timate friend of the Admiral, and closely associated with him for ten months at Manila. Throughout this period Mr. Barrett kept careful notes of everything of material interest, and consequently his article contains a mass of entirely new information upon these all-engrossing subjects. The number contains also an important article on the United States Navy, by Henry Loomis Nelson, and special articles on Dewey and the Manila campaign, illustrated with many hitherto unpublished portraits and with superb drawings of naval scenes. It is a number that is not only worth reading but worth preserving. The isssue for Oct. 7 will describe Admiral Dewey's reception in New York, and the succeeding number will be given over to the story of the contest for the America's Cup. The special fashion number of Harper's Bazar, published Oct. 7, contains a comprehensive and authoritative presentation of autumn and winter fashions. The number is elaborately illustrated and gives full descriptions of the reception gowns, outing costumes, capes, wraps, house gowns and negligee costumes which will be worn during the coming autumn and winter. The large number of new and original fashion hints make this issue invaluable to every woman. The October number of St. Nicholas marks the end of the magazine's six-and-twentieth year and brings to a close several serials that have been running for six months or more. "Trinity Bells," by Amelia E. Barr, is one of these; others are Carolyn Wells' "Story of Betty" and Rupert Hughes' "Dozen from Lakerim." These are works of fiction; but besides these there are in this number several short stories, in which fact and fiction are mysteriously mingled, and others that are founded upon fact and built up of the same material. Such is "The Walking Purchase,” which tells the truth about a deal with the Indians that did no credit to the name of Penn, by whose sons it was carried out in a way to swindle the Delawares of two hundred thousand acres of good land; and such the sketch of "Searchlights," a mascot at Manila. "The Southern Cross" is described and diagrammed by Miss Mary Proctor, daughter of the popular astronomer. An October magazine without an article on Admiral Dewey would seem anomalous, and "St. Nicholas" pays due tribute to the hero of Manila through the pen of Tudor Jenks. A portrait accompanies this paper; and almost every article, story and poem in the number is fully illustrated, among the illustrators being Reginald Birch. Charles M. Relyea, O. Herford and Fanny Y. Cory. THE SANITARIAN. DECEMBER, 1899. THE NEXT STEP IN THE WORK OF REFUSE AND GARBAGE DISPOSAL.* By W. F. MORSE, Sanitary Engineer, New York City. The Report of the Committee on Garbage Disposal at the last meeting of this Association contained conclusions formulated after an exhaustive survey of the present conditions here and abroad. Unfortunately, it did not contain tabulated information in detail, now supplied, which would have added much to its value. The conclusions reached may be briefly stated as a basis for comparison in estimating the progress made in the year past, and are substantially as follows: 1. The reduction methods for garbage disposal are applicable only to large cities. It has been found impracticable to conduct the works so that a nuisance would be wholly prevented unless located at points where an occasional malodor would not be considered a nuisance. A number of works have been abandoned for sanitary or financial reasons. In many cases the reduction process does not dispose of all the offensive material, and therefore should be operated in conjunction with cremation. 2. When separation of the various waste materials cannot be made, there is but one way to satisfactorily accomplish final disposal-by cremation. 3. That garbage and other refuse, and ashes, can be burned without additional fuel if means be taken to remove the fine ash. 4. That the garbage in American cities contains more liquids in suspension than in Europe, but an additional amount of combustible material compensates for the moisture. * Read at meeting of the American Public Health Association, Minneapolis, Nov. 3, 1899. Reprinted from the Transactions. 5. In view of the results, as obtained in England and Germany, there appears to be no reason why the same methods of disposal, under the same limitations and conditions, should not be equally successful in this country. The lapse of a year since the report referred to was made has brought out some interesting facts, adding to our knowledge in several important particulars, that promise to be of service in the future. The methods of reduction, or the conversion of garbage by mechanical or chemical process into commercial products, have not much changed. The city of Boston brought into use a large and elaborately equipped plant for the daily conversion of 200 tons of separated garbage. The plant is operated by the same company that controls the work in Philadelphia and New York, and the garbage is taken from the city dumps in the scows of the company to the works, six miles down the harbor. The introduction of an improved system of presses provides for the continuous crushing of the garbage to extract the water and grease, under conditions which do not allow the escape of offensive odors. A further provision has been made for a system of conveyers and transfers which receive and dispose of the garbage without loss of time, and in a manner which prevents the escape of offensive fumes. This Boston plant is