View report page

14
of excavating a great tunnel under such houses as those
of the Strand and Fleet Street without serious alarm.
I would advise all who are interested in this question,
to go down into the basements and cellars of the many
old houses in this line of street; he will see all sorts of
expedients for maintaining the integrity of the superstructure
: evidences of great age and decay, to which
the digging of a great sewer appears likely to be as
perilous as an earthquake. The expense of the Embankment
is of course the difficulty, but it would truly be a
disgrace to us if means cannot be found to accomplish a
work that would redound to the honour of the present
generation, that would be to future generations the
greatest gift for health and prosperity, and could be
pointed out to admiring strangers as one of the noblest
monuments of any age or country, and the most glorious
evidence of our progressive civilization.
I have the honor to be,
Gentlemen,
Your obedient Servant,
LIONEL J. BEALE,
Medical Officer of Health.
June, 1860.