The Sun.
London, England, 1858-07-21 00:00:00

LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JULY

No. 20,617.)

PUBLICATIONS.

NEW WORK BY MR. JEAFFRESON.
On July 22, in 2 vo7s., with Portraits, 21s. bound,

NOV EL S AND NOVELISTS,
FROX ELIZABETH TO VICTORIA.

By J. C. JEAFFRESON.

Hurst and Blackett, Publishers, successors to Henry Colbum, 13,
Great Marlborough-street.

Just published, price 9d.
THE FRENCH STUDENT'S ASSISTANT,
for DETERMINING the GENDER of FRENCH NOUNS :
to which are added a few Short and Easy Ruies for Transltting
English 'lnto French. By L. F. C. SIMEON, Professor of tile
French Language. Third Edition, carefully Revised and Corrected.
London : Houlstoir and Wright. Bristol : John Laval.

THE QUARTERLY REVIEW,
ccvir., is Published THIS DAY.

CONTENTS:-

I. Admiral Blake.
11. Buckle's History of Civilization:
111. Iron Bridges.
IV. Life •of Wycliffe.
V. Professor Blunt and his Works.
VI. Shipwrecks.
VII. British Museum.
VIII. The Condition and Future of India.
John Murray, Albemarle-street.

FEIST'S RACING RECORD for 1858.
Part VI., price 314 will be published on the Ist of August.
The Record, containing a complete calendar of Sport in England,
Ireland, and Scotland in 1857, andNominutions for 1858, may be had,
price two shillings.

W. Wright, Fulwood's Rents. Ar lborn.

ON SPERNATORMICEA.—TransIated from the German of Dr.
Pickford. Just pubkished, the .FourtkL Xdltion, price 55., by
post ss. 6d.,

(AN TRUE & FALSE SPERMATORRIICEA,
N.. 1 with a View to the Correction of wide-spread Errors is Rela-
tion to its Nature, Consequences, and Treatment.
By Dr. PICKFORD,
With Important Introductory Remarks by the Editor.

"The editor has conferred a great boon by translating this little book
and by laying bare the scandalous practices of unqualified adventurers
who profess to cure a disease of which they know nothing, with no
other object than to fill their own purses. This volume is well cal-
culated to put an end to the etnpyricat system of treating Sperma-
torrhcea, and to place the treatment upon a more rational and phy-
siological basis. It is, therefore, likely to do much good."—Nedical
Circular. London, H. Balliere, 219, Regent-street.

IC lr O MORE PILLS, nor any other
MEDI-
C[NE for Indigestion (dyspepsia), habitual Constipation,
Flatulency, Acidity, Palpitation of the Heart, Torpidity of the
Liver, Bilious Heldaches, Nervousness, Ddiousuess, Genoral
Diarrhoea, Cough, Asthma, Consumption, Despondency,
Spleen, &c.

Send 2 penny stamps, and you will receive post free ; 64 palm,
the people's edition of "PERFECT HEALTH RESTORED."
Without Pills, purgatives, or medicines of any kind, and without
expense, by a simple, pleasant, and infallible means which saves fifty
times its cost in other remedies; adapted to the general reader.
Supported by testimonials from the celebrated Professor of Che-
mistry, Dr. Andrew Ure, Dr. Shorland, Dr. Harvey, Dr. Campbell,
Dr. Gattiker, Dr. Wurzer, Dr. Ingram, and many thou;ana other
respectable persons, whose health has been restored by it after all
other means of cure had failed.

London: Barry du Barry and Co., 77, Regent-street, and through
all Booksellers In Town and Country.

CONTRACT FOR COALS FOR GIBRALTAR.
Department of the Storekeeper-General of the Navy,
• Somerset-place, July 16, 1858.
MITE Commissioners for Executing the Office of
Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, DO HEREBY GIVE NOTICE, that on TUEiD AY,
the 3d August next, at Two o'clock, they will be ready to treat
with such persons aq may be willing to contract for supplying and
delivering at Gibraltar,
4,000 TONS OF SOUTH WALES COALS,

Fit for the service of her Majesty's Steam-vessels.
A form of the tender may be seen at the said office. No tender
will be received after Two o'clock on the day of treaty, nor will any
be noticed unless the party attends, or an agent for him duly
authorised in writing.

Every tender mina boaddressed to the Secretary of the Admiralty,
and bear in the left-hand corner the words, "Tender for Coals
for Gibraltar," and mast be delivered at Somerset-place, accom-
panied by a letter signed by two responsible persons, engaging to
become 'iound with the person tendering in the sum of 1,4001.
for the due performance of the Contract.

FOR THE SEA SIDE.
ANGOLA SUITS' £2 15s.
Excellence with Economy.
GEORGE HOBSON, 57, Lombard-street.
ESTABLISHED 1796.

