The Sun.
London, England, 1859-08-23 00:00:00

THE SERPENTINE.

ITS HISTORY AND PRESENT STATE.
The ornamental water in Kensington-gardens
and Hyde-park, for the improvement of which the
House of Commons has just voted the sum of
£16,500, has existed for about 140 years. In the
time of King William 111. the valley now occupied
by the Serpentine was channelled by the windings
of a brook called the West Bourne, interrupted at
intervals by marsh grounds, ponds, and gravel pits.
In the reign of George I. these ponds were united
by excavation, and the lake was formed by the con-
struction of a weir across the rivulet near Knights-
bridge. At first, and for many years afterwards,
the Serpentine derived a constant and abundant
supply of limpid water from the rivulet, originating
at a point where it is not now possible to determine
accurately, not far from the Royal Oak, by the
union of seveaal streams, taking their rise in the
Hampstead and Highgate hills. Thence it pursued
a devious course along the Bayswater valley to the
Bayswater Tavern, then a lonely resort of high-
waymen. Not only is all trace lost of the channel
of the rivulet, its waters being now conveyed by
the Ranelagh sewer, but the valley itself is oblite-
rated by successive artificial deposits, the ground
being raised to a continuous level and covered with
streets and squares. About 30 years ago the first
streets were built in this now populous neighbour-
hood. As street followed street, and threw its drain-
age into the brook, it gradually changed its charac-
ter, and from being a trout stream it became an
open sewer. In a few years the Serpentine, which
was fed from it, was contaminated to such an ex-
tent that in 1834 an act was passed (4 and 5 Will.
IV., c. 96) empowering the Commissioners of Sewers
to construct across the brook, at the point at which
it passes under the Uxbridge-road, a weir of the
height of two feet, and to carry off its intercepted
waters into the sewer which crosses Hyde-park from
the foot of Albion-street in adirection parallel with
the Serpentine. The result of these works was to
divert from the Serpentine the greater part of the
drainage and soil passing down the brook; but when-
ovorthe water rose above the level of the top of theweir
(winch was very frequently the case), it of course
continued to flow into the lake. In 1836 the quan-
tity of mud at the upper end had so much increased
it was judged necessary to construct a coffer dam
near the bridge to pump out the water and cleanse
the channel. -This work was effected and the whole
of the mud cleared rway at a cost of about £3,000,
but no further measures were taken for excluding
the sewage. Nothing more appears to have been
done until, in 1848, the Commissioners of Woods
and Forests, in consequence of the general com-
plaints which then arose, instructed Sir J. Rennie
to investigate the condition of the lake, and to re-
port on the best means of improving and maintain-
ing it in a wholesome state. He reportedthat there
was in the lake a deposit of from 1 to 6 feet of of-
fensive mud, the existence of which he attributed
entirely to the polluting influence of the Bayswater
stream, and the scanty supply of fresh water. He
recommended-
1. That the sewage should be effectually ex-
cluded, and
2. That the foul mud should be removed, the

