The Sun.
London, England, 1840-12-31 00:00:00

THE SUN. I ONDON, THURSDAY, DECEMBEn 31. 18i0.

ODE TO MOD bliN PHILAN-

T 1-111.0 P Y.

(From the John Bull )
Hail, Nymph l—hut hold—so many forms you bear,
So many strange and startling aspects wear,
That the poor bard it very much perplexes,
Who, willing the due homage to afford,
With finger hesitating on the chord,
Hangs halting back, not knowing which your sex is.
But not e'en here is his amazement stayed,
For—in yourself a perfect masquerade—
One scarce can tell what shape you'll next appear in;
Sir Fussell Buxton, Owen, Mrs. Fry,
Chadwick (in Poor-law high authority),
It may be the big Bcggerman of Erin.
There's not a project started but lays claim,
Under some plea or othe.-, to your name,

Fi um railroad recklessness to emigration ;
No matter though the one break people's necks,
And t'other shut 'twixt close unwholesome decks,
The crowded victims of a speculation.

Tell us, eccentric power, how it occurs
That all thy votaries and worshippers
Are un-like other people constituted ?
In " form and pressure " they appear the same,
Are class'd alike under one common name,

TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

--- - -
SIR—" A Constant Reader, M.A.," Dec. makes,
in your Journal of the 25th instant, three remarks on
the common translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, which

1 think call for some animadversion.
Giving to that translation the title of " The founda-
tion," he proceeds to assert its claims to our acquiescence
by stating that " it was made with great labour and
leisurely consideration by men well learned in Hebrew,"
and that " it has since been sifted by men possessed of
nearly all the knowledge on the subject which can be at-
tained." If " M. A." will permit us to substitute
" could" for " can," I have little to contend against in
these two propositions. But he does not say what has
been the result of this " sifting." Is it not a fact that
hardly any scholar of eminent attainments has been so
satisfied with the received translation as to leave it as he
found it ? Many re-translations of entire books have
been published, and all critical works are filled with sug-
gestions of correction. Now, without stopping to scru
tinize the comparative merits of the received version
and the offered amendments, I feel that the" sifting" to
which " M.A" appeals produces to me an effect quite
opposite to what it appears to have bad upon his mind.
his third assertion, is, however, quite at variance
with reasoning and experience. " A language is not a
thing in which new discoveries can be made like a
branch of natural philosophy." What is a language if it
does not in all its parts exhibit phenomena which re-
quire the application of the principles of inductive philo-
sophy. To compare the words with others derived from
the same roots, and to elucidate a word which stands
isolated in one dialect by reference to a more, frequent
use of the corresponding form in another, is surely a rea-
sonable and legitimate mode of procedure by which im-
portant results have been obtained, and I cannot see
why we sho ild debar ourselves from the hope of arriving
at others. The phrases and ;:dioins of cnussruction, the
juxtaposition of expressions, and even the collocation or
antithesis of the different parts of a period, are, in like
manner, fair objects of philo.ogical research.
I have asserted also, that " M. A.'s" third proposi-
tion is at variance with experience, as well as reasoning.
Did Bentley and Porson leave the world without estab-
lishing principles in the Greek language, which were
discoveries made by them as completely as new dis-
coveries have ever been made in any branch of natural
philosophy ? Comparative philology has, within these
few years, made greater progress than any other science.
Why, then, exclude the Hebrew books from the benefit
of this advance in learning ?
Opposed to all claims of infallibility, 1 should be far
from giving a final acquiescence to any " authorized
version" that might be attempted. But let nothing be
done to discourage the public mind from candidly re-
ceiving every glimmering of light.
We hear of admitted interpolations, and acknow-
leged mistranslations. Let these be expunged or
corrected. Truth must gain by freeing it from the
admixture of error.
Some few years ago the Greek Professor at Cambridge,
published proposals for amending the common version
of the New Testament, which he seems to have made
on the cautious principle of proposing no alteration, but
what is universally admitted to be an amendment. His
proposal has passed away unheeded, not because there
was raised. even the shadow of a dispute about the
accuracy of his amendments, for they were all so pal-
pable, as to have been brought forward without affect-
ing to claim originality.
Such facts as this lead to a suspicion, that the
classes of persons who are loudest in pretensions of
zeal for " scriptural education," " scriptural study," and
" scriptural truth," have a lurking consciousness that
they make ostentatious display of a faith, which they arc
fearful to test by scrutinizing its "foundation."
1 ani, Sir, your constant reader,
A LATITUDINARIAN.
December, 2G, 1840.

Lature

Most

LONDON AND WESTMINSTER

WATER COMPANY.

REPORT.

