavender, of each 2 oz.; essence de petit grain, essence of bergamot, and balsam of Peru (genuine), of each 1 oz.; as the last.

Obs. The above are employed to scent pomatums, hair oils, &c. 1 oz. of any one of them, dissolved in one pint of the strongest rectified spirit, produces a delicious perfume for the handkerchief.

SCENTS (Snuff). Prep. 1. Essence of bergamot, 2 oz.; otto of roses and neroli, of each 1 dr.

2. Oil of lavender, 1 oz.; essence of lemon, 2 oz.; essence of bergamot, 4 oz.

3. To the last, add of oil of cloves, 2 oz.

4. Essence of musk and ambergris, of each 1 oz.; liquor of ammonia, ¹⁄₂ dr. See Snuff, &c.

SCHEELE’S GREEN. See Green pigments.

SCHLIPPE’S SALT. Sulphantimoniate of sodium. See Antimony, Sulphantimoniate.

SCHWARTZ’S DROPS. See Drops, Worm.

SCIAT′ICA. See Rheumatism.

SCIENCE. “Man,” says Whewell, “is the interpreter of nature. Science the right interpretation. The senses place before us the characters of the ‘Book of Nature,’ but these convey no knowledge to us till we have discovered the alphabet by which they are to be read.”

Various classifications of the sciences have been proposed by different authors. Dr Neil Arnott conceived that the object of all the sciences, viz. a knowledge of nature, might be best attained by the study of physics, chemistry, life and mind, including under this latter the laws of society, or the modern science of sociology.

As to mathematics he regarded it as a

Mr Herbert Spencer proposes to classify the sciences into three groups; viz.:—1. Abstract science, which treats of the forms of phenomena detached from their embodiments. 2. Abstract concrete science, or the phenomena of nature analysed into their separate elements. 3. Concrete science or natural phenomena in their totalities.

“For the classification of the sciences it is convenient to prepare the way by distinguishing between theoretical sciences which are the sciences properly so called, and practical science. A theoretical science embraces a distinct department of nature, and is so arranged as to give in the most compact form the entire body of ascertained (scientific) knowledge in that department, such as mathematics, chemistry, physiology, and zoology. A practical science is the application of scientifically obtained facts and laws in one or more departments to some practical end, which end rules the selection and arrangement of the whole; as for example, navigation, engineering, mining, and medicine. Another distinction must be made before laying down the systematic order of the theoretical sciences.

“A certain number of these sciences have for their subject-matter each a separate department of natural forces or powers; thus, biology deals with the department of organised beings, psychology with mind. Others deal with the application of powers elsewhere recognised to some region of concrete facts or phenomena. Thus, geology does not discuss any natural powers not found in other sciences, but seeks to apply the laws of physics, chemistry, and biology to account for the appearance of the earth’s crust.

“The sciences that embrace peculiar natural powers are called abstract, general, or fundamental sciences; those that apply to the powers treated of under these, to regions of concrete phenomena, are called concrete, derived, or applied sciences.”[147]

The separation of the sciences into these two sections is that now generally accepted.

The first section, that of the abstract or theoretical sciences, is subdivided by almost common consent into mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology (vegetable and animal physiology), psychology (mind), and sociology (the laws of society).

The second section, that of the concrete sciences, includes meteorology, mineralogy, botany, zoology, geology, and geography.

The order in which the abstract sciences are arranged above has also been found to best illustrate the sequence in which they may be most advantageously studied.

SCIL′LITIN. Syn. Scillitina, Scillitite. A whitish, resinous, translucent, bitter, deliquescent substance, obtained by Vögel from squills. It is soluble in water, alcohol, and acetic acid, and is purgative, acrid, and poisonous.

SCORBU′TUS. See Scurvy.

SCO′′RIA. Dross; the refuse or useless part of any substance, more especially that left from bodies which have been subjected to the action of fire. It is frequently used in the plural (SCORIÆ).

SCOTT’S DROPS. See Patent medicines.

SCOUR′ING. The common method of cleaning cloth is by heating and brushing it, unless it be very dirty, when it undergoes the operation of scouring. This is best done on the small scale, as with ARTICLES OF WEARING APPAREL, as follows:—A little curd soap is dissolved in water, and, after mixing it with a little clarified ox-gall, is applied to all the spots of grease, dirt, &c., and well rubbed into them with a stiff brush, until they appear to be removed; after which the article is well cleaned all over with a brush or sponge dipped into some warm water, to which the previous mixture and a little more ox-gall has been added. The cloth is next thoroughly rinsed in clean water, and hung up to dry. For dark-coloured cloths, some fullers earth is often added to the mixture of soap and gall. When the article is nearly dry, the nap is laid smooth, and it is carefully pressed (if with a hot iron, on the wrong side), after which a soft brush, moistened with a drop or two of olive oil, is frequently passed over it, to give it a finish and gloss.

Cloth is also cleaned in the dry way:—The spots being removed, as above, and the wetted parts having become dry, clean damp sand is strewed over it, and beaten into it with a brush, after which the article is well gone over with a hard brush, when the sand comes out, and brings the dirt with it.

Buff and DRAB CLOTH is generally cleaned by covering it with a paste made with pipe-clay and water, either with or without a little umber to temper the colour, which, when dry, is rubbed and brushed off.

When the article requires renovation as well as scouring, it is placed, whilst still damp, on a board, and the threadbare parts are rubbed with a half-worn hatter’s card filled with flocks, or with a teasel, or a prickly thistle, until a nap is raised; it is next hung up to dry, after which it is ‘finished off’ as before. When the cloth is much faded, it is usual to give it a ‘dip,’ as it is called, or to pass it through a dye bath to freshen up the colour. Black and DARK BLUE CLOTH, if rusty or faded, is commonly treated to a coat of ‘reviver,’ instead of being ‘re-dipped,’ and is then hung up untilSpots and Stains.

SCOURING IN ANIMALS. See Diarrhœa.

SCOURING DROPS. See Drops.

SCROFULA. Syn. King’s evil, STRUMA, STRUMOUS DISEASE. By modern pathologists scrofula is regarded as a constitutional tendency to form and deposit in various tissues and organs of the body a substance called tubercle.[148] The tendency may, however, in some cases only exist without any actual tuberculous deposit taking place. Sir James Paget thus describes scrofula as generally understood to be a “state of constitution distinguished in some measure by peculiarities of appearance even during health, but much more by peculiar liability to certain diseases, including pulmonary phthisis. The chief of these ‘scrofulous’ diseases are various swellings of the lymphatic glands, arising from causes which would be inadequate to produce them in healthy persons.

“The swellings are due sometimes to mere enlargement, as from an increase of natural structure, sometimes to chronic inflammation, sometimes to an acute inflammation or abscess, sometimes to tuberculous disease of the glands.

“But besides these it is usual to reckon as ‘scrofulous’ affections certain chronic inflammations of the joints; slowly progressive carious inflammations of bones; chronic and frequent ulcers of the cornea; ophthalmia attended with extreme intolerance of light, but with little, if any, of the ordinary consequences of inflammation; frequent chronic abscesses; pustules or other cutaneous eruptions frequently appearing upon slight affection of the health or local irritation; habitual swelling and catarrh of the mucous membrane of the nose; habitual swelling of the upper lip.”

Scrofula is a disease which almost always shows itself during childhood, and rarely after maturity has been attained.

Scrofulous children, or those of scrofulous diathesis, are frequently narrow-chested, or their chests present that projecting appearance known as ‘pigeon-breasted,’ their abdomens are also unnaturally large, and their limbs emaciated. Their circulation is languid, and they are very generally attacked with chilblains during inclement weather. They also suffer from obstinate indigestion. Bearing in mind the fact that scrofula is frequently induced, irrespective of hereditary taint, in the children of the poor by bad and damp air, insufficient food and clothing, exclusion from sunshine, and such like insanitary surroundings, the chief treatment that will suggest itself will consist in remedying these adverse conditions. Hence the patient should live on generous but digestible food, partaking of meat twice a day. Milk and eggs also form an excellent diet for the scrofulous. A scrofulous mother should refrain from suckling her offspring, and procure a wet-nurse for that purpose. Flannel should be worn both summer and winter. Various medicines have been employed in this disease, including cod-liver oil, sarsaparilla, bark, syrup of iodide of iron, the alkalies, and mineral acids. Of these cod-liver oil and syrup of iodide of iron deservedly enjoy the highest reputation.

