The unhealthiness of dwelling houses has been greatly iucreased by plumbing work defective in design, materials and in workmanship, through ignorance, but often through intention of builders. The consequence was a growing inclination with some to abandon all plumbing fixtures, to go back to the ill-famed privy in the backyard, and to follow the practice of throwing the slops from the kitchen upon the grounds in the rear yard.

But, cannot this risk be avoided with careful, conscientious and honest workmanship, carried out under the strict supervision of an expert? Is it such a difficult thing to have a proper and judicious arrangement of the drainage system?

I shall endeavor in the following pages to explain what the elements of a well devised system of house drainage and sanitary plumbing are. Much has been written of late about this subject. It has been well and thoroughly treated by able writers, and my paper can hardly claim much originality or novelty, but should be taken as the outgrowth of much study and experience.

The essentials of a perfect system of house drainage are simple and can be readily understood by any householder, when carefully explained. They involve nothing more than the proper application of well-known laws of nature; there is no mystery, no secrecy about any part of the work. Any one building a house is able to secure good drainage and a safe arrangement of the plumbing work without having to resort to any patented sys-tern. The proper way of laying and trapping drains, of ventilating soil and waste pipes, etc., cannot, in my judgment, be patented. The plumbing fixtures are, of course, mostly patented, as any useful appliance may be, and in speaking of these one cannot avoid recommending patented device

The entire sewage of the dwelling may deliver either into a regular system of sewers, or else discharge into an open water course; or - in the absence of either - it may run into a cesspool, be it a leaching cesspool, or a well-cemented, tight vault of brickwork; or finally, into a flushtank, to be disposed of on the ground by surface irrigation, or below the ground by the subsurface irrigation system.

So far as the arrangement of the inside plumbing work is concerned, it does not make any material difference which of the above systems of getting rid of the waste-water from habitations is available.*

Under all circumstances the three cardinal objects to be fulfilled by a perfect system of house drainage are:

1. To remove from the inside of the dwelling as quickly as possible all liquid and semi-liquid wastes, whether it be the soapy discharge from wash bowls, bath tubs and laundry tubs, or the vegetable refuse from the scullery sink, the greasy matter from kitchen and pantry sinks, or the foul discharges from slop sinks, urinals and water closets.

* It is not intended in this paper to discuss the merits and faults of these different methods of sewage disposal.

2. To prevent the foul gases originating from the decomposition of the above matters in the drain, sewer, cesspool or flushtank, from returning through the same channels into our dwellings.

3. To oxidize and render innocuous by a copious flushing with air the foul gases due to the possible putrefaction of waste matters within the house drains, soil and waste pipes, at the same time properly protecting all outlets of fixtures from the entrance of these gases.