The Sun.
London, England, 1865-04-04 00:00:00

The Main Drainage of the Metropolis.

To-day his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales
will celebrate what may be fairly termed the com-
pletion of the Main Drainage of the metropolis by
an inspection of the works which have been long
finished and in operation and by starting the great
engines at Crossness Point, which thenceforth will
daily pump the 24,000,000 gallons of sewage and
rainfall on the south side of the water into the
Thames at Erith. Seldom in any country has a
more important, more extensive, more costly, or
more difficult work than this been executed, and
certainly never in any of the cities of England.
London, even with all its faults of a poisoned
Thames, was still in the abstract and, as far as the
mere construction of sewers vent, always the best
drained city in the world. After to-day it will hold
a position in this respect which will be above com-
parison with any other European capital. For such
an all-important boon it is mere justice to say that
we are almost entirely indebted to the Board of
Works, who have gone about their duties in an
earnest, practical way, which sets a high example
alike to both the Government and the City Corpo-
ration. With the assistance of their engineer, Mr.
Bazalgette, they have triumphed over natural and
artificial obstacles in the way of the perfect drain-
age of this great province of houses, and whether it
has been in making new streets or in widening nar-
row ones, whether in embanking the Thames, or
giving new designs for lamp-posts, nothing in the
way of metropolitan improvements has as yet proved
either above their capacity or beneath their atten-
tion. The work which will be inaugurated to-day
has been more important anti:difficult in its execu-
tion, and will be infinitely dt'N-e beneficial in its re-
sults, even than the embankment of the Thames it-
self. If ever the history of our main drainage works
is written we venture to think that the story of its
engineering difficulties will vie with all that may
be found in the " Lives of the Engineers," while it
is certain that even in that history of -mechanical
and engineering marvels there will be no record
found of works so dangerously difficult effected at
so small a cost. What they have been may be best
understood by a few figures. There are now about
1,300 miles of sewers in London, and 82 miles of
main intercepting sewers?, Three hundred and
eighteen millions of bricks and 880,000 cubic yards
of concrete have been consumed,. and three and a
half million cubic yards of earth have been exca-
-vated in the execution of these main drainage works.
The total pumping power employed is 2,380 nominal
horse-power ; and if at full work night and day
44,000 tons of coal per annum would be consumed.
The sewage on the north side of the Thames at pre-
sent amounts to 10,000,000 cubic feet a day, and on
the south side to 4,000,000 cubic feet per day ; but
provision is made for an anticipated increase up to
111 millions on the north side, and 54 millions on
the south side, in addition to 281 million cubic feet
of rainfall per diem on the north side, and 17+ mil-
hon cubic feet per diem on the south side, or a total
of 63 million cubic feet per diem, which is equal to
a lake of 482 acres, 3 feet deep, or fifteen times as
large as the Serpentine in Hyde-park.
The cost of these stupendous works has only
amounted to little more than £4,000,000. The sum
for defraying this expense is raised by loan, and paid
off by a 3d. rate levied on the metropolis, which pro-
duces £180,262 per annum, the rateable value being
£14,421,011, and the principal and the interest of
the loan will be paid off in 40 years. As the works
have advanced constant and full notices of their pro-
gress have appeared in these columns. From these
notices, and from a most able paper which has just
been read by Mr. Bazalgette at the Institute of Civil
Engineers, a brief resume can now be given of all
that up to this day has been accomplished.
The old system of drainage was simply to make
the Thames the great main scwea of London. All
drains and sewers flowed north and south into the
river, where their low :level prevented their dis-
charging at any time but dead low water, when all
London's refuse was kept churning backwards and
forwards, till the river became one of the foulest
and most offensive open sewers in Europe. As the
tide rose it closed the outlets, and poured back the
sewage flowing from the high grounds which accu-
mulated in • the low-lying portions of the sewers,
where it remained stagnant in many cases for 18 out
of every 24 hours. During that period the heavier
ingredients were deposited, and from day to day
accumulated in the sewers; besides which, in times
of heavy and long continued rains, and more parti-
cularly 1- hen these occurred- at the time of high
water in the river, the closed sewers were unable to
store the increased volume of sewage, which then
rose through the house drains and flooded the base-
ments of the houses.
The effect upon the Thames of thus discharging
the sewage into it at a time of low water was most
injurious, because not only was it carried by the
rising tide up the river, to be brought back to Lon-
don by the following ebb tide, there to mix with
each day's fresh supply—the progress of many days'
accumulation towards the sea being almost imper-
ceptible—but the volume of the pure water in the
river being at that time at its minimum rendered it
quite incapable of diluting and disinfecting such
vast masses of sewage.

