Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 29.djvu/870

850 other part of the Commonwealth as to the disposal of sewage and the protection of the public water-supplies therein. Its report is a carefully matured and valuable document, in which the subject is viewed under its various aspects, and results are given that may aid in forming judicious conclusions wherever problems of sewage disposal may present themselves. The bulk of the volume is given to the report of the engineer of the commission, Mr. Clarke, who first defines the problem in its general and detailed features, gives an account of all the elements that contribute to stream pollution in each town, the manner and present expense of dealing with a part or all of the objectionable matters, and refers to what actions have been taken or what opinions have been held by the local authorities on the subject. In a second part of the report he presents the general conclusions arrived at, in England and elsewhere, as to the best methods of sewage disposal under conditions similar to those of Eastern Massachusetts. This part is illustrated with particular accounts of the operation of the methods by filtration, irrigation, precipitation, etc., which are used in various towns in England, and photographic views. In the third part the conclusions with reference to methods are applied to each particular locality in the district whose needs are to be provided for. Among the engineer's conclusions is the hopeful one that manufacturers, as a class, are very intelligent, and there is no limit to the ingenuity they have displayed in devising processes and machinery for accomplishing desired ends. This ingenuity hitherto has not been directed toward purifying their refuse, because such purification has not been considered necessary. The mechanical problems involved are not so difficult but that they probably can be solved, if only intelligent efforts and experiments are made in that direction. As an offset to this is the fact, not so encouraging, that "it is much easier to design a proper system of sewerage than to remedy the defects of one already constructed. Indeed, thoroughly to do the latter is wellnigh impossible. Unfortunately, the sewers in many towns of the State have been built piecemeal and without any system. First, a single drain is built, chiefly to remove surplus rain-water. It discharges little or no sewage, and the pollution of the outlet is thought to be unimportant. House-drains are afterward connected with it, so that it assumes the functions of a sewer. Then another branch sewer connecting with it is built, and from time to time more are added. So a network of pipes grows up, without system, and without adaptation of one pipe to the others. The sewers work badly, and the amount of sewage discharged at the outlet begins to make a nuisance. Then, perhaps, but not before, some expert in sewerage is called into consultation. It is, however, too late—the mischief has been done—and he rarely can suggest any but palliative measures, unless the town is willing to abandon all of the work already done, and begin again de novo. Many nuisances and much expense would be avoided if it were required in the future that no towns should be allowed to build sewers except such as formed parts of a well-digested scheme for the whole town; which scheme provided for the proper disposal of the present and prospective amounts of sewage, and had first been submitted to, and approved by, some experts appointed by the State. The same principle applies to manufactories."

author presents this essay as "a study of the principles controlling the laws of exchange." He believes that the course of business is governed by fixed natural laws, and that those laws correspond, as it were, with the law of motion, which goes along the line of least resistance, and is also subject to the law of rhythm. By the latter law, the ups and downs of business are regular in their recurrence, or periodical. No attempt to account for commercial fluctuations can be successful that loses sight of this. We may assign what particular causes may be most apparent for the stimulation of speculative movements or for the prevalence of failures. They may all have their influence; but that influence works in with the rhythmic movement, not against it or independently of it. The author calculates