SEWERS. In its original acceptation, the word Sewers meant simply the banks, or sea-weirs, erected for the purpose of protecting the low lands by the sides of tidal rivers, from the effects of inunda tions or high tides; but, by extension, the word has been applied firstly to all artificial channels which discharge the' surface drainage of lands on a comparatively speaking high level into a natural water course, by outlets on its shores (whence the old synonyme for sewer, shore); and of late years the word has been so exclusively applied to the 'subterranean artificial water-courses of towns destined to relieve them of both the surface drainage, and the liquid refuse of the houses, as to have caused the original meaning to be entirely lost eight of. It is however so convenient to adopt a special name for town drains, and the modern sense of the word sorer is so universally received, that in the succeeding remarks, it will be exclusively so employed ; or, in other words, whenever serer is used, be in the sense "of an artificial channel for the removal of surface, subsoil, or house waters." The earliest recorded instances of the use of sewers is in the palace of Nimroud, and in the more celebrated Cloaan of ancient Rome ; but none of the drains of this description executed by the ancients were used for the purposes to which they are applied in the more highly civilised countries of modern times. The cloaca maxima itself was formed for the purpose of draining the Campus Martius, and the low swampy lands between the Seven Hills, in precisely the same manner that the Egout de ceinture of Paris drains the valley of the Marais, Menilmontant, and Montmartre of that city ; and though no doubt the house waters of the capital of the ancient world found their way eventually into this huge drain, it is notorious that the Romans never were acquainted with the modes of house sewerage we have lately applied. One of the first legislative enactments of modern times on the subject of sewers was an act, 9 henry III. (about 1225), which was followed by others, 6 Henry VI.; 8 Henry VI.; 4 Henry VII.; 6 Ilenry VIII.; and the whole of the legislation then prevailing was carefully reviewed and condensed, by Sir Thomas More, in the celebrated Bill of Sewers,' which became law in 25 Henry VIII. (or in 1531). In France attention had also been directed to the subject of the drainage of the capital towards the close of the mediaeval period, for in 1412 the grand Egout de ceinture (then called the ruisseau de Menilmontant) was built; and in 1550, Philibert de l'Orme was instructed to examine and improve the drainage of Paris. The govern
ments of both England and France continued from these periods actively to interfere with the regulation of these important works ; but, in accordance with the respective idiosyncracics of the two nations, the courses adopted were essentially different. In the one case, the power was handed over to local commissions ; in the other, it was retained exclusively in the hands of the central government ; the consequence being, as might have been expected, that in the former case there was displayed much irregular energy and enterprise, in the latter there was displayed a singular amount of scientific indifference. Without dwelling on this political part of the questions connected with the execution of public works, it is to be observed that ultimately, about the year 1834, there were no less than eight separate com missions entrusted with the superintendence of the sewerage and drainage of London ; and so great were the evils then found to result from the variety of practice tolerated by the different boards, and from their discordant jurisdictions, that at last, after many efforts, the local boards were suppressed, and in 1848 the " Metropolitan Commissioners of Sewers" were appointed, with extensive powers over the whole of the Metropolis. A few years later the management of the sewerage of the Metropolis was transferred to the Metropolitan Board of Works instituted by the Act of 18 & 19 Vict. c. 120 (passed 14th August, 1855). The sewerage of the provincial towns of England is now either left under the control of the local paving and draining commissions, or of the municipal corporations acting under special acts of parliament; or it is carried on under a species of government superintendence, under the powers of the Public Health Act, ll & 12 Vict. c. 63 (passed 31st August, 1848), which has been limited by the passing of some subsequent acts, such as the Act of 1854, and the local government act of 1858. In France the administration of the laws regulating the Egouts remains under the control of the Department of Public Works, and the Municipalities have practically no power over the matter.