Scientific American Supplement, No. 421, page 29 by Various Authors
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from barracks is that every decomposable substance should be taken away at once. This principle applies especially in warm climates. Even the daily removal of refuse entails the necessity of places for the deposit of the refuse, and therefore this principle must be applied in various ways to suit local convenience. In open situations, exposed to cool winds, there is less danger of injury to health from decomposing matters than there would be in hot, moist, or close positions. In the country generally there is less risk of injury than in close parts of towns. These considerations show that the same stringency is not necessarily required everywhere. Position by itself affords a certain degree of protection from nuisance. The amount of decomposing matter usually produced is also another point to be considered. A small daily product is not, of course, so injurious as a large product. Even the manner of accumulating decomposing substances influences their effect on health. There is less risk from a dung heap to the leeward than to the windward of a barrack. The receptacles in which refuse is temporarily placed, such as ash pits and manure pits, should never be below the level of the ground. If a deep pit is dug in the ground, into which the refuse is thrown in the intervals between times of removal, rain and surface water will mix with the refuse and hasten its decomposition, and generally the lowest part of the filth will not be removed, but will be left to fester and produce malaria. In all places where the occupation is permanent the following conditions should be attended to:
1. That the places of deposit be sufficiently removed from inhabited buildings to prevent any smell being perceived by the occupants. 2. That the places of deposit be above the level of the ground--never dug out of the ground. The floor of the ash pit or dung pit should be at least six inches above the surface level. 3. That the floor be paved with square sets, or flagged and drained. 4. That ash pits be covered. 5. That a space shoul