SCUDAMORE’S LOTION. See Lotion, Gout.

SCURF. Syn. Furfura. Scurf “is a natural and healthy formation, and though it may be kept from accumulating, it cannot be prevented. It is produced on every part of the body where hair is found, although, from the more active growth of hair on the scalp, the facilities for collecting, and the contrast of colour, it strikes the eye most disagreeably in that situation. This will show how futile any attempt must be which shall have for its object to prevent the formation of the scurf. It may be removed, and should be removed, every day, with the hair-brush; but prevention is impossible, inasmuch as it is opposed to a law of nature. Occasionally, as a morbid action, an unusual quantity of scurf is produced, in which case medical means may be adopted to bring the scalp into a more healthful state.” (Eras. Wilson.) In such cases the daily use of some mild stimulating or detergent wash, with due attention to the stomach and bowels, will generally abate this annoyance.

SCURF POWDER—Grindpulver (Mahon, Paris). Three powders which, according to Chevalier and Figuier, are nothing but wood ashes. Buchner found no alkalies, but announced the following composition:—Organic calcium carbonate (oyster shells, egg shells, crab shells), with a little gypsum, charcoal powder, and more or less brick-dust, powdered, mixed, and exposed to a moderate red heat in a covered crucible, till part of the chalk is converted into quicklime, and the gypsum reduced by the charcoal powder to calcium sulphide, which in its turn is gradually converted by the air into calcium sulphite. All three powders are made of the same ingredients, but in different proportions. No. 1 has more gypsum and charcoal powder; No. 2 less charcoal and more chalk; and No. 3 more brickdust. (Wittstein.)

SCURF SALVE—Grinsalbe. In France it is generally a mixture of 2 parts slaked lime, 5 parts soda crystals, and 25 parts fat. (Hager.)

SCUR′VY. Syn. Scorbutus, L. This disease commences with indolence, sallow looks, debility, and loss of spirits; the gums become sore and spongy, the teeth loose, and the breath

The treatment of ordinary cases of this disease mainly consists in employing a diet of fresh animal and green vegetable food, with mild ale, beer, or lemonade, as beverages; scrupulously avoiding salted and dried meat. The fresh-squeezed juice of lemons is, perhaps, of all other substances, the most powerful remedy in this disease in its early stages, and is useful in all of them. Effervescing draughts formed with the bicarbonate of potassa (not soda) are also excellent.

In former years, before the nature of this malady had been intelligently investigated, and the proper preventive methods and remedial measures for combating it were unknown, scurvy was not only a very common but a very fatal disease in our own navy, as well as in the navies of other powers. Of 961 men who constituted Anson’s fleet sent out during our war with Spain in 1742, 626 died of scurvy in nine months; whilst Sir Gilbert Blane records that in the year 1780, out of a fleet composed of between 7000 and 8000 men, more than 1000, or one in seven, perished from the same cause. Sir Richard Hawkins, one of the naval celebrities of Elizabeth and James’ reign, affirmed that daring twenty years he had known 20,000 sailors fall victims to scurvy alone; and a Portuguese writer, quoted by Sir Charles Blane, speaking of the number of victims from scurvy, during a naval exploring expedition of his own country men, says “that if the dead who from this cause had been thrown overboard between the coast of Guinea and the Cape of Good Hope, and between that Cape and Mozambique, could have had tombstones placed for them, each on the spot where he sank, the whole way would have appeared one continued cemetery.”[149]

The statistical report of the navy for 1871 offers a gratifying contrast to the above figures. From this document it appears that out of a total force of 4720 sailors, only four were affected with scurvy during that year. The much greater number of men attacked by the disease on board merchant ships appears to be due to the inferior or worthless character of the lime or lemon juice purchased by them.

Writing on the hygienic condition of the merchant marine in 1867, Mr Harry Leach says:—

“We are prepared to maintain, from the following table (and other statistics from which these have been taken), that the want of good lime or lemon juice was distinctly the cause of scurvy in the vessels below mentioned.

Name of Ship. No. of Hands (all told). Cases of Scurvy. Result of examination of Lime juice.

Hermione 17 5 Sulphuric acid.

Merrie England 29 10 Stinking.

Stirling Castle 32 6 Very weak.

Hoang-Ho 21 5 Acetic acid.

Blanche Moore 35 8 Musty and nauseous.

St Andrew’s Castle 19 7 Citric acid.

Tamerlane 21 4 Nauseous.

Marlborough 23 8 Very weak.

Galloway 29 6 Short allowance.

Tamar 17 2 Very weak.

French Empire 27 7 or 8 Citric acid.

Eaglet 14 3 Thick and nasty.

Geelong 14 9 Taken irregularly.

Thorndean 35 2 Spoiled (short supply of provisions).

Taken with ships that, with others, have arrived in the port of London during the past two years with cases of scurvy.

“Of direct causes this is undoubtedly first and foremost; but of indirect causes we have a few words to say. Dirt, bad provisions, and any form of disease to which sailors, in common with other men, are subject, will predispose to scurvy. This cannot and should not be denied, but it affords to parsimonious captains a very large peg whereon to hang sundry invectives as to the cry lately made about the continued prevalence of this disease in the mercantile marine. Such captains, with pardonable ignorance, consider scurvy a form of venereal disease, give the wretched subject thereof mercury, and bring him into port salivated as well as scorbutic.”

Mr Leach further adds:—

“In summing up statistics of scurvy for the past year (1867), we find that a total of 235 accredited cases were admitted into British hospitals, giving no account of those who convalesced in sailors’ homes or elsewhere.

“To this we may add, that seven sailors were left at St Helena, from a ship recently arrived in the Thames; that a vessel put into Falmouth on the 29th ult., with no less than sixteen severe cases of scurvy on board, and that between twenty and thirty cases have arrived in this port during the present month. It would be well (as a supplementary aid to the prevention of scurvy by inspection of lime juice) that the dues levied for the St Helena Hospital should be abolished. It was stated to us some weeks ago by a very old inhabitant of that Island, that this fact alone caused many ships to pass without calling for needful supplies of antiscorbutic material.

“I would however remark, that if the system proposed by the Seamen’s Hospital Society were put in force, no such aid to the prevention of this disease would be required, inasmuch as every ship would then be supplied with good lime juice.”

The following figures, giving the number of patients suffering from scurvy admitted into the Seamen’s Hospital, shows a decrease

In 1865, from British vessels, 101; foreign do. 1

” 1866 ” ” 96 ” 5

” 1867 ” ” 90 ” 4

” 1868 ” ” 64 ” 10

” 1869 ” ” 31 ” 9

” 1870 ” ” 30 ” 21

” 1871 ” ” 24 ” 16

SEAL′ING WAX. See Wax.

SEA SICKNESS. The most effectual preventive of sea sickness appears to be the horizontal position. When there is much pain, after the stomach has been well cleared, a few drops of laudanum may be taken, or an opium plaster may be applied over the region of the stomach. Persons about to proceed to sea should put their stomach and bowels in proper order, by the use of mild aperients, and even an emetic, if required, when it will generally be found that a glass of warm and weak brandy-and-water, to which 15 or 20 drops of laudanum, or, still better, 1 or 2 drops of creasote, have been added, will effectually prevent any disposition to sea sickness, provided the bowels be attended to, and excess in eating and drinking be at the same time avoided. A spoonful of crushed ice, in a wine-glassful of cold water, or weak brandy-and-water, will often afford relief when all other means fail. Smoking at sea is very apt to induce sickness. M. F. Curie, in the ‘Comptes Rendus,’ asserts that drawing in the breath as the vessel descends, and exhaling it as it ascends, on the billows, by preventing the movements of the diaphragm acting abnormally on the phrenetic nerves, prevents sea sickness. On this Mr Atkinson, at one of the meetings of the British Association, observed that—if a person, seated on board ship, holding a tumbler filled with water in his hand, makes an effort to prevent the water running over, at the same time allowing not merely his arm, but also his whole body, to participate in the movements, he will find that this has the effect of preventing the giddiness and nausea that the rolling and tossing of the vessel have a tendency to produce in inexperienced voyagers. If the person is suffering from sickness at the commencement of his experiment, as soon as he grasps the glass of liquid in his hand, and suffers his arm to take its course and go through the movements alluded to, he feels as if he were performing them of his own free will, and the nausea abates immediately, and very soon ceases entirely, and does not return so long as he suffers his arm and body to assume the postures into which they seem to be drawn. Should he, however, resist the free course of his hand, he instantly feels a thrill of pain, of a peculiarly stunning kind, shoot through his head, and experiences a sense of dizziness and returning nausea.

