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the vicinity of Hungerford Bridge, must have been the worse;
and from a careful analysis of the districts supplied by these
Companies, it was found that of the population drinking Southwark
and Vauxhall water, 11.8 in a 1000 died of cholera, and
of that drinking Lambeth water, 12.5 in a 1000 died of the
same disease. The difference here is small, and may have been
accidental, yet it is worthy of remark that it is in favour of the
population drinking the purer water. Between 1849 and 1854,
the Lambeth Company removed their Works to Thames Ditton,
and the water furnished by them became consequently infinitely
more pure than it had been previously. The Southwark
and Vauxhall Company, however, still continued to derive their
supply from Battersea, "purveying," to use the words of Mr.
Simon, "perhaps the filthiest stuff ever drunk by a civilized
community;" for by that time it was worse than in 1849,
"because the larger population and more extended drainage of
London had given it a denser infusion of sewage and a more
revolting unfitness for drink."' In 1854, a comparison was
again instituted between the relative number of deaths from
cholera, among those who derived their water supply from the
two companies; and what were the results?—16.0 in a 1000
died of those who imbibed the disgusting stuff furnished by
the Southwark Company, and 2.7 only in a 1000 of those who
drank the now pure water supplied by the Lambeth Company.
The Lambeth Company, which between the two epidemics had
changed its source of supply, showed a diminution of cholera,
deaths among those who used its water, from 12.5 in a 1000
to 2.3; the Southwark and Vauxhall, which continued to
derive its water in 1854 from the same source whence it
had derived it in 1849, showed an increase from 11.8 to 16 in
a 1000. It might be suggested that the social condition of the
persons supplied by the two companies varied, that the Lambeth
supplied a superior class of people to the Southwark and
Vauxhall, or that the condition of those supplied by the former
was better in respect of drainage, density of population, or
some other matters affecting health. But no—the investigation
clearly showed that such was not the case, for in many instances
the two companies' mains run side by side, and numerous streets
exist in which one side is supplied by one company, and the
other side by the other company; and in all such cases, cases
in which there was no room for deception, separate comparisons