understood to be an improvement on any heretofore erected by this company or others. It may be considered a model equipment in every respect. When a sufficient amount of garbage, say from a population of 150,000 people or upwards, can be satisfactorily separated from other substances and, by the best improved agencies, be so treated, mechanically and chemically, as to be without offensive odors in the process, and when the works can be so situated that an expensive haul is not necessary, evidently reduction has a peculiar value, not only for its own purposes of obtaining grease and fertilizing material, but also because that it is practically impossible to destroy separated garbage by cremation, brought to the works in large amounts, unless a considerable quantity of fuel is employed. We know from experience that ten tons of garbage can be destroyed by a ton of coal, and if, to the cost of the coal, is added the cost of the labor, in localities where fuels are expensive, crema tion becomes burdensome. The question was put a short time ago to an English engineer whose experience has been great in the matter of burning municipal waste abroad, whether he could destroy the 350 or 400 tons of selected garbage then lying before him in a scow without the employment of coal or other fuel, and he unhesitatingly said that it could not be done. We must concede that under certain conditions the utilization process has not only a claim, but, so to speak, the right of way, as against other methods for the disposal of waste, and that, independent of the value to be derived from its mechanical treatment, some consideration should be paid to the argument that it is not only wise, but emphatically a duty, to restore to the ground in some form of fertilization the constituent parts of vegetable foods which have been taken from it. * * * ** On the other hand, the progress of cremation methods within the year has been steady, though slow. Several crematory furnaces have been built or are now being completed, and others are under contract. There are now over one hundred cities and towns in the United States investigating, advertising, seeking information, and awaiting the advent of a thoroughly satisfactory and efficient apparatus or methods for the disposal of their waste. But it is a significant fact that in the year past none of the large cities has signed contracts for disposal, though many opportunities have been offered. Chicago, Milwaukee, Louisville, Savannah, Atlanta, Albany, Binghamton, Manchester and many other places, have asked for proposals-in some instances two or three times over-and received tenders for crematory furnaces, and from companies specially organized to take up the work in various ways, but in each case the cities have declined to make awards. There appears to be an unwillingness to accept the plans offered, and a distrust of the appliances or measures proposed, as being unsuitable for one or another reason. The chief points in which improvements of the present methods are to be made are: a. The certainty of disposing of waste without creating a nuisance in the operation. b. The reduction of the cost of cremating by employing the waste itself as fuel. c. The separation, at small expense, of articles and substances found in municipal waste that have value and are marketable. d. The utilization of the surplus heat from burning waste for useful purposes. a. Primarily, the removal and destruction of useless and offensive matter from the community for the public protection and public comfort is the pupose and end of all our efforts. No consideration must be allowed to supersede or interfere with the sanitary side of this question; therefore, no reduction process or crematory furnace can ever be successful that does not give immunity from nuisance in performing its work. That it is entirely possible to destroy waste by fire, with no objectionable results, has been repeatedly proven by many examples; and it may be assumed at once that, with the use of the best methods and apparatus, and continued attention, everything worthless, dangerous and offensive produced by a town or city can be burned without creating nuisance. With this principle clearly defined and accomplished, all else is possible; without it nothing in this work can be of permanent value or service. b. Nearly every one of the cremating furnaces now in use destroys the garbage by main force, so to speak. They proceed by separating the putrescible matters-placing this in large quantities in a furnace and using fuel to consume it. But little attempt is made to utilize the combustible rubbish; this, as a rule, goes with the ashes to the dumps, and there creates trouble and annoy ance. Thus the cost of fuel becomes an important factor, and has often decided the question against cremation in localities where fuels are expensive. There has been a considerable decrease in operating expenses since the beginning of this work ten years ago, but this item can be brought still lower, or eliminated altogether, by bringing into use apparatus and means which latest experiments have shown to be successful. It should be remembered that every ton of average separated garbage contains from 1,400 to 1,600 pounds of water, that must be evaporated before combustion begins, and that the heat-producing value of garbage, when burned in closed furnaces, is about one-tenth of an equivalent amount of coal. But a preliminary drying-out of a charge of garbage and bringing it into a condition |