Dr Doring, a Viennese physician, states that an ordinary dose of chloral hydrate is an unfailing remedy for sea sickness. In various cases recorded by him it seems to have been of the greatest service, even during long sea voyages, ensuring a good night’s rest, arresting violent sickness when it has set in, and preventing its return.

SEDATIVE PILLS, Gunther’s. These are composed of the following ingredients:—Assafœtida powder, 50 parts; extract of valerian, 50; extract of belladonna, 3; oxide of zinc, 1 part; castor, 2 parts. Make into a pill-mass, to be administered in doses of 3 to 10 grains, twice daily, in chorea, &c.

SED′ATIVES. Syn. Sedativa, L. Medicines and agents which diminish the force of the circulation or the animal energy, and allay pain. Foxglove, henbane, tobacco, potassio-tartrate of antimony, and several of the neutral salts and acids, act as sedatives. Cold is, perhaps, the most powerful agent of this class.

SEED. Syn. Semen, L. The seeds of plants are conspicuous for their vast number and variety, and their extreme usefulness to man. The seeds of certain of the Graminaceæ furnish him with his daily bread; some of those of the Leguminosæ in either the immature or ripe state, supply his table with wholesome esculents, or provide a nourishing diet for his domestic animals; whilst those of numerous other plants, dispersed through every class, orders, and family, yield their treasures of oil, medicinals, or perfumes for his use.

SELEN′IC ACID. H₂SeO₄. Syn. Acidum selenicum, L. Prep. By fusing selenium with nitrate of potassium or of sodium, acting on the fused mass with water, precipitating the resulting solution with acetate or nitrate of lead, and decomposing the precipitate (selenate of lead), diffused in water, with sulphuretted hydrogen. The selenic acid, thus obtained, may be cautiously concentrated in a glass vessel, if necessary; but if this be pushed too far, it is resolved into selenious acid (H₂SeO₃) and oxygen.

Prop., &c. Hydrated selenic acid is a colourless liquid, closely resembling sulphuric acid; its salts (selenates) bear the closest analogy to the sulphates.

Selenic Acid (H₂SeO₄). No selenic anhydride is known. Selenic acid may be obtained in solution by deflagrating selenium or a selenite with potassic nitrate. The residue dissolved in water is mixed with a solution of plumbic nitrate, an insoluble plumbic seleniate being precipitated. The plumbic seleniate is suspended in water and decomposed by means of a current of sulphuretted hydrogen. Plumbic sulphide is precipitated, and the liberated selenic acid separated by filtration is concentrated until it acquires a sp. gr. of 2·6; if heated above 554° F. it decomposes into selenious anhydride, water, and oxygen. Selenic acid has a great resemblance to sulphuric acid. It acts upon the metals in the same manner, and even dissolves gold. The seleniates are also very similar in properties to the sulphates, and both classes of salts are isomorphous. The seleniates give the same characteristic odour before the blowpipe as the selenites. Their solutions give white precipitates with the salts of barium, strontian and lead, insoluble in nitric acid. If a soluble seleniate is boiled with hydrochloric acid, selenic acid is set free, and is reduced to selenious acid, sulphurous acid will then precipitate reduced selenium from the solution. Baric seleniate may be also decomposed in a similar manner, and this reaction distinguishes it from baric sulphate.

SELE′NIUM. Se. A rare chemical element, discovered by Berzelius in 1817 in the refuse of a sulphuric acid manufactory near Fahlun, in Sweden, it having been derived from the pyrites employed in the manufacture of the acid. Hence the pyrites of Fahlun forms the chief source of this rare body, although it exists, but less abundantly, in combination with a few other metals, termed selenides. Selenium is chiefly interesting to the chemist from its remarkable analogy in chemical properties to sulphur. Like this latter element, it is capable of assuming three allotropic forms—the amorphous, the vitreous, and the crystalline.

The latter variety of selenium, like the crystalline form of sulphur, dissolves in bisulphide of carbon, but much less readily. Selenium boils below a red heat and becomes converted into a deep yellow vapour, which, when heated, is subject to the same anomalous expansion as sulphur vapour. It is not so combustible as sulphur, which it still further resembles by burning with a blue flame when ignited in the air. During combustion it gives off a peculiar and characteristic smell, resembling that of putrid horse-radish. Heated with strong sulphuric acid, selenium forms a green solution. If this solution is poured into water, the selenium separates and is thrown down. Selenium is without taste or smell, is insoluble in water, and in its normal state is a non-conductor of heat and electricity. Selenium may be extracted from the Fahlun residue by the following process:—It should be first boiled with sulphuric acid, diluted with an equal volume of water, and nitric acid should then be added in small quantities until the oxidation of the selenium is accomplished, which may be known when red fumes cease to be cooled. The solution which contains selenious (SeO₂) and selenic (SeO₃) acid is then to be largely diluted with water, filtered, the filtrate mixed with about one fourth of its bulk of hydrochloric acid, and then concentrated a little by evaporation, the result of which is that the hydrochloric acid reduces the selenic to selenious acid. A current of sulphurous acid being then passed through the solution, the selenium is precipitated in red flakes, which form into a dense black mass when the liquid is gently heated. The following equation illustrates the reaction:—

H₂O,SeO₂ + H₂O + 2SO₂ = 2(H₂SO₃) + Se.

Like sulphur, selenium combines with oxygen and forms an anhydride corresponding to sulphurous anhydride. Selenious anhydride (SeO₂) may be obtained by burning selenium in a current of oxygen; it is, however, more easily prepared by boiling selenium with nitric acid or with aqua regia, the excess of acid being expelled by heat, the selenious anhydride is left as a white mass. When this is dissolved in water it yields a crystalline hydrate of selenious acid (H₂SeO₃). The salts formed by selenious acid (selenites), with the exception of those of the alkali metals, are mostly insoluble in water. They are easily known by the peculiar odour of selenium which they give off when heated on charcoal in the reducing flame of the blowpipe; solutions of the selenites give a reddish-brown precipitate when treated with sulphurous acid.

Seleniuretted Hydrogen (H₂Se). This may be obtained in a precisely similar manner, namely, by acting on selenide of iron or potassium with diluted sulphuric or hydrochloric acid. Seleniuretted hydrogen is soluble in water, and precipitates many metals from their salts as selenides. The solution is feebly acid, and, like its analogue solution of sulphuretted hydrogen, if exposed to the air, absorbs oxygen and deposits selenium. The selenides of the alkali metals are soluble in water. The selenides of cerium, zinc, and manganese are flesh-coloured; most of the others are black. This gas is inflammable like sulphuretted hydrogen; it has, however, a still more offensive smell than this latter gas, Berzelius lost his sense of smell for several hours by the application to his nose of a bubble of seleniuretted hydrogen not larger than a pea. There are two chlorides of selenium—a dichloride (Se₂Cl₂), a volatile liquid of a brown colour, and a tetra-chloride (SeCl₄), which occurs as a white crystalline solid. Selenium unites with sulphur, forming a bisulphide (SeS₂) and a tersulphide (SeS₃). A very curious physical property of selenium when exposed to the action of light was first noticed in 1873 by Mr May, assistant chemist

“In closing the circuit it will be seen that no deflection of the needle ensues. We will now admit light upon the selenium disc and close the circuit, when again no deflection will be observed, showing that the selenium in its present condition is a non-conductor both in the dark and under the influence of light. I will now submit a similar disc of selenium which has been kept in boiling water for an hour and gradually cooled to the same tests as before. In closing the circuit while the plate is in the dark a certain deflection of the galvanometer will be discernible, but I will now open the lid of the box so as to admit light upon the disc, when on again closing the circuit a slight deflection of the galvanometer needle will be observed. In closing the box against the light this deflection will subside, but will again be visible the moment the light is readmitted to the box. Here we have, then, the extraordinary effect of light upon selenium clearly illustrated.

