Mofussil Municipalities' Act prescribe the hours (usually from 8 P. M. to 8 A. M.) within which refuse may be deposited, and these bye-laws should be strictly enforced for the general comfort and health of the inhabitants. //In some towns fixed dust-boxes are placed in the streets, but they are not to be recommended: they are unsightly and soon become foci of filth and foul smells. //

Dr. Janes, of New York, one of the Sanitary Inspectors of that city, says, "The garbage-box is another nuisance which deserves particular attention: they are generally placed on the side walks, and are either constantly full or never completely emptied. Very few of them are without signs of demolition, many have but three sides, some but two, and not one in the whole district has a cover. It is not unusual to see these boxes day by day receiving their accustomed load until filled to their utmost capacity, the gutter receiving the surplus, which forms a temporary dam, allowing the collection and retention of foul water. No effort is made to thoroughly empty these boxes, consequently more or less foul matter adheres to their bottom and sides, sending off an odour more disgusting, if possible, than it was before the mass was disturbed; thus the boxes become so completely saturated with the liquid portion of their contents, that they become themselves a source of disease.”

The deposit of garbage on the road sides and streets is also most objectionable; in the rainy season especially a considerable amount of effete organic matter is washed out of the heap and either carried into the drains or spread over the road surface, giving rise to mephetic odours and adding to the impurity of the atmosphere.

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Use of Sweepings for Tank-filling.

vancy arrangement 'which is deserving of the strongest condemnation.' I allude to the practice of filling up hollow places, broken ground, and even tanks with the off scourings and filth of the city. Probably no more certain method of generating and perpetuating cholera could be devised than this said filling up of old tanks with decaying organic matter." Referring to the proposal to carry out all the sweepings of Calcutta to the saltwater lakes, Dr. Smith says, "I believe it will prove a gigantic and intolerable nuisance. I cannot believe that all the abominable sweepings of Calcutta could be deposited within two or three miles of its eastern boundary, (on land liable by chance to be flooded) without ere long creating an atmosphere of putrefaction and foetor such as would drive the inhabitants of Entally either into the law courts, hospitals, or graveyards." This opinion was given in 1869, since which time the very practice condemned by Dr. Smith in such strong terms has been in force, and Entally still stands where it did.

The practice has been in vogue in the suburbs of Calcutta for years, and no evil results have ever been experienced beyond temporary inconvenience. The present Surgeon-General of Bengal, when Health Officer of Calcutta, and who himself followed the practice, says, Respecting the use of road-sweepings for filling tanks, I find that for some years past, the Sanitary Commissioner for Bengal, Dr. Coates, has adopted it in all provincial municipalities; and the Officiating Sanitary Commissioner, Dr. Lethbridge, urges its continuance during his incumbency. The practice is common in European towns."

Harmless though the practice may be however, so far

Tank-filling not objectionable.

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as its being a direct producer of disease, it cannot be said to be altogether inoffensive; so long as the sweepings and refuse are dry, no great offence is caused; but during the rains when the hollow gets filled up with water, or if the stuff is emptied into a pond already containing water, the result is often the creation of a serious nuisance. Where it is so, however, it may, in nearly every case, be ascribed to want of care on the part of the persons in charge, for where proper precautions are taken, the deposit of sweepings in tanks, even in populous localities, has been continued for several years without giving rise to serious complaint, or to any known outbreak of sickness, and where any very offensive smell has been caused, it has generally been traced to the improper deposit of dead animals, or night-soil into the hollow.

Where a deposit of the kind becomes offensive, the only remedial measures which are of any real service are, at once to cover the deposit with a good coating of fresh earth, and where there is a collection of foul water at the bottom of the hollow, the addition of a few gallons of cold saturated solution. of alum will cause the organic matters in suspension to be precipitated, after which milk of lime may be added, and the air may be cleared of offensive vapours by burning a small quantity of sulphur.

In commencing to fill up such hollows with town sweepings, therefore, the following rules should be attended to.

Do not commence to fill any tank unless the department can guarantee the completion of the work by the setting in of the following rainy season. This is easily as