The Southern Architect 3, no. 10 (August 1892)

he works—that is, his architectural surroundings—will tone down any too strongly developed tendency to realism. Why, even our foe, the frock-coated gentleman, might not pose amiss when twisted into a miserere or a gargoyle. Such are the few thoughts that seem to me to be important to us sculptors at the present day, and their importance to us means importance to the nation at large, for if art is to be of any use at all it must be in touch with the nation. As Mr. Frederick Harrison has lately said, when speaking of the great Gothic period of art and the memorials it has left to us : “These vast temples are the creations of generations of men, and the embodiment of entire epochs, and he who would know the middle ages should study in detail every carved figure, every painted window, each canopy, each relief, each portal in Amiens or Chatres, Rheims, Bourges, Lincoln or Salisbury, and he will find revealed to him more than he can read in a thousand books.” DISPOSAL OF SEWAGE FROM ISOLATED DWELL. INGS. IT is a very difficult matter nowadays to dispose of sewage from country houses with a due regard to modern sanitary requirements. Our forefathers found no trouble in the matter, for they regarded the smell of fermenting animal matter as one of those things that had to be borne, like the east wind, if indeed they did aver that it was actually healthful. They established a midden at the bottom of the garden, and somewhere nearer the house they dug a cess-pool, connected by a surface gutter with the scullery. All the slops were carried out in buckets and poured into the drain, after which, on the principle of “out of sight, out of mind,” no further consideration was given them. As a rule they leaked into the soil, and it was fortunate, if they did not gain access to the well, to eventually spread the attacks of low and typhus fever which used to periodically break out in our country places. There were, however, two saving features in this system. There were no water closets to dilute this mass of sewage; indeed, when all the water had to be raised from a well and carried in buckets, the amount used for all purposes was comparatively small. In the absence of water closets and fixed baths, there were no pipes inside the house to conduct deleterious gases into the various apartments, and a great danger which now exists was avoided. The progress of science and increase of refinement have now caused the midden to be looked upon as an abomination by the middle and upper classes, and it has been almost universally replaced by some other arrangement in their dwellings. A kind of compromise has been found in the “earth closet” or “pail” system, which is very widely used in some of the large towns in the north, as well as in the country. If this be well installed and managed with great care, it has a great deal to recommend it—at least in theory. In practice the results are often unpleasant, and users are always glad to replace it by the water-borne system of sewage disposal. As a matter of fact a house that is not fitted with water closets cannot be regarded as fulfilling the domestic requirements of our times, and its value for letting or selling is sensibly lessened. It is a comparatively easy matter to provide a house with efficient means of delivering its sewage beyond its precincts. The difficulty is to know what to do with it in the absence of a main drainage system into which it can be turned. If there is a a stream near, the temptation to pollute it is very strong, but fortunately the law is generally stronger still. The most obvious device is a cess-pool, and it is one that can be made to act fairly well for a short time. But with the lavish employment of water for bathing and washing now customary, a cess-pool is filled in a week or two, and then comes the difficulty of emptying it and disposing of its contents. By this time they are putrid and foul smelling, and must be dug into the ground, or distributed very widely over meadow land at a distance from the dwelling. In any case a temporary nuisance is created, and this recurs so often as to become practically continuous. The only conditions under which a tight cess-pool can be successfully employed are : That it shall be a considerable distance from the house, that there shall be plenty of land available, that labor shall be cheap, and that the householder shall not mind exposing his servants to risks that he objects to run himself. Of course nine-tenths of the difficulties can be avoided if the cess-pool be leaky; but such a condition is in flat contradiction to all accepted sanitary rules. This is however, one form of leaky cess-pool which is quite admissible, and when the configuration of the ground permits its use, it furnishes a fairly satisfactory solution of the sewage problem. If the foul liquid can be distributed through a large mass of porous earth, it is dealt with in a natural way, and rapidly oxidized by the agency of a certain class of beneficent bacteria. The necessary conditions are that there should be ample time and opportunity between each application of sewage for air to penetrate to every portion of the soil that has been fouled, to support the organizations which carry on the process of nitrification. Now, in a leaky cess-pool this does not usually occur, for the liquid is constantly dribbling away, and the earth it traverses becomes “sewage sick,” and unable to deal with it. To avoid this, the best method is to substitute for the usual cistern an automatic flushing tank, which will empty itself two or more times a day. The tank discharges into a series of garden or field drains laid as near the surface as possible, not deeper than twelve inches, along which the liquid rushes, a little escaping at each pipe joint. These drains, if laid in a fairly porous soil, never become water logged, and they form passages through which the air can readily flow. Indeed, care should be taken to provide them with ventilating openings. A meadow, or an orchard, is the most convenient place to lay such drains, as then they will not be interfered with by plowing or digging. This system would be practically perfect for most country houses of moderate size, were it not that it is essential to remove all solids and glutinous particles from the sewage to prevent them choking the drains. This involves some kind of catch chamber —it may be a tank to be emptied at intervals, or a perforated bucket that can be cleansed daily. In either case there is a very disagreeable operation to be performed by somebody, and a temporary nuisance. Still there are thousands of families that are quite resigned to put up with this evil, and also with a cess-pool that leaks to they know not wr here, but most probably under the foundations of their home. It is a great advantage to be able to direct the leakage into perfectly innocuous channels where the organic matter will be rapidly oxidized to organic nitrates. There are, however, many instances where even this simple system cannot be carried out. Take the case of the villa built on its half acre of flat land just beyond the limits of the sewage system of the town to which it is nominally connected. There is not sufficient fall to admit of the use of an automatic flushing tank, while a moderate sized tank will fill the cess-pool of six feet cube in ten days. Pumping must then be resorted to. If there is a well on the premises the only safe method is 243 THE SOUTHERN ARCHITECT.