This, however, was not the worst. The pent-up
refuse, as it gradually deposited in the sewers, en-
tailed an annual expense of some £30,000 to flush
the filth into the river, and thus again entailed a still
further outlay of some £9OO a week in summer months
for disinfectants to prevent the stench from the
stream which has been so successfully poisoned from
breeding a plague. The innumerable commissions of
sewers which -were issued quite failed to abate this
monstrous evil, and it was not till the appointment of
the present Board of Works that the matter was ener-
getically taken in hand, and has now been carried out
under their care, and according to the plans of their

engineer, Mr. Bazalgette. This intercepting system
consists of three great main lines of sewers, or rather
tunnels, which run from the extreme west to the
extreme east of the metropolis, and which are laid at
right angles to all existing sewers and a little below
their levels, so as to intercept their contents and
convey them to an outfall 14 miles below London-
bridge. As large a proportion of the sewage as
practicable is by this means carried away by gravi-
tation, and for the remainder a constant discharge
is effected by pumping. At the outlets the sewage
is delivered into reservoirs situate on the banks of
the Thames, and placed at such a level as will en-
able them to discharge into the river at or about the
time of high water. By this arrangement the sew-
age is not only at once diluted by the large volume
of water in the Thames at high water, but is also
carried by the ebb tide to a point in the river 26
miles below London-bridge, and its return by the
following flood tide within the metropolitan area is
effectually prevented. A series of experiments has
demonstrated that the delivery of sewage at high
water into the river at any point is equivalent to its
discharge at low water 12 miles lower down the
river; therefore the construction of the 12 miles of
sewer to Barking, so laid as only to discharge there
at high water, is virtually equal to taking the sew-
age to a distance of 24 miles from London. Before—
these sewers were built, however, many subjects had
to be carefully considered—such as the population,
their habits, water supply, &c., the incline at which
the sewers should be laid, and the rainfall to be pro-
vided for. The quantity of sewage flowing from a
given population varies but little from the water
supply with which that population is provided. The
water supply to various parts of London in 1856
varied from 20 to 25 gallons per head per diem ;
but a more liberal supply is contemplated, and that
supply is likely to be further augmented by an in-
crease in the population in districts not then wholly
built upon. It has been ascertained that a district
of average density of population, when wholly built
upon, contains 30,000 people to the square mile, so
• that in districts containing that, or more than that,
number of people to the square mile the numbers have
been ascertained and provided for ; but in districts
where the population is below that number provision
has been made for an increase of population up to
30,000 people to the square mile, except over the
outlying districts, where provision has been made
for a population of only 20,000 to the square mile.
An improved water supply, equal to 5 cubic feet or
31+ gallons per head of the contemplated increased
population, has also been anticipated.
In providing for the rainfall an average:was taken
of several years, which shows that in London there
are no.less than 155 days in the year in which rain
falls, though out of this number there are only about
25 on which the quantity has amounted to a quarter
of an inch in depth in the 24 hours. But there are
every year exceptional cases of heavy and violent
rain-storms, and these have measured one inch, and
sometimes even as much as two inches in the hour.
These exceptional storms, however rare their occur-
rence, have been provided for by the construction of
overflow weirs at the junctions of the intercepting
sewers with the main valley lines, which act as
safety-valves in times of storm. On such occasions
the surplus waters will be largely diluted, and, after
the intercepting sewers are filled, will flow over the
weirs, and so by their old channels into the Thames.
To carry out all these works three great main lines
of intercepting sewers have been necessary--a high,
a middle, and a low level sewer—on each side of the
Thames. It is the low level at the southern outfall
which the Prince opens to-day, and all the works
•are now complete, save only the northern low level,
which, as having to run under the Thames Em-
bankment, cannot, of course, be yet constructed.
This northern low level sewer, however, only diverts
about 1-7th part of the northern sewage, so that
virtually from this day forth the Thames may be
said to be tolerably pure. It can never be made as
clean and sparkling as in bygone times, but at least
we may be certain that it will never r.gain become
offensive.

