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MODERN METHODS OF REFUSE DISPOSAL.
199
experience of Allan and Dickens. A somewhat dis- disposal of their refuse ; one method employed is to turbing result is a positive test in a woman at hand it over to a contractor, who often dumps it the menopause, other menopausal cases giving indiscriminately on some piece of land in the neighnegative results. Exceptions of this kind may bourhood of London, to the annoyance of the whole be a source of grave inconvenience, and Prof. adjacent district. Reorganisation is essential in Baisch, of Stuttgart, referring, as do other workers, these cases. An efficient service can do much, not to the drawbacks inherent in the use of experimental only to improve the methods, but to reduce the costs. animals for diagnosis, suggests that when a chemical Mr. A. E. Kennedy, speaking on this point, emphasised test forthe hormone is arrived at and the present round- the importance of expert control; workmen, lacking about method of detection is avoided, the test will a theoretical understanding of their occupation, cannot undoubtedly be very generally used. As yet, however, be expected to perform it efficiently without continual no known chemical tests are characteristic of the supervision. Dr. John Tate, of Middlesex, spoke of presence of the hormone. The bromine test biiefly the difficulty of rubbish disposal in poor districts described by Dr. C. Voge, of Edinburgh, may possibly where no suitable covering material is available ; the fall into this category; at present there is little evidence soil in Middlesex, being largely clay, is useless for the to support its claims. A specific chemical test for the purpose. Other methods of covering have been hormone would undoubtedly increase the application of suggested, such as that employed by Dr. D. H. Geffen, this valuable reaction, but it may be difficult to find. of Enfield, who makes the tip very narrow and covers Specific chemical tests for substances such as insulin the refuse with sleepers, over which the heavy vehicles or pituitrin are still wanting. containing refuse pass to the tip. While this method has the additional advantage of compressing the dump, there is
MODERN METHODS OF REFUSE DISPOSAL.
some
evidence that it does not exclude either
fly-breeding or invasion by rats. If the controlled dump method can be put into practice for a year, mjwevei.
uiie llr6u
win
AJ J’ UlltU U rU11L1C
llC4 V C nevci-
ULUiiijj DISPOSAL of refuse, as Mr. J. C. Dawes remarked in oped into suitable covering material, and the problem a paper read to the Society of Medical Officers of is thus permanently solved. The method is so free Health on Jan. 17th, was a problem in the Mosaic from annoyance that it is being employed at Bradford period, and has been a trouble ever since. At present, to build up the land round a local hospital, without the methods of solving it are six : by dumping, conoffence to the patients or staff. The material of trolled dumping, separation, incineration, pulverisa- any the dump is of value to bricklayers, but if it is to be tion, and dumping into the sea. The first and the suitable for their it must on no account last have little to recommend them, but the’ inter- be earth covered ;purposes material should be covering mediate methods, if properly employed, are reasonably obtained from " dead " The question of dumps. good. In choosing a method three principles are to salvage from refuse is a vexed one ; rags are of value be observed : that the method should be sanitary, but should not be handled until they have been kept that it should be completed in one operation, and that at a of 140° C. for 40 minutes. This plan temperature it should cost as little as is compatible with the success is followed with success in some plants. " Tins " of the two foregoing conditions. Indiscriminate consist of best soft iron with a tin and should coating, dumping leads to annoyance by flies, rats, and crickets, be rescued for girder making ; bones are of value for and by offensive odours, especially when the dump glue, and 30 per cent. are wasted by incineration at Controlled dumping, however, can be present. The occupation of rubbish-picking, however, is on fire. extremely successful, and the city of Bradford offers a cannot be considered to be very desirable, and it is brilliant example of the value of this method. The questionable whether it should be allowed to continue. tipped refuse can be used to fill unsightly quarries, or Much could doubtless be done to reorganise the to raise and level fields, and is generally laid down in refuse disposal service ; in Cologne the refuse is never terraces six feet in depth if the dumping ground is seen by the dustman, who removes it in a closed consloping. The tipped refuse should be covered within tainer. This method is also employed in Birmingham, 72 hours by some incombustible material, and the where the corporation own a large number of containers not than 25 wide. should be more feet tipping-face -an example which might be followed with advantage At Bradford 200 tons of refuse are dumped daily, and the tip is complete and covered by five o’clock each day. The tipping-face is 21 feet wide, and hence an area of 21 feet by 6 is the