afford much interesting information on the present state of this question, and we particularly commend them to public and general attention. We recommend the subject as worthy the patronage of the wealthy and philanthropic, as a means of raising the public sanitary condition of cities. Those who "cast their bread on the waters" in this way give to receive again.

XXXIX. WE RECOMMEND that public bathing-houses and wash-houses be established in all cities and villages.

Within the last few years, a new movement for the general and sanitary benefit of the poor has been made, in the establishment of public bathing-houses and wash-houses. Liverpool has the honor of originating the idea, and of erecting the first institution, which was opened the 28th of May, 1842. A second one was erected there in 1847. The statistics of these two establishments show that the public patronage has been annually increasing from their commencement, and that, during the year ending August 31, 1849, the number of baths taken was 104,691; the number of dozen clothes washed, 120,875; the receipts were £1,230 4s. 11d., and the expenses £1,392 17s. Dr. Duncan, the Medical Officer of Health of Liverpool, to whose kind attention we are much indebted, wrote us on the 4th of December last:-" You will observe that the income nearly, but not quite, equals the expenditure; but so well satisfied are the town council of the benefits conferred on the working classes by these establishments, that they have recently decided to erect six additional baths and wash-houses in. different districts of the borough, at a cost of £25,000. The land for four of these buildings is purchased, and one of them is now in course of erection. This will contain two plunge baths, one 42 by 27 feet, and the other 39 by 27 feet; 49 dressing boxes, 87 washing halls, 8 infected washing halls, 10 first class private baths, and 33 second and third class."

The example of Liverpool has been followed in many other places in Great Britain. Dr. John Robertson, of Manchester, furnished us with the following facts concerning a portion only of these institutions in that city. In three years, ending September, 1849, there had been given 79,408 baths, of which

30,242,-27,626 for men, 2,616 for women,-were of the first class; and 49,166,-43,377 for men, and 578 for women,were of the second class. There had been 16,907 washers, and 594,294 dozen articles washed. The receipts had been £1,227, and the expenses £1,194, leaving a balance in their favor, for the three years, of £33.

Dr. Simon, of London, says, in his report, already referred to, that "the committee for promoting the establishment of baths and wash-houses, having Sir H. Dukinfield for its chairman, and including in its number, with other influential persons, several members of this corporation, founded, at great pains and expense, a model institution at Goulston Square, Whitechapel. In spite of many circumstances conspiring to render this first and experimental establishment particularly expensive, it has more than supported itself by the small payments of the poor; and its arrangements are sufficiently extensive for it to have given on one day as many as 932 baths. This fact having occurred in the first year of its establishment, shows how much the poor must have appreciated the additional comfort placed within their reach; and I may add, that, from the first opening of the building, the annual receipts have been progressively on the increase. Somewhat earlier, and under the influence of the same parent committee, though specially directed by a branch committee, a similar establishment was founded in George St., Euston Square. During the year 1848, the number of payments made here for bathing was 111,788; the number of payments for washing in the laundries, 246,760. This establishment has not only proved self-supporting, but has been enabled to accumulate a large surplus, which is now being applied to enlarge and improve the building. At Glasshouse Yard, near the entrance to the London Docks, there has been founded, on the same model, a small establishment of free baths and washhouses for the destitute poor. It was opened in May, 1845. In its first year, the baths given amounted to 27,662; the usings of the laundry, to 35,840; and its total working expenses were covered by £378.

"No language, however eloquent, no comment, however instructive, could equal the significance of the figures which I have cited, as illustrating the great utility of these institutions;

and, as regards their pecuniary success, it is impossible to furnish you with better testimony than is comprised in the fact, that the guardians of the poor in a great metropolitan parish have recently, out of the poor-rates, founded an institution of this nature. They have become witnesses to the financial economy of that sanitary and social boon. In their establishment, which is not only self-supporting but amply remunerative, the poor are enabled to have baths at an expense of a penny for a cold and two pence for a warm bath; and the women are enabled to do their washing, ironing, and drying, with an unlimited water supply, and with other arrangements of the most admirable completeness, at an expense of only two pence for the first two hours during which they occupy the separate chambers allotted to them. A very considerable proportion of the expense is covered by the receipts for baths given at the higher price of six pence, and with some additional luxuries, to persons of a higher grade in society than those who use the ordinary baths; the former, though used by a different class of persons, being sought with almost as much avidity as the latter.