to cart the sewage right away. But if there is an independent water supply the extreme end of the garden can be laid out for sub-surface irrigation, provided there be a deep porous soil. On a stiff clay foundation sewage experiments close to a house are quite inadmissible. But supposing the ground to be favorable in its nature, an earthenware pipe should be laid across it, and from this there should branch every three feet a line of draining pipes. If these can be laid in trenches filled up for half their depth with fine shingle or coarse sand, it is all the better. If a length of fifty or sixty feet can be secured for the drains a very considerable amount of sewage can be poured into them without creating a nuisance. The surface of the soil should be kept as open as possible, probably the best method being to utilize it for fruit bushes and to hoe it frequently. The smaller the available amount of land the greater must be the care taken in preparing it. The American experiments referred to above show that a bed of sand or small pebbles, five feet thick, can be relied upon to deal with from 20,000 to 100,000 gallons per day over an area of an acre ; that is, at most five square yards are required for each individual contributing to the sewage. With much less perfect appliances there should be no difficulty in getting rid of the liquid from a single dwelling. We should certainly hesitate in the neighborhood of a house to adopt the plan of applying the sewage to the surface of a sand filter, although it has been demonstrated that a layer of earth over the sand impairs the nitrifying process. We should fear lest the numerous insoluble particles caught on the surface of the filter should become unpleasant in hot weather, and require to be scraped off at too frequent intervals. The plan of subsoil irrigation avoids this difficulty to a very great extent, but naturally requires a much extended surface. Since the sewage of a family of seven persons only amounts to about one-third of the rainfall on a quarter-acre plot of land, it is not beyond what the ground can easily deal with, provided that there is sufficient percolation. A swamp will not purify sewage under any circumstances. The difficulties that beset the sanitation of the isolated villa type of residence are not felt nearly so acutely in the case of the country mansion or nobleman’s seat. Here there is always plenty of land available, and usually there is not the same necessity for limiting the cost of the works. The essentials are that the treatment shall entail very little trouble, and shall give an effluent that may be turned into a ditch or stream without creating any nuisance. Where it is absolutely necessary to raise the sewage, a windmill of the modern, or American, type may often be employed advantageously. A very awkward piece of work of this kind was recently carried out by Mr. W. Kaye Parry at the Rathdown Union, Loughlintown Co., Dublin. In this building the closets are arranged on the pail system, but there was a large amount of slop water which was collected in a pond, and eventually percolated through more adjacent gravel pits into the river. This water rapidly fermented and became foul to such an extent as to be a cause of complaint to the neighbors. The building was situated at the foot of the land connected with it, and hence the sewage could not be conducted away by gravitation. Mr. Parry arranged tivo tanks to receive the weekly flow of 30,000 gallons, with a pair of steam pumps to deliver the strained liquid into a distributing tank on the high land. The pumping is done four times a week, and the sewage is employed to irrigate eight plots of land, over any of which it can be directed by sluice valves. Each of the plots was accurately levelled, and at a depth of four feet beneath the surface a herring-bone system of agricultural drains was laid, discharging into a central main drain connected with an outfall drain. Part of the land is planted with osiers and part with Italian rye grass. The area of the land is three acres, and is more than is actually required. In this case there is no solid matter in the sewage, and even chance particles are carefully strained out, so the surface of the land cannot be choked. A system which entails the removal of the solid matter from sewage cannot be considered altogether satisfactory, since at intervals some one must be exposed to foul gases for a considerable time. The continental method Of emptying cess-pools by means of exhausted drums is too complicated for private use, and even it does not always prevent the escape of effluvia, as most people who have been out in Paris during the small hours of the morning are painfully aware. But so long as men can be found to undertake scavengers’ work at moderate wages, it is not. likely that owners of country houses will greatly concern themselves to deal with the solids of their sewage automatically. Indeed, it is doubtful whether it is possible to