merely as regards that large impregnation of earthy material which they
gather from their source; and I have criticised them only in respect of
that admixture. Their essential chemical quality is one native to the
soil from which they are derived; and whatever censure thus far belongs
to them could only have been avoided by the selection of a different
source. Chemistry, in the days of Morrys and Myddleton, was not
sufficiently advanced to inform the water-merchants of a city on those
different conditions which determine the fitness of a soil to serve as
the natural or artificial _gathering-ground_ of a supply; and by which
(as they vary in different localities) hardness is imparted to the
rain-fall of one district, while softness is preserved for that of
another.
But there are other evils belonging to these waters, less appreciable
indeed by chemistry, but open to universal observation, and meriting
unqualified blame. They are conducted to the metropolis in open
channels; they receive in large measure the surface-washing, the
drainage, and even the sewage of the country through which they pass;
they derive casual impurities from bathers and barges; they are liable
to whatever pollutions mischievous or filthy persons may choose to
inflict on them; and then on their arrival in the metropolis (after a
short subsidence in reservoirs, which themselves are not
unobjectionable) are distributed, without filtration, to the public.
Whatever chemistry may say on this subject (and I need not remind you of
very powerful causes of disease which lie beyond its cognisance), I
cannot consider it matter of indifference, that we drink--with whatever
dilution, or with whatever imperfect oxidation, the excremental and
other impurities which mingle in these sources of our supply. Such
admixtures, though in their _quantity_ less, are in their _quality_
identical with those which render Thames-water, as taken at London
Bridge, inadmissible for domestic consumption, and which occasion it,
when stored for sea-use, to undergo, before it becomes fit to drink, a
succession of offensive changes strictly comparable to putrefaction.
In this slovenly method of conveyance and distribution there is a
neglect of common precaution for the purity and healthfulness of the
supply, which I must report to you as highly objectionable: and
this--the method of supply to our great metropolis, strikes one the more
with astonishment and disgust, as one reflects on the long experience
and admirable models which past centuries in foreign countries have
supplied; and especially, as one remembers those colossal works which,
more than two thousand years ago, were constructed under the Roman
government, for the cool and cleanly conduction of water.
The present imperfections of knowledge forbid me to cite, as definite
causes of disease, the contaminations to which I have adverted: I cannot
say to you--pointing to our classified list of sickness and mortality,
_this_ depends on drinking the diluted drainage of Hertford, _that_ on
the contributions of Ware. Indeed I know that, under the influence of
the river and the atmosphere, very considerable changes occur in the
materials thus furnished, tending eventually to render them inert; and
if injury to life occur from their ingestion, it is probably only under
peculiar and exceptional conditions, increasing their quantity, or
delaying their oxidation. In protesting against their continued
distribution as articles of diet, I therefore insist less on inferences
deducible from medicine, and shall probably have the concurrence of your
Hon. Court in grounding my appeal on the common principles of taste.
On the incidental contaminations to which the pipe-water consumed within
the City becomes liable, by reason of its storage in receptacles both
foul in themselves and surrounded by causes of foulness, I have already
addressed you; and I have shown to you the dependence of this evil on
the system of intermittent supply as adapted to the houses of the poor.
Of other sources of water-supply existing within the City of London,
there are many of small extent in the form of superficial springs. These
are eagerly sought after, sometimes from a distance, on account of their
coolness and sparkling condition. In the Appendix[51] you will find an
account of one of these waters--that in the vicinity of Bishopsgate
church, which is very much drunk in that quarter of the City. Any praise
given to it illustrates exceedingly the fallacy of popular judgment on
such subjects, and shows how easily those qualities of coolness and
freshness, which are absent from stored waters, impose on the palate,
and induce a preference to be given to waters which are relatively most
objectionable.
[51] See page 170.
The chemical faults which belong to our London pipe-water are possessed
in a far greater degree by this water of Bishopsgate pump, and the
latter has moreover some vices which are absent from the former; but the
vapidity and fustiness of water which has been stored in cisterns are so
repugnant to the taste, that the water chemically preferable is not in
practice preferred.
To the use of waters of this description, within a large city, there is
always much objection. In addition to extreme hardness, which in London
they universally possess, they are liable, in a dangerous degree, to
become contaminated by the leakage of drains, and by other sources of
impurity; as, for instance, where situated within the immediate vicinity
of grave-yards they derive products of animal decomposition from the
soil.[52] Very recently, a celebrated pump within the City of London,
that adjoining St. Bride’s church-yard, has been abandoned on account of
such impregnations. Or perhaps I should rather say (for the difference
again illustrates the readiness with which the palate is deceived or
corrupted) that it was not _abandoned_--for till almost the last moment
the neighbours adhered to it with fondness; but the parochial
authorities--alarmed by the proximity of cholera--caused its handle to
be locked.