“I will now insert into the same circuit another selenium plate which has been heated up to 210° C, and, after having been kept at that temperature for several hours, has been gradually cooled; it will be observed that this plate is affected to a greater extent than the former by the action of light, and other conditions, to which I shall presently allude, prove the selenium heated to a higher temperature to be in other respects dissimilar to the other two modifications of the same. These differences will be best revealed in describing my brother’s experiment. He placed one of his amorphous preparations of selenium in an air-bath heated above the melting point of selenium (to 260° C.), while the connecting wires were inserted in a galvanic circuit consisting of only one Daniell’s element and a delicate reflecting galvanometer, and every five minutes the temperature and conductivity of the selenium were noted. Up to the temperature of 80° C. no current passed; from this point onward the conductivity of the material rapidly increased until it obtained its maximum at the temperature of 210° C., being nearly its melting point, after which an equally rapid diminution of conductivity commenced, reaching a minimum at a temperature of about 240° C., when the conductivity was only such as could be detected by a most delicate galvanometer. In continuing to increase the temperature of the fluid selenium very gradually but steadily, its conductivity increased again.

The interpretation of these experiments is as follows: Amorphous selenium retains a very large amount of specific heat, which renders it a non-conductor of electricity: when heated to 80° this amorphous solid mass begins to change its amorphous condition for the crystalline form, in which form it possesses a greatly reduced amount of specific heat, giving rise to the increase of temperature beyond that of surrounding objects when the change of condition is once set in. If care is taken to limit the rise of temperature of the selenium to 100° C., and if it is very gradually cooled after being maintained for an hour or two at that temperature, a mass is obtained which conducts electricity to some extent, and which shows increased conductivity under the influence of light. But in examining the conductivity of selenium so prepared at various temperatures below 80°, and without accession of light, it was found that its conductivity increases with rise of temperature, in which respect it resembles carbon, sulphide of metals, and generally electrolytes. This my brother terms his first modification of selenium.

But in extending the heating influence up to 210°, and in maintaining that temperature by means of a bath of paraffin for some hours before gradually reducing the same, he obtained a second modification of selenium, in which its conductivity increases with fall of temperature, and in which modification it is, therefore, analogous to the metals. This second modification of selenium is a better conductor of electricity than the first, and its sensitiveness to light is so great that its conductivity in sunlight is fifteen times greater than it is in the dark, as will be seen from the following table, in which is given the effects of different intensities of light on selenium (Modification II) obtained at Woolwich on the 14th of February, 1876:

Selenium in Relative Conductivities. Resistance in Ohms.

Deflections. Ratio.

1. Dark 32 1·0 10,070,000

2. Diffused daylight. 110 3·4 2,930,000

3. Lamplight 180 5·6 1,790,000

4. Sunlight 470 14·7 680,000

Unfortunately, however, the second modification is not so stable as the first; when lowered in temperature parts of it change back into the first or metalloid modification by taking up specific heat, and in watching this effect a point is discovered at which ratio of increase of conductivity with fall of temperature changes sign, or where the electrolyte substance appears to predominate over the metallic selenium. If cooled down to 15° C., the whole of the metallic selenium is gradually being converted back into the first variety. The physical conclusions here arrived at may be said to be an extension of Helmholtz’s theory that the conductivity of metals varies inversely as the total heat contained in them. Helmholtz had only the sensible heat of temperature (counting from the absolute zero point) in view, but it has already been shown by Hittorf and Werner Siemens that it applies in the case of tin and some other metals, also to specific heat and to the latent heat of fusion. In selenium the specific heat is an extremely variable quantity, changing in the solid mass at certain temperatures, and, it is contended, under the influence of light. Aided by these experimental researches, my brother arrives at the conclusion that the influence of light upon selenium may be explained by a “change of its molecular condition near the surface, from the first or electrolyte into the second or metallic modification, or in other words, by a liberation of specific heat upon the illuminated surface of crystalline selenium, which liberated heat is reabsorbed when the liberating cause has ceased to act.” Professor Adams, who has likewise investigated this singular action of light upon selenium, ascribes it to a different cause. He says:—

1. That the light falling on the selenium causes an electromotive force in it in the same direction as the battery current passing through it, the effect being similar to the effect due to polarisation in an electrolyte, but in the opposite direction.

2. That the light falling on the selenium causes a change on its surface akin to the change which it produces on the surface of a phosphorescent body, and that in consequence of this change the electro-current is enabled to pass more readily over the surface of the selenium.

SEM′OLA (Bullock’s). This preparation consists of wheaten flour deprived of much of its starch by washings with water, and contains the largest amount (48 per cent.) of nitrogenous or albumenoid principles consistent with its adaptability to culinary purposes. It is specially intended as a food for infants, weakly children, and invalids.

SEMOLI′NA. Syn. Sémoule, Semoulina. The large hard grains of wheat flour retained in the bolting machine, after the fine flour has passed through its meshes. “The best sémoule is obtained from the wheat of the southern parts of Europe. With the sémoule the fine white Parisian bread called ‘gruau’ is baked.” (Ure.)

SEN′EGA. Syn. Seneka, Snakeroot, Rattlesnake r.; Senegæ radix (B. P.); Senega (Ph. L., E., & D.), Radix senegæ, L. “The root of the Polygala Senega, Linn.” (Ph. L.) A stimulating diaphoretic, and expectorant; in large doses diuretic, cathartic, and emetic. In America it is used as an antidote to the bite of the rattlesnake. Drs Chapman and Hartshorne extol it as an emmenagogue. Dr Pereira says that it is an exceedingly valuable remedy in the latter stages of bronchial or pulmonary inflammation, when this disease occurs in aged, debilitated, or torpid constitutions.—Dose, 10 to 30 gr., in powder or decoction (combined with aromatics, opium, or camphor), thrice daily.

According to Patrouillard senega is occasionally adulterated with the roots of Asclepias vincetoxicum. The branches of the latter root are cylindrical, very white, and almost devoid of taste; those of senega, on the contrary, are yellowish and twisted, and have a very acrid taste. The froth produced by shaking an infusion of senega keeps much longer than that produced by an infusion of the adulterant. In other respects there is a great resemblance between the two roots.

SEN′EGIN. Syn. Polygalin, Polygalic acid. A white odourless powder, discovered by Gehlin in the bark of seneka root (Polygala Senega).

SEN′NA. Syn. Senna, Sennæ folia, L. There are three principal varieties:—

1. Alexandrian senna (senna Alexandrina—B. P., Ph. L., E., & D.), referred in the, Ph. L. to Cassia officinalis and Cassia obovata, in the Ph. D. to Cassia acutifolia (Delile), and in the Ph. E. to various species of cassia. The leaves are “unequal at the base, ovate acute, or obovate mucronate.” (Ph. L.) It is generally mixed with the leaves of Solenostemma Argel (argel leaves), the presence of which is often the occasion of much griping. The leaf of argel is fully an inch long, warty, regular in its formation, and the lateral nerves are imperfectly seen on the under side; whilst that of the true Alexandrian senna never exceeds ³⁄₄ inch in length, is oblique, and the nerves on the under side are very conspicuous.

2. Indian senna (senna Indica—B. P.; Ph. L., & E.) is referred to Cassia officinalis in the Ph. L., and in the Ph. E. & D. to Cassia elongata (Lemaire, Lisancourt). The leaf is “unequal at the base,” and “Lanceolate.” (Ph. L.)

3. Tinnevelly senna, forming the finest Indian, now introduced into the Ph. D., is therein described as composed of the leaflets of Cassia oblongata. These are pale green, thin, flexible, and from 1 to 2 inches long, and nearly ¹⁄₂ inch broad. This variety is equal in medicinal virtue to the best Alexandrian, and is to be preferred, on account of its being imported perfectly free from adulteration.

Senna is purgative in doses of 10 to 30 gr., either in powder or made into an infusion of tea with Water, combined with ginger, caraways, or some other aromatic, to prevent griping. It acts chiefly on the small intestines, and generally effects its purpose within 4 hours after being taken.

