Folios 162-163. To: Francis Cooper, Officer of Health, Southampton [Hampshire]. From:...

Folios 162-163.

To: Francis Cooper, Officer of Health, Southampton [Hampshire].

From: The General Board of Health.

Subject Matter: Draft letter explaining that the President of the General Board is glad to hear that Cooper has made a discovery which he considers important for deodorising liquid sewage, but he fears that the experiment which Cooper suggests would not afford any adequate test of the value of the method, for there are many well known substances which will easily precipitate the thickest sewage and render it perfectly innocuous and inodorous. It is suggested that Cooper conducts his experiments with a view of ascertaining the cost of his process, and also the amount of fertilizing value for agricultural purposes belonging to the residues, with the view of comparing his process with others which have been discovered and adopted. If he could prove to the satisfaction of the General Board of Health that his scheme is actually remunerative in its working and results, he would confer a great benefit upon the country, 'and it is probable that some town might immediately be found in which it might be at once applied'.