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49
Whilst it is easy to infer from the preceding
narrative what has been the condition of the Canal
Basin at any time during the past twenty-five years,
it is impossible to state with accuracy how much
illness it has produced, and to what extent it has
affected the death rate of the parish. In conducting
such an enquiry one is confronted at the outset with
the questions, how much of the evil is ascribable to
the Canal itself, and how much to the trades carried
on upon its banks, or to other causes ? That the
foul state of the water produces headache, nausea,
loss of appetite, vomiting, diarrhoea, and sore throat
amongst those employed in the basin is proved by
the cessation of such symptoms upon changing the
water, and by their return after putrefactive fermentation
of the vegetable and animal matter in a
fresh supply of water is again set up and allowed to
do its work for a time. That there are poisonous
gases—carbonic acid and sulphuretted hydrogen—
escaping from the water in large quantities during
the summer months is shown by chemical analysis;
that there are other aeriform products, not well
ascertained, evolved in the processes of spontaneous
decomposition of organic and mineral substances is
more than probable; and that these tend to contaminate
the air and render it more or less noxious
to animal life, must be admitted, if it be true that
atmospheric impurity is an abounding source of
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