EP P S'S COCO A.—EPPS, Homoeopathic
Chemist, London.—This excellent preparation cm be obtained
of the principal Grocers in Ilb. and lb. paacke a, Is. 6d. and 9d.
Each packet is labelled—JAMES EPPS, Homoeopathic Chemist,
London.

THE. EAST INDIATEA. COMPANY, in
expectation of their next Telegram bringing favourable news,
have reduced their quotations for Black or Green Teas- to 2s. per lb ,
in 61b. bags—thelowest price on record.—Warehouses, 9, Great St.
..I.l4lasea-cliarehyard, Bishopsgata-atreet.

SCHWEPPES SODA WATER, MALVERN
SELTZER WATER, porass WATER, and LENIONADE.
Every Bottle of the Alkali Waters Is protected by a Label over the
cork with their signature. Sold by all respectable Chemists, Con.
fectloners, and at the leading Hotels. Manufactured at London,
Liverpool, Bristol, Derby, and Malvern Wells.

APPETITE AND DIGESTION IMPROVED.

r EA and PER,RINS' WORCESTERSHIRE
I/ SAUCE imparts the most exquisite relish to Steaks, Chops,
and all Roast Meat Gravies, Fish, Game, Soup, Curries, and Salad,
and by its tonic and invigorating properties enables the stomach to
perfectly digest the food.
The daily nseof this aromatic and delicious Sauce is the best safe-
guard to health.
Sold by the proprietors, Lea and Perrins, 19, Fenchurch-street,
London, and 68, Bror.d-street, Worcester; also by Messrs. Barclay
and Sons, Islessrs.Crosse and Blackwell, and other oilmen and mer-
entnts, London ; and generally by the principal dealers in sauce.
N.B.—To guard against imitaiim, see that the names of "LEA
and PERRIN'S" aro upon the label and patent cap of the bottle.

(-1 BEAT WESTERN RAILWAY.-
Cu WEDNESDAY, the 28th of July, an EXCURSIONTRAIN Will leave PADDINGTON at
Bri 8.0 a.m. far PLY
Dartmouth , a MOUT EI
(offering facilities for •visiting Torbay, xham, nd
the South Coast of Devon), calling at Weston-super-Mare, Bridge.
water, Taunton, Tiverton-road, Exeter, Barnstaple, and Bideford
(for Ilfracombe, and the North Coast of Devon), Starcess, Dawlish,
Teignmouth, Newton, Torquay, Totness, and Kin,sbridge-road, and
returning on Saturday, the 7th of August, from f lymoutb, at
6.20 a.m., and intermediate stations as per handttills.

: FARES THERE AND BACK.
Weston-super-Mare and Bridgewater, 20s and 135; Taunton and
Tiverton Road, 22s and, 155 ; Exeter, 22s 6d and 165; Starcross,
Dawlish, and Teignmouth, 25s and 17s : Newton, Torquay. and
Totness, 27s and 18s ; Barnstaple and. Biderord, 30s and 20e; Kings-
bridge Road and Plymouth, 305 and 205.
Children under twelve years of age, half-price. Tickets not trans-
ferable, and only available by the Excursion Train.

WrEYMOUTH and CHANNEL ISLANDS
STEAM-PACKET COMPANY (Limited).—DAY-PAS-
SAGES (via WEYMOUTH).—SHORTEST SEA ROUTE—RE-
TURN TICKETS, on and atter the Ist June, between Paddington
and all the principal stations of the Great Western Railway, and
GUERNSEY and JERSEY, available for one month, allowing pas-
sengers to break the jou,ney at Chip penham, Dorchester, Weymouth,
and Guernsey, en route to or from Jersey.
Fares—From Paddington t' Guernsey and Jersey and back, 455.
and 3:55., by the AQUILA or CYGNUS, fast steam-ships, from Wey-
mouth Harbour, every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, at
Eight, a.m. JOSEPH MAUNDERS, Manager and Secretary.

BUCKINGHAMSHIRE RA ILW A Y
COMPANY.
NOTICE. IS HEREBY GIVEN, That the next Ordinary H iLF-
YE tIILY MEET] Ni of the Proprietors in the Buckingham hire
Railway Company will be held at the Euston Station, London, on
FRIDAY, the 13th day of August, 1853, at 11 o'clock a.m.
By order ot the Board.
HARRY VERNEY, Chairman.

The Books 'kept for tho Registration of Transfers of Stock will be
Closed on the 2,1 August, and will remain so until after the
meetinr..
Office of the Company, Enstomstallon,
London, 19. h July, 1858.

SPOTTISWOODE and 03., PRINTERS,
NEW-STREET SQUARE, LONDON, beg to announce that for the
convenience of Members of Parliament, Parliamentary Agents,
Solicitors, and othe's, they have established a WES r-END OFFICE
at 9, PARLIAMENVITREET, WESTMINSTER, S.W.

