The Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, JANUARY 15, 1867.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume II, Issue 12, 15 January 1867, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, JANUARY 15, 1867.

Although the sources of water pollution are not so numerous in a young as in au old city, where the inhabitants are dependent on wells for a supply, the public health is greatly endangered. Dr. Letheby, the medical officer of health for the city of London, has recently presented to the Corporation a report on the quality of the water from the pumps and surface wells. We need not go far in Nelson without rinding similar causes at work, though on a smaller scale, to render the water unfit for drinking purposes. The growing nature of the evil should quicken the movements of those who are responsible for the erection of the long talked of water works, and induce householders and the city authorities to labor to remove the causes of the evil as rapidly as possible. Dr. Letheby says : — Altogether there are 35 pumps in the city, from which the public are in the habit of daily drawing water for drinking purposes, and the quantity of saline and organic matter in the gallon ranges from 26.63 grains to 129.73 ; that of the New River during last month being but 17.16 grains, and of the East London, 18.18. Only 6 of the city wells yield water with less than 50 grains of solid matter in the gallon, and there are but two others with less than 70 grains. Ten of them contain from 70 to 80 giains per gallon, nine have from 80 to 90 grains, two from 90 to 100 grains ; and there are five wells in the city, viz., those in Aldgate, High-street, Dunning'salley, Bishopsgate, Leaden hall -market, Milton-street, Cripplegate, and St. Nicholas Olave Churchyard, the water of which contains from 100 to 130 grains of solid matter in the gallon. In most cases too, he says, the constituents are remarkably indicative of the source and. nature of the pollution. The wells of the public meat markets, for example, as those of Newgate, Aldgate, and Leadenhall, are charged with the peculiar filth of those localities ; indeed, the water furnished by the well in Leadenhall-market contains nearly 40 grains of common salt per gallon, besides a large quantity of nitre and organic matter, all of which is derived from the stinking serosity which runs from the hides exposed for sale and salted upon the public way. The wells of the city churchyards are also stroDgly tainted with saltpetre and ammonia, the former to the extent of from 20 to nearly 30 grains in the gallon, aud doubtless it is the final product of the decay of the animal matter buried in the neighboring graveyards. Others of the public wells show the presence of the more or less oxidised products of substances which have escaped from adjoining drains and sewers, and nearly all of them are so largely impregnated with compounds which have percolated through the foul soil of the city, that they are entirely unfit for domestic use. Where the soil is well protected, and the pump is away from any especial source of

pollution, as is the case with the two pumps at Guildhall, the water is but moderately tainted with impurities, but even there it is dangerous to use the water for drinking purposes, for there is no saying how soon it may become foul from a neighboring sewer or cesspool. Most of the waters are bright and sparkling, and have a cool and agreeable taste, and are much sought after for drinking purposes ; bufc the coolness of the beverage and the briskness of its appearance are dangerous fascinations, for they are both derived from organic decay. In fact the dead and decomposing matters accumulated in the soil are partially changed by a wonderful power of oxidation, and thus converted into carbonic acid and nitre. These give to the water the agreeable qualities which are so deceptive, and although they are so frequently drunk without any apparent manifestation of injury to health, yet ifc cannot be that the products of such corruption can be admitted into the human body without danger of insidious mischief, and afc the present time there is still the greater danger of the impurities of the soil passing unchanged in the water and being a source of quick and certain injury. In illustration of this Dr. Letheby refers to the remarkable outbreak of cholera which occurred in the parish of St. James, Westminster, in the autumn of 1854, and which was traced to a favorite pump in Broadstreefc. It was noticed on that occasion that the disease was confined to a small area in the neighborhood of the pump, aud thafc of 73 persons who died during the first few days of the visitation 61 had been drinking the water. It was even observed among persons who were living in the same street and occasionally in the same houses that those only were attacked who drank the favorite water of the pump. But more remarkable still, ifc was ascertained that persons who lived at a distance from the parish, and who had the water sent to them because of its supposed goodness, were seized, with cholera and died. A full inquiry into all the circumstances of the case proved that the well had become charged with cesspoo^ drainage, and had thus acquired its poisonous action. The pollution had, perhaps, been going on for years, and yet the water had not betrayed ifc until a slight excess of organic impurity brought out its dangerous properties. As in the case of most of the city wells, its cool and sparkling qualities had gained for it a high repute in the neighborhood, and was generally drunk. Another such case occurred at West Ham, Surry, in autumn of 1857. Suddenly at that place there was a visitation of cholera in a row of 16 cottages that were apparently isolated from epidemic influences. Ifc showed itself along one side of the street where, in a few days, 13 persons were attacked with the disease. 7of whom died. Dr. Elliott, the health officer for the district, suspected from his inquiries that the common pump on that side of the street had been concerned in the mischief. Its water was therefore examined, and ifc was found to be polluted with the soakage from an adjoining sewer. At once the use of it was interdicted, the handle of the pump taken away and from thafc moment the further spread of the disease was arrested. Again, in illustration of this subject, Dr. Letheby states that in the cholera visitations of 1848-49 1852-54, there were two striking examples of the influence of such water in the propagation of the disease. The southern districts of London, comprising nearly one-fifth of the population

of the metropolis, were visited most severely with cholera at both outbreaks and the persons who suffered most were those who drank the worst quality water. The inhabitants were supplied by two rival companies, who obtained their water from the Thames at different parts of its course. In one case the water was charged with a larger amount of organic matter than in the other, and although the conditions of tbe population were in every other respect the same, yet this had the effect of augmenting the mortality to a frightful extent. In the second visitation of the disease the circumstances of the supply were changed. The water of the old company, which was formerly the worst, was now the best, aDd the severity of the disease was changed likewise, for those who partook of the still bad supply suffered as before, and their mortality was oh times greater than, their neighbours', beiug at the rate of 130 in 10,000, instead of 37 ; and a similar lale may be told of the cholera visitation of many other places in this country. All these were warnings to us of the danger of using water polluted with sewage or the drainings of cesspools.