[52] This is illustrated in the analysis of Bishopsgate pump-water,
just alluded to. The very large quantity of _nitrates_, there referred
to that water, must be due to the oxidation of human bodies in the
adjoining soil, which serves in part as gathering-ground to the
spring. I should fear that, during rain-fall, this oxidation of
organic compounds may not always have completed itself, and that
materials of decomposition _still in progress of decay_ may thus often
be mingled in the water. [I have lately had occasion to recommend that
the use of Aldgate pump should be discontinued on account of its water
containing, in addition to a large quantity of alkaline nitrate, so
much unoxidised organic matters, as were sufficient to give it a foul
taste.--J. S., 1854.]
As an available source of supply to the City of London, the use of deep
(Artesian) wells has been recommended: the clearness and softness of
these waters, together with their freedom from organic matters, having
concurred to suggest their employment. I feel bound to express the
strongest opinion against the fitness of these waters for the purpose of
beverage. They uniformly contain a considerable proportion of medicinal
ingredients; they are capable of exerting definite and demonstrable
influence over the natural actions of the body; and information is
before me of various injury to health, affecting large numbers of
persons, arising from the continued dietetic use of such waters.
In addressing your Hon. Court on the subject of water-supply for the
City, it is impossible that I should do otherwise than advert to the
fact, that, during the last few months, under the auspices of Her
Majesty’s government, as represented for sanitary purposes by the
General Board of Health, a plan has been gradually maturing itself, for
the supply of the entire metropolis with pure soft water. Founding
itself on very extensive investigations as to the qualities of water, as
to the influence of soils on its chemical composition, as to the
relation between streams and rain-fall, as to the hydraulic principles
of distribution, and the like, this plan proposes to gather water in
certain silicious soils, which can impart to it the least possible
admixture of foreign ingredients; to conduct it in closed channels, with
every precaution for its perfect purity; and to distribute it throughout
the metropolis, at a rate which shall be from 30 to 50 _per cent._ less
than our present water-charges. The proposed area for the collection of
this supply is in the extensive range of sandy soil in the south of
Surrey, extending around Farnham, about ten miles in each direction.
Since the publication of the first Report made on this subject by the
General Board of Health, unremitting inquiry has been advancing, under
their direction, into all details of the plan; and the Hon. William
Napier, who, with others, has been engaged in the investigation of the
proposed sources, has advocated an important modification, which
promises to reduce very considerably the anticipated expense of the
undertaking. The essential and most important principles which governed
the Board, in arranging their plan, were, first, to seek their supply
in a silicious soil, where little soluble material could exist for its
contamination; secondly, to take possession of the water so near to its
source that all its original purity might be preserved; and, during
conduction, to isolate it from those contaminations which are incidental
to the onward passage of a stream through miles of promiscuous country.
To fulfil these indications, there were two conceivable courses; and
studious local inquiries could alone determine which of them was
preferable: on the one hand, if the streams which represent the natural
drainage of the country should be found uniformly pure and copious, they
might admit of being conducted bodily into the artificial river of
supply: on the other hand, it might be requisite to carry the
interference of art still further, to absorb the filtering moisture of
this large sand-district before it had become confluent into streams,
and thus from day to day, by extensively ramified works of artificial
sub-drainage, to derive immediately from the soil, the varying
contributions of rain-fall and dew. The Board, apparently solicitous for
the completer security of their plan, preferred to estimate its cost on
the latter very expensive supposition; they allowed apparently for the
diffusion of drain-pipes over 150 square miles of country, and for a
reservoir which should contain storage of water equivalent to a very
long metropolitan consumption. The later examination, made by Mr. Napier
and confirmed by others, tends and appears to show, that these large
sources of expense may be avoided; that the waters may be collected of
unusual purity and softness, where they have united themselves into
rivulets of considerable volume; that the gauged and estimated discharge
of these rivulets is sufficient day by day for the needs of the
metropolis, according to the largest construction of those needs; that
capillary drain-pipes and very extensive storage-room may thus be
dispensed with; and that under the modification of arrangement suggested
by these facts, some very large reduction might be inferred for the
total estimate of this comprehensive plan.
Many of these particulars are already before the public; but in a matter
of so much importance to the health of the City, as that of
participating in a supply of pure water, collected and distributed on
the soundest principles, and sold at the cheapest rate, I did not think
it would become me, as your Officer of Health, to remain an indolent
auditor. I have felt it my duty to inform myself, so far as I could, on
the real merits of this scheme, and on its probable relation hereafter
to the sanitary condition of the metropolis. I have spent three days on
the site of the proposed sources, and many other days in informing
myself on all the bearings of the subject. I have likewise collected
water from a proposed tributary of the future supply, which has been
analysed, and which shows (as my Appendix will illustrate to you) a
remarkable and rare excellence. On one occasion of visiting the country,
I was accompanied by Mr. T. Taylor, and we made on the spot a sufficient
number of extemporaneous examinations, to assure us that the essential
features, shown in the more elaborate analysis, are (as geological
considerations would lead us to believe) the general characters of water
throughout the district.
