to catch and retain the dirt.

Wastes from baths, sinks, and urinals should also be ventilated and
disconnected from the drains as above, or else allowed to discharge
above a gulley trap. Excrement, etc., must be quickly removed from the
premises if we are to have "sweet homes," and the w.c. is perhaps the
most convenient apparatus, when properly constructed, which can be
employed. By taking due precaution no harm need be feared, or will
result from its use, provided that the drains and sewers are rightly
constructed and properly laid. It is then to the sewers, drains, and
their connections our attention must be specially directed, for in the
majority of cases they are the arch-offenders. The laying of main sewers
has in most cases been intrusted to the civil engineer, yet it often
happens architects are blamed, and unjustly so, for the defective
work over which they had no control. When the main sewers are badly
constructed, and, as a result, sewer gas is generated and allowed to
accumulate, ordinary precautions may be useless in preventing its
entrance by some means or other to our homes, and special means and
extra precautions must be adopted. But with well constructed and
properly ventilated sewers, every architect and builder should be able
to devise a suitable system of house drainage, which need cause no
fear of danger to health. The glazed stoneware pipe, now made of any
convenient size and shape, is an excellent article with which to
construct house-drains. The pipes should be selected, well burnt, well
glazed, and free from twist. Too much care cannot be exercised in
properly laying them. The trenches should be got out to proper falls,
and unless the ground is hard and firm, the pipes should be laid upon a
layer of concrete to prevent the chance of sinking. The jointing must be
carefully made, and should be of cement or of well tempered clay, care
being taken to wipe away all projecting portions from the inside of the