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14
foul deposits. Such being the normal condition
of the Basin itself, it necessarily follows that the
water, however frequently changed, speedily becomes
loaded with organic impurities. Ocular
demonstration of this fact is unnecessary. Given
a body of stagnant water, to which additions are
daily made of putrescible materials, let it be subjected
to every change of temperature, and let
the mud at the bottom, consisting largely of decomposed
organic matter, be frequently stirred—
conditions similar to those presented by the water
in the Canal Basin—and it may be safely predicated
that such water is at all times foul, and capable
of becoming offensive and injurious to health.
The water in the Basin is stagnant, and stinks.
With the warmer weather of the summer months
its temperature is raised. Influenced also, it
may be, by certain electrical conditions of the
atmosphere, decomposition of the organic matter
suspended in the water, or held in solution, goes on
more rapidly; carbonic acid gas is given off, and
sulphuretted hydrogen is liberally disengaged from
the mud at the bottom, thus denoting the presence
of animal matter. From the water supersaturated
with these gases, bubbles may be seen rising and
breaking upon its surface, to the annoyance, and
not without danger to the health, of the neighbourhood.
At this stage the water is black.