SE′′PIA. A pigment prepared from the ‘ink’ or black fluid secreted by Sepia officinalis (Linn.), and several other varieties of cuttle-fish. The contents of the ‘ink bags’ are inspissated as soon as possible after collection, and then form the crude sepia of commerce. This is prepared for artists by boiling it for a short time in a weak lye of caustic alkali, precipitating the solution with an acid, and well washing and carefully drying the precipitate by a gentle heat. It possesses a fine brown colour, and is used like Indian ink.

SER′PENTARY. Syn. Virginian snake-root; Serpentaria radix (B. P.), Serpentariæ radix, Serpentaria (Ph. L. & E.), Aristolochia serpentaria (Ph. D.), L. An excellent stimulating diaphoretic and tonic; in typhoid and putrid fevers, dyspepsia, &c. It is admirably suited to check vomiting and to tranquilise the stomach, particularly in bilious cases. (Dr Chapman.)—Dose, 10 to 20 gr., every third or fourth hour, its use being preceded by an aperient.

SE′′RUM. Syn. Seralbumen. The clear pale fluid in which the blood-globules float, and which separates from blood during its coagulation. It is, essentially, a feebly alkaline solution of albumen. See Albumen.

SESQUI-. See Nomenclature.

SE′TON. Syn. Setaceum. An artificial ulcer, made by passing a portion of silk or thread under the skin by means of a seton needle, a part of which is drawn through daily, and thus keeps up a constant irritation. Occasionally the thread is anointed with some irritating substance for the purpose of increasing the discharge.

SEVEN SEALS, or Golden Wonder—Dr Radcliffe’s Great Remedy. According to the prospectus, this remedy is good for cholera morbus, dysentery, diarrhœa, burns, sprains, rheumatism, warts and corns, and all diseases. In a quadrangular bottle we find about 95 grammes of a brownish-orange clear fluid, which is a spirituous tincture of cayenne pepper mixed with ether, chloroform, American oil of peppermint, and a little camphor. The proportion of these ingredients is, approximately, 4 grammes ether, 6 grammes chloroform, 4 gramme camphor or camphoraceous oil, 2 grammes oil of peppermint, 35 grammes tincture of capsicum. 50 grammes spirit of wine (90 per cent.) (Hager.)

SE′VUM (Prepared). Syn. Sevum præparatum (B. P.), Sevum magneticum, L. Prep. 1. (‘Pharm. Journ.’) Mould candles, at least 2 years old, melted by a very gentle heat, and strained from the wicks.

2. As MAGNETIC ADEPS. Used to make mercurial ointment. Triturated with 8, 12, or 16 times its weight of quicksilver, the globules are completely extinguished in from 10 to 15 minutes.

SEWAGE, Removal and Disposal of. The waste and putrescible refuse discharged from dwelling-houses by house-pipes and drains into sewers may be said, in general terms, to consist, besides human fæces and urine,[150] of the dirty water and soapsuds arising from washing our bodies, our houses, and linen, more or less foul, as well as the water which, having been used for cooking operations, necessarily contains variable quantities of mineral and vegetable matter.

The above statement will have prepared us not only for the complex nature of sewage water as shown in the following tables, but also for the variability in the amount of its constituents, this latter condition depending upon locality, and, as experiment shows, the hour of the day at which the sewage was collected.

Composition of Sewer Water (Way).

Grains per Gallon.

1. 2. 3. 4.

Organic matters (soluble) 19·40 41·03 12·30 9·20

Organic matters (suspended) 39·10 17·00 24·37

Lime 10·13 14·71 12·52 11·25

Magnesia 1·42 1·82 1·59 1·35

Soda 4·01 2·40 2·41 1·89

Potash 3·66 3·57 3·31 1·09

Chloride of Sodium 26·40 22·61 34·30 5·58

Sulphuric Acid 5·34 5·31 6·40 3·43

Phosphoric Acid 2·63 5·76 2·48 0·64

Carbonic Acid 9·01 8·92 11·76 4·77

Silicia: Oxide of Iron & Oxide of Zinc 6·20 13·55 6·46

Ammonia 7·48 8·43 7·88

——— ——— ——— ———

134·78 145·11 125·78 39·20

London Sewer Water (Letheby).

Grains per gallon.

Day Sewage. Night Sewage. Storm Sewage.

Soluble matters 55·74 65·09 70·26

Organic matters 15·08 7·42 14·75

Nitrogen 5·44 5·19 7·26

Mineral matters 40·66 57·67 55·71

Phosphoric acid 0·85 0·69 1·03

Potash 1·21 1·15 1·61

Suspended matters 38·15 13·99 31·88

Organic 16·11 7·48 17·55

Nitrogen 0·78 0·29 0·67

Mineral 22·04 6·51 14·33

Phosphoric acid 0·89 0·64 0·98

Potash 8·08 0·04 0·16

Letheby states that the sewer water in towns with water-closets has the following average composition per gallon:

Organic matter 27·72

Nitrogen 6·21

Phosphoric acid 1·57

Potash 2·03

Sewer water placed under the microscope reveals various dead decaying matters, besides swarms of bacteria, ciliated infusoria, amœbiform bodies, and fungi, consisting of spores and mycelium. The rotifera, diatoms, and desmids are few in number.[151] That a fluid having a composition such as sewage water has been shown to possess, when mixed with solid excreta, would, from the decomposition that so soon takes place in it, seriously endanger the health of those in whose habitations it was allowed to remain, is so self-evident to the sanitarian and pathologist that it is no wonder every civilised community should endeavour to get rid of this refuse from their habitations as speedily and effectively as possible. But the removal of the home sewage is a proceeding as illogical as it is imperfect if we afterwards neglect so to dispose of it as to render it innocuous or devoid of danger to the public health. The old method of getting rid of sewage (even when deprived of the fæcal matter) by turning it into rivers and streams, has, more particularly since the Report of the Rivers Pollution Commissioners in 1870, been gradually abandoned. That when sewer water passes into a river it undergoes a great amount of purification from oxidation, subsidence, and the agency of water-plants is undeniable.

Letheby considered that if sewage mixed with twenty times its bulk of water flowed for nine miles it would be perfectly oxidised. It appears, however, from the experiments of Frankland, that so far as sewage when mixed with twenty times its volume of water being oxidised during a flow of ten or twelve miles, scarcely two thirds of it would be so destroyed in the flow of 168 miles, at the rate of one mile per hour, or after the lapse of a week. The results of Frankland’s experiments led him to infer that there is no river in the United Kingdom of sufficient length to effect the destruction of sewage by oxidation; and he adds, “there is no process practicable on a large scale by which the noxious material (sewage matter) can be removed from water once so contaminated, and, therefore, I am of opinion that water which has been once contaminated by sewage or manure matter is thenceforth unsuitable for domestic use.”

The discharge of sewage water, whether with or without solid excreta, into our springs and rivers, was a practice so dangerous and prejudicial to health that it is no cause for wonder the Legislature should, during the

The numerous processes (the chief of which will be brought under notice) proposed for the attainment of this end have been divided by writers and authorities on sanitary science into—

1. Wet methods.

2. Dry methods.

1. Wet methods. These comprise the removal of excreta—(1) By discharging it into running water. (2) By storage in tank with overflow. (3) By carrying it into the sea. (4) By precipitation. (5) By irrigation and filtration.

(1) By discharging it into running water. Our previous remarks have already shown in what respect this proposal is fallacious, and why it has, therefore, been discontinued.

(2) By storage in tank with overflow. In this process the sewage runs into a well-cemented tank fitted with an overflow pipe, which sometimes leads into a second tank arranged in the same manner; the solids subside, and are removed from time to time, whilst the liquid is allowed to run away. Instead of permitting the liquid to escape into a ditch or stream, it has been proposed to carry it into drain pipes, which are buried from half a foot to a foot in the subsoil, where it will be readily sucked up by the roots of grasses. This plan is only suited for small villages, or for a single house or mansion.

(3) By carrying it into the sea. The precautions to be observed in the working of this system are, wherever possible, to let the outlet or discharge pipe, which conveys the sewage to the sea, be always under water even at ebb tide, and to take special care that the wind does not blow up the sewers. A tide-flap, opening outwards, which is usually fixed by a hinge on the sewer at its outlet, will obviate this last contingency. At high water the tide will fill the outfall sewers to its own level, and to that extent will check the discharge of sewage, and thus cause a deposit in the sewers filled with mixed sea water and sewage. It is most important that this should be removed.

