The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-02-06 00:00:00

contracted for, and that he has expressed his
" surprise and unexpected pleasure" at that
small quantity being as clear and useable as it is.
There may be some surprise felt also with regard
to tiOantity as well as quality hereafter, as Mr,
HAWKSLEY owes his very partial success thus far
to a most bountiful supply of water from another
source, and without which he must have failed
in both quantity and quality. But Professor
TAYLOR seems to be somewhat more dignified and
contemptuous than Mr. HAWKSLEY, lie was
much surprised, no doubt, to find that we know
anything about water in Liverpool. This mis-
take was very soon corrected, and we find Dr,
TAyLon. endeavouring to put himself right with
the public with equal speed. When speaking of
the analysis with which we found fault, he says,
" Allow me first to remark, with respect to my
" analyses, that, although to my mind they are
perfectly satisfactory as to the wholesomeness
" of the waters, and the chemical nature of the
" constituents contained in them, they must not
" be compared as to quantity by weight with
" other analyses made by Mr. SPENC ER." Again,
he says: " The solid contents of any water,
" however, are always liable to vary at different
" seasons of the year, according to floods, rain,
" the amount of mechanical impurity, &c. ; but,
" so lon,r as the variations keep within the limits
" of wholesomeness, this is, in a practical view,
" a very unimportant matter, Whether the
" water of Rivington contains three, five, or
" eight grains of solid matter in the gallon,
" would not in the smallest degree affect my
" opinion of its being quite wholesome, so long
" as the constituents are of such a nature as those
" detected by Mr. SPENCER, Dr. MUSPR AT T, and
" myself." This is the sort of rodomontade the
learned Professor winds up by declaring, " It is
" rank quackery in science therefore to impose
upon the public by the assertion that two or
" three grains, more or less, of mineral and
organic matter render water noxious to health."
It can scarcely be possible that Dr. TAYLOR
makes these statements in sober earnestness,
As he has not made his analysis by weight he
cannot be expected to be able to tell whether
there is one or two grains of poisonous matter
in a gallon of Pike water. But, supposing it
only contains two grains of organic matter which
is injurious to health, if a man uses, as food, one
gallon of it a day, he must take 14 grains each
week, or 730 grains each year, of poison into his
systen)! Is this what the inhabitants of Liver-
pool bargained with Mr. HAWKSLEY for, or what
Dr. TAYLOR would recommend as coming within
the meaning of the word " wholesomeness ?
Our Professor has discovered that the water is
discoloured by Peat, but without waiting to tell
us the danger of drinking such water, he very
cleverly takes up m himself to inform the public
how it may be removed by filtration, or got rid
of by carrying away the Peat bogs from which it
comes ! Pass it " through peat charcoal, well
" washed," says the chemical philosopher, and
you will have it " bright and eolourlets." What
says Mr. HAWKSLEY to the question of time in-
volved in this proposition ? " The colour, derived
" from peat, is decidedly objectionable," but in
what way Dr. TAYLOR does not venture to state.
If it is not poisonous, what matter about it. We
might contrive to filter it in our cisterns ; but it
is poison, or would become so, sooner than any
other water in existence, when brought in con-
tact with lead. The colour is derived from de-
composed bark or tanning, and Professor TAYLOR
must know right well the corrosive properties of
this ingredient. He knows how extensively it is
used in white lead works, and the exact effect it
would have on lead pipe and cisterns. We shall
not, however, follow these gentlemen any fur-
ther at present. The memorial, which will be
brought under discussion in the Council, on
Monday, will probably decide the question it has
raised ; and, if it should not, a Town's Meeting
will be held, at which, we have reason to believe,
that a more decided course will be suggested for
the adoption of the Ratepayers. As for the
anti-Pikeist newspapers, they have little to
apprehend from Mr. HAWKSLEY or Dr. TAYLOR'S
very paltry invectives.

THE attention bestowed upon our Colonies by
the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce, has been
taken up in Parliament with becoming alacrity.
The threatened dearth of • cotton has also been
brought prominently before the House of Com-
mons. But how long we are to wait for any
practical or beneficial result is another matter.
The Government have no objection to take the
place of Providence, and aid those who will help
themselves. They cannot grow cotton or sugar.
Cabinets can only hold out "inducements" to
those who will embark in such enterprises. We
question if they can even do this. They may
possibly be brought to remember that we have
certain tropical dependencies which present to
the world all the " inducements" required to
make them the most profitable and largest sugar,
cotton, and coffee producing countries in the
world. Why are they not so now ? This ap
pears to be a mystery, and in endeavouring to
unravel it we dare not attribute to Nature the
follies and failures of politics and prejudices.
Our territorial possessions in India, and our pro-
ductive Colonies in the Western Ocean, are in
soil and climate as they were "in the beginning.
" and ever shall he." A little idleness, which is
much easier to account for than endure, may
have added very considerably to the natural
luxuriance of the former, and the noxious quali-
ties of the latter, Yet there they stand before
us in all their normal grandeur and prolificness—
the brightest jewels in the Imperial Tiara and
the richest heirlooms any European people could