Beginning with wash basins, little of sanitary importance may be said with regard to them. If properly fitted with waste pipes of proper size and material aud efficiently protected by a good trap, they may be considered perfectly safe conveniences in dressing rooms. Their use in sleeping apartments, and in closets or boudoirs near bedrooms without independent ventilation, is attended with considerable risk, and the habit of putting stationary lavatories in such rooms, which has become so general nowadays, should be earnestly discouraged, especially for such rooms, as are not continually occupied (summer residences, hotels, etc.).

Wash basins are mostly made in earthenware, this material being the cleanest and best for the purpose. Iron works, however, manufacture cheap iron wash-stands, plain, painted, galvanized, or enamelled, which may answer for office use, for prison cells, etc. Copper basins are rarely used.

Earthen bowls are attached by brass basin clamps to marble slabs, the joint between them being made tight by means of plaster-of-Paris. To prevent damage to ceilings the bowls are provided with a number of holes near the upper rim, leading to a short horn, to which the lead overflow pipe is attached. Some bowls have a "patent" overflow, a concealed channel in the side of the bowl.

The outlet of bowls is commonly closed by means of an india-rubber, brass, or plated plug, to which a chain is attached. The annoyance caused in lavatories of public places by too frequent breakage of the chain, necessitating the removal of the plug by placing the hands into the dirty water of the bowl used by some unknown person, has led to the invention of a number of valve wastes for bowls. In most of these, as for instance, McFarland's, Foley's, Boyle's valves and the Boston waste, the outlet is closed some distance away from the bowl, thus leaving the bowl in connection with the valve chamber, which, after each use, remains coated with soapsuds and foul slime. At the next use of the bowl the clean water will mingle with tins waste matter and become soiled even before use. Moreover, the valve chambers get more or less foul after use, and emit noxious smells into the rooms.

The only device which closes the bowl directly at its bottom is " Weaver's waste." By simply touching a knob, connected with a lever, the stopper in the bottom of the bowl is lifted and held in place.

Jenning's "tipup basins" also do away with chain and plug and are very cen-venient for use, as the basin is emptied by simply tilting it, thus discharging its contents into a bowl underneath, which is concentric with the upper basin, and to which the trapped waste is attached. It appears at first sight to be a cleanly device, but it gradually accumulates foulness in the lower basin, which receives no special cleansing, and for this reason tip up basins are not to be recommended, except where a stricter regard to cleanliness of plumbing fixtures is paid than is usual in most households.

The objection raised against most valve wastes for bowls, namely, that the walls remain coated with a more or less foul slime after emptying the bowl, is also true in regard to the bowl itself. In private houses these are, of course, well taken care of and daily cleaned; but in public lavatories, used rapidly in succession, a decided lack of cleanliness is felt. An entirely new departure in wash bowls, so far as this country is concerned - for it has been manufactured and sold in England - would be a flashing rim lavatory bowl, supplied with hot and cold water through a nozzle, to which both supply pipes are attached. By opening either faucet, hot or cold water, as desired would enter the bowl, simultaneously at all sides, and give it a thorough downward rinsing flush. The outlet of bowl may then be closed and the bowl filled with clean water. With such a flushing rim bowl some of the valve wastes would become unobjectionable even to the most fastidious.

To make the flashing rim lavatory perfect in neatness and cleanliness, the marble slab, to which the bowl is clamped, should be supported by handsome brackets of iron, brass or marble,. leaving off all carpentry underneath. The floor under the bowl and the rear wall may be neatly finished in white tiles, or in cement or terrazzo floor, so as to be impervious, thus doing away with the safe lining underneath the bowl. If tiling or a terrazzo floor is considered too expensive, a well finished hardwood floor should be used.

The arrangement suggested for fitting up lavatories applies equally to common bowls. Hitherto more or less tight woodwork has been used to encase the space under wash bowls in order to hide from view traps, supply and waste pipes, safe linings, drip pipes, etc. Such tight unventilated spaces with dark corners must necessarily accumulate dirt, and become damp from leaky fixtures, and nasty in general. With first class plumbing work it is unobjectionable to have lead pipes and traps in sight: leakage is easily detected, and cleanliness of servants better enforced where there is plenty of light and air around a wash basin.