“If the sewage cannot be got well out to sea, and if it issues in narrow channels, it may cause a nuisance, and may require to be purified before discharge.”[152]

(4) By precipitation. The simplest of the plans proposed for this method of removal is by subsidence only, and would afterwards permit the discharge of the supernatant sewage water into running water or over the land. The removal of the solid material is effected in a manner somewhat similar to that followed in plan No. 2, but as the thin water which runs off must, when poured into rivers or streams, be almost as dangerous as the sewage itself, the process of precipitation by settlement alone has little to commend it over the old rude and objectionable practice, a circumstance that in these days will doubtless lead to its entire prohibition.

In order to ensure greater purification the sewage in the subsiding tanks is now usually mixed with certain chemical reagents, which, it is believed, have the effect not only of speedily precipitating the solid materials, but also carrying down injurious matters suspended in the sewage water, thus rendering it sufficiently pure to be discharged without risk to health into any watercourse.

Of the numerous precipitants employed for this purpose, we may mention the following:

Lime and salts of lime. Quicklime, in the proportion of 8 gr. to a gallon of water; or 1 lb. to about 600 galls. of sewage; lime, with the addition of about a fortieth of its weight of chloride of lime; calcic phosphate dissolved in sulphuric acid; Whitehead’s patent, which consists of a mixture of mono- and dicalcic phosphate; chloride of calcium.

Aluminous compounds. Bird’s process—A mixture of aluminous earths and sulphuric acid. Andersons and Lenk’s—Impure sulphate of alum; refuse of alum works, either alone or mixed with lime or charcoal. Scott’s cement process—Clay mixed with lime; natural phosphate of aluminium dissolved by sulphuric acid and mixed with lime.

The quantities of the above substances when used as precipitants vary, in some of them fifty, and in others eighty grains to a gallon of sewer water being employed.

Magnesium salts. Impure chloride of magnesium mixed with superphosphate of lime.

Carbon. As vegetable charcoal, peat, seaweed charcoal, carbonised tan, lignite, and Boghead coke.

Iron. In the form of sulphate. Ellerman’s and Dale’s—Perchloride; the sulphate is sometimes mixed with coal dust.

Manganese. Condy’s fluid.

Zinc. As sulphate and chloride.

Sillar’s process. The A. B. C. process, so called because composed of alum, blood, charcoal, and clay.

Hill’s process. Lime and tar are the precipitants. The effluent water is filtered through charcoal. The question now arises as to whether the sewer water after treatment with any of the above substances is in a fit condition to be poured into a stream or river. The Rivers Pollution Commissioners in their first and second reports give a number of analyses, from which it appears that on an average the chemical treatment removes

Of the A. B. C. process, Mr Crookes states that, when properly carried out, it removes all the phosphoric acid; and Professor Voelcker’s analysis of the effluent water from sewage treated by the acid phosphate of alumina process gives more ammonia than the original sewer water, less organic nitrogen by one half, and less phosphoric acid. Such a water is said by some authorities to be pure enough to be discharged into streams.

General Scott’s process. General Scott proposes to treat the sewer water with lime and clay, and instead of employing the precipitate obtained by this means as a manure, would, after burning it, use it as cement. He argues that the deposit contains so much combustible matter as to considerably reduce the quantity of coal usually expended in the manufacture of cement, and consequently the cement could be sold at a remunerative price.

This, like the ‘carbonisation’ process, possesses the merit of effectually destroying any noxious principles present in the deposit.

Commenting on the various precipitation processes Dr Parkes writes:—“When the sewer water is cleared by any of these plans is it fit to be discharged into streams? In the opinion of some authorities, if the precipitate is a good one it may be so, and it appears certain that in many cases it is chemically a tolerably pure water, and it will no longer silt up the bed nor cause a nuisance. But it still contains, in all cases, some organic matter, as well as ammonia, potash, and phosphoric acid. It has, therefore, fertilising powers certainly, and possibly it has also injurious powers. No proof of this has been given, but also no disproof at present, and when we consider how small the agencies of the specific diseases probably are, and how likely it is that they remain suspended, we do not seem to be in a position to expect that the water, after subsidence of the deposit, will be safe to drink.

(5) By irrigation and filtration. By this process is meant the passing of the sewer water over and through soil, with the object not only of effecting its purification to such an extent as to render it fit to be discharged into a river or stream, but also of employing it as a valuable manure. In the present article we shall treat only of the application of the process to the first of these purposes.

There is ample evidence to show that, if carried out with due attention to detail, no process for the treatment of effluent sewage water, so as to render it innocuous, is equal to that which subjects it to irrigation and filtration.

The Rivers Pollution Commissioners thus report on it:—“We are, therefore, justified in recommending irrigation as a safe as well as profitable and efficient method of cleansing town sewage.”

The conditions necessary for the successful carrying out of this system are thus stated by Mr T. J. Dyke, in explaining “the process of the downward intermittent filtration of sewage at Troedyrhiw, near Merthyr Tydvil:”—“1. The soil of the land to be used must be porous. 2. A main effluent drain, which must not be less than six feet from the surface, must be provided. 3. The surface of the soil to be so inclined as to permit the sewage stream to flow over the whole land. 4. The filtering area should be divided into four equal parts, each part to be irrigated with the sewage for six hours, and then an interval of eighteen hours to elapse before a second irrigation takes place; each of the four parts would thus be used for six hours out of the twenty-four. An acre of land so prepared would purify 100,000 gallons of sewage per day.” At Troedyrhiw the sewage has lime added to it, and the mixture is strained through cinders into tanks. From the tank it flows on to the conduit, by which it is conveyed to the filtering areas.

“These consist of about twenty acres of land, immediately adjoining the road on which the tanks are placed, and have been arranged into filtering areas or beds on a plan devised by Mr J. Bayley Denton. The land is a loamy soil, eighteen inches thick, overlying a bed of gravel. The whole of these twenty acres have been underdrained to a depth of from five to seven feet. The lateral drains are placed at regular distances from each other, and run towards the main or effluent drain. This is everywhere six feet deep. The surface of the land is formed into beds; these have been made to slope towards the main drain by a fall of 1 in 150.

“The surface is ploughed in ridges; on these vegetables are planted or seeds sown. The line of the ridged furrow is in the direction of the under drain. Along the raised margin of each bed, in each area, delivering carriers are placed, one edge being slightly depressed.

“The strained sewage passes from the conduits into the delivery carriers, and as it overflows the depressed edges runs gently into and along the farrows down to the lowest and most distant part of the plot. The sewage continues to be so delivered for six hours, then an interval of rest of eighteen hours takes place, and again the land is thoroughly charged with the fertilising stream. The water percolates through the six feet of earth, and reaches the lateral drains, which convey it to the main effluent drain.

“The result of this plan of disposing of sewage by downward intermittent filtration, may be seen in samples of the effluent water taken from the outlet of the main drain. Such water is bright, perfectly pellucid, free from smell, and tastes only of common salt. It may be safely drunk—in fact, is used by

“The only imperfection of the plan is that, at the end of the furrows nearest the lowest corner of a plot, a slight deposit of scum is formed. This scum is formed by the fine insoluble precipitate caused mainly by the addition of lime to the sewage stream.”

The table below, taken from the report of the Rivers Pollution Commissioners, gives the composition of the effluent water after it has passed through the soil.

If those results be compared with the condition of the supernatant sewage water, after treatment by any of the chemical precipitants already enumerated, the inferiority of these latter as methods of removal of the organic impurity of the sewage water will be evident.

The best of these precipitants give a removal of only 65·8 per cent. of organic nitrogen, whilst the A. B. C. process shows a diminution of 58·9 only. It appears from the first and second reports of the Rivers Pollution Commissioners, that on an average the precipitation processes remove 89·8 per cent. of the suspended matters, but only 36·6 per cent. of the organic nitrogen dissolved in the liquid.

The effects of a soil upon sewage water passing through it are the following:—

1. The filtering property of the soil mechanically arrests and retains the suspended particles of the sewage.

2 and 3. The porosity and physical attraction of the soil lead to the oxidation of the organic matter contained in the sewage, as instanced in the discovery of nitrates and nitrites in the effluent water, which did not exist previous to filtration.

