A. The dry.
B. The wet.
The dry street-refuse consists, as we have seen, of the refuse earth,
bricks, mortar, oyster-shells, potsherds, and pansherds.
And the dry house-refuse of the soot and ashes of our fires.
The wet street-refuse consists, on the other hand, of the mud, slop,
and surface water of our public thoroughfares.
And the wet house-refuse, of what is familiarly known as the “slops”
of our residences, and the liquid refuse of our factories and
slaughterhouses.
We have already collected the facts in connection with the three first
of these subjects. We have ascertained the total amount of each of
these species of refuse which have to be annually removed from the
capital. We have set forth the aggregate number of labourers who are
engaged in the removal of it, as well as the gross sum that is paid
for so doing, showing the individual earnings of each of the workmen,
and arriving, as near as possible, at the profits of their employers,
as well as the condition of the employed. This has been done, it is
believed, for the first time in this country; and if the subject has
led us into longer discussions than usual, the importance of the
matter, considered in a sanitary point of view, is such that a moment’s
reflection will convince us of the value of the inquiry--especially
in connection with a work which aspires to embrace the whole of the
offices performed by the labourers of the capital of the British Empire.
It now but remains for us to complete this novel and vast inquiry by
settling the condition and earnings of the men engaged in the removal
of the last species of public refuse. I shall consider, first, the
aggregate quantity of wet house-refuse that has to be annually removed;
secondly, the means adopted for the removal of it; thirdly, the cost of
so doing; and lastly, the number of men engaged in this kind of work,
as well as the wages paid to them, and the physical, intellectual, and
moral condition in which they exist, or, more properly speaking, are
allowed to remain.