The Sun.
London, England, 1828-07-07 00:00:00

PHE. -HE ALTH and the. COMFORT of
every Family ire so immediately bound up with the
,SUPPLY of PURE aud WHOLES.OME WATER
tv their habitations, that; to us;: the words of Dr. Ure,
the eminent .chemist and physician of -Glasgow,' g "it can-
not bitt‘be an interesting object to ascertain the qualities
of that which is daily commuted by the inhabitants of
large cities ; seeing that a very minute portion of unwhole-
some matter, daily taken, may constitute the principal cause
of the differences in salubrity which are observable in Inf.
fereut places."
Important as this fat is, it. is not .the less true, that the
public attention tires never fully roused,. until the appear-
s.ner, about fifteen months ago, of a publication, called
" The Dolphin ;" the object of 'which was to prove, that
an article, designated by the illustrious Dr. Mead as "the
vehicle of all our nourishment," was actually supplied to
them in a polluted and unwholesome condition. The writer
was-threatened with -prosecution, and his statements de,
clerk to be false : a public meeting of the inhabitants of
the.western part of the town nevertheless took place : peti-
tions were presented to Parliament : and the result was,
the appointment of.a Royal.6minission to inquire into the
state of the Supply of Water to the Metropolis.
The long and anxiously looked-for Report of the Com-
missioners has at length made its appearance. We have
carefully gone over the hundred and fifty' folio lieges of
which it consists, and we venture to assert, that -a docu-
Utast of greater . importance has. scarcely ever been laid
before, the public. -Upon the concurring teatimeny of
..many-of our ;soot etaineacchemjste and ,physicians, facts
of.the most fearful suiture. are therein established, beyond
the possibility of contradiction ; namely, that the water
drawn by the Companies from the river Thames, is sent
into our cisterns in a condition impure and offensive in
the extreme—that 'it is loaded with decayed animal and
vegetable matters, the proceeds of a hundred andferty-five
common sewers—that it is strongly impregnated with the
'tteleteeions refuse of gas, colour, lead, and soap-works, drug
mills,- and manufactories of every description--and that, in
consequence of this mass of pollution eonstantly mixing
with it, it has became not only disgusting to the senses, but
;unit, to be employeA in tha.preparation of food, or for any •
domestic purpose.
The three Commissioners, Dr. Roget, Professor Brande,
and Mr. Telford, the eminent engineer, commenced their
labours by requesting Mr. Wright, the individual who di-
rected the public attention to the existing evil, to furnish
'therii with a statement of the alleged grievances, and to
point out the best mode of obtaining information, as to
the truth of the allegations contained in the petition of
the inhahitauts of the western part of the Metropolis to
Parliament. In consequence of this request, Mr. Wright
addressed to them a Memoir, which is annexed to_ their
Report. This Memoir, together with the Evidence taken
before the Commissioners, contains a series of testimonials
to the gross impurity of the Thames water, of which we
shall here give a brief outline. All of them will be read
with interest ; some with sensations bordering upon horror.
Few would have credited the frightful facts, if they came
in a less 'questionable shape.

EVIDENCE OF TILE lllTOally AND INSALEBRITY OF THE