On any other than the sanitary relations of this subject I can have
nothing officially to say; but, confining myself to these relations, I
may certify to your Hon. Court that the water in question is, in my
judgment, of a quality admirably suited for domestic purposes; that its
distribution through the City of London would conduce to the health and
comfort of the population; and that the principles, proposed by the
Board for its collection and conveyance, appear to me such as sanitary
science, in its present condition, should counsel for the water-service
of the metropolis.
There is, however, one aspect of the subject which must not pass
unconsidered. Water that is free from earthy ingredients requires a
peculiar distributory apparatus. If conveyed in leaden pipes with access
of air, or if stored in leaden cisterns, it corrodes the metal of which
they are composed, and is liable to derive from this source an
impregnation very hazardous to life. Under certain circumstances,
especially under alternations of air and water (such as occur in the
intermittent supply), or where organic impurities are held in solution
or suspension, or probably where from any cause uncombined carbonic acid
is present, even the hardest waters are not free from this risk.
Speaking generally, however, it affects soft water chiefly; distilled
water most of all: and the Farnham water (in common with all pure water)
is decidedly liable to this empoisonment, if used with leaden apparatus
of conduction and storage. In my Appendix you will find some interesting
particulars on this head; and you will observe that with experiments
conducted by Mr. Taylor in imitation of the constant supply (i. e. with
total submersion of the metal) the formation of carbonate of lead in the
Farnham water was exceedingly gradual. This concurs with the alleged
experience of Aberdeen, where it is said by Professor Clark to have been
found (to my mind, by a somewhat dangerous trial) that pure and soft
water, _distributed on the principle of constant supply_, does not
exert on the leaden pipes any action injurious to the health of the
population. You will likewise observe, that when hard water, as at
present employed in the City, is softened by boiling, it acquires this
property of pure water, and becomes capable of acting on lead; and here
is an important observation, as it has been proposed by similar
artificial means, employed on a very large scale, to soften all the
water now distributed in the metropolis.
Obviously, as regards one and all of the many proposals for supplying
water destitute of hardening ingredients, any chemical process, or any
change of source, which might lead to the distribution of such pure
water through the metropolis, could not be considered as a single and
separate reform, but must be undertaken conjointly with such alterations
in the distributive arrangements as might be requisite for removing from
the new plan _any chance, however slight or remote, of injuring the
population by metallic poison_.
What those alterations must be, it would now be premature to decide. The
experience of Aberdeen might seem to suggest, that the system of
constant supply (on all other accounts so eminently desirable for the
metropolis) would in itself, if accompanied by the total disuse and
prohibition of leaden cisternage, give sufficient security against the
danger in question; or, on the other hand, further inquiry may show it
to be quite indispensable for a safe distribution of the new supply,
that leaden pipage should be entirely superseded by the use of some
non-metallic material, as earthenware or glass. Should this change
become necessary, its adoption would no doubt be facilitated by the
comparative cheapness of these preferable materials.
_Offensive or injurious Trades._
With respect to offensive or injurious trades and occupations pursued
within the City of London, you were reminded by your Committee of
Health, in their Report of March 26th, ‘that upon your attempting to put
in force the powers of your Act of Parliament in reference thereto, it
was found that considerable difficulties were opposed to your efforts.
Sufficient powers (the Report proceeds to say) are not given by the City
of London Sewers Act to meet some of the cases alluded to, while other
legal and technical objections presented themselves to the enforcement
of the powers in question.’ The Committee concluded their Report by
‘pointing out to you the necessity, when the question of renewing your
Act should come into consideration, of procuring additional powers which
may enable you effectually to remedy those evils.’
On the grounds thus expressed by your Committee, I avail myself of the
present opportunity for bringing the subject again under your notice.
In my former Report I spoke particularly of those trades and occupations
which deal with animal substances liable to decomposition; and in
expressing my knowledge of their danger to the health of an urban
population, I argued that no occupation which ordinarily leaves a putrid
refuse, nor any which consists in the conversion or manufacture of
putrescent material, ought, under any circumstances, to be tolerated
within a town. To that subject I now revert, only to assure your Hon.
