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Flushing the Sewers

Flushing the Sewers.jpg A view in Rosemary LaneThumbnailsThe Old-Clothes ManA view in Rosemary LaneThumbnailsThe Old-Clothes ManA view in Rosemary LaneThumbnailsThe Old-Clothes ManA view in Rosemary LaneThumbnailsThe Old-Clothes ManA view in Rosemary LaneThumbnailsThe Old-Clothes ManA view in Rosemary LaneThumbnailsThe Old-Clothes ManA view in Rosemary LaneThumbnailsThe Old-Clothes Man

Flushing the Sewers

The next step in our inquiry—and that which at present concerns us more than any other—is the mode of removing the solid deposits from the sewers, as well as the condition of the workmen connected with that particular branch of labour. The sewers are the means by which a larger proportion of the wet refuse of the metropolis is removed from our houses, and we have now to consider the means by which the more solid part of this refuse is removed from the sewers themselves. The latter operation is quite as essential to health and cleanliness as the former; for to allow the filth to collect in the channels which are intended to remove it, and there to remain decomposing and vitiating the atmosphere of the metropolis, is manifestly as bad as not to remove it at all; and since the more solid portions of the sewage will collect and form hard deposits at the bottom of each duct, it becomes necessary that some means should be devised for the periodical purgation of the sewers themselves.