The High Level Sewer at the north side of the
river commences with a small drain at Hampstead-
hill. It is about seven miles long, drains an area of
about 10 square miles, and intercepts the sewage of
Hampstead, part of Kentish-town, Highgate, Hack-
ney, Clapton, Stoke Newington, and Holloway. A
portion of the district adjoining the Hackney-
marshes is so low that it was necessary to drain it
through a branch passing into the Low Level Sewer.
The form of this sewer is mostly circular, and varies
in size from 4ft. in diameter to 9ft by 12ft., and its
fall is very rapid. Much property had to be tunnelled
under in its construction. One house was actually
underpinned and placed upon iron girders through
the cellar without any further disturbance to the
house. At another part it had to be taken under
the New River, and again through the embankment
of the Great Northern Railway. One of the worst
difficulties, however, was getting it under Sir George
Duckett's Canal, where the crown of the arch of
the sewer is only 24 inches from the water in the
canal. The bottom of the canal and the top of the
sewer are here formed of iron plates and girders,
with a thin coating of puddle between, and no leak-
age has yet taken place or is likely to occur. This
instance of careful tunnelling is, however, far from
being the only one, or even the most difficult. One
line of tunnel, from Kennington Church to the Old
Kent-road, runs a distance of I,oooft. close under
a row of houses, the top of the tunnel' being only
from 10ft. to 12ft. below the surface, and its
diameter is about 10ft. The water was pumped out
of the sand for this length of tunnel at the rate of
about 8,000 gallons per minute. The same sewer
was carried, through similar soil, under the Grand
Surrey Canal, and within Bft. of the water in it;
and again under the same canal in the Deptford
Lower-road, where the distance between the top of
the tunnel and the water in the canal was only 6ft.
4in., the whole of the soil being gravel and sand,
with Ift. of puddle in the bottom of the canal.
In the Caledonian-road the Regent's Canal was
also tunnelled under, the distance between the top
of the tunnel and the water in the canal being only
2ft., so that the miners could hear the barges as
they passed over their heads scrape against the
ground ; this was, however, executed in clay.
Another tunnel has been formed 33ft. under the
rails of the West London Railway, and under the
Kensington Canal. The sewers were constructed
under the London and Brighton, the North Kent,
and other railways without any interruption to the
continuous traffic on them even for an hour. Per-
haps, however, the most curious instance of success-
ful engineering was shown in taking the Middle
Level Sewer over the Metropolitan (or subterranean)
Railway by a wrought-iron aqueduct, 150 ft. span,
weighing no less than 240 tons ; the depth of con-
struction between the underside of the aqueduct and
the inverts of the double line of sewers being only
2 inches. As the traffic on the railway could not
be stopped during the construction of the aqueduct,
which is actually there only a few inches above the
engine chimneys, the structure was built upon a
stage at a height of sft. above the intended level,
and was lowered into place by means of hydraulic
rams. This stage was necessarily of great strength,
and the sewers were formed by wrought-iron plates
rivetted together.
The Northern Middle Level Sewer drains an area
of 171 square miles. It commences near the Har-
row-road at Kensal-green, passes under the Pad-
dington Canal into the Uxbridge-road at Notting-
hill, along Oxford-street, Hart-street, Liquourpond-
street, and across Clerkenwell-green ; thence by
way of Old-street-road to High-street, Shoreditch,
along Church-street,Bethnal-green -road, and Green -
street, under the Regent's Canal and the North
London Railway, to a junction with the High Level
Sewer at the Penstock-chamber at Bow. The Low
Level Sewer, besides intercepting the sewage from
the low level area, which contains 11 square miles,
7, is also the main outlet for a district of about 14i

