The Sun.
London, England, 1858-07-23 00:00:00

STATE OF THE SERPENTINE.

Last evening a public meeting was held at the
Cadogan Institute,
,Sloane street, Chelsea, in
furtherance of measures for the correction of the
long-complained-of evils and nuisance connected
with the Serpentine, in consequence of its alleged
stagnant and d tngerous state. Mr. Heywood, late
M.P. for North Lancashire, was called to the chair.
The CHAIRMAN, in opening the proceedings, sad
the state of the Serpentine was certainly most
dangerous, not only to bathers, but to the general
inhabitants of its locality. As far as the danger to
bathers was concerned, the state of the mud in it
was such as to defy the appliances of the Reyal
Humane Society, in a recent case, to rescue a
drowning man until life was extinct. He thought
that those who partook of the healthy exercise of
bathing in the river were entitled to every pre-
caution for their safety, and that measures should
be immediately taken for this purpose.
Mr. LILWALL entered at some length into the
exertions which had been made during the last tan
years to procure the improvement of the Serpentine,
and bore testimony to the danger attending upon
bathing in it. It was an undoubted fact that a
very large number of individuals had lost their
lives while bathing in that river from becoming
immersed in the mud at its bottom, to say nothing
of the evil arising from its foul and Wagnant state.
Dr. COPELAND moved the first resolution, to the
effect that the met ting could not but express its
disappointment that the nec scary measures had
not hitherto been employed, the Serpentine still
continuing in its former dangerous condition. He
could safely speak to the evils arising from the
eau es complained of, believing, as he did, that
hucii diseases as ague, catarrh, low and intermittent
fever, barrel c anplaints, and the like, were ex-
tremely prevalent among those in the habit of
bathing in the river, or taking exercise near its
I antis. He was of- opinion that one of the chief
CAU3O3 of the pallor of countenance and loss of
health, at this period of the year, amongst the
wealthy classes who take exercise in the vicinity
of the Serpentine, was the present impure state of
that river. He thought that in agaillly joint of
was the utmost importance that some
remedial measure should be adopted without delay.

Dr. LANKESTER seconded the reso!ution con-
tending that the question was not a local one
merely, but that it affected the whole community,
inasinuth as those who bathed in the river came
from differtnt parts of the metropolis, and the
park likewise in which it is situated WAS frequented
by a great number of others than those who live
in its vicinity. Ho also entered at some length
into the physical evils arising from the present,
and for some time past, impure state of the river.
The resolution was carried unanimously.
Mr. S. C. HALL moved the second reolution—
" That this meeting would again urge upon the
Government, on the double ground of increasing
the salubrity and beauty of the park and promot-
ing the safety and the healthy enjoyment of the
bathers, that the deep pits in the Serpentine should
be filled up, that the bed of the river should be
reeler:el to a depth ranging from thtee to four
feet at tLe weet,rn end to eight or ten feet at the
eastern end, that it should be comparatively
shall° 'V, and of graduated depth for some distance
in, all along, either shore, and that the supply of
water should be suflic;enty increased to bring the
eas ;ado at the lower end of the lake into constant
play." He urged the neces-ity of the authorities
at once putting a stop to the evils comp'ained of,
in order that the lives of the 200,000 persons who
wee averaged to bathe in the river during the
salubrity motiths
of the n
shoultlriote to longer endangered,
and the
eighourbood placed in
jeopardy."

Dr. TILT Seconded the motion, which was also
carried nein. con.
DR. PETTIGREW moved the next resolution, to
the effect that the meeting was of opinion that no
better mode of cleansing and levelling the S(..rpen-
tine, and of obtaining the Inctxsary enlarged sup-

ply of water, could or need be devised than has
been adopted, and which has answered so admir-
ably in St. James's Park. He was able to speak
from personal experience of the advantages arising
to the inhabitants of the latter place and its neigh-
bourhood from the improvements effected in its
piece of water. He hoped to see similar measures
speedily carried out in regard to the Serpentine.
Mr. LILWALL supported the resolution, and in
reply to an objection which had been urged to
cleansing the Serpentine from the danger of remov-
ing the mud, said it would not be necnsary to
remove the mud, if, as he suggested, the water
were drained off, and after the mud became hard,
the bottom were covered with gravel and concrete.
The motion was carried, and a deputation was
appointed to wait upon tll3 Chief Commissioner of
Woods and Forests, to lay before him the views of
the meeting.