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portance of this principle, but I have to regret that my efforts to carry it out
with regularity have not been quite so successful as I could wish.
In addition to the systematic measures which are necessary to combat overcrowding,
domestic foulness and bad drainage, we have to wage an unrelenting
warfare against what may be called standing nuisances. Among these the Canal
Basin is still pre-eminent. During the last few weeks the water has become most
offensive. In consequence of the warm weather it was as black at the end of
April as it usually is by Whitsuntide. Foul and pernicious gases are constantly
bubbling up from the putrescent deposits with which the channel is covered, and
poisoning the neighbourhood.
Year after year complaints in great numbers are received during the summer
of the offensive smells arising from untrapped gully grates, and other openings
by which the underground atmosphere of the sewers communicates with the
external air. As it is necessary, in the absence of any other means of ventilation,
that openings of this kind should exist in the streets, this evil cannot be
altogether got rid of. But it may be in great measure counteracted by the
employment of proper methods of disinfection. Of these methods I believe
none to be so good as that which was employed in this Parish in 1858 and 1859
—namely the introduction into the sewers of a quantity of thin milk of lime
with the addition of the antiseptic liquid manufactured by Mr. Mr. Dougall.
Since that period this plan has been largely employed both in London and elsewhere,
and has been found everywhere to produce the most satisfactory and
lasting results. It has this immense advantage, that the chemical compound to
which the disinfectant owes its power, so far from being injurious like some
other substances used for the same purpose, acts when diffused in the air as a
tonic, promoting digestion and increasing the appetite.
ANALYSES OF PADDINGTON WATERS.
During the last three months the water supplied to the inhabitants of this
Parish by the two Water Companies, has been subjected to analysis. The
following are the results:—
Date.
Jan. 5.
Names of the Water Companies.
Solid Matter in One Pint of Water-
Inorganic matter
(in grains).
Organic matter
(in grains).
Grand Junction
2.838
0.308
-
West Middlesex
2.793
0.338
April 7.
Grand Junction
2.980
0.262
-
West Middlesex
2.917
0.185
The above analyses have been performed in the laboratory of St. Thomas's
Hospital by my friend Dr. Bernays, the water having been collected under my
supervision for this purpose, and forwarded by order of the Vestry. So far as
relates to impurities injurious to health, the results are entirely satisfactory, both
as regards the quantity and quality of the solid constituents, for in all the
analyses it was found that the organic matter was in an inactive state—by which
expression is signified that it consisted mainly of those harmless constituents of
plants of which all river-water contains a certain small proportion derived from
the vegetable mould over which it flows. No evidence was found that any of
the samples examined contained organic matter undergoing putrefactive change,
such as would be met with if the water had been contaminated with sewage.
The conclusion to be derived from these analyses is shortly this, that the
water of the Thames as delivered by the Companies is practically free from
contamination. Unfortunately in the houses of the poor this advantage is often
lost in consequence of the foulness of the receptacles in which the water is
stored. If it were possible, water-butts ought to be universally discarded; if
they are used at all, they should be sound and good, and their inner surfaces
should be charred, or well lined with pitch.