do so without creating a greater average nuisance than that arising from emptying a catch-pit at intervals. In the five examples of works described by Mr. Parry in his paper there is no case in which the solids were not removed, and if such a skilled sanitarian always adopts this course it is good evidence that it is the best. Nearly all the large towns which are now attempting the purification of sewage first affect the precipitation of the solids They have usually to employ chemicals for this purpose, for the solids are too broken up by their long passage through the sewers for any system of straining to be satisfactory. Such simple devices as catch chambers or perforated vessels are not then available. But given plenty of land at a distance from dwellings, and suitable gradients, sewage containing finely divided solids can be dealt with either by broad irrigation or by intermittent downward filtration. In the former case the liquid is distributed by a system of carriers over land, not specially prepared, and in the latter case it is utilized as at Rathdown Union. Both these plans, hpwever, require constant attention to divert the flow on to fresh areas to allow time for recuperation. They are not readily applicable to country houses, and fortunately they are not generally necessary. Engine ering. \I 7E have been shown a sample of the brown stone of VY the Carolina Brown Stone Company, whose quarries are located at Sanford, Moore county, N. C., on the Seaboard Air Line Road. The stone is of a beautiful color and texture, and we are informed contains 92 per cent, silica and bears a crushing resistance of 10,000 pounds to the square inch. This indicates a durable stone. It will doubtless command a ready sale in this market. It guarantees prompt delivery, in any quantity of a uniform, first-class stone. The company is said to be a strong one and its guarantee is substantial. The company has secured reasonable freight rates to Atlanta, and from its price-list, which we have seen, we are of the opinion that the stone is sold at a remarkably low price. Mr. V. H. Kreigshaber is the special agent. His office is at 26J South Pryor street, Atlanta. The article on page 215, July issue, on “ The Relation of Drawing to General Education,” should have been credited to The Compass, New York. Subscribe for The Southern Architect, subscription price $2.00 a year. 244 THE SOUTHERN ARCHITECT.

VALUE OF SLEEP. Great Men Believe in Nature’s Sweet Restorer. ‘ 4rPHE habit of great men in the matter of sleep forms an 1 interesting subject of inquiry,’’said Mr. E. W. Jacobs, of Boston, in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat “and I believe such an inquiry would show that those who have made the greatest mark on the world’s history have always taken it in abundance. There is a popular belief that Napoleon took only four or five hour’s rest, but to my mind the theory has grown out of The desire of his admirers to show that in this matter, as in all others, he differed from his fellows. As a matter of fact, it was impossible to tell exactly how long he slumbered, but it is certain that, like the great generals in our own civil war, he availed himself of every opportunity to seek the greatest of all means of relief from fatigue. Even when considering his plans on the occasion of the greatest event of his military career, the battle of Waterloo, the hour left him before the decisive moment arrived was occupied with a snooze, which he took with deliberation, after giving instructions to one of his aides to arouse him at the given time. So great, indeed, was his love of a nap that his most trusted companions in arms always showed a. regard for his feelings on the subject by never disturbing him. Napoleon’s case is only that of most military heroes and of most great men. Gladstone rarely takes less than seven hours’ sleep. Whenever he is preparing for a great effort in the House of Commons he always likes a short afternoon siesta. Bismarck has displayed a similar habit on the occasion of the most fierce parliamentary debates. When all night sittings were common Parnell would go to his hotel, seek his bed and leave instructions with one of his colleagues to have him aroused whenever a crucial point was reached. These are only a few examples of the great men who have shown their thorough appreciation of that great boon which ‘knits up the raveled sleeve of care.’ ” THE PARTHENON FRIEZE. A N attentive examination of the various parts of the l\ frieze will show that very different degrees of skill and feeling have been employed in the execution ; while it can scarcely be doubted but that the arrangement of the whole composition and the design of the different parts have been the work of one mind. If the various parts had been actually modelled by the original author of the whole composition, it is probable that the whole would have been worked up to the same degree of excellence, and with the same attention to the details of the finishing. But this is very far from being the case. Upon some the most perfect knowledge of the anatomy, all the framework of the body, all the intricate arrangement of the muscles, with their expression and modification under excitement varying in intensity and direction, are clearly understood and indicated without exaggeration. Upon others all these are generalized and neglected, as if not fully comprehended; and we are, therefore, inclined to believe that different portions of this frieze were entrusted, for its execution, to different artists, who were to exert their best abilities, being furnished only with an outline or sketch of the part committed to them. The immense extent of the work to be performed renders this conjecture probable; it is almost necessary that the design should have emanated from one mind; but it is almost impossible that one pair of: hands should have modelled so extensive a work, when we are told that the whole empire, with all its sculptures, pediments, metopes, frieze, as well as its internal decorations, and the stupendous statue of the goddess herself, was completed, from its foundation, in but little more than six years. Doubts have been entertained whether the separate slabs of which the frieze is composed were sculptured in the private studios of the several artists, and afterwards adjusted in their places, or whether the slabs were first placed, and the artists then set to work to execute their respective portions. When it is recollected that the sculptures were very peculiarly placed, so as to receive only a light reflected from the pavement below; so very different from what the artists could conveniently arrange in their own rooms, that the general effect would very materially depend upon the correct adjustment of the depression and elevations of the surface to the peculiar direction in which the light was to be received, and to which it is to be supposed that the article would be but little accustomed, it is more than probable that the sculpture was executed after the marble was already fixed in the wall of the temple. If, again, we examine the nature of the composition, especially of those parts where the cavalcade is represented, if we look at the intricacy of the arrangement, the crowding together of the figures, the blending of the subjects of the adjoining slabs, it is difficult to conceive how one part should have become fitted to another with that perfect accuracy which we may everywhere observe, unless the sculpture had been executed when the slabs were already placed, or the whole had been accurately modeled before the work was commenced, which we have already had reason to believe was not the case. — The Architect. BURDETTE ON THE LIFE OF MAN. MAN bom of woman is of few days and no teeth. And, indeed, it would be money in his pocket sometimes if he had less of either. As for his teeth he has convulsions when he cuts them, and as the last comes through, lo ! last end of that man’s jaw is worse than the first, being full of porcelain and a roof plate built to hold blackberry seed. Stone bruises line his path to manhood; his father boxes his ears at home, the big boys cuff him on the playground, and the teacher whips him in the school-room. He buyeth Northwestern at 119, when he hath sold short at 99, and his neighbor hath unloaded Iron Mountain at 63f, and it straightway breaketli down to 52J. He riseth early and sitteth up late that he may fill his barns and storehouses, and lo! his children’s lawyers divide the spoils among themselves and say “ Ha, Ha.” He growleth and is sore distressed because it raineth, and he beateth upon his breast and sayeth, “ My crop is lost ” because it raineth not. The late rains blight his wheat and the frost biteth his peaches. If it be so that the sun shineth even among the nineties, he sayeth “ V/oe is me, for I perish,” and if the northwest wind sigheth down into forty-two below, he cryeth, “ Would I were dead.” If he wear sackcloth and jeans men say “ He is a tramp,” and if he goes forth clad in purple and fine linen all the people cry, “ Shoot the dude.” He carryeth insurance for twenty-five years, until he hath paid thrice for all his goods, and then heletteth his policy lapse for one day, and that same night fire destroyeth his store. He buildeth him a house in Jersey, and his first born in devoured by mosquitos; he pitcheth his tent in New York and tramps devour his substance. He moveth to Kansas, and a cyclone carryeth his house \ away over in Missouri, while a prairie fire and ten million | grasshoppers fight for his crop. He settleth himself in | Kentucky, and is shot the next day by a gentleman, a | colonel and a statesman,, “ because, sah, he resembles, * sah, a man, sah, he did not like, sah.” Verily, there is | no rest for the sole of his foot, and if he had it to do over again he would not be born at all, for “ the day of death is better than the day of one’s birth.” 245 THE SOUTHERN ARCHITECT.

