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' P ialant themto justify itheir pewwten...
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"THE WAIt IN ASIA." The article in our l...
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Lord. Mouxtgabrkt's Claim.—This claim, w...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Me. F. O. Ward On The Recent Pollution O...
* sSS 523 £ g r ^ ks tS he ( M £ Ward ) had taken . on Saiur ^ y and WtfayO-st ,, ** rt Westminster pier , Ike other l ? K »^^ ge » i ^ ,, w » a whicb he now product bVore ^^ mmiwionew , Aowed tbaMhe rxyer was no longer . the"pale-brckTra stinking fluid , which hid a card « tua inch depth , but that a card might now be seen through a mass of the water rather measuring by feet than inches . Secondly , Mr . Hawes supposed the abolition of cesspools to have caused
the discoloration of the Thames ; but if so , how was it that , not a single cesspool having been restored ' and the 4 aily discharge atiU going on , the Thames had , nevertheless , recovered from the * hideous condition noted by Dr . Earaday to the state of relative purity in which they now saw its water before them ? If -the ILondon cesspools ware , as many persons believed , isolated receptacles , cut off from ail communication with the sewers , there would be some plausibility in Mr . Hawes ' s view ; but ,
in point effect , the great bulk of the ! London cesspools had overflow-drains , through which their surplus continually oozed into the sewers , so that the daily dischargeffrom a cesspool-house was not less in quantity , though in quality infinitely worse and more rotten , than that from a pipe-drained house . Of Mr . Hawea' third error , viz ., his supposition that such intercepting tunnels ashe ( Mr . Hawes ) and his friends contemplated would hinder the periodical pollution of the river , he ( Mr . Ward ) would
presently speak . But first it was necessary to point out the difference of the result that would ensue from the discharge into the river of each day ' s excrement as produced , and from the simultaneous discharge of the excrement of several weeks or months . The weight of the daily excrement of Xondon , deducting the water , and taking the dry matter at the average of 2 oz . and a small fraction ( 2 01 oz . ) per head ¦ per diem , for men , women , and children , would amount to not quite 127 tons , of which . 29 tons would be mineral matter ; leaving 98 tons of organic or putrescible matter . Again the quantity of
water coming daily over Teddington weir in dry weather was about 600 , 000 , 000 gallons , or 2 , 678 , 000 tons of water ; to which the addition of one day ' s putrescible excrement , ninety-eight tons , would only be in the proportion of about two and a half grains to the gallon j an impregnation which , however objectionable in other respects , would scarcely discolour the water , and could not therefore produce the loathsome opacity and fcetor noticed by Dr . Faraday . But when this excrement , instead of escaping day by day as fast as produced , according to the doctrine of Circulation versus Stagnation , which he and his
friends had propounded , was allowed to accumulate for months and even years , as unfortunately happened in X < ondon , the result was of a very different kind , and really awful to contemplate . On the most moderate estimate , there were twelve months' excreta constantly retained in the subsoil of London , partly in cesspools , partly in big brick hftuse-drains which collect deposit , partly in the large old flat-bottomed sewers made to take off rain water , and totally unfitted for the conveyance of soil . Now this mass of accumulated excrement thus continually retained in subterranean iLondon actually equalled one day ' s
, evacuation , of the whole population of Europe and Asia , numbering together 800 , 000 , 000 . The figure was a startling one , and the fact still more so ; but a simple calculation would prove it true , for on multiplying . the number of the population of London by 365 , they would find the quotient exceed 800 , 000 , 000 . And now he would ask them to consider the effect of a sudden rain-storm falling on London , und pouring along through these overcharged subterranean receptacles . Suppose it only swept to the river nine or ten days' accumulation of fllth , to what did they imagine that would be equivalent ?
