London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
View report page
Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Greenwich 1856
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Greenwich District]
This page requires JavaScript
22
recommend that the necessary steps be taken for that purpose
without delay.
WATER SUPPLY.
In the instructions which I had the honor to receive from you
at the commencement of my duties, it was required that I should in
my Annual Report lay before you a statement of the quality of the
water supplied to this District.
The works of the Kent Water Company call for no particular
observations, with the exception, that they are well constructed,
that the operations are well carried out, and that the engines and
buildings are a model of cleanliness and order.
As regards the water itself, I am desirous of drawing your attention to two analyses—one made for the Government Commission in 1851, and the other by Professor Hoffman, for the Board of Health, in 1856; and which are placed in juxtaposition in the following table:— KENT WATER COMPANY.
| Date. | Total amount of Hardness. | Solid Constituents, Grains per Gallon. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Solid Residue. | Organic Matter. | Inorganic Matter. | ||
| 1851 | 16.00 | 29.71 | 2.61 | 27.10 |
| 1856 | 12.03 | 26.10 | 1.37 | 24.73 |
The most important circumstance to be observed in the above
table, is the great diminution in the amount of organic matter; in
fact, the water supplied to this District in 1851 contained double
the quantity of organic matter to that supplied in 1856.
In pursuing this part of my enquiry, I have also procured the
assistance of Mr. Heisch, who is more conversant than myself
with the practice of analysis, on whose talents I can implicitly rely,
and from whem I have obtained the following account of an