Sewage

(su'-dj). The heterogeneous substances constituting the excreta and waste matter of domestic economy and the contents of drains. It consists mainly of putrescent animal and vegetable ti ues, fecal matter, and urine the latter in a state of ammoniacal fermentation mixed with water or di olved in it. In the proce of fermentation, marshgas, ammonia, hydrogen sulphid, and other gases are freely given off, and as these are more or le soluble in water, an ordinary water-trap only partially prevents their pa age. In addition, the constituents of the solution are such as to form an excellent culture-fluid for numerous pathogenic microbes, especially those constituting the contagium of cholera, typhoid fever, and similar diseases. S. -farming, use of sewage as a manure. S. -fungus. See Beggiatoa alba under Bacteria, Synonymatic Table of.