The Health bulletin [serial] - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

264 THE HEALTH BULLETIN.Various types of so-called sanitaryprivies have been advocated fromtime to time. Most of them representsanitation gone mad and commonsense conspicuous by its absence.Theoretically, they will all accomplishthe one end sought. We must admit,nevertheless, that most of them havebeen flat failures. Why? Primarilybecause none of them were ever built.OLD OPEN BACK PRIVY REMODELED.By closing up the back and digging a pit underthe privy the fecal matter cannot be scattered orexposed to flies or domestic animals. A good typeof rural privy.And why were they never built?can not afford to take chances withhookworms, typhoid and diarrheal diseases.Because,in the first place, it usuallycosts from $20 to $50 to build them;and, in the second place, they requiredaily or weekly, or at least frequentattention. Either feature is too muchof an innovation for the rural dwellerwho has no privy at all, or only hiscustomary bent sapling. We are fastlearning that with such people sanitaryscience must make a "horsetrade." With such people it is folly totalk of $20 to $50 concrete arrangements,or to tell them that they mustbury a can of fecal matter once ortwice a week, or add a bucketful ofwater daily. In other words, we arefast coming to the point where wewould be glad to dee a six-tenths oreight-tenths eflicient privy to no privyat all.At the risk of making ourselves unpopularwith enthusiasts over highgrade sanitary privies, we venture todescribe briefly an inexpensive formof privy for rural use which requiresthe minimum of care and attentionand which costs but a few dollars tobuild complete, or only a trifle for twoor three boards and a few nails if anold open-back privy is remodeled.The cut on the preceding page illustratesa form of privy which we believewill meet nearly all the requirementsin rural districts where there issentiment for improvement along thisline. All that is necessary is to dig ahole in the ground three or four feetsquare and from four to six feet deepand set the privy over this hole so thatflies can not have access to the fecalmatter. That is practically all there isShould this hole fill up in a yearto it.or two, all that is necessary is to removethe privy, dig a new pit nearby,place the privy over the new pit, andcover the contents of the old pit withthe excavated earth. If the sides ofthe pit cave in readily, they may bewalled up with loose stones, brick, orboards, or one or two empty barrelsmay be used.One of the principal advantages ofsuch a form of privy is that almostany old privy Tfith an open back canreadily be made over by weatherboardingthis opening down to the ground.There is little danger from flies in thecase of such a privy, as flies will notgo down into the dark pit. There willbe some odors, but they are not dangerousto health. Where odors areobjectionable, a trap door may beplaced over the hole in the seat, so the