TO THE PROVISIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE LONDON AlsT,
WESTMINSTER WATER-WORKS, &C.
Gentlemen,—The insufficiency and badness of the pre-
sent supply of water to the metropolis have long engaged
the public attention ; but although many endeavours bays.
been made to establish it on a better basis, owing to causes
which we must seek in the elements of the projects them-
selves, they have invariably failed.
As it appears, however, generally admitted that some-
thing should he done, we are naturally led to inquire into
the reasons of the want of success of former attempts, and
by carefully avoiding these, and at the same time endea-
vouring to present an effective and practical remedy, we
may still hope to deserve the public confidence. It will
therefore be my endeavour to show, in the following re-
port, that nature has supplied us with the means of sub-
sti:uting a pure anti unceasing flow of spring water for the
outpourings of filthy drains, and that this can be done
without encountering difficulties of any but an ordinary
nature.

Nevertheless, before I proceed to do this, it may not be
useless that I should briefly enumerate the various plans
which have hitherto been suggested to attain this object ;
as this will at once prove how much time and attention,
lot only numerous private inuividvals, but even thu Legis-
, have bestowed on the subject; and will also enable
me to point out to you w:-.at appears to me to have been

the causes of their rejcction.
So far back as the sear 1821, a Committee of the 'lousy
of Commons made a long Report, in which they recom-
mended that a Bill should be passed to regulate the water
companies, which had at that time caused much dissatis-
faction, on account of the great increase, which a coalition
enabled them to make on their former rates. The inquiry.
although it does not appear to have led to any positive
result, nevertheless called the attention of the public tip
various facts which were not previously generally known,
and among others, to the very inferior quality of the water
which many of the Companies supplied. We accord-
ingly find that, in 1824, a highly respectable body of gen-
tlemen held a meeting, to take into consideration a pro
position of Mr. Philip Taylor's, to conduct the water of
the Thames, by means of a subterraneous equeduct, from
a point near Richmond, to reservoirs at Rensall-green and
Hamsotead-heath.
In 1825 a company was formed to supply the metropo-
lis with spring water from beneath the London clay, a pro-
ject which was again brought forward in 1835, and to
which I shall have occasion, in a later period of this re-
port, to allude at some length.
But it was not until the spring of 1827 that, in conse.
(rance of the publication of a pamphlet, entitled " The
Dolphin," by Mr. Wright, the general mass of the inha-
bitants of London could be said to have been aroused to a
sense of the paramount importance of a better supply of
water to their houses, than that derived from some of the
foul portions of the river Thames. Although de-
airred for such a length of time, the public indignation now
became unanimous; and at a meeting held in April, 1827,
which was attended by a most influential body of the nobi-
lity and residents of the west of London, resolutions of a
very strong nature were passed, and a petition agreed to,
praying for the appointment, by the Crown, of a Commis-
sion to inquire into the present modes of supply, and their
t fleet on the health of the population.
In compliance with this urgent demand. Dr. Roget,
Mr. Brand, and Mr. Telford, were named on the 12th
July, 1827, to examine the allegations brought forward,
which at once led to the suggestion of numerous remedies
for an evil which no one appeared reedy to controvert.
Among these we find a Mr. Hipkins proposing to con-
vey in an open coodnit the water of the Thames from
above Old Brensford ; Dr. Kerrison, from Isleworth ;
and Mr. James Mills, from Teddington ; Mr. Martin, the
artist, also sought to show that the water of the river Colne
might be brought in a canal from Denham, in the neigh-
bourhood of Uxbridge, to London ; and, in addition to
these, various other proposals emanated from Messrs.
Smart, Brown of Wakefield, Chambers, Jones, William
Anderson, &c.
None of these, however, were fully discussed by the
Commission, as the demand for their report rendered it
necessary that it should be given in, long before they
could be well said to have terminated their labours.
The evidence they obtained enabled them, however, to
decide "that the present state of the supply of water re-
quires improvement, that the complaints respecting the
quality are well founded, and that the water ought to be
derived from other sources than those now resorted to."
In consequence of this report it was deemed necessary
that a Select Committee of the House of Commons should
be appointed to make further inquiries, and at the end of
the Session it appears to have fully agreed that the supply
should be derived from a purer source than the present ;
in furtherance of which object it was recommended that
Mr. Telford should be employed to make such surveys as
would enable him to suggest a practicable plan of supply-
ing every part of London with wholesome and pure water.
After several years of protracted inquiry, Mr. Telford
came to the conclusion that it would be desirable to bring
the water from the river Verulam, on the north side of
the Thames, and one of the branches of the Wandle, on
the south, to London, to effect which so large an outlay
was necessary, that he proposed that it should be met by a
Parliamentary grant.
Another and numerous Committee of the House of
Commons again met to consider these plans, but its la-
bours were unfortunately not terminated at the end of the
Session ; the inquiry may therefore still be considered as
remaining nearly in the same state in which it was left in
the year 1834.
The plan of sinking Artesian wells to the sands of the
plastic clay or chalk has, indeed, as I have already men-
tioned, been again mooted, but abandoned for causes to be
hereafter detailed ; and Mr. Telford's proposal of bringing
the water of the Verulam to London has also been taken
up, with various modifications, by Mr. Giles, who, how-
ever, did not succeed, I believe, in the preliminary step of
finding capitalists willing to embark in the undertaking.
It will now, I think, be sufficiently established that the
present mode of supplying London with water has, for a
length of time, been any thing but satisfactory to the
public ; and if for some years past the subject has been
allowed to rest, it has probably arisen more from a preva-
lent idea that the inquiry was in the hands of the Legis-
lature, than from any real statement of the grounds of
Complaint.
From various causes it would seem, however, that there
is no intention on the part of the Government to prose-
cute the inquiry ; and, indeed this may, in some degree,
be accounted for from the country being called upon, ac-
cording to Mr. Telford's plan, to expend nearly 1,200,000/.
to early that into effect which may have been already
doubtless perceived to be but a partial remedy for the evil.
It is indeed surprising that, with the exception of the
proposal to obtain the water by perforating the London
clay, every project, including Mr. Telford's, should have
contemplated using the water of streams which are all
subject to be affected by the surface drainage of a more or
less extensive tract of country, and consequently, only a
very few degrees better than that already in use, whilst,
at the same time, all the difficulties consequent on the
injury to existing interests, as navigations, mills, &c.,
have to be encountered. Many, although they sought to
remove the objection to using the water of the Thames in
the immediate vicinity of London, continued to endeavour
to derive their supply from a greater distance, where al-
though certainly less liable to contamination, it might still
be considered as the common sewer of many important
towns on its banks and the general drain into which much
animal and vegetable matter must find its way, particularly
atter the scouring of the neighbouring country by every
heavy fall of rain.
I do not, indeed, at all contest that the extraneous bodies
which pollute the water of rivers, ere merely held in mecha-
nical suspension, and that provided we get rid of these by
allowing them to fall to the bottom, the Thames water may
be looked upon as quite as pure as any other. But there
appeals to me one material objection to the method of re-
moving the impurities by rest which applies to all surface
water—namely, that a considerable space of time is neces-
sary to admit of their complete separation, and as this is
also increased by the slightest agitation again diffusing the
particles of the deposits through the water, the gradual ac-
cumulation of filth in the reservoirs, and the lapse of time
requisite to render the water clear, must undoubtedly add
to unpleasant odour and flavour, or in other words, to
a tendency to become putrid. 1 therefore repeat that it Its
scarcely to be wondered at that the Legislature shou
d
have delayed acting on Mr. Telford's plan, which combined
these objections with a very large outlay, nor that a Com-
pany should still have found grounds for proposing Arte-
sia!, was in preference to his suggestions.
That this, however, was not to have been easily attained,
appears partly proved by the fact, that this project was
never brought to maturity, and the remarks I am now
about to lay before you will also,
I trust, confirm this view.
The group of strata, designated as the lower tertiary, or
° es., and consisting of two divisions, the upper called
stllcee London clay, and the lower composed of various
coloured sands and argillaceous deposits, distinguished as
the plastic clay, lying immediately upon the chalk forma-
tion, may' in general terms, be described as a huge rims
of clay resting upon a still more extensive bed of chalk.
The section which accompanies this report, and which, with
slight modifieations, is taken from Dr. Buckland's Bridge-
water Treatise, will show this clearly, and by inspecting it
you will at once understand that the surall sidesface of country
copied by the clay, is surrounded on lay a
chalk, excepting to the cast, where the German Ocean ter
some distance interrupts the continuity, and you will al. o
perceive that this cretaceous circle is, generally speaking,
higher in level than the deposit of clay which fills the cent( r