1i
. square miles, forming the western suburb of Lou-
don, which is so low that its sewage has to be lifted
and s s
es
at Chelsea to a height of 173-ft. into the upper end
at
tf thethe LGowroLsveevneolr
Canal,Sewer. ThisPimlico, sewerco, commences
passes
along Lupus-street and Bessborough-street, to and
along the river side from Vauxhall-bridge. From
Westminster-bridge to Blackfriars it is being formed
as part of the Thames Embankment ; and thence
it will pass under a portion of the new street to the
Mansion-houge, and take the line of the Inner Circle
Railway to Tower-hill. From Tower-hill it is
being made mostly by tunnelling along Mint-street,
Cable-street, Back-road, Commercial-road, and
under the Limehouse-cut and Bow-common. It is
now being tunnelled under the river Lea, on its
route to the Abbey-mills pumping station, where its
contents will be raised no less than 36ft. by steam
power. It has two branches—one from Homerton,
and the other from the Isle of Dogs. All these sewers
meet in a great outfall sewer at Bow. This sewer
is a work of most peculiar construction, as, unlike
most other sewers, it is raised high above the level
of the surrounding country like a railway embank-
ment, which, indeed, just now it perfectly resembles,
as it has rails along the top of it for the con-
tractors' steam-engines and trucks, and is carried
-15-y—aVieducts over` sireairis, railways, Streets,' and
roads. The outfall sewer at this point consists
of two huge main pipes, each 9ft. by Oft., bedded
in concrete and earth, and fenced in by hedges,
as we havesaid, like ,ommon railway embankment.
This outfall is continued to the Abbey-mills pump-
ing station, where low level sewage has to be raised
36ft. The Abbey-mills station is one of the largest
establishments of the kind on the Main Drainage
works. It has a nominal engine power of 1,140
horses, for the purpose of lifting 15,000 cubic feet of
sewage per minute a height of 36ft. The engines are
all expansive and condensing, have a stroke of Oft.,
with cylinders of 4ift. in diameter, and each works
two pumps. From this station the sewage is lifted
into the Barking reservoir, where it is in a great
measure disinfected, and where it is retained till
high water, and then discharged into the centre of
the river. The Barking reservoir is 164 ft. average
depth, and is divided by partition walls into four
compartments, covering altogether an area of
412,384 superficial feet, or about 9Racres. The ex-
ternal and partition walls are of brickwork, and the
entire area is covered by arches supported upon brick
piers, the floor being paved throughout with stone.
The reservoir is almost entirely above the general
surface of the ground, and is covered by an embank-
ment of earth, rising about 2ft. over the crown of
the arches. The ground on which it is built being
unfit to sustain the massive structure, the founda-
tions of the piers and walls had to be carried down
in concrete to a depth of nearly 20ft. So much for
the works on the north side of the Thames.
On the south the High Level Sewer and its southern
branch Commence with the main line at Clapham and
a branch line at Dulwich, and they together drain
an area of about 20 square miles, including Tooting,
Streatham, Clapham, Brixton, Dulwich, Camber-
well, Peckham, Norwood, Sydenham, and part of
Greenwich. ',Both lines are constructed of sufficient
capacity to carry off all the flood-waters, so that
they may be entirely intercepted from the low dis-
trict, which is tidelocked and subjected to floods.
The storm-waters will be discharged into Deptford
Creek, while the sewage and alimited quantity of rain
will flow by four iron pipes, each 3ft. 6in. in diameter,
laid under its bed into the outfall sewer. The
length of this portion is only 41 miles, of which a
little over 300 yards was executed by tunnelling at
a depth varying from 30 to 35 feet below the surface.
The Low Level Sewer on the south does not follow
the course of the river, as on the north side, but,
commencing at Putney, it takes a more direct line
through low ground once forming the bed of a
second channel of the Thames, and drains Putney,
Battersea, Nine Elms, Lambeth, Newington,
Southwark, Bermondsey, Rotlierhithe, and Dept-
ford, comprising an area of 20 square miles. The
surface of this land is mostly below the level of high
water, and is, in many places, five or six feet below
it, having at one time been completely covered by
the Thames. The sewers throughout this district
had but little fall, and could never empty themselves
save at dead low water, and it was with reference to
the condition of this part of the metropolis that
some of our greatest engineers described the effects
of artificial drainage by pumping as equivalent to
raising the whole surface by more than 20ft. The
Low Level Sewer will in fact render this district as
healthy as the highest in the metropolis. Its length
is about 10 miles, and its size varies from 4ft. at the
commencement to the two main sewers, which are
7ft. by 7ft., al its termination. This line commu-
nicates with the pumping station at Deptford that
raises the low level sewage into the main southern
outfall. Four engines are used for this purpose,
each. of 125-horse power nominal, and capable
together of lifting 10,000 cubic feet of sew-
age per minute to a height of 18 feet. From
this point the great tide of refuse passes off by
the southern outfall sewer, which, unlike that
on the northern side of the river, is constructed for
its whole length of nearly eight miles entirely under-
ground. This sewer, nearly 12ft. in diameter, was
taken under the town of Woolwich at a depth vary-
ing from 50ft. to 80ft. below the surface without
casualties or settlements of any kind. The Cross-
ness reservoir, into which this outfall flows at Erith-
marshes, is 6i acres in extent, and, like that at
Barking, is formed on the peaty soil by brick piers
on brick arches, covered in with earth. The pump-
ing engines, by means of which the sewage is lifted
into this reservoir, are almost identical in power
and general arrangement with those at Deptford
Creek, From the reservoir at Crossness, as at
Barking, the sewage is discharged into the river at
high tide, the volume of water with which it mixes
and flows away being more than 100 times greater
than the bulk of that into which it was suffered to
flow under the old mismanagement which poisoned
the Thames.

