The Sun.
London, England, 1866-09-12 00:00:00

DRAINAGE OF EAST LONDON.

The drainage of a part of the cholera field by the
low-level sewer will not be completed until next
6Urallaer ; but upon the present emergency, in answer
to an application, Mr. Bazalgette informed the
Registrar-General that he should recommend the
Metropolitan Board to erect " a temporary station
at Abbey Mills to lift the sewage of this district into
the northern outfall sewer."
The pumping, it is gratifying to learn, was
started on the 24th of August, as appears from the
annexed letter. It would be an excellent arrange-
ment, if it were practicable, to pump at least a
part of the "West Hank sewage into the northern
outfall sewer, and thus further lessen the quantity
of sewage in the Lea river.

" Metropolitan Board of Work
at this
gcpartment, Spring_garthmss:
sEngineer's De-
" Sir,—ln compliance with the request "VlVe.t.'dSePt. 7.
office yesterday, I beg to inform you that the toe
pumping engines for diverting the discharge of temporary
from the river Lea and Limehouso Cut into the northern
outfall sewer, near Abbey Mills, were started on the 24thn
ultimo.

" I am, Jx.,
" The Registrar-General."
The Registrar-General has received the following
letter from Professor Falkland : _

F. W. MAUL."

" Royal College of Chemistry, Oxford-street, Sept. 8.
" Sir,—ln my report to you upon the water supply of
the East London Company, dated August 25, I stated that
boiling will not prevent water which is contaminated with

' Letter of Mr. Windus, clerk to Epping Union, addressed
to the Registrar-General Noy. 1, 1865. The water is now
pure.

poisonous excrementitious matter from producing violent
cramp and diarrhcea. The case upon which I founded
this opinion is the following :—A gentleman and his wife
partook of tea made with well-water, which was poured
boiling from the teakettle into the teapot. Between three
and four hours after partaking of the tea, and after they
bad been asleep for some time, they were both awoke by
violent cramps, both in the limbs and body, which were
soon followed by excessive diarrhoea. The cramps lasted
for several hours, and the diarrhcea until the following
afternoon. Both patients were affected in exactly the same
way. The well-water was suspected, and the well, which
was a very shallow one in slate rock, was at once opened
and examined. It was soon found that a pipe from a
water-closet had burst, and that some of the contents had
made their way into the well; in fact, some fragments of
excrementitious matter were found floating on the surface
of the water. The water from this well vas never
I again used, for the well was filled up, and another
excavated at some distance, and the symptoms, which were
entirely novel to the patients, never again occurred.
"The attack took place in a very healthy locality in the
country, and at a time When no epidemic diarrhcea or cholera
prevailed. Were such an experiment tried now, the result
can scarcely be doubted. I am intimately acquainted with
the sufferers, and was at once informed of all the circum-
stances. The evidence afforded by this case is exceptionally
conclusive—first, because the parties never, under ar.y cir-
cumstances, drank this water except in the form of tea or
coffee; and, secondly, because they were at the time the
only inmates of the house, being without a servant ; there
can, therefore, be no doubt about the water having been
boiled. The case excited my special interest on account of
the unexpected conclusion to which it leads ; and I mention
it because it is important, at the present juncture, that we
should not place implicit reliance upon a precautionary
measure founded upon the assumption that the noxious
qualities of the Organic matters of sewage are destroyed by
boiling.—l have, &c., "E. FRANKLAND.
" The Registrar-General."