It would be equivalent to the simultaneous discharge into the London Thames of the masa of excrement produced in one day by the entire population of Great Britain , numbering 21 , 000 , 000 . And now , passing from theory to fact , what weather had there be « n during the last ten months ? And liow would the attempt to take away mixed sewage and rainfall have succeeded , had the tunnels proposed Tlbr'ttiis purpose by Messrs . Bazolgette and ' HaynroodibMa already built and at work ? ' Ctfliere 4 » f » 4 be « ft , f > ltb * F v « ro aware , jBQveral months , of
discharge from a whole nation . He did not mean to say that ithe . daily outflowfirom the sewers was not an evil , nor that it , did not contribute to the pollution of the river ; but he thought that a daily discharge , daily carried away , was far less dangererous . than such sudden eruptions of fllth as he had just described . To test the correctness of this view , lie had made inquiry as to the effect produced on the Fleet by the late violent storm ; and he found that the Fleet had poured down a most black and noisome tide , so swollen as to overflow its banks at New Farringdon-street , and so fcetid that the clerk of the works engaged on a large sewer in pro-, to scatter chloride of
orougnt , iintewupted at fatervafoby ^ ialant «* ° ?«" of . rain , Th & hat 8 tsna ? A , hat oaciBnwdFwason ^ nly ferarV-JMoff * t . the-wte « £ 0-47 iiufifa per-lia «*~ whilst the aiashtfSBWg pawr of the ^ 'W * ; » ' posad , colossal , as . theywjere , was . only . adequate to take off 0 : 010 . 4 inch of sain per hour ; . being Jess than one forty-fifth part , of the filth-laden torrent requiring to be intercepted . Therefore ^ evon if the great interceptinrtunnels had been made , the whole of the black torrent on the 11 th , excepting amere fraction , a forty ^ fiftb . pa rt , would have rushed into the Thames , carrying with it , just as happens on like occasions nowfilth equivalent to the ordinary
aress there had been obliged Ume along the banks of the Fleet to mitigate its sickening emanations . And as the Thames had since recovered , and returned to its ordinary condition , so also had the Fleet , as a sample of the Fleet water taken by him ( Mr . Ward ) yesterday , and which he now produced , would show . It would be observed that the sample did not present the unusual blackness and foetor described as having previously existed ; and he might add that when he visited the Fleet at the spot . last JFriday , in company with Dr . Varrentrapp , of the legislative Council of Frankfort , and Ms orother , Professor Varrentrapp , they could none of them perceive any sensible odour from
the stream , which a few days before had infected the air all around . Hence it was clear that the causes in operation were not , aS some writers supposed , of a casual nature , operating exclusively on the Thames ( such as canal-cleansing , gas-liquor discharge , & o ) , but that the temporary pollution was due to circumstances affecting at once the Thames and the ^ leet . He thought this confirmed his view , and pointed conclusively to accumulations of filth , taking place mainly in consequence of drought , and subsequently discharged in to the river , partly , nodoubt , in daily driblets , but partly also in sudden bursts , as that wluch
the main , cause of such pollution as Professor Faraday had observed . And , therefore , accumulated deposit being the source of evil , whether in . foul cesspools , foul housedrains , or foul sewers , our endeavour should be to get rid of sucli deposit in all its loathsome forms ; to persist in developing the self-scouring Tubular system , which it was the honour of this commission to have irrevocably established ; and , above all , to extirpate as rapidly as possible those hideous sepulchres of rottenness called cesspools , which some writers assumed to be abolished , but which still existed under four-fifths of the London houses—under the mansions of the Tich as well as
the hovels of the poor , and which Mr . Hawes invited us to retain . Every house drained by a self-scouring pipe , instead of a cesspool with an overflow drain-ofdeposit , -would contribute only one days' discharge , and that fresh , instead of many day ' s discharge , and that putrid , to the storm waters flowing down the sewers to the river . Like abatement of evil would ensue in the case of every tubular sewer substituted for the great brick vaults now accumulating deposit under the streets . And thus , while they were preparing and executing _ their great intercepting works , immediate mitigation of their sanitary sufferings might bo obtained ; the houses and streets thus improved being at once
rendered more healthy , and the river itself being no longer exposed , in bo . great a . degree as heretofore ,, to sudden pollution by storms . Entirely to obviate such pollution , they must adopt , he believed , tho principle of separating the sewage proper from the rainfall -, and declare , with him , " The whole of the rainfall due to the river , tho whole of the sewage duo to the soil . " flPhat , he was convinced , waa the only true and complete solution . of tho sewage problem ) the on ^ ly way by which human excrement could be effectually excluded from our rivers , and made economically available for our fields . Ho
was in a minority now on this point , as ho had been , years ago , on the pipe question ; but as the pipe battle was now fought and won , ho hoped that , in due course Of time , tho sewage problem would in like manner'be brought to a right is « ue . The ' inhabitants of London would not , he was convinced , 'be content to < spend three or four millions of money oni an intercepting system * whioh would ,, after all , teavj Q them subject , every year , to such sudden a * untipni * . of filth , oa took place * the other , day into tho river , wasting . largo nuu »» es ( of valuable , manure , And fit the . eame tiraeiPQisonJngJUp watpr and tho : oir . But , meanwhile , they had abundant experience before
themto justify itheir pewwtenca . m * hat poltqy of Circulation versus Stagnation « f itl *» Jwn wrsutf *?* b « o 1 droiadjra ,, -widofiwwU ; I » B «» iw »» . 8 : « ck S « w ^ vhifihrhe 1 »«^ wcatf ^ Iwfce * he , fl » t joined X ^ nSion % 4 . Which . ; they \ ^^ . ^^ pujswed . Every application of ffcat policy was markedby diminished mortality , reduction of cleansina costs and other burdensome charges , improvemint in the value of house property , and , amost extraordinary saving of rates . They would not he was convinced , by their vote on this occasion , adopt even for a time the obsolete system of Stagnancy , but would continue to support , as heretofore , the new and fruitful principle of Circulatum . Mr . Hawes having briefly replied , the original motion was lost , and the amendment was carried by a majority of 7 to 4 ; the chairman , we believe , votiug in . the minority . i i ii Ah ^ ' . weriiiatence ^ itv ; that -pokoy of
' P Ialant Themto Justify Itheir Pewwten...
