The Public Health Engineer's Bookshelf *

"Whoever, indeed, would study this subject with a knowledge worthy of its magnitude must consider it from so many angles and with such a wealth of learning that I cannot without pretentiousness claim to do more than write a primer or introductory thesis upon it. Sanitation has its history, its archaeology, its literature and its science. Most religions concern themselves with it, sociology includes it within its sphere, and its study is imperative to social ethics. Some knowledge of psychology is necessary to understand its development and retardation, an aesthetic sense is required for its full appreciation, economics determine, to a large degree, its growth and extent, while the ultimate disposal of sewage must be viewed in the light of biology.... It is, then, surprising that so little has been written to lighten our darkness and to create some body of knowledge relating to a subject in which so many arts and sciences are in conjunction. In recent years but two slight volumes have appeared among popular literature to deal with isolated facets of our subject, the one an account of a maker of earth-closets, locally celebrated and now known to the world as The Specialist and the other entitled For Your Convenience, an account of the facilities afforded to the wayfarer in the metropolis. Not since the great Sir John Harington published his Metamorphosis of Ajax has any attempt been made at a comprehensive work on sanitary matters, . . ."