OLD WROUGHT IRON GATE.
OLD WROUGHT IRON GATE
This gate forms the entrance to Scraptoft Hall, a building of the eighteenth century, now the seat of Captain Barclay, and which stands at about five miles from Leicester, England.—The Architect.
BRIEF SANITARY MATTERS IN CONNECTION WITH ISOLATED COUNTRY HOUSES.[[4]]
By E.W. BOWDITCH, C.E.
I am unable to tell you what is generally considered the best practice, for I am not sure there are any definitely established rules; therefore I can only explain my ways of doing such work, which, though I try to make as complete and at the same time as simple as possible, I know to be far from perfect.
Plumbing and drainage work has grown up unconsciously with my landscape gardening, and not finding any texts or practice that seemed wholly satisfactory, I have been forced to devise new arrangements from time to time, according to the requirements of the case in hand.
To give all the details of house plumbing this evening, or any one evening, would be impossible, for lack of time, and not worth while even if there was time, as much of it would prove matter of little or no interest. I will confine my remarks, therefore, to certain elements of the work where my practice differs, I believe, essentially from that of most engineers, and where perhaps my experience, if of no assistance to other members of the Society, may excite their friendly criticism in such a way as to help me.
There are two kinds of country places that I am liable to be called upon to prescribe for:
First. A new place where nothing has been arranged.
Second. An old place where the occupants have been troubled either by their outside arrangements or by fixtures or pipes within.
Under the first head let us suppose a small tract of perhaps two acres of land in some inland town, where the family intends to live but six months in the year, though they are liable to reside there the whole twelve.
There are no sewers and no public water. The soil is a stiff, retentive clay, rather wet in spring. The desire is expressed to have plumbing and drainage that shall be as inexpensive as possible, but that shall be entirely safe.
In considering the arrangements inside the house, I find myself in the same predicament as the French surgeon, a specialist upon setting the bones of the arm, who, when a patient was brought him with his right arm broke, expressed his sorrow at being unable to be of assistance, as his specialty was the left arm.
I have endeavored to post myself thoroughly upon house plumbing, but confess to only knowing partially about the wastes; the supplies I do not feel competent to pass upon.
One class of annoyance caused by plumbing, perhaps the principal one, is due to the soil pipe or some of its fittings.
Second quality of iron, poor hanging, insufficient calking, careless mechanics, putty, cement, rag, or paper joints—all these and a dozen other things are liable to be sources of trouble. Subordinate wastes are apt to be annoying, occasionally, too, to a less extent.
The mechanical work can always be superintended, and within certain limits may be made secure and tight; not so easy, however, with the materials.
There is seldom a valid excuse for ever making waste pipes, within a building, of anything but metal.
Earthen tile is frequently used; also, to a limited extent, brick, stone, and wood; twice I have found canvas—all these, however, are inferior, and should never be accepted or specified. The writer believes that at the present time, hereabouts, lead and iron are more used for wastes than any other materials, and are found the most satisfactory on the whole.
One or two arrangements, relative to the wastes, I have made use of that are not, so far as known, in general use, and that may not be the best, though they have served me many good turns, and I have not succeeded in devising any better.
Soil pipe, as it is usually put in, is apt to be of cast iron, four inches in diameter, and is known in the market as "heavy" or "extra heavy." For some years the tar-coated or black enameled pipe has been the favorite, as being the more reliable, the writer in common with others making use of the same freely, until one day a cracked elbow, tar coated, was detected. Since that time plain, untarred pipe has been specified, and subjected to the so-called kerosene test, which consists of swabbing out each pipe with kerosene or oil and then allowing it to stand for a few hours. A moment's thought will convince any one that when a pipe is asphalted or tar coated it is very difficult to detect either sand holes or small cracks, and the difficulty of proper calking is increased, as lead does not cling so well to the tar as to plain iron.
At present, the kerosene test, so far as the writer is concerned, is a misnomer, because raw linseed oil is used exclusively as giving more satisfactory results, and being less troublesome to apply.
I have here a length of the ordinary "heavy 4" commercial soil pipe, plain, and selected at random. Yesterday noon I had it oiled at my office, in order to be ready for to-night, and you see, by the chalk marks I have made, just where the leaks were and their area. I may say here that a sound pipe of this caliber and standard weight is the exception rather than the rule, and it was selected for this experiment merely to try and show the reaction a little better than the heavier pipe might.
