The Sun.
London, England, 1828-12-17 00:00:00

(74

No. 11,31.5.

had left off the business BECAUSE IT HAD LEFT THE.3I OFF.
They used to catch flounders, eels, roach, smelts, salmon,
&c. before they were ruined. The water gi,ts worse every
year ; the cause is the gas they could get plenty of dead
flounders, but no live ones; had seen the .flounders put up
their beads above the water, and if these was a bundle of
weeds they would escape from the water upon it. Had
seen two thousand pound weight of fish die in an hour;
and when the wells were opened there was quite a stench,
and oil on the top of the water.
The last evidence we shall quote from, is that of Mr.
G ildham. who had been yeoman at Billingsgate market for
twenty-five years. He says be has known fifty thousand
smelts brought daily to -Billingsgate, and three thousand
salmon caught in the season in the Thames. He adds,
THAT THEY ARE NOW ALL nEsTROYED, AND THIS FISHERY
GONE ; and this he attributes til the tatrURE STATE or THE
WATEN, FROM THE REFUSE OF THE GASWORKS, FROM
ALL THE COMMON SEWERS RUNNING INTO ET, AND THE
STEAM-BOATS CONSTANTLY STIRRING Ur THE FILTH.
HE HAS SEEN YOUR.THOUsAND EELS ALIVE• AT NIGHT
IN THE DUTCji BOATS, AND THE NEXT MORNING THREE.
FOURTHS HAVE BEEN DEAD. Many fishermen have been
ruined by the change.

SII,H IS THE TICTVREP—THE FAITHFUL AND „FRIGHT
PICTURE—OF THE CONDITION OF THE WATER OF THE
THAMES, AS SUPPLIED BY THE COMPANIES TO THEIR
CUSTOMERS. That the inhabitants of the richest, largest,
most populous city in the world—the seat of a more opu-
lent body of nobility and gentry than is to be found in
any other Metropolis—should, fut an long a time, have
been contented to have SEEN DAILY RUNNING INTO THEIR
CISTERNS, AND TO HAVE USED, FOR ALL DOMESTIC AND
.CULINARY PURPOSES, A NECESSARY 01 LIFE, SO LOADED
WITH ALL SORTS OF IMPURITIES AS TO BE PRONOUNCED,
BY PROFESSIONAL MEN OF THE FIRST EMINENCE, TO BE
OFFENSIVE TO THE SIGHT, disgusting to the imagination,
and -destructive to the health, is a fact that would not
have been credited, and that ought not to have been
credited, but upon evidence unanswerable.

THE RESULT OF THEIR LABOURS IS THE RECOMMEN-
DATION OF A GENERAL SYSTEM OF FILTEATIONA
SYS-
TEM, f NOT LIMITED TO THE FIFTY-THREE THOUSA AND
FAMILIES DAILY DRINKING THE FILTHY FLUID OF WHICH
WE HAVE BEEN SPEAKING, BUT EXTENDING ITSELF TO
THE IiIIiNDRED AND SEVENTY-SIX THOUSAND TENANTS OF
THE NEW RIVER. AND OTHER f. OMPA NIES, CONSUMING
THE TWENTY-NINE MILLIONS OF GALLONS DAILY SUP..
PLIED 113 THE METROPOLIS.
Unfortunately, at -the moment when the Commissioners
were drawing tip their -Report, the patent for " The Royal
Filte for Cisterns" hail not passed through the to •;ous or-
deal of office, OR IT WILL NOT BE DOUBTED, AFTER READ-
ING Till FOLLOWING TESTIMONIALS, THAT IT MUST HAVE
FORMED AN IMPORTANT AND HIGHLY SATISFACTORY CON-
CLUSION THEIR LA BOU Ks.—The subjoined extract from
arropectus, issued by the Propriethr, WILL BE PERUSED
WITH Til E LIVELIEST INTEREST BY ALL WHO CONSIDER
CLEANLINESS TO BE ESSENTIAL TO HEALTH, AND THE
YURITE OP THE ELEMENT OF WHICH WE ARE. TREATING,
TO BE NEARLY OF EQUAL ISIFORTA NCE WITH THE AIR
WE BREATHE

" The Royal Filter for Cisterns will be found superior
to all filters hitherto invented, inasmuch as it not only.
POSSESSES THE POWER OF CLARIFYING THE WATER IN A

PRE-EMINENT DEGREE, ECT ALSO THAT OF COMPLETE
PURIFICATION, RENDERING THE MOST TURBID, STAGNANT,
AND FIETID WATER, OF A CRYSTALLINE BRILLIANCY,

DEPRIVING IT OF EVERY NOXIOUS INGREVIENT, AND, IN
FACT, PRODUCING NATURE'S NECTAR' IN. THE GIGHEST
POSSIBLE PERFECTION; TIIAT IS TO SAY, CLEAR AND
DESTITUTE OE TASTE AND SMELL."

The rapidity of the process may be understood by a
single observation, " THAT SO FAST AS THE WATER. IS
SUPPLIED AP THE TOP OF THE CISTERN, SO FAST IT WILL
DISCHARGE ITSELF PROM THE BOTTOM."