4. A chemical reaction takes place between the constituents of the sewage and those of the soil.

If the charges brought against the system of irrigation, viz. that it is detrimental to the health and comfort of those who reside near sewage farms cannot be denied, it seems pretty certain that, in most cases, any ill effects arising from the method may be traced to its defective management. The selection of the soil which is to receive the sewage is a highly important consideration. The best for this purpose seems to be a loose marl, containing oxide of iron and alumina; but sand, as well as chalk, are both said to answer excellently.

Results of irrigation, in part per 100,000. Percentage of dissolved Organic Pollution removed. Percentage suspended Organic Pollution removed

Organic Carbon. Organic Nitrogen.

On fallow land at Chorley (adhesive loam) 62·3 70·2 100·

At Edinburgh (both sand and clay) 45·3 81·1 84·9

Barking (gravelly soil) 65·8 86·2 100·

Aldershot (light sand)—

Best result 91·8 87·3 99·7

Worst result 69·9 82·9 87·7

Average result 80·9 85·1 93·7

Carlisle (light loam) 77·9 59·8 100·

Penrith (light loam) 75·0 77·2 100·

Rugby (adhesive soil) 72·3 92·9 96·0

Banbury (principally clay)—

Best result 87·8 91·3 96·0

Worst result 64·1 80·1 90·3

Average result 76· 85·7 93·2

Warwick (stiff clay) 71·7 89·6 100·

Worthing (loam) 42·7 85·3 100·

Bedford (light gravelly soil), average result 71·6 81·3 100·

Norwood (clay), average result 65·0 75·1 100·

Croydon (gravelly soil)—

Best result 73·2 93·2 100·

Worst result 61·6 90·4 100·

Average result 67·4 91·8 100·

If the soil be of a stiff clayey nature it must be broken up and mixed with sand, lime, or ashes. The upper parts must be comminuted

The sewer water should be poured over the land in as fresh a condition as possible, having been previously deprived of any solid or grosser parts by straining. At Carlisle, decomposition of the sewage during its flow is prevented by adding carbolic acid to it. Lastly, it is of the utmost consequence that the amount of land used as the filtering medium shall be large. Letheby has shown that where this precaution is neglected, not only is the purification of the sewage incomplete, but the plan becomes a public nuisance. The amount of filtering earth should not be less than one cubic yard for eight gallons of sewage in twenty-four hours, in properly prepared soils; in some soils more than a cubic yard is required.

The late Dr Parkes has given a summary of various reports that have from time to time been issued as to the effects of sewage farms upon the public health and comfort. He says:—“That sewage farms, if too near to houses, and if not carefully conducted, may give off disagreeable effluvia is certain; but it is also clear that in some farms this is very trifling, and that when the sewer water gets on the land it soon ceases. It is denied by some persons that more nuisance is excited than by any other mode of using manure. As regards health, it has been alleged that these farms may—1st, give off effluvia which may produce enteric fever or dysentery, or some allied affection; or, 2nd, and in the spread of

The evidence of Edinburgh, Croydon, Aldershot, Rugby, Worthing, Romford, the Sussex Lunatic Asylum, is very strong against any influence in the production of typhoid by sewage farms effluvia. On the other hand, Dr Clouston’s record of the outbreak of dysentery in the Cumberland Asylum is counter evidence of weight, and so is one of the cases noted by Letheby of typhoid fever outbreak in Copley, when a meadow was irrigated with the brook water containing the sewage of Halifax.

The negative evidence is, however, so strong as to justify the view that the effluvia from a well-managed sewage farm do not produce typhoid fever, or dysentery, or any affection of the kind. In a case at Eton in which some cases of enteric fever were attributed to the effluvia, Dr Buchanan discovered that the sewer water had been drunk; this was more likely to have been the cause.

With regard to the second point, the spread of entozoic diseases by the carriage of the sewer water to the land, has been thought probable by Cobbold, though as solid excreta from towns have been for some years largely employed as manure, it is doubtful whether the liquid plans would be more dangerous. The special entozoic diseases which, it is feared, might thus arise, are tapeworms, round worms, trichina, Bilharzia, and distoma hepaticum in sheep. Cobbold’s latest observations show that the embryos of Bilharzia die so rapidly, that even were it introduced into England there would be little danger.

The trichina disease is only known at present to be produced in men by the worms in the flesh of pigs which is eaten, and it seems doubtful whether pigs receive them from the land. There remain, then, only tapeworms and round worms for men and distoma hepaticum for sheep to be dreaded. With regard to these, the evidence at present is negative; and though much weight must be attached to any opinion of Cobbold’s, this argument against sewage irrigation must be admitted to want evidence from experience.

The third criticism appears to be true.

The land may become swampy and the adjacent wells poisoned, and disease (ague, and perhaps diarrhœa and dysentery) be thus produced. But this is owing to mismanagement, and when a sewage farm is properly arranged it is not damp, and the wells do not suffer.[153]

The foregoing processes for the removal of excreta from dwellings necessitates the joint employment of sewers and large quantities of water. It may, however, sometimes happen that the adoption of either of these appliances may be not only difficult, but altogether impracticable; as for instance, in localities where a sufficient fall cannot be obtained for the sewers; or where the supply of water is not adequate; or when the severity of the climate at certain times is such, that for months in the year the water is frozen. Under these conditions the excreta must either be allowed to accumulate about houses, or else be removed by methods other than those we have described, at more or less short intervals. Of course their speedy removal is the best and safest; but in cases where they are permitted to accumulate, it is essential they should be mixed with deodorants, and confined in properly constructed receptacles (as far as possible from dwellings), from which category such pre-eminently unsanitary arrangements as cesspools and dead wells must be excluded.

When excreta are got rid of from houses by other means than those of sewers and water, the processes employed are termed,

2. Dry methods. These comprise—

1. Removal of the excreta without admixture.

2. Removal of the excreta after treatment with deodorising and anti-putrescent substances.

1. Removal without admixture. In some cases boxes and tanks receive the ordure and urine, and these are changed more or less frequently.

In Glasgow the excreta from a part of the city containing eighty thousand people is thus collected and removed without admixture,[154] daily.

In Edinburgh there are also many closets supplied with movable metal pails, which are likewise removed daily. Many large dwelling-houses in this latter city are entirely without water-closet accommodation; hence the custom of placing pails full of excrement, urine, &c., outside the houses to be taken away by the scavenger. In Rochdale the excrement, &c., is collected in tubs, with tight-fitting lids, which are emptied twice or thrice a week. These tubs are manufactured out of disused paraffin casks. In Leeds, also, the excreta are collected in boxes without being subjected to admixture. In some towns in the north of England the excreta fall into receptacles constructed upon what is termed the ‘Goux’ principle. In this system the pails or receptacles are lined with some absorbent lining, which abstracts the urine;[155] another contrivance is to have the receptacle fitted with a pipe or drain; the object in each case being to render the fæces drier and to delay their decomposition.

The pail or tub system (Fosses Mobiles) which is employed in Belgium, has for its object the collection of the fæces in a state of purity, without admixture with water, in a clean and odourless condition.

The apparatus for carrying it out consists of—

1. The seat. This consists simply of a soil-pan of stoneware or faïence, without woodwork, the soil-pan merely projecting from the top of the descent pipe. Its borders are furnished with a groove filled with water or sand, into which the raised rim of the lid fits.

2. The connecting pipe. This pipe is straight without a syphon, and joins the descent pipe at the very acute angle of 22°, and is about 4 inches in diameter inside. It is, like the next, made of stoneware, glazed inside.

3. Descent pipe. This is from 6 to 8 inches in internal diameter; it is vertical, and is composed of a series of pipes, connected with each other by dry sand joints, without cements, fixed to the wall by iron bands.

It rests at the ground-floor level on a strong flagstone. Its prolongation through and below this stone consists of a sliding pipe of wrought copper capable of being lengthened or shortened, and solidly fixed to the stone by a cast-iron connector. A sort of circular shallow dish (ecuelle), which can be hung under this last part of the descent pipe, serves at a given moment to shut its lower orifice.

