The Sun.
London, England, 1828-01-25 00:00:00

.NTS OF Tail:

ALLEGATION.--" That the water taken up from the
river Thames, between Chelsea Hospital and London
bridge, for the use of the inhabitaats of the metro-
polis, being charged with the contents of more than
130 public common sewers, the drainings from dung-
hills and lay-stalls, the refuse of hospitals, slaughter-
houses, colour, lead, gas, and soap-works, drug-mills,
and manufactories; and with all sorts of decomposed
animal and vegetable substances, rendering. the said
water offensive, and destructive to health, ought no
longer to be taken up by any of the Companies, from
so foul a source."

The broad proposition here laid down by the pe-
titioners goes, as the commissioners will perceive, to
affect two out of the five companies which supply
London and Westminster with water; as well as to
affect all the companies supplying the borough of
Southwark and Lambeth. It should, however, al-
ways be borne in mind, that, while the Grand Junc-
tion Company have, with their eyes open, gone down,
to the nuisance, that nuisance has, in the progress
of time, reached up to the Chelsea Company ;
Chelsea being, at the period of its corporation in
1723, a mere village, at the distance of two miles
from London.

In its actual condition, this enormous metropolis
is said to present a spectacle, to which the history
of ancient and modern civilization affords no parallel.
Within the limits of that civilization, there is reason
w believe, that so large a mass of human beings
never before congregated on so small a space of
ground. New buildings rise up before us, with tie
rapidity of an oriental vision, of every form of arch,-
tictural design, spreading► north, south, east, and
*—ebt. In the neighbourhood of Chelsea, scarcely a
blaik of grass has been left growing in the eateU-
sire range between the rear of Grosvenor7plaee tind,
Sloane-street; and a mass of buildings are spring-
ing up west of Grosvenor-place, consisting of squares
and streets of the first order, and comprising house,E
fit to be the residences of the most wealthy.

In such a state of things, and a time when th-:
improvement of the metropolis is become so much
the order of the day, it cannot, I. think, but be use-
ful, to ascertain whether, from a multiplicity of
causes, certain spots, or positions, in the river
Thames, running parallel with the habitations of -Wore
than a million of human beings, may not have be-
come so changed, and the water drawn up from it
so deteriorated, as to render it no longer a fit source
for the supply of a necessary of life to any consider-
able portion of the inhabitants.
That the water in that direction has become
deteriorated, is the opinion of the petitioners; an&
in support of that opinion, t beg leave to lay before
the Commissioners a few facts and observations.
1. With regard to the water of the river Tbame-;.,
taken up at London, two or three popular errors ap-
pear to me to prevail.
The ground upon which those persons proceed,
who maintain that the Thames water, so taken up,
is the best of all possible waters, arises out of a
notion, picked up from some old book of history or
medicine, that it possesses a certain power of self-
purification, not possessed by any ether river. They
tell us, that, in the course of a long voyage, it will,
after a month or two tossing about on the ocean,
" work and ferment like liquor, and become re-
markably fine." And hence it is concluded, roost
logically, that the water taken up by the Grand
Junction Company, near a common sewer, will, by
making a short voyage from Chelsea to Pactdington,
and remaining a day or two stagnant in reservoirs, in
like manner ferment, and become remarkably fine.
That the water of any other river, if equally loaded
with filth, would purify itself in the same manner, it'
subjected to the same operation, there can be no
doubt. In its excessive impurity must we look four
the phenomenon.

Another popular error, proceeding apparently upon
the old maxim, that " what will not kill will Itif'ten,"
is very prevalent throughout the country._namely,
that to the rich and unctuous quality of 'the Thames
water, in the aforesaid direction, 'Lind not to the
virtues of hops and malt, the country is indebted for
its far-famed London porter. The fact, however,
is, that the water of the Thames is not used in the
manufacture of this national beverage ; seeing that
the great houses of Barclay, Ilanbury, Calvert, &c.
have, at vast expence, sunk wells of an immense
depth, and have thereby obtained an abundant supply
of pure and soft water._

the third error which appears to me to prevail is,
that the impurities of the Thames are all carried
away, and swept into the ocean, with every ebb of
the tide. The fallacy of this notion was shown at.
the public meeting at Willis's rooms, by Mr. Mills,.
That gentleman observed, that, as an engineer, he
would maintain, that it was not in the power oh' any
company, let its capital, its intelligence, and its dis-
position, be what they might, to find a supply of
pure water in the direction pointed out in the allega-
tion. " The contents of sewers, and the mass of
other filth with which the river was loaded, were,"
he said, " carried about 30 miles by every ebb tide.
The same water came back by the flood; and thus,
let the supply of London be taken how it might, if it
was not derived out of this flux :tad reflux or filth, it
would of necessity be impure if the filth emptied
into the Thames at the ebb were not brought Wel:.
by the flood, it was evident that we should have salt
water at London?'

2, The following descriptions of the Thames
water, as taken up at London, will, I have no doubt,
he found the tine ones :

" No water carried to sea," says Dr. Trotter,
" becomes sooner putrid. When a cask is opened
after being kept a month or two, a quantity of in-
flammable air escapes, and the Water is so black and
offensive as scarcely to be borne. Upon racking it
off into large earthen vessels, and exposing it to the
air, it gradually deposits a quantity of black, slimy
mud, and becomes clear."

Mr. Newton says, that " in a still of 25 or 30
gallons, the first three gallons distilled should be
thrown away; because the water taken up from the
Thames at London is charged with so much septic
:
matter, that -the fluid which first runs off in distiiiing7
will not keep many days : three or four gallons mast
likewise be left at the bottom of the still, on aCCOUTID
of the residuum of filth which they contain."
Mr. Ralph Dodd, the engineer, silYs that tt the.
water of the river Thames is excellent until ;.t conies
not 00 -
to Laudon, where it receive!, the filth
awlshoi‘'mh aisttedrisscohfa discharged
)(II a t fuir
very Pertucious to human
life." the comipbn sewers, buf-

the foul condition of the river
Thames If
between
was
Chelseae anti London Midge, when
!.
the above descriptions WVe Written, it must inevit-
ably be so at the f eseat moment, in a greatly in-
s
creased degre°, ffnletlY it was considered neces.
s3ry 4189, far the sake of the health of th e metro-
polis, the
polls, to P tiver in the greatest possible
state of parity Orders were, from time to time,
issued by the corporation of London, forbidding all
persons from casting any soil or filth whatever into
it, to the great annoyance and hurt of the said river:
jud so far back as the veer 15:35, an act was passed,
in the reign of Henry VIII., in which it WB5 enact-
ed, " That if any person or persons do, or procure
any thing to be done, in the annoying of the stream,
of the river Thames, by casting of (lung or. rubl,,sh,
or other things, in the said river, he shall forfeit, for
so offending, a hundred shillings.', But this was not
considered enough :—" If any person or persons, in
:;rest rains, swept the soilage or filth off their houses
into the channels, and the same afterwards is con-
veyed into the Thames, every person so offending
;hall forfeit, for every such ofienee, one shilling and
eight-pence."
4. Within the last few years, a total and entire
ehaage, in this respect, has taken place, in the magi
cipal regulations of the metropolis. That which,
three centuries ago, was considered an offence, to be
visited with penalties, the inhabitants are now ex- .