The Portland daily press., 1880-12-20
The Insane Asylum.
It's Water supply-Arain.

Mr.. EDIToR-In my reply to the criticisms
OF DIR. Quinby in an article in your paper last
week, had no design to impute to that gentle
man other than the purest of motives. know
fuii well the interest OF that philanthropic gem
tleman IN all that pertains to the welfare of the
Insane Hospital, and have ever been ready to
recognize the self-sacriicing labors of his estim-
able wife in the several reforms which she has
been instrumental in inaugurating at the Hos
pital. And should not have deemed it nee
essary to have engaged in the discussion at all
had there not been manifest,-more especially
in the Gazette article,-a disposition to unjust
ly censure an officer of the Hospital who is en-
tirely blameless in the matter, and who is de-
serving OF very much praise for the skill, abil-
ity and faithfulness which. he has brought to
the discharge Of his delicate and responsible
duties. As stated in my former article, what
ever OF blame attaches to any one for any fail
ure OF the water-works is chargeable to the
Trustees who constructed the works; and as
one OF the responsible parties am not willing
that this responsibility be charged upon an in
nocent party.
In your issue of Tuesday DIR. Quinby supple
ments his former article with some additional
observations, in the same vein as the first arti-
Gle. In this observe nothing especially new,
with the possible exception of his discovery that
"water will not run up hill" In residence of
sixteen years at Augusta the DIR. should have
learned that the waters of the Kennebec flow
from Hallowell to Augusta twice day with
tween the two Cities which are two miles apart.
When in full flush the river carries SO much
water that it is not seriously affected by sew
age. When the river is low the outgoing tide
brings down the Augusta sewage, and the in
coming tide flows it and the Hallowell sewage
back again. From such source it is difficult
to believe that "there never was a more favor
able opportunity to obtain constant and un-
failing supply Of the incest and purest water
than from the Kennebec, near the Hospital,
and a oId
theory has often been advanced and as often
been pronounced impracticable by scientific
men. AS Judge Woodbury. we'll says, "the
carrying of water seven thousand feet, with a
vertical rise of three hundred feet, from
point in the river which receives the sewerage
and surface drainage OF the city of Augusta,
does not commend itself to thoughtful people,"
Especially isghis trne when it is discovered
that ample supply can be obtained from a
point above the hospital, where the large ak.
pense OF constant pumping is no. found neces-
sary.
DR.. Quinby, in his zeal to establish the in.
sufficiency of the water supply seems to ig-
more entirely the fact that the hospital is now
provided for even more severe drought than
in 1880. He persists in talking about the
water supply being from small spring or
two, and the surface drainage of few acres"
Why conceal the fact that whenever the stor-
age has been found insufficient additional sup
ply has been sought and obta ned, and that to-
stored no less than five million gallons Of
water, or sufficient supply for two hundred
and fifty days? Why keep in the background
the fact that now, instead of lone small spring
or two," there are five, and that instead OF
"a few acres Of water she'd" there are more
than fifty? Were the writer other than the
fair-minded gentleman he is known to be-
such oversight would give occasion for the sus-
picion that the demands of some "pet project
require suppression of some essential facts in
the statement of the case. The public should
understand, however, that as the require
ments Of the institution have demanded the
water-supply has been increased from time TO
time, and that now the storage is more than
sufficient to meet the exigencies of such
drought as that of this year. Still, absolute
security is not attained, as no one is able to
predict with any degree of accuracy as to the
future. Vennor is playing strange pranks
with the atmosphere this year, and possibly he
temperature of one hundred degrees below
zero, and convert this entire water supply into
a cake of ce! AS likely as that we shall again
experience drought very much more severe
than that Of this year.
The ''teslimony of DIR. Neal' in confirm
alton of the opinions of Dr. Quinby does not
call for especial attention. He confirms the
statements of the former; and the fact of the
failure of the supply in 1880 is readily
conceded. He makes grave biunder
in averring that "every year, since TIE
completion of the present works,
portion of the time water has beon quite
scarce" The incorrectness of this statement
can easily be demonstrated When the doctor
expresses q Judgment as to the feasibility Of
the river plan and makes an estimate of the
expense, he is simply leaving the domain of
his chosen profession and entering one in
which he does not claim to be an expert. At
any rate, while his Judgment on medical