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"The Wait In Asia." The Article In Our L...
" THE WAIt IN ASIA . " The article in our last number on this subject contained an important clerical error . The strength of the Russians before Kars was stated at " a hundred thousand , " instead of " forty thousand . " We have no desire to surpass the Involute Hussc in arithmetical hyperbole . It is our practice , in such cases , rather to understate than to excer 1 the fact .
Lord. Mouxtgabrkt's Claim.—This Claim, W...
Lord . Mouxtgabrkt ' s Claim . —This claim , which was for the right of voting for the representative peers ., 1 Ireland , was allowed by the House of Lords on Tuesday . St . PAn / s , KNtanTsirarooK . —An action has been Beale
brought in the Consistory Court by Messrs . nwd Westerton for permission to remove certain alleged Papal appurtenances . The case ia not yet concluded , the arguments on both sides being very elaborate . Four days have already been partly taken up with the discussion . The Dkorke of Affection Necessabv to Lovers . — -In a Breach of Promise of Marriage Case recently tried at Exeter , a -witness said he had seen tho pair walking together , and that " they were as affectionate ius two lovers need be" He added that the fair one was " as nice a blooming young girl as any in Ottery , and there were plenty of them there . " A postman , who delivered the love letters , said he could write as well as deliver epistles ; but he preferred writing in prose for gentlemen , but that he thought verse was better for common people . A verdict was returned for the 'fickle Lothario .
Statb or the THAMJSs .-5-Sir John IMWNeill , civil engineer , attended before tho Lord Mayor on Tuesday , to make some statements with respect to the bed of the Thamesi He thought tliat a good deal of mischief arises from the filling up of the river above bridge , which , by diminishing the " scour , " prevents the proper flushing of the channel ; and he strongly objected to the embankments now being formed by Government at Buttersea , by which several acres will be inclosed , and a vast body of tidal water will be displaced- The City Solicitor stated that the Corporation had formed a plan for deepening the bed of the river , but that a dispute with Government as to their right to interfere with the bed had put a stop to the execution of the project . The suit between tho Crowu And tho Corporation has been pending for ten years , aud there is still no prospect of its being settled .
The CoMjnTTKK on tub Axhtltkration of Food has sat again , aud received further testimony from analytical chemists with respect to the poisonous matters introduced into food , drinks , and drugs ; but it is satisfactory to learn that the exposures in the Lancet have to some extent mitigated tho evil . Mr . Dundaa Thomson mentioned that lie had once seen a box of tea containing half its weight in iron filings . But this was a Chinese fraud , lie also said it had often been asserted tUat sausages are . made of horses' tongues , and that ho himself had reason to believe that tho . tongues of all the horses killed by tho knackers are used for food f When it Is considered that many of these horses arc diseased , we may well say , "Beware of sausages I "
The Stkajian Affair . —The further examination of Messrs . Strahan , Paul , and Bates was again postponed on Wednesday for aweok , in conformity with the agreement to that effect when they were last brought up . — On Thursday , the affairs of tho bankrupts were again investigated in the Court of Bankruptcy , and an adjournment to tho Oth ' of October was agreed to . Tho amount of debts now proved ia nearly 000 , 000 / . James Chevai . ucu i > ic € ' oj . q . uhoun . —This gentleman , the author of a romarkaklo work on tho London police , published some half a century ago , and it is alleged tho remote originator of our present system erf police , has recently died . Ho was a I-ondon . magistrate for several years , and wan afterwards made the 'representative of the Hanseatic Republic in this country . In subsequent years he filled other offices . in Gorman states .
: Floo » un XHis Flbut 6 kwkb . thA torrent of muter on Wednesday burst into ithp new wovto in , tbe < Ft * ct aftweiyand vc ^ y u ^ rly curried iaway tto , wwkmon ,, ivibfl , hflwevw , , ultimately > eacapod .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 28, 1855, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_28071855/page/14/
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