of the basin.
It is almost needless that I should inform you, that of
the water which descends as dew or rain upon the sur-
f,,,•„ of the London clay, little, if any, can be considered
es bsorbcd into the earth, and that whilst a part either
aga n re-ascends into the atmosphere as vapour or enters
~.,o the composition of animal and vegetable bodieg,
by
tar the greater portion flows off into the main drain of the

district, the river Thames.
In this respect there is a most material difference from
that portion of the surface where the chalk comes to light,
divested of any covering which could intercept the pas-
sage of the moisture; being not only extremely porous,
but also full of fissures in every direction, a very rapid ab-
sorption takes place, and we accordingly find that there are
but few streams carrying off the surplus surface water,
and that thesa are insignificant, and indeed, many of them
dry during the greater part of the year. The rapidity with
which the water finds its way into the bowels of the earth
also, in a great measure, prevents evaporation, and we are
therefore justified in assuming that the quantity which de-
scends upon the surface of the chalk finds its way, with
very alight diminution, into the fissures below. The lower
beds of the cretaceous group, and the gault which imme-
diately succeeds it, again presents an impermeable stratum
of clay, causing the water to accumulate through the
lower regions of the more porous chalk. An enormous na-
tural reservoir has thus been formed, and the level up to
which it may be considered as quite full of water is the
lowest point where it can find a vent and overflow; there-
fore, as the chalk communicates under the coasts of Tor•
folk, Suffolk, end Essex with 'the ocean, this level, in the
present case, may be sonsideted to bo the same as the mean
g height of the sea.
That there is, however, as extensive accumulation of