only part of the dump TEMPORARY COMMISSIONS IN THE R.A.M.C. uncovered during the tipping period. Combustion has never occurred from this method, since the coverREVISED conditions under which temporary coming material excludes the air supply ; the flies and missions will in future be granted in the Royal Army crickets cannot approach the refuse, and rats cannot Medical Corps have now been approved by the War occupy holes in the dump owing to the compression Office. An applicant must be a duly qualified medical of the materials, and the absence of voids and half- practitioner, registered under the Medical Acts in force empty containers. On the other hand the conditions in Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Pay will be favour the multiplication of anserobic organisms, which at pay warrant rates, as for an officer of his rank in destroy the putrescible contents of the refuse and gradu- the R.A.M.C., and allowances as for a regular officer ally render it innocuous. This method is chiefly will be issued. In addition, on conclusion of his valuable where there is land to spare for dumping, and temporary service a bonus of 2100 will be paid for where a good covering material can be easily and each completed year of satisfactory service. cheaply obtained; at Bradford road-sweepings make a Approved candidates will be appointed in the rank large part of the covering material, and the dump is of lieutenant. After three and a half years of temquickly grassed over owing to its fertility. Where this porary service officers will, if duly recommended, be method cannot be employed, owing either to lack of promoted to the rank of captain with the appropriate available space or suitable covering material, incinera- rate of pay and allowances. A refund (up to i:40) tion in a modern plant is a convenient method of refuse will be made of reasonable expenditure on articles of destruction. In the Blackpool plant the daily supply uniform which an approved candidate is specifically of refuse can be destroyed at one operation ; the pro- instructed by the War Office to obtain on appointment. cess includes sifting out of dust, removal of metals by If subsequently appointed to a permanent commission a highly magnetised field, and, finally, combustion of he will receive the difference between 950 and any the tailings ; since these contain little dust the smoke sum already issued to him as outfit allowance. An production is reduced to a minimum. officer appointed to a temporary commission under the Dr. Charles Porter spoke of the need for legislation above conditions will be eligible for selection for a which should insist on adequate and accessible domi- permanent commission provided he is not over 28 ciliary arrangements for the storage of refuse. Dis- years of age ; in reckoning age for this purpose an tricts in central London have great difficulty in the officer will be allowed to deduct from his actual age
elsewhere.
---
experience of Allan and Dickens. A somewhat dis- disposal of their refuse ; one method employed is to turbing result is a positive test in a woman at hand it over to a contractor, who often dumps it the menopause, other menopausal cases giving indiscriminately on some piece of land in the neighnegative results. Exceptions of this kind may bourhood of London, to the annoyance of the whole be a source of grave inconvenience, and Prof. adjacent district. Reorganisation is essential in Baisch, of Stuttgart, referring, as do other workers, these cases. An efficient service can do much, not to the drawbacks inherent in the use of experimental only to improve the methods, but to reduce the costs. animals for diagnosis, suggests that when a chemical Mr. A. E. Kennedy, speaking on this point, emphasised test forthe hormone is arrived at and the present round- the importance of expert control; workmen, lacking about method of detection is avoided, the test will a theoretical understanding of their occupation, cannot undoubtedly be very generally used. As yet, however, be expected to perform it efficiently without continual no known chemical tests are characteristic of the supervision. Dr. John Tate, of Middlesex, spoke of presence of the hormone. The bromine test biiefly the difficulty of rubbish disposal in poor districts described by Dr. C. Voge, of Edinburgh, may possibly where no suitable covering material is available ; the fall into this category; at present there is little evidence soil in Middlesex, being largely clay, is useless for the to support its claims. A specific chemical test for the purpose. Other methods of covering have been hormone would undoubtedly increase the application of suggested, such as that employed by Dr. D. H. Geffen, this valuable reaction, but it may be difficult to find. of Enfield, who makes the tip very narrow and covers Specific chemical tests for substances such as insulin the refuse with sleepers, over which the heavy vehicles or pituitrin are still wanting. containing refuse pass to the tip. While this method has the additional advantage of compressing the dump, there is
MODERN METHODS OF REFUSE DISPOSAL.
some
evidence that it does not exclude either
fly-breeding or invasion by rats. If the controlled dump method can be put into practice for a year, mjwevei.