ENJAMIN EDGINGTON, 2, Duke-street,
Southwark, Marquee, Tent, Flag, and Rick-cloth Manufac-
turer. Temporary Rooms of any dimensions, adapted for any season
of the year, for ball', d nners, &a., with conveyance and attendance
to any distance. Martmes and Tents for horticultural societies
cricket clubs, Eke.. new and second-hand, on sale or hire—Address,
at full length, to Benjamin Edgington, 2, Duke-street, Southwark.

THE PURIFICATION OF THE THAMRS.

The following is the report of the Select Commit-
tee on the River Thames :

" Your committee, in accordance with their order
of reference, have proceeded to inquire into the
merits of Mr. Goldsworthy Gurney's plan for puri-
fying the Thames, and they have also considered
some other suggestions having the same object in
view. They have examined, with regard to these
matters, many persons of great skill and eminent
in their professions as engineers and chemists ; but
the near approach of the termination of the session
and other reasons, which will be stated in this re-
port, have prevented them from examining several
other persons who bad suggestions to make. upon
the general subject, and information to give, which
might doubtless be deserving of attention.
" The main object of Mr. Gurney's plan is to
discharge all the sewage of the metropolis into the
water of the Thames within the metropolis i's lf,
and his plan is founded on the assumption that the
bad smells which are so much complained of pro-
ceed from the decomposition of sewage matter de-
posited on those parts of the bed of the river which
are left uncovered by water during the ebb and
early flow of the tide. He is of opinion that this
matter ferments while in contact wi. h atmc spheric air
and exposed to solar heat, and that the fermenta-
tion thus begun continues afterwards, when this
matter is washed up by the rising water ; but he
thinks that if this matter could be discharged at
once into the stream it would not so ferment, and
would be almost inoffensive.
"In order to work out this theory, Mr. Gurney
proposes that the :bed of the river, commencing
fiona an average or mean line of the prosen t wharves
and extending for 50 yards towards the low-water
line, should be formed with a slope of about 1 iu
12, and covered with gravel. He reckons that on
such a slope, so covered, no mud or sewage matter
would permanently lodge, and that whatever was
deposited upon such a sloping bank at high water
would be asrept down into the permanent bed of
the river by the receding tido. But in some parts
of the river the distance between high and low water
masks is so great that a slope of 1 inch in 12, be-
ginning at the mean of the present wharf walls,
would, by the time it reached low water-mark, end
at a point a good deal lower than the bed of the
river there, and to get rid of this difficulty, as well
as to ensure a stronger current and a larger body
of water at low water-mark to carry away the mat-
ter swept down from the slopes, ho proposes to form
n eachtL sideline of
of theth
e
briver,
dredging
and
1.,e
atowhoocfhtahnenme channels,
followingnpresent edge of the slopes. These channels he pro-
oe
po es to make 90 feet wide, and 9 feet deep, and his
notiop is that the sewage matter from each side,
washed into thes3 channels, would be carried in-
offensively down the river, and that the force of the
current would keep these channels clear.
" Having thus, as he conceives, secured the bed
of the river between high and low water-mark from
any permanent deposit from the water of the rive-,
he proposes to lengthen all the sewers that discharge
into the river, and to carry them on, so that their
mouths should all be below the low water-mark,
so that everything coming down the sewers should
always be discharged into the water of the river.
" But by this arrangement the sewers would al-
ways be water-locked, and the gases generated in
the sewers, having no escape at the mouths, would
be more driven than at present to find their way
into the streets and houses. In order to counteract
this tendency, Mr. Gurney proposes that furnaces
should be -erected in various parts of London over
some'of the main sewers, and at suitable places, and
that these furnaces should draw the bad gases out
of the sewers, and by the process of combustion to
alter their chywical condition, so as to render them
harmless and inoffensive.
" Your committee cannot recommend the adop-
tion of any part of Mr. Gurney's plan.
" Your committee consider it a mistake to sup-
pose that se wage matter does not disengage offensive
and noxious gases when it is mixed with water.
The contrary is proved by the offensive s moll of those
sewers through which large streams of water are
constantly flowing, and by the offensive smells which
during thepreaent summer have proceeded from the
water of the Thames at high tide, at every part
from Putney downwards. Any plan, therefore,-
which has for its object that all the sewage of Lon-
don should, in the state in which it comes down
the sewers, be discharged into the stream of the
Thames, would tend to perpetuate and not to
remedy the evils which are so widely felt and so
loudly complained of.
"S erne 'advantages might possibly be derived
from sloping the bed of the river in the manner
proposed by Mr. Gurney, in places where the dis-
tance between high and low water mark would
admit of it, but such an operation token singly
would not get rid of the great evil which we are
now considering.
"With regard to the side channels which Mr.
Gurney prop lies to make, it seems very doubtful
whether they would be kept open without fre-
quent dredging, and whether if kept open they
would produce any beneficial effect commensurate
with the expense of forming them and keeping

