1877 its authorities had replaced about 40,000 middens with pail and midden closets, rising to 60,000 by 1881. The soil surrounding the old middens was cleared out, connections with drains and sewers removed and dry closets erected over each site. A contemporary estimate stated that the installation of about 25,000 pail closets removed as much as of urine and accompanying faeces from the city's drains, sewers and rivers. The 1868 Rivers Pollution Commission reported two years later: "privies and ashpits are continually to be seen full to overflowing and as filthy as can be ... These middens are cleaned out whenever notice is given that they need it, probably once half-yearly on an average, by a staff of nightmen with their attendant carts." (See Night soil.) References Citations Bibliography Toilet types