4. Tub (Tonneau). The excremental matters coming down the descent pipe fall into a tub of from 2 to 3 hectolitres (44 to 66 gallons), in a hole in the top of which the lower part of the pipe fits tightly. A cover fitted with a spring serves to shut and lute the tub when it is full. Placed on a stand furnished with wheels, the tub is easily managed.

When filled it is immediately replaced by another similar contrivance. If the tub is underground, the rails (on which the stand moves) should be placed on an incline, so that the removal and replacement may be easily effected. The underground chamber must be isolated, and the entrance to it placed outside the building. The thorough tarring of the interior of the tub not only preserves the staves, but also partly neutralises the effect of the mephitic gases which the excremental matters discharge.

Ventilation pipe. To prevent the smells and gases which are given off from the mouth of the tub from spreading themselves (in the house) by means of the opening in the privy seat, at the upper extremity of the descent pipe, is fixed a ventilation pipe, which rises above the coping of the roof, and the action of which is increased by means of a vane, or any other contrivance producing the same effect.[156]

It is said that in the working of any of the above processes, little or no nuisance ensues, if only ordinary care and intelligence are used. In many cases the excreta collected by the methods above specified is conveyed to manufactories and then converted into manure.

It does not appear that in England the health of the workmen employed in a manure manufactory or of those who live in the neighbourhood of it suffers in consequence.

Removal of the excreta after treatment with deodorising and antiputrescent substances. This is the method usually adopted when the dry process is followed; the excreta mixed with the deodorising substance when removed from the house being at once applied to the land.

a. Coal and wood ashes. It is a common practice in the north of England to throw coal ashes on the excreta, which fall into closets made with hinged flaps or seats for the purpose of admitting the ashes, as at Manchester and Salford. Wood ashes are far more effective deodorisers than coal ashes, but they are seldom procurable. “In some towns there are receptacles called ‘middens,’ intended both for excreta and ashes; sometimes these are cemented, and there may be a pipe leading into a sewer so as to dry them. The midden system is a bad one; even with every care, the vast heaps of putrefying material which accumulate in some of our towns must have a very serious influence on the health, and the sooner the middens are abolished the better.”[157]

b. Deodorising powders. At some of the Indian stations deodorants, such as M’Dougall’s, or Calvert’s carbolic acid powders, have been successfully employed, a comparatively small quantity being mixed with the excreta.

In Germany a mixture of lime, chloride of magnesium, and tar is largely used for the

Another deodoriser (the Müller Schür), also used in the dry method, is composed of lime, 100 lbs.; powdered wood charcoal 20 lbs.; peat powder or sawdust, 10 lbs.; and carbolic acid (containing 60 to 70 per cent. of real acid) 1 lb. After having been mixed, the mass is placed under cover for a night to avoid any chance of spontaneous ignition, and when dry it is packed in barrels.

c. Charcoal. The powerfully deodorising properties of charcoal obviously adapt it for the removal of excreta in the dry state, after the admixture with them. But the comparatively high price of animal charcoal, although nearly six times the value of dry earth as a deodorant, prohibits its being extensively used. Peat is, however, cheaper than animal charcoal. To obviate the objection of cost, Mr Stanford, in 1872, proposed to make charcoal for this purpose from seaweed. The charcoal obtained from this source is said to be cheap and of great service as an excretal deodoriser. The mixed charcoal and sewage is sufficiently odourless to be stored for some months in a convenient receptacle outside a dwelling-house.

After the seaweed charcoal has become thoroughly impregnated with fæces and urine, the mixture is recarbonised in a retort, and the carbon can be again used; the distilled products (ammoniacal liquor, containing acetate of lime, tar, and gas) are sufficient to pay the cost, and it is said even to yield a profit.[158]

d. Dried earth. The Rev. Mr Moule was the first to direct attention to the value of dried earth as a deodorant of excreta.

Mr Moule’s ‘earth closet’ consists of a box with a receptacle below for the excreta. By pulling a plug dried earth, which is placed in a hopper above, enters the closet and falls upon the excreta, thus disinfecting and deodorising it. The consumption of earth averages from 1¹⁄₄ to 1¹⁄₂ lb. a day. The slop water should not be thrown into the closet, but disposed of in some other way. In another plan, as in Taylor’s improved closet, the urine is carried off without mixing at all with the fæces.

Clay, marl, and vegetable humus form the best kind of earths. When dried the clay may be easily reduced to powder. Chalk and sand are comparatively useless. The receptacle is emptied from time to time, the contents forming a valuable manure.

The earth closet is more particularly adapted for small villages and isolated mansions. One difficulty of its application by cottagers consists in the necessity of collecting, drying, and storing the earth; the cottager’s mostly limited space in his dwelling not permitting this. One great obstacle to the effective carrying out of this system amongst extensive communities is the difficulty of procuring the large supply of earth that its adoption necessitates. With proper supervision and care the ‘earth system’ answers admirably; but if these are not bestowed on it, it as signally fails. It has been adopted with great success in many schools, barracks, and other large buildings.

“It is coming into great use in India, and is carried out with great attention to detail. In those European stations where water is not procurable Mr Moule’s invention has been a boon of great value, and medical officers say that nothing has been done in India of late years which has contributed so much to the health and comfort of the men. The plan of separating the urine from the fæces has been strongly advocated by Dr Cornish, of Madras, and would, no doubt, be attended with great advantages in India if there are means of disposal of the urine. The chief difficulty in the European barracks in India is felt during the rainy season, when the mixed excreta and earth cannot be kept sufficiently dry. In the case of natives of India, however, a serious difficulty arises in the use of the earth system, in consequence of the universal use of water for ablution after using the closet. Every native takes with him a small vessel holding ten to twenty ounces of water, so that a large amount of fluid has to be disposed of. The usual earth closet does not suffice for this. Mr Charles Turner, C.E., of Southampton, has contrived a closet suitable for the native family; it is unfortunately too costly, and possibly a simple iron box, with a pipe to carry off the urine and ablution water, would be better suited for the poorer classes.”[159]

e. Captain Lieurnur’s pneumatic plan. This process, the invention of a Dutch engineer, is in use at Amsterdam, Leyden, Drodrecht, and a few other Continental towns. It is also known as the ‘aspiration plan.’ Its outlines are as follows:—“The pipes and, tubes leading from the various water-closets and privies peculiar to the system are connected with street mains, which mains again communicate with underground horizontal cast-iron cylinders or tanks, these tanks being directly connected with a powerful air-pump worked by steam. Communication between the main and the tanks, as well as between the tanks and the pump, can be made or broken by means of stopcocks. Hence it follows that when access is allowed between one of the tanks and the air-pump, this latter will, when put into action, produce a vacuum in the tank, and if the stopcock of the main leading to the tank be then opened, the contents of all the privies and water-closets, the pipes of which run into the main,in vacuo becomes converted, when sufficiently dry, into poudrette. In Lieurnur’s process all deodorants are dispensed with, and its mixture with water is prevented by means of porous drain pipes laid above the sewers, by which contrivance the subsoil water is kept out of the sewers.

Sewage, Utilisation of. “Mr Peregrine Birch read before the Institution of Surveyors a paper on ‘The Use of Sewage by Farmers,’ which embodied some facts that deserve to be noticed, as bearing on a question we have repeatedly discussed. It appears that there are at the present time ‘upwards of one hundred owners and occupiers of land in Great Britain who use sewage for the sake alone of what they can get out of it by agricultural means.’ Of these ‘more than sixty are tenant farmers, who continue to use it although they have, annually at least, the option of ceasing to do so,’ It seems five out of six of the tenant farmers purchase the sewage they employ, so that their adhesion to the method proves conclusively that it pays. Nearly four thousand acres of land are under regular cultivation with sewage. Mr Birch is of opinion that ‘advocates of sewage precipitation processes should not regard sewage farmers as their rivals, for a chemical process might be very largely used with advantage when farmers are being persuaded or taught to use sewage. But this should be the distinct aim of all cultivation, for there is no chemical process that could not be worked to greater advantage during two months of the year than twelve, or applied to a small quantity of sewage at less cost than to a large.’ Our primary interest is to see the utilisation of sewage generally adopted; the method employed must be determined by experience on the grounds of cheapness and expediency.”—Lancet.