THORLEY'S FOOD FOR CATTLE.-
It is only a short time since this singularly efficacious art'cle
of animal diet first made its aprearame ; and airea'y its celebrity
is world-wide. It has been a subject of wonder, and has puzzled
many a brain to explain how this has been brought about. Yet when
we are acquainted w:th a few facts concerning the food, our wonder
wilt cease. A few day!, since, a gentleman, wrote, stating* that he
had a horse which was a " perfect bag of bones." He tried all kinds
of things to get the animal into condition, but in vain. He then
bought some of Thorley's food ; and he says the effect was woader-
ful. The horse rapidly grew fat, and in the course of a few weeks, bad
gained no less than 12 stones. Again we find at the late agricultural
shows it Birmingham, Cardiff, &c., the animals which carried off the
highest pezes, had hem partly fed with Thorley's food for cattle.
Such facts speak for themselves. and we are forted to the conclu-
sion, that its celebrity arises solely from its own intrinsic merits,
and the gre it demand for it can proceed alone from the good opinion
and testimony of those who have tried it. All parties interested in
horses and cattle will do well to apply to 77, lie wgate-street,
London, for a pamphlet which L 3 sent post-free.

TO THE NERVOUS AND DEBILITATED.
CHARLES WATSON. M.D., Fellow and Honorary Vice-
President of the Imperial African Institute of France, Corres. Mem-
ber of th 3 Medical Societies of Rouen and Peru, &c., and Resident
Physician to the Bedford Dispensary. 27, Alfred-Place. Bedford-
square, London, continues to issue, on receipt of six stamps, ",THE
GUIDE TO SELF-CURE."
" Those about entering the Marriage State should perase Dr.
Watson's invaluable little work, as the advice he gives on health and
disease reflects much credit upon him as a sound medical philo-
sopher."—Critie.
The true Guide to those who detha a speedy and private cure."
—University Magazine.
" The 'NEW AMERICAN DISCOVERY' demon trates the ab-
surdity of the English mode of treating such complaints. will prove a
blessing to the afflicted, who may safely and easily regain pristine
health by adopting the means presented."—Evening Sun.
For Qualification, vide "Diplomas," and the " London Medical
Directory."