" But where," the reader will naturally exclaitn, " is
the proof of all this to be found ? We must have some-
thing more solid and satisfactory than bare assertions."—.
The following statement must, we think, set the doubts of
the most sceptical at rest for ever.
Mr. Hume, the respectable and talented chemist of Long
Acre, who has long been employed by Government in
analysing waters, had two bottles of water sent to him for
analysation ; THE ONE FELL OF ALL SORTS OF ANIMAL
AND VEGETABLE MATTERS IN A STATE OF DECOMPOSITION,
AND STRONGLY IMPREGN %TED WITH GAS ; the other,
bottle which had contained the same foul ingredients, but
had been purified by the Royal Filter.
In the unfiltered bottle he found, he says, forty-six
grains and a half of solid matter, of which thirty grains
consisted of impurities, and the remaining sixteen grains
were the original ingredients peculiar to the water, and
dissolved in it : " for," he observes, " there is no water,
however pure and wholesome, whether from deep wells,
superficial springs, or any other source, that is free from
saline and ether soluble salts, not at all injurious to health."
In the filtered bottle he found only sixteen grains of
substances, which, on examination, proved to be the same
materials peculiar to, and soluble ill, the water in its pri-
mitive state, and perfectly free from the impurities and
contingent foulness of the water, occasioned principally by
decayed vegetable matters, a slight impregnation by animal
substances, some carbureted hydrogen or coal gas, and car-
bonic acid gas. Mr. Hume concludes with bearing the
following high testimony to the merits of this discovery:
" After a very careful analysis, I cannot hesitate to pro-
nounce the method -which has been adopted to filter this
specimen of Avecr to be most effectual, and lii:;hly deserv-
ing of public encouragement." The same gentleman, at a
subsequent period, analysed two other bottles, and says,
" the opinion 1 had formeti of this new process for filtering
is folly confirmed." We should add, that the water thus
analysed, ALTHOUGH PURPOSELY STRONGLY IMPREG-
NATED WITH GAS ANe OTHER IMPURITIES, BECAME

ChYSTALLISED, AND DESTITUTE OY TASTE AND

Thus it is clearly proved, THAT OF THE FORTY-SIX
GRAINS AND ,A HALF OF SOLID MATTER ORIGINALLY
PLACED IN THE ROYAL FILTER, ONLY SIXTEEN GRAINS
or SUBSTANCES rAsseo THROUGH IT ; AND WHICH SIX-
TEEN GRAINS ARE PROVED TO BE PECULIAR TO WATER

IN ITs PRIMITIVE STATE, AND NOT AT ALP DELETERIOUS
TO HEALTH. However much, therefore, the observation of
the Commissioners ilia), apply to all former systems of
filtration, it is greatly to he regretted that, before the close
of their labours, they had not the benefit of the preceding
experiments, and of the following striking testimonials
to the excellence of " The Royal Filter."
Professor Brande, one of the three Commissioners ap-
pointed by the King, has had a portable Royal Filter,
for the purpose of trying experiments on water in a si-
milar condition to that described by Mr. Hume; and he
has stepped forward with his ready testimony to the sin-
gular merits of this discovery. " 1 have," he says, " tried
its effect on very turbid water, and it appears to possess
the two great desiderata of such contrivances, namely, To
FILTER VERY PERFECTLY, AND VERY RAPIDLY."

Mr. Brodie, the surgeon}, corroborates every thing that
has been said in its favour. lie states, that having pto-
cured some of the foulest water his heuse affoided, and
mixed with it a quantity of water impregnated with gas
from coals, he poured it into the Royal Filter ; and it
passed through it very rapidly, AND WAS DRAWN OFF IN
A STATE OF SUCH PURITY", AND SO ENTIRELY FREE FROM
THE ODOUR AND TASTE OF THE GAS, RS to be quite fit for
being placed in a decanter on the table, to be drunk during
dinner.

Dr. Scudamore eays, he has made sufficient experimente
with the Filtering Apparatus to satisfy his judgment of
its efficacy in rendering the most turbid water quite clear
and agreeable, both to the eye and to the taste, and con-_
eiders it a great improvement upon all other..
Mr. Thomas, the 'Pigeon, has hail a Royal Filter
placed in his cistern, and ever sines the employment
of it, has had the satisfaction to" find his house regularly
and abundantly supplied with elm and wholesome water.
He considers that , the introduction of it generally into
families will be found highly condncive to the improve-
ment of the health of the Metropolis, by effectually sato-
log the deleterious impurities which exist in the water in its
present state, and which he thinks, of late year., has tended
to augment the catairgue of .thoss anomalous disorder!
arising out af a morbid derangement of stomach and the
other organs subservient to the process of digestion.
Mr. Kee* the surgeon, considers it .to be admirably
adapted to the important purpose of 'unifying and clarify-
log water on a large'ecale, and that it would be a valuable
appendage to every cistern. "It possesses," he says,
" the great advantage of filtering all that is served into the
castes n, so that no unfiltered water can be used for do-
mestic purposes ; and the water thus filtered is beautifully
clear."

Dr. Clarke, is a very kin,' letter to Mr. Robins, speaks