The nzaxinzunz quantity of sewage to be lifted by
these engines at Crossness Point will, as we have
said, ordinarily be about 10,000 cubic feet per
minute ; but during the night that quantity will be
considerably reduced, while, on the other hand, it
will be nearly double on occasions of heavy rain-fall.
The lift, also, will vary as much as from 10ft. to 30ft.,
according to the level of the water in the sewer and
the reservoir into which it has to be raised. These
very variable conditions of working led to some
difficulty in the arrangement of the engines and
pumps, which it has been endeavoured to meet by
the arrangement of pump plungers. The pumps,
which are single-acting, are placed equidistantly on
each side of the beam centre, the pump cases being
each 12 feet in diameter, fitted with four plungers
4 feet 6 inches in diameter. These plungers are
placed in pairs, each pair being worked from a cross-
head on the main beam, which is in two flitches
with this object, and arrangements are made
for throwing either pair of plungers out of gear. By
these means the capacity of the pumps maybe varied
in the proportion of one, two, or three, as the inner
pair, outer pair, or both pairs areinto
a ug
throwwnrointhotg_ioeral
The sewage is discharged
trough, through hanging leather-faced valves,
which arc suspended from iron shackles, and fitted
with wrought-iron back and front plates. Each valve
is 12in. by 18in. It should be mentioned that sub-
stances which prevent the proper action of the valves
are intercepted before reaching the pumps, by a
wrought-iron grating placed in front of the openings
to the pump well, the substances so stopped being
lifted from the face of the grating by an endless chain,
with scrapers and combs attached, working vertically
in front of and in close contact with the grating,
the teeth of the comb passing between the bars.
On the descent of the chain, the buckets are over-
turned and discharge their contents into a trough,
from which they will be removed by manual labour.
The sewage, after being delivered from the pumps