Court that the past year has given me no reason to alter my opinion. But
the trades to which I wish, on this occasion, more especially to request
your attention, are those which are complained of on the ground of
their offensiveness, rather than of their injury to health--as nuisances
rather than as poisons. During the year, I have received a very
considerable number of complaints of this nature; some of them perhaps
frivolous, but many well-founded and reasonable.
At the head of this class of evils stands the flagrant nuisance of
smoke. Those members of the Court who have visited foreign capitals
where other fuel than coal is employed, will remember the contrast
between their climate and ours--will remember (for instance even in
Paris) the transparence of air, the comparative brightness of all
colour, the visibility of distant objects, the cleanliness of faces and
buildings, instead of our opaque atmosphere, deadened colours, obscured
distance, smutted faces, and black architecture. Those, even, who have
never left our metropolis, but who, by early rising or late going to
rest, have had opportunities of seeing a London sunrise, can judge, as
well as by any foreign comparison, the difference between London as it
might be, and London as it is. Viewed at dawn and at noon-day, the
appearances contrast as though they were of different cities and in
different latitudes. Soon after daybreak, the great factory shafts
beside the river begin to discharge immense volumes of smoke; their
clouds soon become confluent; the sky is overcast with a dingy veil; the
house-chimneys presently add their contributions; and by ten o’clock, as
one approaches London from any hill in the suburbs, one may observe the
total result of this gigantic nuisance hanging over the City like a
pall.
If its consequences were confined to rendering London (in spite of its
advantages) the unsightliest metropolis in Europe, to defacing all works
of art, and rendering domestic cleanliness expensive, I should have
nothing officially to say on the subject; but inasmuch as it renders
cleanliness more difficult, and creates a despair of cultivating it with
success, people resign themselves to dirt, domestic and personal, which
they could remove but so temporarily: or windows are kept shut, in spite
of immeasurable fustiness, because the ventilation requisite to health
would bring with it showers of soot, occasioning inconvenience and
expense. Such is the tendency of many complaints which have reached me,
and of their foundation in truth and reason I have thorough conviction
and knowledge.
I would submit to your Hon. Court that these evils are not
inconsiderable; and that beside the injury to property (with which I
have nothing to do) the detriment to health, if only indirect, claims to
be removed. Yet, while I am cautious to speak of this latter injury, as
though it were only indirect--only by its obstruction of healthy habits,
I ought likewise to tell you, that there are valid reasons for supposing
that we do not with impunity inhale day by day so much air which leaves
a palpable sediment; that many persons of irritable lungs find
unquestionable inconvenience from these mechanical impurities of the
atmosphere; and (gathering a hint from the pathology of vegetation) that
few plants will flourish in the denser districts of London, unless the
air which conduces to their nourishment be previously filtered from its
dirt.
If the smoke of London were inseparably identified with its commercial
greatness, one might willingly resign oneself to the inconvenience. But
to every other reason against its continuance must be added as a last
one, on the evidence of innumerable competent and disinterested
witnesses, that the nuisance, where habitual, is, for the greater part
or entirely, voluntary and preventable; that it indicates mismanagement
and waste; that the adoption of measures for the universal consumption
of smoke, while relieving the metropolis and its population from injury,
would conduce to the immediate interest of the individual consumer, as
well as to indirect and general economy. For all the smoke that hangs
over us is wasted fuel.
The consumption of smoke in private houses is unfortunately a matter to
which hitherto little attention has been given; and it would be vain to
hope that the reform should begin with those, whose individual
contributions to the public stock of nuisance are comparatively
trifling. With the progress of knowledge on these subjects, a time will
undoubtedly arrive, and at no distant period, when chimneys will cease
to convey to the atmosphere their present immense freight of fuel that
has not been burnt, and of heat that has not been utilised; when each
entire house will be uniformly warmed with less expenditure of material
than now suffices to its one kitchen fire; and our successors[53] will
wonder at the ludicrous ingenuity with which we have so long managed to
diffuse our caloric and waste our coal in the directions where they
least conduce to the purposes of comfort and utility.
[53] To the philosophical thinker there would seem to exist no
important difficulty which should prevent the collective warming of
many houses in a district by the distribution of heat from a central
furnace--perhaps even so, that each house might receive its _ad
libitum_ share of ventilation with warmed air. Ingenuity and
enterprise, in this country, have accomplished far more arduous tasks;
and I little doubt that our next successors will have heat-pipes laid
on to their houses, with absence of smoke and immense economy of fuel,
on some such general organisation as we now enjoy for gas-lighting and
water-supply.--J. S., 1854.
But, while the arrangements of private establishments may, perhaps
wisely, be left to the operation of this spontaneous reform, I would
venture to recommend in regard to furnaces, employed for steam-engines
and otherwise for manufactures within the City, that you should
endeavour to control the nuisance of smoke.