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been infected. A month later a little boy was taken to the
Hospital, on account of a rupture, which he had from birth,
an operation was performed, the operation was successful;
the mother had already made arrangements to remove her
child, when the little fellow was taken with diphtheria, and
died. Within a period of eight months seven cases of a like
nature received into the Hospital, for operation or from
accident, died of diphtheria; the origin of that complaint,
although enquiries were made, remains a mystery. I communicated
with the senior physician of the Hospital, and that
gentleman promised a committee of enquiry. Whether the
committee ever sat, or if it did sit, what the result was, if
any, of the enquiry, I do not know; I have received no
communication; the matter had been placed in good hands,
and there it was left; but I have always had the impression,
and hence the introduction of the circumstance in this place,
that the precipitated filth, exposed at low water, at the base
of the Hospital, if it was not, should have been, a matter
included in that enquiry.
But to return to the question of the disposal of the sewage
of London. It is a matter which time will decide whether
or not, the Board has formed too high an estimate of the value
of disinfectants, in arriving at its present determination, to
develope the methods of treating sewage, at Crossness, by
means of precipitation and the use of chemicals.
This scheme is altogether at variance with the decision of
the Royal Commissioners, who sat upon this subject, and
who recommended the construction of a conduit of such
length and capacity that the sewage might be conveyed to
some distant place, in order that the river should no longer
be used for the purposes of town drainage.
But it is the opinion of many, capable from their scientific
knowledge of forming a judgment, that whatever amount of