W. M. Dexter, East Providence, R. I., writes:

"Can you give me any information upon the effects of steam from the waste of steam heating (coming direct from a steam boiler, pressure, say 60 to 80 pounds) upon vitrified drain pipe cemented at joints thereof, the pressure in the drain being from two to six pounds, perhaps?

"There is a manufactory which is turning steam, such as above, directly into drain pipes with ordinary traps, without trying to condense same in water. Will the use of steam in the manner above be injurious to drain pipes in the long run or not ? "

[William Webb, foreman of the New York Bureau of Sewers, has observed that iron pipes having steam discharged into them become weakened, displaced, and more liable to break and leak, and that tile pipe becomes saturated with moisture, crumbles away, and breaks easily, and loses the elasticity and clear metallic ring that new pipes have when struck; that cement in brick sewers is entirely disintegrated by the action of steam, and the loose brick may be easily removed, only dry sand remaining.

Mr. Webb does not think the cement used in the joints of tile pipes is sufficiently exposed to be injured, and has never observed any indications of its destruction by contact with steam.

The sewer regulations of this and other cities require that steam shall not be discharged into sewers. Besides the question of its effect on the materials of which the sewer is constructed, the sudden presence of it makes it unsafe for men to enter sewers for purposes of inspection, and the smell in them is rendered much worse than it otherwise would be.]