NO MORE PILLS NOR ANY OTHER MEDICINE.
Indigestion (Dyspepsia), Constipation, Flatulency, Phlegm, Ner.
vousness, Biliousness, Liver Complaints, Hysteria, Neuralgia,
Sleeplessness, Acidity, Palpitation, Heartburn, Eruptions. Im-
purities, Irritability, Low Spirits, Diarrheas, Hemorrhoids,
Headache, Debility, Despondency, Cramps, Spasms, Nausea, and
Sickness (during pregnancy or at sea), Sinking Fits, Cough,
Asthma, Bronchitis, Consumption, also Children's Complaints
effectually removed b;
IT BARRY'S delicious Hcaltb-Restoring
II
REVALENTA ALA RICA FOOD, which saves fifty times
is cost in other remedies in illness, and ls, moreover, the best fond
or infants and invalids generally, as it Is the only food which
never turns acid on the weakest' stomach, nor interferes with a
good liberal diet, but imparts a healthy relish for lunch and dinner,
and restores the faculty of digestion, and nervous aad muscular
energy to the most enfeebled.
We extract a- few out of the many thousand expressions of grati-
tude from invalids :—Cure No. 71, of dyspepsia, from the Right Hon.
the Lord Stuart de Decies. " I bare derived considerable benefit
from Du Barry's Revalenta Arabica Food, and consider it due to
yourselves and•the public to authorise the publication of these lines.
Stuart de Dectes."—Cura No. 49,832. "Fifty years' indescribable
agpny from dyspepsia, nervousness, asthma, cough, constipation,
flatulency, spasms, sickness at the stomach and vomiting, have
been removed by Du Barry's excellent Food. Maria Jolly, Wortham
Ling, near Disc, Nortolk."—Cure No. 47,121. Miss Elizabeth Jacobs,
of Nazing Vicarage, Waltham Cross, Herts, a cure of extreme ner-
va asness, indigestion, gatherings, low spirits, and nervous fancies.—
Cure No. 48,314. Miss Elizabeth Yeoman, Gateacre, near Liverpool:
azure of ten years' dyspepsia, and all the horrors of nervous irrita-
bility. Cure N 0.18,216. Dr. Andrew Ure, of constipation, dyspep-
sia, ervons Irritability. Cure No. 31,210. Dr. Sherland, of dropsy
and debility. Cure No. 36,212. Captain Allan, of epileptic fits.
Cara No. 42.116 Major Edie, of enlargement of the liver and total
prostration of strength. Cure No. 36,418. Rev. Dr. Minster of
cramps, spasms, and daily vomitings, Cure. No. 26,418. Dr. Harvey,
of diarrhoea and debility. Cure No. 39,628. Dr. Wurtzer, of colt-
sumption. Care No. 32,880. William Hunt,Esq., barrister, of para-
lysis. Cure No. 46,270. Mr. James Roberts, wood merchant,.
Frimley, of thirty years' diseased lungs, spitting of blood,
liver derangement, partial deafness. Cure No. 53,816. Mrs.
Heise, aged 107 years, of 'dyspepsia (indigestion) debility,
irc itability, and nervousness, which had tormented her for
seventy years. Cure No. 41,814. Mr. Samuel Laxton, Leicester,
of two years' diarrhoea. Cure So. 52,612. The Dowager Countess
of Castleatuart, of many years' nervous irritability, bile, and indi-
gestion. Cure No. 54,812. Miss Virginia Zeguers, cured of con-
sumption, after her medical advisers had abandoned all hopes of
recovery. Cure No, ISO. "Twenty-five years' nervousness, con-
stipation, indigestion, and debility, from which I have suffered great
misery, and which no medicine could remove or relieve, have been
phw effectuallyeahp ipc h • u
snn,e7ar
answer
esevi
dria
..eriintys
3., debility,hpinauqd ic rao Barry's
with
consulted
tacramps,ijhotehhnardwev
effectually cured b 3 Du Barry's Food In a very short time. W. B.
a.
Reeves, 181, Fleet-street, London." No. 4 208. "Eight years' dys-
pepsia, nausea, for
stiscoprierams coarne'diyd.n,nenhrlgvatovsouhensanbpu.eeesebe
Rec-
tory, restoring
e lm,Fl
myy, Norfolk." No. 32,836. "Three years.' excessive
with pains in my neck and left arm, and general debility, whict, rens'
tiered my life very miserable, has been radically removed by' D.
Barry's health restoring Food. Alex. Stuart, Archdeacon of !less,
Stibbereen." Care No. 3,906. " Thirteen years' cough, indigestion,
and general debility have been removed by Du Barry's' excellent
Revalenta Arabica Food. James Porter, Athol-street, Perth."
Important Caution against the fearful dangers of apurious imita
ionst—
The Vice-Chancellor Sir William Page wood
granted an in'une-
tion on the 10th March, 1454, against. Alfred Hooper Neville, for
imitating "Du Barry's RevalentaArabicaF cod."
Suitably packed for el climates, and with ull Instructions. In
canisters, lib 23 9d ; 211, 4s 6.d; 51b 1 Is, lilb 223. Super relined
quality, lib 6s; 21b Ifs; 51b ; 10lb 335. The 101 b and 12th
canisters are forwarded cal riKte free, on receipt of Post-office
order. Barry Da Barry and Co.. 77, Regent-street. London;
Fortnum, Mason, and Co.. p
dilly urveyors to her Majesty, 182, Picea-
; James Wells, 4s, Sloane street ; also at 60, Gracechurch-
street ; 330 ,430, and 451. Strand ; 4, Cheapshi a ; 49, and 60, Bishops- a
sate-street; 63, 15; and 198 Oxford-street. the furl ace by which the gases ate to be burnt,

them open.
" Your committee are therefore of opinion that
those patts of Mr. Gurnsy's plan which relate to
the river are not calculated to effect the purification
of the Thames.
" Your committee, however, thoug:it it was de-
sirable that they should investigate that part of
Mr. Gurney's plan which relates to tho burning of
the gases in the sewers, and the mom so, because
that process has been practised by Mr. Gurney
with success in regard to sewers in the immediate
vicinity of the Houses of Parliament..
" Bat the linquities male by your committee
have satisfied them that this process, though it may
be successful as to sewers within a Aleut distance of