Experiments of this nature I have carried along for the past two years, and I am glad to say that, since I began, the quality of the soil pipe furnished by the dealers for my work seems appreciably better than at first. Whether the poorer pipe is still made and sold to other customers I have no means of knowing; probably it is, however.
A large quantity of the pipe is now being tested at my suggestion by the Superintendent of Construction of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, at Baltimore. I have not yet heard the results from him, but doubtless they will be interesting. A brief summary of the results may be of some interest.
The different makers of soil pipe generally used by plumbers hereabouts are:
Mott & Company, Abendroth, Blakslee, Dighton, Phillips & Weeden, and Bartlett, Hayward & Co.
On 4" extra heavy pipe my results have been as follows:
| Percentage passed as good, single hub. | 60 per ct. to 70 per ct. |
| Percentage passed as good, double. | 20 per ct. to 80 per ct. |
| Percentage passed special castings, including Y's and T's. | 60 per ct. |
5" pipe extra heavy:
| Percentage passed as good, single hub. | 25 per ct. to 35 per ct. |
| Percentage passed as good, double. | No record. |
| Percentage special castings, including Y's and T's. | 60 per ct. |
It has been stated to me by dealers that the tar coating does away with the necessity of any such test as the oil; while I am not prepared to acknowledge or deny the statement, it is well known that much poor pipe is tar-coated and sold in the market as good, and when coated it is almost impossible to detect any but very defective work.
The price customers are obliged to pay for soil pipe, either "heavy" or "extra heavy," is very high indeed, even taking off the discounts, and amounts (as I figure it) to $70 per long ton for 4" pipe. The present rate for the best water pipe of the same caliber is about $38 (now $29) per long ton, and the additional charge for soil pipe should guarantee the very best iron in the market, though it appears to be rarely furnished.
It is asserted that all soil pipe is tested to a 50-pound water pressure. I beg leave to question the absolute truth of this, unless it be acknowledged that pipe is sold indiscriminately, whether it bears the test or not, for more than once I have found a single length of soil pipe (5 feet) that could not bear the pressure of a column of water of its own height without leaking.
Having obtained a satisfactory lot of soil pipe and fittings, the next trouble comes with the lead calking. Unfortunately, it is frequently found that very shallow joints are made instead of deep ones, and hard lead used instead of soft. My rule is, soft lead, two runnings and two calkings. By soft lead I mean pig lead, and by hard lead I mean old pipe and scrap lead that may have been melted a dozen times. Incidentally it may be remarked that it is quite difficult to calk a tight joint on the heavy pipe; the process will crack the hub.
The fixtures used in a house are of minor importance—there are dozens of good patterns of every class. If they are carefully put in, and provided with suitable traps placed just as close to the fixture as possible, the result will usually be satisfactory.
Very few instances occur where traps are placed as close to the fixtures they serve as they might be, and yet a very short length of untrapped pipe, when fouled, will sometimes smell dreadfully. A set bowl with trap two feet away may become in time a great nuisance if not properly used. A case in point where the fixture was used both as a bowl and a urinal was in a few months exceedingly offensive—a fact largely (though not wholly) due to its double service.
I have never met two sanitarians who agreed upon the same water-closets, bowls, faucets, traps, etc.
Of course, the soil pipe will be carried, of full size, through the roof, and sufficiently high to clear all windows.
Avoid multiplicity of fixtures or pipes; cut off all fixtures not used at least twice a week, lest their traps dry out; have all plumbing as simple as possible, and try and get it all located so that outside air can be got directly into all closets and bath-rooms. As far as possible, set your fixtures in glass rather than tiles or wood. Carry the lower end of the main drain at least five feet beyond the cellar walls of the building, of cast iron.
Let us now look at the outside work. The main drain (carrying everything except the kitchen and pantry sinks) goes through a ventilated running trap. An indirect fresh air inlet is provided on the house side of the trap (example), to prevent annoyance from puffing or pumping, or, better still, a pipe corresponding to the soil pipe is carried up on the outside of the house.
The running trap ventilator should be of the same diameter as the main drain (4 inch), and serve as a main drain vent also. Carry this pipe on the outside of the house as high as the top of the chimney.