BLUE PAPER PRINTING. A Valuable Process for the Duplication of Drawings and Engravings. THE process of making blue prints is a valuable and important part of the knowledge that a draftsman must possess, and the process is so simple that the method should be put to much greater use than at present, even though it be used a good deal for the production of working drawings for shop use and for the duplication of specifications, details, contracts, etc. The blue printing process is capable of being carried much further towards perfection than is practiced at present, when its use is chiefly limited to the production of copies of drawings which show white lines on a blue ground. Such drawings are tiresome to the eye, and do not impress the workman as favorably as blue or black lines on a white ground. • The usual process of. making blue prints, is to coat one side of the paper, using for the purpose a brush or a sponge, with a mixture consisting of one drachm of the red prussiate, and one and one-half drachms of the ammonia citrate of iron, dissolved in about one ounce of water. This amount of solution will be sufficient to coat several large sheets of paper, but it will not keep a great while after being coated. The surface is yellow when first coated, and after a week or so will have turned to a dirty greenish color. It can be used in this condition, but makes inferior prints. It is better to make up some fresh solution, for it only takes a few minutes to dry the paper ready for use after the coating has been spread on. Then a sheet of it is put under the tracing, and exposed to the sunlight under a sheet of thick glass, or in a regular frame for making blue prints. After exposing until the parts of the paper not protected from the sunlight have turned to a kind of “greenish granite” color, the print is removed and washed in clear water until the yellow color stops coming from it. Then the print is hung up to dry. In order to make a blue print with blue lines on a white ground, two methods are open. The first is to make a print which may be called a “negative,” and then to make the blue line prints from that, instead of from the drawing itself. The reader can readily see that if a print from a transparent sheet with opaque lines thereon will give a copy that is opaque with transparent lines, then by taking another print from the first print, there will be opaque lines on a transparent ground again, similar to the original drawing. But there is one draw back to this method, which is fatal to its success. That is, the blue print which is made from the original will not work when used as a negative because being of blue color, the of light which shine through that color will affect the sensitive sheet fully as quickly as the rays which shine through the transparent or white paper. In fact, blue is one of the actinic colors, and likewise one of the most activelyactinic of them all. Now, if the print taken for a negative could be black, yellow, red, or any of the non-actinic colors, there would be no more trouble in printing a blue print from it than there is in printing one from the original tracing. It is in order, therefore, to look around for some means of making a print which will be non-actinic. To this end, it is best to get a sheet of “ silver paper” from a photographer, or what is easier, get him to make a print of the tracing on silver paper. Then, after that is “ toned ” and finished, it can be used as a negative for the making of as many blue-line prints as may be desired. If any reader of this paper desires fuller information as to how the silver paper is prepared and toned, he can procure the information by writing to the editor, who will take pleasure in publishing in full complete directions for making and using silver paper, or any of the other kinds mentioned in this article. The other way of making a blue line print, or, in fact, one other way, is to make up a kind of blue print paper which will turn blue only where the sunlight does not hit. This is a little different from the first kind of paper described, and the difference is that this kind is charged with chemicals which the sunlight has the power of destroying the color thereof, instead of setting the color, as in the case of the ordinary blue paper already described. This matter, too, will be more fully described if any reader requests the information, with sufficient interest to write therefor. For the present, it will be sufficient to state that the paper is prepared by mixing together three solutions, then mixing the three into one when ready for use, and spreading it on the paper as if for a simple blue printThe three solutions are as follows : Gum arabic... 6 drachms Water 30 drachms Ammonia citrate of iron . 4 drachms Water 8 drachms Perchloride of iron 2.5 drachms Water 5 drachms As these things will keep separate, they can be mixed in larger quantities, for instance, taking ounces for drachms, then the quantity that is to be used at one time can be taken of each, let it be in drachms, half drachms, or minims. The paper will also keep well after it is sensitized, so that a quantity may be made up at one time, and kept from the light till needed. The reason that this kind of paper will keep, while the other will not, is because the common paper turns upon exposure to the light, while this kind will not turn, even in the developing solution, if it is exposed to light. The paper is printed in the usual manner, then it is floated upside down on a solution of Potassium ferocyanide 1 ounce Water 4 ounces The paper must be floated on top of the mixture because it will stain the back of the print if any of it gets thereon. After the lines get blue enough, as may be determined by turning up a corner of the paper occasionally , it should be removed from the “developer” and floated on clean water, which will at once stop the process of turning any darker. If there be any blue spots left on the paper where they don’t belong; i. e., except on the lines, they can all be cleared off by putting the sheet of paper in (no need to bother with putting on top this time) a solution of eight parts muriatic, or three parts sulphuric acid, with 100 parts of water. After the blue spots have disappeared, wash well in water, dry, and a print with rich blue lines on a white ground is the result. This kind of print, the “blue positive,” may be colored, something which cannot be done with an ordinary blue print. There are other ways by which positive prints may be made, in black lines on a white ground, and by using different colored paper to begin with, most effective prints may be made. The manner of making “ black positives,” also of making them on cloth, will be given upon request therefor. — The Tradesman. 246 THE SOUTHERN ARCHITECT.

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