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49
annual summary of weekly returns, and it is there stated
that the mean amount of suspended impurity was found to
be much greater in the water supplied by the Southwark
and Yauxhall Company than in any other drawn from the
Thames, and submitted to examination in that year.
During the past year I several times, for my own satisfaction,
and for that of complaining parties, submitted the
water supplied to this Sub-district to microscopical examination,
and can fully confirm the assertion of Dr. Frankland
that its sedimental deposits have frequently been found to
contain 'living organisms'; and this I have taken occasion to
demonstrate to the Local Committee. More recently, viz.,
in May, 1869, I obtained and examined some water from
a drinking fountain within the parish (one of the purest
available sources), and found it scarcely, if at all, improved
in either the quantity or character of its sedimentary
deposit, though the abundance of 'living organisms in such
deposit was perhaps less observable than at some former
examinations. Since the publication (20th Feby., 1869) of
the results of Dr. Frankland's analyses of 1868, the filtering
arrangements of the Company may have been somewhat
improved, but if we are to attach any importance to the
statements which the analyst himself makes in every one of
his monthly reports to the Registrar General, from January
to May of the present year (1869), the impurity of the
water supplied by the Southwark Company is still very
great; and, it may be added, that its variable quality is, for
obvious reasons, its very worst recommendation.
This subject, from its great sanitary importance, commends
itself to the serious consideration of the authorities.
R. HAELAND-WHITEMAN,
Medical Officer of Health
for Putney and Roehampton.
Chairman of the Associated Health
Officers of the Wandsworth District.
D