condition reato fof nth
. . . _ . • .
could not be successfully applied to the wide range refuse. Common sense is quite ready to adopt the
of the metropolis. There are such a vast number.
formula recently enitticialed by Mr. F. 0. Ward,
"-the sewage toe the soil, and the rainfall to the
of unavoidable openingein the imraense ramifeeer river." No doubt if the matter were rtes integra,
tions of the sewers of the. metropolis, and in the if. we were sta . ! •
house drains which communicate with those sewers, had not ll in the age of cesspools—if we
sunk - millions in the vest subterranean
that the air which would be drawn out from any works ;which -daily carry all the pollution of the
part of a great sewer over
—a
ehe if of the I
wbichafarnice.might be capital into the river we now want to purify
erected would be replaced, notby the offensive gases ado
l)g
thesentahvgeei ight
eciadvusoe.
esttoi
or said
Bsn, u. tnw
el:Fthis vour
aevi
rse t
hgn
eoonti
Ile
fit
ol
lir
ne.
in the whole network, of sewers- and drains commu- true
nicating with the 'sewer over Which the furnace was sere
placed, but in -a great degree-by-atmospheric air year after year constructing a system of costly con-
rushing down through openingsenear to the fur- duits for carrying every rivulet of sewage int 9 the
nace, and thus the gases in the further arts of the Thames. Is this cost and outlay all to go for
tno-
sewers and house drains woalcirremain unaffectedhing ?, No one with a nose and a memory can fail
to entertain some gratitude to the drainage doctors
by the action of the furnace. for what they have done. They have improved '
" This furnace syistem, therefore, even with the the s dulerity of our houses
and the at atmosphere
improvements made by Mr. Gurney, though pos- of our streets. Under the recent somewhat excep-
sibly
very efficacious for a-particular andlimited tional circumstances of a long droUght and an in-
tense
heat—with very little flew of fresh water
area, could not be relied upon fOr the general von-
from above, and a consequently incremed flood of
dilation and purification of the sewers of the metro- salt water from below—the Thames has been unut-
polis at large. - . • terably offensive. But have any portions of Lon-
" Your committee: have taken much valuable don except those which lie along the line of the
and interesting evidence upon the deodOrisation of river been exceptionally inodorons, or has any part
sewage. It appears to be easy to reoperate the more of London, even includ;ng the river distticts, been
ceptional unhealthy ?
solid from the liqUid parts of the sewage, and to ex
It may well be doubted, therefore, quite irre-
deprive both. of all offensive smell. By an infusion spec t• lye of all questions of cost, whether it would
of lime into sewage the solid matter is rapidly pre- be wise-to abandon altogether the system of drain-
cipitated, and the water that is left above the pre- age which has now for some years been so perse
cipitate is cleared of all the matter which it held in veringly earriedeent, with effects, on the whole, so
suspension, retaining only some salts, which it beneficial to the public health. - But if this be so,
what remains to be done unless it be the adoption
holds in solution. partly of deodorisitig works, partly of intercepting
"If the sewage of London could be so treated, sewers.? We are a quite of opinion the letropol tan
and the solid precipitate could be got rid of in a Board- of Works, before arriving at a final decision,
. satisfactory mannereetkuielicolel might be discharged is bound once more seriously nod dispassionately
to review the whole question. In order that. they
,
into the Thames without injury or inconvenience
may do so, every expression denotin, a fere'eone
provided that no nuisance arose during the process conclusion, or p!edging the Board to a'ec csp ill
,plan,
of deodorisation. such-as the phrase " providing outtalls, ' and the
" This system is now adopted at Leicester, and, like, should carefully be eliminated from the Ga-
in as far as it is a sanitary arrangement, with com- vernmeut Bill. No fetter should be left on their
plete success. The town is freed fro aa all offensive discretion. The whole power and the entire
should be ' theirs. Under these con-
matter, and the liquid which is discharged into the responsibility.
dstions we are really not aware -that anything
river does not polluto the water of the streams. better can be done than to leave the question
" Experience hes not yet determined in what of Metropolitan Drainage in the hands of those
degree the precipitate can be made useful as manure to whom is ostensibly entrusted. the Len]. Ma-
for agricultural purposes. nagem3nt of the Metropolis. Somewhere the
"Several persons capable of giving valuable in- power mint reside, if the thing into be done at all.
If we wait till all the doctors are agreed in their
formation on this subject have offered to be ex- specifies, till the whole fraternity of engineers
amined by your committee, but your committee are of one mind in their reeonmendations, our fate
have not deemed it expedient to prolong their in- will be that of the classical rustic ; the river of
quiries on this branch of the subject-, polltr ion will roll and welter with ever growing
"In the first place, they have felt it their duty, noisotneu,se while we are disput•ng oo its banks ;
considei ipg how near the session is to its close, not labeler. There is ato be done,
labitar et _
and that speedily. We must thing
get sore's one to do
to delay longer their report upon the main subject it. Whoever undertakes it must have full powers.
referred to them by the house—namely, Mr. Gur- There must b 3 no double gevernm-nt, no veto.
ney's Plan ; an i iu the next place, they conceive Well, then, where is tilie depositery of power t, be
that the decision as to the expediency of ap- found ? Is there any eingle man so pre-emieently
plying a system of deodorisation advantageoualy
fitted for the forteiu
ion that all VO'C2S would unani-
measly concur n his selection? Ti.ere is net. Is
metropolis the sewage of the etropolis belonge rather tok
thee HOU,'3 of Commons ad equate to the work .
the funwiens of the Meropelitae Board of Works Let the -discussion of Monday night answer. There
than to those of a committee of the House of Corn- remains, then, the Metropolitan Board—men who
mons, and the Metropolitan B and of Works have haye already investigated the subject with colnider-`
ample means of making all necessary inquiries on able . assiduity, and may fairly be exp,cted,. under
that subject without the assistance of a committee the pressure of e
freshly impose 1 respnnsibility, to
go through a further process of exhaustive inqu:ry
of the House of Commons. . before committing themselves to decisive action.
" Your committee have to observe that some of Really, it is difficult to see what bet'er selectioc
the eminent engineers who have been examined could, under the cireumstencee have been made.
express an opinion in favour of embanking the If we are to adopt the principle 'het no hing shall
Thames for the purpose of increasing the scour of be spent till everybody is agreed, the year 1958
may still find Vie grandchildren of Th waites dis-
puting, in the midst of stench to which that of last
"In conclusion, your committee beg leave to Juno w asfragrance, over plans and sections, with
state their decided opinion that no plan ought to be the des..)endants in the third remove of Ur. F. 0.
adopted in regard to the sewage of the metropolis Ward.
that does not provide for one of two things—either