surface of the channel regulated, the pits filled up,
and that gravel should be strewed along the mar-
gin for some distance.
He contemplated that a sufficient supply of water
should be obtained either from the water companies
or by making reservoirs at the sources of the Brent
or the Verulam. None of these improvements were
carried into operation, and the subjeet appears
again to have dropped until the appointment of
Lord Llanover to the office of First Commissioner
of her Majesty's Works. In accordance with the
indications of Sir J. Rennie, he directed an estimate
to be prepared for the thorough cleansing of the
lake in St. James's-park and the Serpentine. In
this estimate it was proposed that the mud should
not be removed, but that after being properly
drained, it should be used to regulate the channel,
and finally, that the whole should be coated with
concrete to the depth of from 9to 12 inches. The
expense of effecting this improvement was to be
£45,000 for the Serpentine and £ll,OOO for the lake
in St. James's :park. As every one knows, this pro-
posal was carried into effect with perfect success in
the latter, in the winter of 1856-57, the reqnired sum
being provided by the Treasury in anticipation of
the vote taken in the ensuing session of Parliament.
With the exception that in the year 1849 an al-
teration was made in the weir at the head of the
Serpentine of such a nature as to divert a still
larger proportion of the contents of the Ranelagh
sewer from the lake, but not to prevent frequent
overflows, nothing whatever was done from 1836
until last winter. The rapid extension of the area
covered by buildings having led to a corresponding
increase of the quantity of water draining into the
Ranelagh, the diversion sewer constructed in 1834
became wholly insufficient for its purpose. It was
therefore resolved by the Metropolitan Board, at the
instance of Mr. Burslem, the representative for the
district of Paddington, to construct a new sewer
along the Uxbridge-road, in a direction parallel to
that already existing, and of sufficient size to con-
vey the whole contents of the Ranelagh to the sewer
already referred to as crossing the park from the
foot of Albion-street. The communication between
the sewer and the;Serpentine still, however, remains
open, and in case of an extraordinary fall of rain,
sewer water in an extremely diluted state may still
enter the lake. It cannot be supposed that this very
slight contamination is sufficient to produce any ap-
preciable effect on the water ; so that practically the
first point insisted upon by Sir J. Rennie has been
accomplished. The entire immunity of the Serpen-
tine is one of the many good things which we are
led to expect from the completion of the main drain-
age scheme. •
What is the present state of the Serpentine? Ac-
cording to Mr. Hawksley, " its water is essentially
clear, sweet, and inodorous. . . . It is nevertheless,
to some extent, loaded with confervoidal and other
forms of vegetation of a very primary and harmless
character." What could be more satisfactory ?
"Neither sensibly nor chemically is there much that
is wrong in the greatly abused water of the Serpen-
tine." Truly, if the only evil we have to contend with
consists in the presence of those microscopic proto-
phytes, whose influence is rather to purify than con-
taminate the water in which they exist, we scarcely
need a steam-engine and a filtering-bed three-quar-
ters of an acre in extent, costing £16,500 down and
£3OO annually, to remedy it ! But the public is
too strongly convinced of the unwholesomeness of
the present state of the Sepentine to be put off by
any such quibbling. From the observation of many
years—observation for which no science is required
—the foul smell, of the lake has become so familiar
to the frequenters of Kensington Gardens of all
classes, that neither Mr. Hawksley nor all the
scientific evidance in the country would convince
them to the contrary, and they are not likely to
place much confidence in a remedy the whole re-
commendation of which is based on the denial of the
very existence of the evil to be remedied.
It may be freely admitted that the water itself
contains little that is likely to be injurious to health.
The minute vegetables to which, as Mr. Hawksley
truly says, the present turbidity of the Serpentine
is mainly owing, have frequently been much more
numerous than at present, and it is probable the re-
cent introduction of lime, by destroying the crus-
taceans which feed upon, will produce a similar in-
crease as the season advances, and that the lake
will again assume the emerald green colour which
was so intense last September. Even in its pre-
sent condition the water of the Serpentine will
not bear comparison with that of the lake in
St. James's-park. While the latter is bright
and clear, and has a sufficient staff of nature's
scavengers (water fleas and cyclopes) to prevent
the too great multiplication of miscroscopic orga-
nisms, the former is muddy, its scavengers have
been limed to death by order of Government, and
it is impregnated with ammonia in such quantity
418 to commun
a alkaline reactiicate to it what the chemists call an
alk
on. This condition is a mere conse-
quence
enlowfkathieeputrescence of the mud at the bottom.
deposit at theYbo indeed, tells us—" That the vast
not affect the oni, black and deep as it is, does
condition of the supernatant water."
Common sense
and we shall endeavour to a contrary conclusion ;
to show that this may be
suppo.rted by the careful anal •
It is characteristic of analysis of facts.
mud which consists of or-
ganic debris that it gives off from its surface gases
of several kinds, the relative proportions •
of which
differ according to the nature of the orn-a •
and the stage of its decomposition. ii,thniisc matter
actively the mud itself becomes• process
goes on act inflated by
of
the interstitial development gas, exactly in the
same manner that dough does in the process of fel,
tnentation. It is thus rendered buoyant, and rises
in fragments which float about on the surface.
Every one has heard of
the floating island on Doi._
went water, which consists of a mass of mud inflated
with bubbles in precisely the same manner—the im-
portant difference being that in that instance the
gas is not mephitic, resulting merely from the de-
composition of vegetable matters, not from sewage,
as in the Serpentine. The quantity of this floating
mud varies extremely, according to the temperature
and direction of the wind. We have observed it in
such quantity as to form a yeast-like scum, extend-
ing over an area of 2,000 square yards. This we
believe to be the real source of the offensive emana-
tions. The products of the decomposition of the
mud, which, if exposed directly to the action of the
water, would be oxidised and converted into cora-
aratively inoffensive products (ammonia and car-
t:ionic acid), is protected and carried up to the sur-
f& tie by the mechanism we have endeavoured to
des, *vibe, and there becomes.- diffused in the at-

tore.
mosp
If t U. be the real explanation of the matter—