A grease-trap should be provided for the kitchen and pantry sinks. Formerly my custom was to put in brick receptacles; it is now to put in Portland cement traps (Henderson pattern), though perhaps I may succeed in devising a cast-iron one that will answer better. The brick ones were occasionally heaved by the frost, and cracked; the Portland cement ones answer better, and when thoroughly painted with red lead do not soak an appreciable quantity of sewage to be offensive, but are too high priced ($28 each). I have made one or two patterns for cast-iron ones, but none as yet that I feel satisfied with.
Beyond the running trap an Akron pipe should convey the sewage to a tank or cesspool.
Our supposable case is the second most difficult to take care of. The worst would be ledge. We have to contend with, however, hard, wet, impervious clay.
The best way undoubtedly is to underdrain the land, and then to distribute the sewage on the principle of intermittent downward filtration. This is rather expensive, and a customer is rarely willing to pay the bills for the same. I should always advise it as the best; but where not allowed to do so, I have had fair success with shallow French drains connecting with the tank or cesspool.
Siphon tanks, such as are advised by many sanitarians, that were used first in this country, I believe, by Mr. Waring, I have not been very successful with. Obstructions get into the siphon and stop it up, or it gets choked with grease. I prefer a tight tank, provided with a tell-tale, and that is to be opened either by a valve operated by hand, or that is arranged with a standing overflow like a bath tub, and that can be raised and secured by a hook.
Read before the Boston Society of Civil Engineers, April 1884 Journal A. of E. Societies.
SANITARY COOKING.[[5]]
By VIRGINIA L. OPPENHEIMER, M.D., Seymour, Ind.
"We may live without poetry, music, and art,
We may live without conscience, and live without heart,
We may live without friends,
We may live without books,
But civilized man cannot live without cooks.
"We may live without books—
What is knowledge but grieving?
We may live without hope—
What is hope but deceiving?
We may live without love—what is passion but pining?
But where is the man that can live without dining?"
Thus saith the poet, and forthwith turns the world over into the hands of the cook. And into what better hands could you fall? To you, my fat, jolly, four-meals-a-day friend, Mr. Gourmand, but more especially to you, my somber, lean, dyspeptic, two-meals-a-day friend, Mr. Grumbler, the cook is indeed a valuable friend. The cook wields a scepter that is only second in power to that of love; and even love has become soured through the evil instrumentality of the good-looking or bad-cooking cook. This is no jest, it is a very sad fact.
Now, the question arises, how can the cook preserve the health of her patrons, maintain happiness in the family, and yet not throw the gourmands into bankruptcy? Very simple, I assure you.
- You must have the cook. I mean by this, that not every one can occupy that important office. The greatest consideration in the qualities of a cook is, does she like the work? No one can fulfill the duties of any noteworthy office unless he labors at them with vim and willingness.
- You must have good articles of food originally.
- As our honest Iago said, "You must have change."
When one arrives at adult age, he should have learned by experience what articles of food do, and what articles of food do not, agree with him, and to shun the latter, no matter how daintily served or how tempting the circumstances. The man who knows that pates de foie gras, or the livers of abnormally fattened geese, disagree with him, and still eats them, is not to be pitied when all the horrors of dyspepsia overtake him.
The cooking of any article of food has evidently much, very much, to do with its digestibility. It is not the purpose of this paper to teach cooking, but merely to give some general hints as to the best as well as the simplest methods of preparing staple articles of food. The same articles of food can and should be prepared differently on each day of the week. Changes of diet are too likely to be underestimated. By constant change the digestive organs in the average person are prevented from having that repulsion of food which, to a greater or less extent, is likely to result from a sameness of diet continued for a long time.
We often hear from our scientific men that this or that article of food is excellent for muscle, another for brain, another for bone, etc., etc. Now, stubborn facts are like stone walls, against which theories often butt out their beauty and their power. It is well known to almost every one nowadays that well-cooked food, whether it be potatoes, meat and bread, fish, or anything else worthy the name of food, will well maintain, indefinitely, either the philosopher or the hodcarrier.
Many of you know, and all of you ought to know, that the principal ingredients of nearly all our foods are starch and albumen. Starch is the principal nutritive ingredient of vegetables and breadstuffs. Albumen is the principal ingredient of meats, eggs, milk, and other animal derivatives.
Starch never enters the system as starch, but must first be converted into sugar either in the body or out of it. The process of this transformation of starch into sugar is beautifully exemplified in certain plants, such as the beet, the so-called sugar cane, and other growths. The young plant is, to a great extent, composed of starch; as the plant grows older, a substance is produced which is called diastase. Through the influence of this diastase the starch is converted into a peculiar non-crystallizable substance called dextrine, and as the plant matures, this dextrine is transformed into crystallizable sugar.