that the sewage shall be carried d )wn to some paint
in the river sufficiently f4r from the metropo!is to
prevent the sewage from being brought back in an
offensive state by the flowing title, or else that the

sewage shall be deodorised, and that only the put i-
fied liquid part of it shall be diiehtrged into then

river.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE DAILY NEWS.
Sir, —lf anything would lead us to doubt the
value of a legislative body, when any realty practi-
cal measure is to be calla d out, it would be the
conduct of the House of Commons with r. gard to
the "Main Drainage of the MAropolis Bill." The
subject has been debated by the houses year after
year. It has been suliicted to every kind of in-
quiry. Commission after commission has been
formed; each on'y to undo the work of its prede-
cessor. A Board of 'Works was form a 3 f )r the ex-
press purpose of performing the Au4eati task. It
rais..9l our rates, produced its own same, as its
predecessors had done, but came to a dead lock
when the work was to be performed.
Then came the filthy smell of the riv. r, filling
the Legislative Palace with an unendurable odour.
The judges threatened to leave Wistiuinster, and
seek a purer atmosphere for the administration of
justice. Fear for a time stimulate I our legislators,
A practical suggestion was made. Lime was thrown
down the sewers, as a temporary remedy. The
Government had a favourable opportunity of gain-
ing the gratitude of at least three millions of peop'e.
A. fall of rain diluting the sewage with river water
has rendered its smell less intolerable, and the Go-
vernment and the legislature have taken a col I fit
and strive to shirk the respousleility of interfering
to prevent the growth of a most gigantic evil.
Tneystrivetoevade theqaustioe by a mere money
gra A. They say to the Baird. of Works : " You may
spend three millions of money in any way you like
on the drainage of the metropolis ; only don't
plague us with any discussion as to tie way in which
the money is to be spent." Had the Board of
Works advocated a scheme, Ur originated one, in
• any way likely to effect the o`ject of sccarimr the
dyer Thames from pollution this might have been
a very reasonable course ; but the Board of Works
has only been distinguished for its advocacy of,
perhaps, the worst scheme which could well be
devised.
The sum of money granted is vcry significant.
Tile Legislature say in effect to the Board of Works:
" We have nothing to do with your schemes ; we
take away every veto which will prevent you from
exercising your own wisdom ; but we give just so
much money as will ()nage you to carry your sewage
as far as Erith on one side the river, and Barking
on the other." There can be lit le doubt how the
Board of Works will spend its money. The three
millions will be spout in making two brick tunnels
or main arteries, one on either side of the river,
communicated with by divers other smaller tunnels.
More than this the three millions will not do. The
deodorising schemes must be provided for after wards.
We all know how actively the executors of
• works, especially gigantic ones in brick and
mortar, enlist recruits fur any scheme which
will afford them employment ; how skilfully
they can marshal their forces, and how effectually
they can manoeuvre even a minority in the pre-
sence of an ill-disciplined and disjointed majority.
Knowing this, there is little difficulty in believing
that the Brard of Works will readily spend the
whole of their money. The ratepayers of the me-
tropolis, who are to be taxed for the payment—out
of whose pockets it will come—who will be forced
to pay it by the act of the L-gislature—have a
right to demand " that those who compel them to
pay should at least take some litt'e pains to inquire
whether the work on which it is expended will
really be serviceable or not."
Why should not the House of Commons say to
the Board of WorkS :—" What plan do you pro-
pose, and what will be its cost ?" On a subject of
such vital importance it is a shame for the legisla-
tive body of the nation to shrink from its positive
duty. Why do they do so ? B.cause they feel
assured that the Board of Works would bring for-
ward a scheme which will not bear discus-ion. The
work in accomplishing which three millions are to be
spent, is so utterly inadequate that it is felt neces-
sary in the debates to cast it into the background.
When brought for ward it is only by some damagirg.
remark Units, efficacy. Indeed, no one seems hold
enough to advocate it in open discussion.
Surely the millions of inhabitants of the metro-
polis,
whose health and whose weal.h are so con-
nee' ed with this matter, will not staffHr any wild
scheme to be carried out without having some as- •
suranee of at least a prospect of an. amelioration of
the evil from which they are suffering. The Le-
gislature hiss converted a tidslr.ivernto a common
sewer by compelling th m
e h at ortant i s
o
f the banks
to cast all their filth into . s stream, before any
means were devised for getting rid of the noxious
addition to the water. New, what is the effect so
the tide on the waters of the river The tide ie
caused by the sea rushing into the t iver, not only
stop at; the flow of
the fresh wat-
rinto the sea
but driving back the current of fresh water which
would have flowed into it during its rise.
It is fan/e,l that in the deep water of the river at
Rotherhi';he salt water may always be discovered.
During high tides or strong easterly winds it may be
detected above London or even Blichfriars-bridge.
is
Now, if the sea water c tried by the tide some
48 mite; uo the stream from its mouth, how far
back will the sewage matter, which is intermediate
in specific
gravity between the river and sea wa er,
be carded up
.the stream, if eischarge I into it at
any intermediate point between London and the
mouth of the river ? If the sewage be loured int)

