_The Gross Quantity of the Wet House-Refuse of the Metropolis._
Gallons. Lbs.
“Slops” and unabsorbed rain-water 24,000,000,000 = 240,000,000,000
Blood of beasts 2,646,000 = 26,460,000
„ horses 26,000 = 260,000
Excreta 219,000,000
Dung of slaughtered cattle 17,400,000
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Total 24,002,657,000 = 240,263,120,000
Hence we may conclude that the more fluid portion of the wet
house-refuse of London amounts to 24,000,000,000 gallons per annum;
and that altogether it weighs, in round numbers, about 240,000,000,000
lbs., or 100,000,000 tons.
As these refuse products are not so much matters of trade or sale as
other commodities, of course less attention has been given to them,
in the commercial attributes of weight and admeasurement. I will
endeavour, however, to present an uniform table of the whole great mass
of metropolitan wet house-refuse in cubic inches.
The imperial standard gallon is of the capacity of 277·274 cubic
inches; and estimating the solid excrement spoken of as the ordinary
weight of earth, or of the soil of the land, at 18 cubic feet the ton,
we have the following result, calculating in round numbers:--
_Wet House-Refuse of the Metropolis._
Liquid 24,000,000,000 gal. = 6,600,000,000,000 cub. in.
Solid 100,000 tons = 3,110,400,000 „