uiie llr6u
win
AJ J’ UlltU U rU11L1C
llC4 V C nevci-
ULUiiijj DISPOSAL of refuse, as Mr. J. C. Dawes remarked in oped into suitable covering material, and the problem a paper read to the Society of Medical Officers of is thus permanently solved. The method is so free Health on Jan. 17th, was a problem in the Mosaic from annoyance that it is being employed at Bradford period, and has been a trouble ever since. At present, to build up the land round a local hospital, without the methods of solving it are six : by dumping, conoffence to the patients or staff. The material of trolled dumping, separation, incineration, pulverisa- any the dump is of value to bricklayers, but if it is to be tion, and dumping into the sea. The first and the suitable for their it must on no account last have little to recommend them, but the’ inter- be earth covered ;purposes material should be covering mediate methods, if properly employed, are reasonably obtained from " dead " The question of dumps. good. In choosing a method three principles are to salvage from refuse is a vexed one ; rags are of value be observed : that the method should be sanitary, but should not be handled until they have been kept that it should be completed in one operation, and that at a of 140° C. for 40 minutes. This plan temperature it should cost as little as is compatible with the success is followed with success in some plants. " Tins " of the two foregoing conditions. Indiscriminate consist of best soft iron with a tin and should coating, dumping leads to annoyance by flies, rats, and crickets, be rescued for girder making ; bones are of value for and by offensive odours, especially when the dump glue, and 30 per cent. are wasted by incineration at Controlled dumping, however, can be present. The occupation of rubbish-picking, however, is on fire. extremely successful, and the city of Bradford offers a cannot be considered to be very desirable, and it is brilliant example of the value of this method. The questionable whether it should be allowed to continue. tipped refuse can be used to fill unsightly quarries, or Much could doubtless be done to reorganise the to raise and level fields, and is generally laid down in refuse disposal service ; in Cologne the refuse is never terraces six feet in depth if the dumping ground is seen by the dustman, who removes it in a closed consloping. The tipped refuse should be covered within tainer. This method is also employed in Birmingham, 72 hours by some incombustible material, and the where the corporation own a large number of containers not than 25 wide. should be more feet tipping-face -an example which might be followed with advantage At Bradford 200 tons of refuse are dumped daily, and the tip is complete and covered by five o’clock each day. The tipping-face is 21 feet wide, and hence an area of 21 feet by 6 is the only part of the dump TEMPORARY COMMISSIONS IN THE R.A.M.C. uncovered during the tipping period. Combustion has never occurred from this method, since the coverREVISED conditions under which temporary coming material excludes the air supply ; the flies and missions will in future be granted in the Royal Army crickets cannot approach the refuse, and rats cannot Medical Corps have now been approved by the War occupy holes in the dump owing to the compression Office. An applicant must be a duly qualified medical of the materials, and the absence of voids and half- practitioner, registered under the Medical Acts in force empty containers. On the other hand the conditions in Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Pay will be favour the multiplication of anserobic organisms, which at pay warrant rates, as for an officer of his rank in destroy the putrescible contents of the refuse and gradu- the R.A.M.C., and allowances as for a regular officer ally render it innocuous. This method is chiefly will be issued. In addition, on conclusion of his valuable where there is land to spare for dumping, and temporary service a bonus of 2100 will be paid for where a good covering material can be easily and each completed year of satisfactory service. cheaply obtained; at Bradford road-sweepings make a Approved candidates will be appointed in the rank large part of the covering material, and the dump is of lieutenant. After three and a half years of temquickly grassed over owing to its fertility. Where this porary service officers will, if duly recommended, be method cannot be employed, owing either to lack of promoted to the rank of captain with the appropriate available space or suitable covering material, incinera- rate of pay and allowances. A refund (up to i:40) tion in a modern plant is a convenient method of refuse will be made of reasonable expenditure on articles of destruction. In the Blackpool plant the daily supply uniform which an approved candidate is specifically of refuse can be destroyed at one operation ; the pro- instructed by the War Office to obtain on appointment. cess includes sifting out of dust, removal of metals by If subsequently appointed to a permanent commission a highly magnetised field, and, finally, combustion of he will receive the difference between 950 and any the tailings ; since these contain little dust the smoke sum already issued to him as outfit allowance. An production is reduced to a minimum. officer appointed to a temporary commission under the Dr. Charles Porter spoke of the need for legislation above conditions will be eligible for selection for a which should insist on adequate and accessible domi- permanent commission provided he is not over 28 ciliary arrangements for the storage of refuse. Dis- years of age ; in reckoning age for this purpose an tricts in central London have great difficulty in the officer will be allowed to deduct from his actual age
elsewhere.
---