The half-yearly receipts for the present financial year;
compared with the corresponding period of last year, show
an Increase of £2,783 17s. 2d. ; the total sale of land to
Lady Day, 1865, amounts to £385,001 10s. ld. ; the total
withdrawals since the formation of the society
(September, 1852) to Lady Day,`lB6s, are £244,687175. 6d.
The returns of the Register of the 'audio of Rights area.
follows :—Ganinlated. 5.565: drawn, -;305 seniority,
1,758; total, 10,628. Deduct rights exercised on estate;
&c., 8,023 ; unexercised rights, 2,605. The last share
number on the register of seniority (date of membership)
is No. 15,875. The last share issued up to Lady Day,
1865, is No. 21,862. The allotments for the first half year
were : the Southgate-road estate, Wood Green, No. 2,
Tottenham, Middlesex, and the remaining portion of the
Felixstowe estate, East Suffolk, with the exception of a
piece of landat the junction of the Cobbold and Montague
Roads. These two eligible building properties were offered
on the 11th of January. The executive committee have the
satisfaction of reporting that the whole of the Felixstowe
plots have been sold. The sale of the Southgate-road estate,
which is within a quarter of an hour's walk of Wood
Green Station, on the Great Northern line, bids fair to be
equally successful before the end of the year, and to prove
as remunerative to tho allottees as the first Wood Green
property, numerous plots on which have been sold at con-
siderable premiums. Tho roads and drainage on the
Southgate-road property will bo completed as speedily as
possible. Tho allotment of the Sunnyside estate, Sandown,
Isle of Wight, will be commenced on the 6th of April, on
which day the new plans of the Roehampton, East Surrey,
and Seven Sisters (Tottenham)estates will be issued. The
demand for additional accommodation in the fast-rising
bathing-place of Sandown was the inducement to make

the society's first purchase in the Isle of Wight. Tho
opening of the new railway—which line will be soon ex-
tended to Ventuor—must tend to develope Sandown, with
its unrivalled sands, rapidly, trains running from Ryde in
fourteen minutes, at cheap fares. The Sunuyside estate
is on the summit of a picturesque chain- of hills, -with
frontage to the bay ; two new roads communicating with
the High Road to Shanklin. Superb views of the
sea and of the interior can be had from various por-
tions of the estate, which has been laid out for
first and second class sea-side residences. The villa
at the end of Talbot-road, with a piece of land, will be sold
with the privilege to any purchaser to convert the building
into a hotel, or to erect eight houses on the plot. The
railroad projects in contemplation at Roehampton and
Tottenham have rendered it expedient to prepare modified
plans of allotment of the unsold portions of the society's
estates in those localities. Since the last report nearly all
the plots on the Plough-lane, Battersea estate, No. 2, have
been disposed of. The plan for the allotment of the Deal
navy-yard on the 17th of May will shortly be issued. The
new railways through the Kentish Town and Brighton
estates are in active progress. The Earl of Bective, M.P.,
having resigned, the executive committee have the plea-
sure to report that, under rule 32, they have elected James
Goodson, Esq., chairman of the Great Eastern railway
Company, a member of the board. The executive com-
mittee, in conclusion, have the satisfaction to announce to
the shareholders that they have just entered into arrange-
where.by_laeagokerlies_have _boon secured in.
Cheshire and Cornwall, being the first purchases in those
counties for the Conservative Land Society. . ,
The report was adopted, and a vote of thanks passed to
thellTeara.