"Dextrine is a substance that can be produced from starch by the action of dilute acids, alkalies, and malt extract, and by roasting it at a temperature between 284° and 330° F., till it is of a light brown color, and has the odor of overbaked bread."
A simple form of dextrine may be found in the brown crust of bread—that sweetish substance that gives the crust its agreeable flavor. Pure dextrine is an insipid, odorless, yellowish-white, translucent substance, which dissolves in water almost as readily as sugar. As stated above, it is easily converted into dextrose, or glucose, as it is usually named.
This glucose is often sold under the name of sugar, and is the same against which so many of the newspapers waged such a war a year or two ago. These critics were evidently, for the most part, persons who knew little about the subject. Glucose, if free from sulphuric acid or other chemicals, is as harmless as any other form of sugar. Most of our candies contain more or less of it, and are in every way as satisfactory as when manufactured wholly from other sugars.
It is, therefore, self-evident that, as sugar is a necessary article of food, the process which aids the transformation of our starchy foods must necessarily aid digestion. Do not understand me to say by this that, if all our starchy foods were converted into sugar, their digestion would thereby be completed. As I stated a moment ago, this sweet food, if taken into the stomach day after day, would soon cause that particular organ to rebel against this sameness of diet. In order the more clearly to illustrate this point, I will briefly show you how some of the every-day articles of food can be each day differently prepared, and thus be rendered more palatable, and, as a consequence, more digestible; for it is a demonstrated fact that savory foods are far more easily digested than the same foods unsavored.
The art of serving and arranging dishes for the table is an accomplishment in itself. It is very reasonable that all things that go to make up beauty and harmony at the dinner table should add their full quota to the appetite, and, I was about to say, "to the digestion;" but will qualify the statement by saying, to the digestion if the appetite be not porcine.
Our commonest article of food is the potato. Let us see how potatoes—which contain only twenty per cent. of starch, as against eighty-eight per cent. in rice, and sixty-six per cent. in wheat flour—can be prepared as just mentioned. We will look for a moment at the manner in which they are usually served by the average cook:
1, boiled with their jackets on; 2, roasted in the embers; 3, roasted with meat; 4, fried; 5, mashed; 6, salad.
1. Potatoes boiled in their jackets are excellent if properly prepared. But there's the rub. The trouble is, they are too often allowed to boil slowly and too long, and thus become water-soaked, soggy, and solid, and proportionately indigestible. They should be put over a brisk fire, and kept at a brisk boil till done; then drain off the water, sprinkle a little salt over them, and return to the fire a moment to dry thoroughly, when you will find them bursting with their white, mealy contents.
2. Roasted potatoes are general favorites, and very digestible. A more agreeable flavor is imparted to them if roasted in hot embers (wood fire), care being used to keep them covered with the hot embers.
3. Fried potatoes, as they are very generally served, are almost as digestible as rocks, but not so tempting in all their grease-dripping beauty as the latter. Many of you have doubtless seen the potatoes neatly sliced and dumped into a frying pan full of hot lard, where they were permitted to sink or float, and soak and sob for about a half hour or more. When served, they presented the picturesque spectacle of miniature potato islands floating at liberty in a sea of yellow grease. Now, if any of you can relish and digest such a mess as that, I would advise you to leave this clime, and eat tallow candles with the Esquimaux.
If you are fond of fried potatoes, cook them in this way:
Take what boiled potatoes are left from breakfast or dinner; when cold, remove the jackets, and cut into thin slices, season with salt, pepper, and a little Cayenne; have ready a hot frying pan, with enough meat drippings or sweet lard to cover the bottom; put in the potatoes and fry a rich brown, stirring constantly with a knife to prevent burning. Serve very hot.
4. Mashed potatoes will be discussed further on.
5. Potato salads are appetizing and piquant, because they are usually made up with strong condiments, onions, etc. They are, therefore, not very digestible in themselves. Nevertheless, they are so palatable that we cannot easily dispense with them; but, after eating them, if you expect to have inward peace, either split wood, walk eight and a half miles, or take some other light exercise.
More palatable, and proportionately digestible, are the following methods of cooking this useful vegetable:
1, Saratoga potatoes; 2, a la maitre d'hotel; 3, potato croquettes; 4, potatoes and cream; 5, a la Lyonnaise.
