_Pittsburg Methods._--When first taking up the problem of design in Pittsburg, in 1902, the writer had presented to him for consideration and adoption, a suggestion that a certain method of cleaning sand filters, which would involve the washing of the sand in place (similar to that recently tried at the Jerome Park Experiment Station, New York City), would be advisable and economical. The decision then made has never been regretted. As this plan involved such a complete departure from those principles which had been well tried and had proven successful, it was believed that it was not safe to adopt such a method on the municipal filtration works, from which the people were to derive their drinking water. There is more to be considered in such a problem than mere economy of operation; the economy of human life, the effect on which requires far longer than a few months of trial to determine, is a much more important factor. Believing that no one should depart, until after a long period of conclusive experimentation, from that principle which is known to be safe (viz., to take off a small portion of the clogging surface), the writer studied to determine more efficient and economical methods of accomplishing this end. A device for scraping the material, in just the same way as with shovels, but more efficiently and more exactly, was developed by George P. Baldwin, M. Am. Soc. C. E., under the general supervision of the Bureau of Filtration, of which the writer was in charge. However, on account of the unfortunate and earlier arrangement of other constructive matters, which the City's Legal Department advised could not be changed without upsetting the contract, the entrance doors to the original forty-six filters were not built large enough to permit the rapid and economical transfer of these machines, and, as this act takes so large a proportion of the total time of operation, it has not been found economical to use them. The additional ten filters, recently constructed, with doors especially designed and large enough to pass the machines, have not yet been placed in operation. This is said to be on account of lack of funds and of employees. Therefore, there has been no opportunity to demonstrate what the scraping machines can do, under the conditions for which they were designed to operate. The restoring machine, a complementary device in mechanical operation, which simply replaces the sand in the same condition that it would be if wheeled back, but, with a small percentage of moisture, has accomplished its purpose well and economically. The sand is placed in the filters so that there is no further settling; with a smooth surface, needing no additional adjustment; with absolutely no possibility of sub-surface clogging; and with the filters starting off exceedingly well in operative results.