"In the sanitary point of view, I probably need not insist much on the advantages which these establishments have conferred. You will hardly doubt how good and wholesome a thing it has been for so many thousands to have had the means of cleansing their bodies and their clothing, who, in the absence of such facilities, must often have carried about their persons a long and offensive accumulation of dirt and sweat."

A movement was made by the city of New York to establish these institutions, and a valuable report on the subject, submitted to the Board of Aldermen, May 29, 1849, has been published. An act of incorporation was obtained from the legislature; but how far their proposed measures have been carried into effect we are not informed.

In Boston there are twelve or more bathing establishments, owned by individuals, who charge twenty-five cents for admission. At the Eolian Baths in Washington Street, fitted up in excellent style, those on Cragie's Bridge, and those on Warren Bridge, twelve and a half cents is charged. These establish

ments are much frequented, and, on a single Saturday night, 200 bathers are known to have been admitted to one of them. The sanitary advantages which would result to all, and especially to the poorer classes, by a more extended practice of bathing, have often been subjects of discussion. On the 7th of January, 1850, Dr. Samuel Cabot, Jr., read before the "Society in Aid of Social Improvement," a report on the subject, which was published. The Boston Bathing and Wash-house Company was incorporated, March 11, 1850, for the purpose of establishing bath and wash-houses in different parts of the city; and this organization, it is believed, if properly conducted, will serve all the purposes designed by such establishments.

XL. WE RECOMMEND that, whenever practicable, the refuse and sewage of cities and towns be collected, and applied to the purposes of agriculture.

The refuse and sewage of cities and villages are of great value as manure; and plans have been devised abroad to collect and apply them for agricultural purposes. Companies have been formed, estimates made, and experiments tried, to test their value, and to devise the best means by which they might be used. As to their great value all agree; but the different plans of collecting and distributing them, seem not as yet so fully tested as to warrant a recommendation of any particular one in preference to others. We insert some extracts from different works, and recommend the subject to the careful examination of those interested. Public urinals and public privies should be erected in every populous city and village, and placed under regulation of public authority, for the purpose of convenience, economy, and health.

"The value of manures as promoters of vegetation is known to result from their possession of the essential element, nitrogen, in the form of ammonia, with the subordinate properties of alkalies, phosphates, and sulphates. Now the experiments of Boussingault and Liebig have furnished us with the means of estimating the quantity of nitrogen contained in the excrements of a man, during one year, at 16.41 lbs., upon probable data, and also that this quantity is sufficient for the supply of 800 lbs. of wheat, rye, or oats, or of 900 lbs. of barley. This

be

is much more,' says Liebig, 'than it is necessary to add to an acre of land, in order to obtain, with the assistance of the nitrogen absorbed from the atmosphere, the richest crops every year. By adopting a system of rotation of crops, every town and farm might thus supply itself with the manure, which, besides containing the most nitrogen, contains also the most phosphates. By using, at the same time, bones and the lixiviated ashes of wood, animal excrements might be completely dispensed with on many kinds of soil. When human excrements are treated in a proper manner, so as to remove this moisture without permitting the escape of ammonia, they may put into such a form as will allow them to be transported even to great distances.' Making reasonable allowance for the reduced quantity produced by children, we shall be safe in assuming the nitrogen thus resulting from any amount of population to be equal to the supply required for affording 2 lbs. of bread per diem for every one of its members! Or assuming an average of 600 lbs. of wheat to be manured by each individual of the population of London, and taking this at two millions for a rough calculation, the manure thus produced is sufficient to supply the growth of wheat of a total weight of 1200 millions of pounds, or 535,714 tons. The total manuring matters, solid and liquid, produced in a town, allowing for those which are produced in manufactories and sewage water, are probably equal in weight to one ton annually for each member of the population, or two millions of tons produced in the metropolis. That this vast quantity of manure should be made available for agricultural production, is a principle which cannot be denied, and which is properly limitable only by the consideration of expense as weighed against the value of the results. The expense will be made up mainly of three items, viz.: of the collection, of the raising, and of the distribution of the refuse matters."

"A very reduced estimate of the value, for manure, of the excreta of human beings, (reduced avowedly for the sake of gaining public belief,) represents it at 5s. for each person, annually. The value of the produce of the population of London would thus be £500,000 per annum. Admitting one-half