"The whole subject is.one of gloat and of grow-
ing public importance.:- The metropolis is extending
iu all direetiohs, and in every part of it 3 eimumfe-

rence. Every year ft%sli masses of buildings are
springing up, whose drains are discharging into
the Thaine 4, and streets that had only cesspools are
furnished with house drains, leading into the gene-

ial network of sewers ; thus every year the quan-

tity of sewage discharged into the Thames goes on

increasing.
"On the other band, year by ye ir the quantity
of water in the bed of the river, by which this in-
creasing quantity of sewage is to be diluted, pro-
gre=sively diminishes. A large p7,rtion of the water
which is supplied to the metropolis is taken from
the Thames above Teddington-lodr, and with the

yearly increase of the metropolis, and the improv-

ing habits of its population, the consumption of this
water increases, and a larger portion of the diluting

current is withdrawn from the downstream of the

river.

"An extensive and abundant supply of pure water,
and the general substitution of house drains for cess-
pools, are immense improvements in the arrange-
ments of the metropolis, and cont'ibute most essen-
tially to the comfort and health of its inhabitants.
But these salutary arrangements must be followed
up by others, to protect from p3llution the Thames,
which ought to be an ornament of this gre it city,
and which must continue to be the main highway
of its multifarious traffic."

(From the
Daily News )
If the Metropolitan Parliament have not attained
to clearer notions than the Imperial Parliament as
to the best mode of setting about the purification of
the Thames, the ratepayers of the metropolis have
certainly a cheerful prospec before them. Qaot
homines, tot sententice ; every member had his
nostrum, and every member's nostrum differed
from that of every other member. Well might Mr.
Locke (of Sauthwark) exclaim, in the very per-
plexity of his heart, that., hosvever doubtful it
might be, whether sewage admitted of solu'ion, it
was plain the sewage question did not. One or two
points, however, were elicited in the chaotic dis-
cussion of Monday night which are deserving of
attention. One is, that the Government bill, as in-
terpreted by its prom itere, loaves the Board of
Works free, and does not tie them down to the
adoption of any particular scheme. It will be emi-
nently desirable that before the bll becomes an
act this point should be male too clear for the pos-
sibility of doub‘. Another point to be borne iu
mind is the testimony of Robert Stephenson. This
able and clear-headed person clecl-res that he has
carefully sifted every imaginable scheme, and that
he finds no possibility of doing without some sys-
tem of intercepting drainage. There is one other
point, and that is that the. Board of Works, though
they may not number amongst them any first-rate
names, have at all events given pathful and dili-
gent attention to all the schemes that have been
sul,mitted to th m, and also that they may reason-
ably be expected to take no important step without
further and very anxious investigation, now that
the entire responsibility of the great work is, for
the first time, imposed upon them. If, indeed, we
were driven to conclude that the Board of Works,
after being invested with plenary powers, would
merely fall back, without further investigation, on
the scheme vetoed by Sir B. Hall, there might be
considerable cause for well-grounded apprehension.
But it may reasonably be hoped that this will not
be the case. They can hardly, for instance, neglect
the consideration of the evidence which has so re-
cently been submitted to the House of Commons'
committ:e ; and they will naturally be anxious, for
their own sake, net to incur the odium of an enor-
mous expenditure in brick and mortar, unless con-
scientiously convinced that such expenditure is
abFoltvely essential to the end in view.
It cannot be denied--as has been very ably
pointed out by a corresp-aident writing under the
s gnatura of " Common Sense," that the method of
pouring, at vast expense, all the fiecal products of
a great city into a tidal river is diametrically op-
posed to many of the plainest principles of a judici-
ous economy. It is natural that any one writing
under the influence of common sense should con-
demn the apparent solecism of digging at an enor-
mous outlay two vac' al rivers of pollution, whose
functions will be to intercept from the natural
river, which it is desired to purify, not only all
the sewage which pollut s it, but all the surface
water without which it c tnnot be kept pure. Com-
mon sense naturally inclines to the belief that there
must, after all, be same method of making thou-
sands, by utilising that as manure, which we are
now asked to spend millions iu throwing away as