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tide at London Bridge lias never contained more
than 60 grains of soluble matter per gallon, and of
this but 5 grains were organic. Its average composition
has been rather less than 32 grains per
gallon, of which about 3 only were organic; and
the suspended matter has been about 5 grains per
gallon, of which 1¼ grain Avas organic. These
were chiefly composed of the living organisms of
the infusorial class, as bacillaria and navicula.
Contrast this with the condition of the river
during the summers of 1858 and 1859, when
the quantity of soluble matter in the Thames
amounted to from 140 to 410 grains per gallon, of
which from 13 to 23 grains were organic. The
rains of the last year have altogether prevented
such a state of things; and at the present time
the water of the river is but little different in
its composition from that supplied to many of the
towns of England, and it is not nearly so bad as
that yielded by many of the pumps of this metropolis.
This fact, I hope to submit to you more
prominently in the course of the present year, for I
am now occupied in analysing the water of the
City pumps.
The sanitary work of the year is shown in
Table VII. of the appendix. Altogether, there have
been 6,463 inspections of houses, and 2,985 visits to
the common lodging-houses. These have resulted
in the issuing of 2,472 orders for sanitary