THE CASE OF Dn. PRITCHARD.—The Scotsman of
yesterday says :—" The particular stage at which
the investigation in this complicated and excited case has
arrived renders it impossible that any definite statement of
results can be published for a few days. The chemical ex-
amination of Mrs. Pritchard's body is proceeding, and will
probably be completed in the course of this week ; but
very special precautions have been taken to prevent any
exposure of the first results obtained, and, as some time
must elapse before any report will be made even to the au-
thorities, it is not expected that public curiosity will be
gratified for some days to come. Wo have grounds, how-
ever, for stating that the case against the prisoner has as-
sumed a grave aspect from the result of the post-mortem ex-
amination alone of Mrs. Taylor's body. The condition and
appearance of the organs denoted no serious or fatal illness
of a natural character." The Glasgow Morning Journal of
Saturday says :—" In the course of our inquiries yesterday
a fact or two came to our knowledge, the importance of
which in a painful investigation like the present it would
be difficult to over-estimate. Hitherto little or no direct
proof has boon brought forward of the accused being in
possession of antimonial preparations in any considerable
quantity, or of having them at all. The sale-books of the drug-
gists with whom ho was in the habit of dealing throw, it is
understopd, but little light on the matter ; and if the police
officials have found the drug in any form in his surgery,
this information has, of course, been studiously kept secret.
There can be no doubt, however, after what we have learnt,
that for several weeks past Dr. Pritchard was really in pos-
session of tartarized antimony, and this, moreover, in un-
usually large quantities, purchased by himself at the esta-
blishment of a respectable wholesale druggist in town.
We believe we are within the mark in stating that not less
than two ounces of this medicine was thus procured by
him within the space of two months. Another somewhat
striking circumstance is that a few days before the death
of Mrs. Taylor he was supplied from the same warehouse
with a goodly quantity of " Fleming's" tincture of aconite,
a medicine, we understand, possessed of virulently poison-
ous
qualities when administered incautiously. It is quite
true that both of the drugs mentioned are largely used in
the healing art, but it is not easy to guess at first sight
what need any surgeon in private practice could have
for great quantities of them, more especially of tho tartar
emetic. A very free use of antimony as an outward appli-
cation might, perhaps, partially explain the necessity for
purchases so unusually large, but we are led to understand
that any such practice has been of late years almost com-
pletely laid aside by medical practitioners who keep pace
with the pharmaceutical improvements of the day as we
may assume (Dr. Pritchard to have done. A grave
question, then, our readers will perceive, must now arise as
to what has become of the powerful poisons which the ac.
cused is known to have bought."
A YANKEE THUS GOOD lIU3IOUREDLY corrects the
errors of Mr. Sala Mr. Sala says that here,
you purchase an article, no one dreams of saying ' Thank
you.' I say that, according to my memory of my experi-
ence through all my life, and my particular observation
within the past few days, salesmen not only dream of it,
but do it. There aro exceptions, but Thank you' is the
rule. Mr. Sala tells you that this courtesy—thanks—is
not common here, except among those who have travelled
in Europe. I tell you, having been brought up among
people who had not been in Europe for seven generations;
that any Yankee who is brought up at all is taught to say
'lf you please' and 'Thank you' oven to a servant. Mr.
Sala tells you that he never saw a lady thank a gentleman' for
handing her fare and returning her change in an omnibus. I
tell you that for the sake of observation I have ridden up
and down in all sorts of omibuses throughout this week,
placing myself in a position in which this service would
fall upon me, so that in one rido I have performed it for
six female fellow-passengers, and never for loss than
two, and in every case except one it was acknowledged
either with an audible ' Thank you,' or with a bow and a
smile. The exception was a woman in a dirty gown, with
nails in full mourning, who took her money out of a greasy
purse and illsmelling. But the purse was full, and her
daughter will probably flaunt in silk, and inherit not only
her mother's money but her manners, which were not
learned in this country. I admit that there are many
such women to be found as that daughter will be. Mr.
Sala tells you, writing lugubrious pages about it, that ho
threecouldh
notina dregetdafneyetleufciefeerrdmte gatcehteas,
littleand ttlelaete irdle
hishard t )
trunks.uy
That he may have had some difficulty about these trifling
everymatters
e hlamohf
ecro uirnse
eve willryn
lot
et
ideny.se or
B
r u I assure
hotel t
has youehes hat t
as a matter of course ; that you can buy ono box or a
that there aro stalls in the streets,
dozen at any grocer's;
even Wall-street, at which you. can buy them, and that
boys rush into your office, shouting Matches !' also that
if my little boy wants a new cord to his sled ho goes to one
of half-a-dozen places near by and buys it. Mr. Sala's
representation would be as true of London if he said that
ho could not get a pot of beer there, and that if ho wanted
a slice of beef he would be obliged to buy an ox and roast
whole."

A PHOTOGRAPHIC CURIOSITY.

With a copy of
Vitt atin
is presented GRATIS (with a Supplement)
A MINIATURE PHOTOGRAPHED FAC-
SIMILE of the FRONT PAGE of THE SUN
of MONDAY, the 2d January, 1865.

* * For the convenience of Subscribers wishing
*
to preserve the Photograph, a suitable frame is pro-
vided, and may be had at The Sun Office, price is.
The Photograph, ON CARD, mounted in frame,
is. 6d.