I frequently meet friends who say, 'I've been reading that article of yours about the earth,' and so forth, and then, after patting one on the back and being charmingly complimentary, they generally end by asserting that, after all, the convenience of the water-closet more than counteracts its disadvantages. The fascinations of this winsome apparatus seem unconquerable, and one is bound to confess that—provided the machine be of a good pattern and well made; provided the plumber who sets it has knowledge and a conscience; provided those who use it do not try its constitution with brickbats and old boots; provided there is not a frost; and provided there is not a drought—it does sweep out of the Cockney's house material of the use of which he is ignorant, and for which he has no market. All the difficulties and dangers of the water-closet are on the far side of the trap, and do not trouble the householder. I feel inclined to paraphrase the words which King Lear used to something equally fascinating and, as he found, equally treacherous:— 'But to the syphon do the gods inherit, Beneath is all the fiends'.... Give me an ounce of civet, good apothecary, To sweeten my imagination.' As a champion of individual liberty, I would say that those who in country places wish for water-closets should pay for them, and those who, for conscience' sake, do not pollute the rivers or starve the soil should not be taxed to pay for the misdeeds of those who do. FOOTNOTES: [3] Discourse delivered at the Royal Institution of Great Britain, Friday, April 24, 1896. [4] _Essays on Rural Hygiene_, 2nd ed. 1894. Longmans. [5] Delivered before the Nottingham Medico-Chirurgical Society on Oct. 30, 1895. [6] Parkes' _Hygiene_, 8th edition, p. 10. [7] _Bacteria and their Products_, p. 394. Walter Scott, 1891. [8] Vol. i., p. 249. [9] _Essays on Rural Hygiene_, 2nd edition. Longmans, 1894. INDEX Andover, garden at, 37, 159 — well at, 63 Animals, housing of, 59 Anthrax, 153 Aspect of dwelling, 13 Bacterium coli commune, 142 Bedroom windows, 21 Building regulations, 104 — societies, 91 Bungalow facing south, 13 Cellarage window, 28 Cellars, 27 Cholderton experimental farm, 163, 167 Cholera, 154 Circulation of organic matter, the, 125 Classification of refuse, 84 Construction of wells, 61 Corridors, the ventilation of, 9 Cost of the dwelling, the, 112 Defects in planning, 1 Diphtheria, 153 Dry catch privy, 39 — method of treating urine, 49 — methods, 32, 49 — refuse, 89 — urinals, 55 Earth-closets, indoor, 44 Enteric fever, 154 Fauna of death, the, 135 Filtration gutters, 78 —, intermittent, 83 Flora of excrements, the, 137 Garden at Andover, 37, 159 Generation of heat by decaying refuse, 161 Hospital construction, 9, 10 Hotel bedrooms, 19 House, the typical London, 3 Houses, damp, 26 Housing of animals, 59