of furnaces and lofty chimneys, for connecting the sewers with the furnaces, or above them with their shafts; fears have been expressed by some that permitting the sewer gases to come in contact with fire would be attended with danger; if there is any importance to be attached to this, which is not entertained by those who are best able to judge, the difficulty may be met by a variety of means, both mechanical and chemical, but we have it on the authority of Professor Faraday, that the assumed difficulty is not likely to exist, for we find him saying, in his evidence before a committee of the House of Commons, "I have often thought that the many furnace and engine flues that rise up so abundantly in many parts of London, might be made to compensate in part for the nuisance which the smoke occasions, by being turned to account in ventilating the sewers, and burning the putrid vapours generated in them."

And again, we find the following in Mr. Hayward's report to the Commissioners of the City Sewers: "The experiment in Friar-street proved the practicability of depriving those gases (the sewer gases) of their noxious smell and character as rapidly as they were drawn out by passing the jet through a coke fire." And again, "if only a few of the private furnace shafts in the City were connected with the sewers, they would be a valuable assistance to the existing or any other mode of ventilation."

Second suggestion.-That the public lamp posts, sufficiently removed from houses, should be connected with the sewers; this I lay great stress on, because the lamp pillars being public property, and under the control of the local authorities, the difficulty of dealing with private interests would not arise, and the increased temperature at night, caused by the burning gas in the lamps, would greatly aid the upward current; and again, the immense area over which these lamps are often spead would meet one of the great requirements of any system of sewer ventilation, for all admit that to be thoroughly effective, the appliances must be widely diffused.

If, however, objections are made on the score of possible annoyance to the frequenters of the public thoroughfare, it is but to introduce a charcoal filter into the lamp post or line of flue, and the difficulty is got over; but I believe it is an admitted fact, that the air breathed out of doors is confined to a stratum of about six feet above the ground, except under disturbed conditions of the atmosphere, as in high winds.

The third suggestion is to make the ordinary street gully gratings serve the purpose of ventilators as well as their present use. (See diagram.)

As in the case of the lamp pillars, the gully gratings being public property and widely diffused, great facility for their use is obtained; those at low levels would serve as inlets for atmospheric air to dilute the sewer gases, and those on high levels as outlets for their escape; of course in this case the charcoal filter is indispensable, the outlet being below the breathing line.

There have been many advocates for a system of pipes and tubes to be placed against the houses, but as this would interfere with private rights, and to a certain extent be an eyesore, besides entailing (in the cases of houses situated at a distance from the public road, as suburban villas) a considerable length of special drain, would prove generally objectionable.

The importance and absolute necessity of sewer ventilation is now admitted by all who have given the subject serious consideration, and its value has been proved in those places where it has been adopted.

Innumerable private and many public opinions and cases could be quoted, but I will content myself with two or three.

A writer in one of our leading scientific journals says, "Having for many years devoted much time to investigations respecting the cause and distribution of disease, I have long since come to the conclusion that, with the exception of bad water, more disease is engendered by sewer gases (from imperfect drains and water-closets) than from all other preventable causes."

Again, in the last blue book on the public health lately issued, we find that "at Rugby, Carlisle, Worthing, and Chelmsford, the sewage is received into pumping works at the outfalls in such a manner as to retain much of the sewer gases, and the result is, the atmosphere being charged with the gases arising from decomposing organic matter, there is no considerable reduction in typhoid. . . . . Sewer gases, we may be sure, must be disease-dealing agents of the greatest powers for evil wherever they occur. Excreta in the form of gas is as fatal as in any other guise."

Again, another writer in one of our journals says, "In one town which has been drained on these principles (with a system of ventilation) the cost has not exceeded for ventilation 10s. per house, and the results are the reduction of the mortality from zymotic diseases to the extent of 50 per cent. during the last five years, since the works were completed, compared with a period of ten years immediately preceding that time. The reduction of the death rate is not the only advantage, the reduction of the number of days of sickness

of the people is of vast calculable advantage. The owners of house property are directly interested in these things in a pecuniary way; for if the man and his family are made sick the one cannot work and the others become a burden: soon he finds he cannot pay his rent, and goes to another house of lower rent; and too often this goes on until he finds his way to the workhouse, and becomes a burden upon the whole community."

Again, from The Builder, Dec. 21st, 1867: "In March, 1867, the Liverpool Corporation came to the determination to ventilate the sewers of the borough, and without loss of time the work was in rapid progress. At a meeting of the Liverpool Burial Board, in September following, it was stated that the number of interments during the past month were only 413 compared with 786 in the same month of last year, showing a decrease of 373, and ever since the sewers have been ventilated the death rate had sensibly decreased in the borough."

Again, at Leek a system of sewer ventilation has been practically tested for the last six years, and Dr. Farrow, sent to report on the results, says, "During the six years previous to the drainage works the mean number of members belonging to the Sick Burial Society was 5,178, and the total number of deaths 984, and the average age at death 18 66. During the six years since the drainage works came into operation it stands thus: Mean number of members 5,988, number of deaths 608, average age at death 27-06 years, showing the decrease in the number of deaths, corrected for the increase of members, to be 4.75, which is equal to a decrease in the annual rate of mortality of 13-24 to 1000 of the living.

"I estimate the total number of weeks sickness prevented amongst these persons during the last six years to be upwards of 40,000. It is found that one-third of the total amount of sickness experienced occurs between the ages of fifteen and fifty-five. Supposing each male between these ages to earn 10s. per week, and each female 5s. per week, and the medical and other expenses attending each person sick to be 10s., and the cost of each funeral £5, the total saving to this portion of the community under these heads during the six years amounts to £2000 more than the cost of the whole drainage works. And supposing the same state of things that has existed during the last six years to continue during the after life of the present members of this society, the total saving that will have resulted to them under these heads when the last shall have died off will be £61,978."

NOTES ON THE BLIGHTS OF CORN, WITH SUGGESTIONS FOR THEIR EXTERMINATION.

BY THE REV. R. KIRWAN, M.A., RECTOR OF GITTISHAM.

THE different varieties of our corn crops, from the time the seed is committed to the ground until it arrives at maturity, are exposed to the attacks of maladies to which the generic name of blight is given. These maladies are usually attributed to some atmospheric phenomenon sudden in its operations, so that the farmer will confidently name the particular day on which the evil occurred, and will refer to a thunderstorm or to a sea-fog to which he believes the mischief is due. In this, however, as in many other popular notions, there is much fallacy, and closer observation will show that the evil has been long at work, though probably it has escaped observation. Some abnormal condition of the atmosphere, either excessive wet on the one hand, or drought on the other, may indeed tend to intensify the evil; but that is a very different point, and one the force of which it is easy to appre

ciate.

These observations are applicable to blight in both its forms, whether induced by the attacks of different varieties of parasitic fungi, or due to the ravages of some minute form of insect.

I. Of diseases which are of a fungoid parasitic nature, those most commonly met with are known popularly as "Smut," "Bunt," "Rust," and "Mildew." These are all due to the ravages of true epiphytal parasites, similar to those which are known to be abundantly diffused everywhere. They affect every part of the plant in which their mycelium can obtain an habitat. Not only the leaves and stems, but even the several parts of the flower are affected, and at different stages of the growth; thus the healthy condition of the plant is interfered with, and consequently its productive powers are more or less deteriorated.