1. For Saratogas, pare and slice your potatoes as thin as possible, dropping them into cold water in which is dissolved a tiny piece of alum to make them crisp. Let them remain in the water for an hour or longer. Drain, and wipe perfectly dry with a tea towel. Have ready a quantity of boiling lard. Drop them in, and fry a delicate brown. Drain all grease from them, sprinkle with salt, and serve. Here, in the crisp slices, you will have the much desired dextrine. Or, in other words, your potato is already half digested. Eat three or four potatoes prepared thus, and you feel no inconvenience; but how would you feel did you devour three soggy, water-soaked boiled potatoes?
2. For a la maitre d'hotel, pare the potatoes, cut into pieces half an inch wide, and the length of the potato; drop into cold water until wanted (an hour or so); then drain, and fry in boiling lard. Just as they begin to brown take them out with a skimmer; let them slightly cool; then put back, and fry a rich brown. This makes them puff up, and very attractive.
3. For croquettes, take finely mashed potatoes, and mix with salt, pepper, and butter, and sweet milk or cream enough to moisten thoroughly. Mix with this one well-beaten egg, and form into small balls, taking care to have them smooth. Have ready one plate with a beaten egg upon it, and another with cracker crumbs. Dip each ball into the egg, and then into the crumbs, and brown nicely. Lay the croquettes on brown paper first, to get rid of any superfluous grease, then serve on a napkin.
4. Potatoes and cream are prepared by mincing cold boiled potatoes fine, putting them in a spider with a little melted butter in it, and letting them fry slightly, keeping them well covered. Add a very small piece of fresh butter, season with pepper and salt, and pour over them cream or rich milk. Let them boil up once, and serve. This is a very nice dish, and may be safely taken into delicate stomachs.
5. A la Lyonnaise is prepared as follows: Take five cold potatoes, one onion, butter, salt, and pepper. Slice the onion finely, and fry it in butter until it begins to take color; add the sliced potatoes, salt and pepper to taste, and keep shaking the saucepan until they are somewhat browned. Serve hot.
A few random remarks about the preparation of albuminous foods. If the albumen in food is hardened by prolonged cooking, it is rendered less instead of more digestible. Therefore, the so-called well-cooked meats are really badly-cooked meats. Meats should be only half done, or rare. To do this properly, it is necessary to cook with a quick fire. Steaks should be broiled, not fried. I am in accord with a well-known orator, who said, recently, that "the person who fries a steak should be arrested for cruelty to humanity." Some few meats should always be well cooked before eating.[[6]]
The same law holds good with eggs as with meats. A hard-boiled egg is only fit for the stomach of an ostrich; it was never intended by nature to adorn the human stomach. There are very many ways of preparing eggs—by frying, baking, poaching, shirring, etc. I will only describe briefly a few simple methods of making omelets.
In making this elegant dish, never use more than three eggs to an omelet. Plain omelet: Separate the whites and yolks; add a teaspoonful of water to the whites, and beat to a stiff froth; add to the yolks a teaspoonful of water, and beat until light; then season with salt, and about two tablespoonfuls of cream or rich milk. Have your spider very hot; turn your whites and yolks together, and stir lightly to mix them; place a bit of butter in the spider, and immediately pour in your eggs. When set (which takes from ten to twenty seconds, and be careful that it does not brown too much), fold together in a half moon, remove it, sprinkle with powdered sugar, and serve on a hot plate. It should be eaten immediately.
Fruit omelets are made by placing preserved fruits or jellies between the folds. Baked omelets are prepared as above, with the addition of placing in the oven and allowing to brown slightly.
French omelet is prepared in this way: Take a half cup of boiling milk with a half teaspoonful of butter melted in it; pour this over one-half cup of bread crumbs (light bread); add salt, pepper, and the yolks of three eggs beaten very light; mix thoroughly; and lastly, add the whites whipped to a stiff froth. Stir lightly, and fry in butter. When nearly done, fold together in a half moon, and serve immediately.
And thus we might continue ad infinitum, but, as was stated before, it is not my object to instruct you in special cooking, but to illustrate in this manner how much easier it is, to both the cook and your stomachs, to prepare healthful dishes than to do the reverse.
Read before the Indiana State Sanitary Society, Seymour, March 13, 1884.—The Sanitarian.
These are the exceptions. Pork, on account of the prevalence of disease in hogs, should be well done.