Chapter III: Suggested Alterations in the Act of Parliament (1)

Finally, gentlemen, considering that you are about to procure a renewal of your Act of Parliament, and that you contemplate strengthening it with such additional clauses as may render it effective for the eradication of all preventable disease within the City of London, I would ask permission, in this point of view, to submit to you in a connected series, such modifications as in my judgment would contribute to that purpose. Most of these I have already had the advantage of suggesting to your Committee on Health; and to many of them I have adverted by anticipation, in previous passages of my Report. I would beg to enumerate the _desiderata_ under the following heads, _viz._

1. A clause, which would give you control over the supply and distribution of water, would enable you in your corporate capacity to contract with any person or any company for the total service of the City; and would authorise you to defray the expenses of such contract by certain specified rates.

2. A clause empowering you to require, that every trade or manufacture practised within the City shall be carried on with such precautions, and with such available improvements, from time to time, as shall reduce to the lowest practicable amount whatever nuisance or inconvenience to the neighbourhood is apt to arise therefrom.

3. Such change in the definition affixed to your 91st clause as would render this operative for the regulation and improvement of a larger number of houses; and such addition to the clause as would enable you, on the joint certificate of your Officer of Health and Surveyor, to enforce the making of additional windows, where requisite for the proper ventilation of houses.

4. A clause permitting and empowering you, on sufficient medical testimony, to remove, or to call upon the Board of Guardians to remove, from any lodging-house, within the new definition of your Act, any person diseased with fever or other infectious malady, whose continuance there would endanger the lives of other inmates.

5. A clause prohibiting the occupation of under-ground cellars for the purposes of dwelling.

6. A clause prohibiting the keeping of cattle in or under dwelling-houses.

7. A clause vesting in the Commission a right to purchase houses by jury valuation, in any case where they shall determine that such houses are permanently unwholesome and unfit for human habitation, or that their alteration or removal is necessary for the public health.

8. A clause enabling the Commission to control all further encroachments on spaces which are now open within the City; so that on ground now unoccupied by buildings, no future erection shall be made, except with the sanction of the Commission.

9. A clause to protect the purity and wholesomeness of human food, as sold within the City, by affixing penalties to its exposure for sale in any adulterated, decayed, or corrupted condition, which may impair its fitness for consumption.

These are the heads under which it has appeared to me that the most useful additions might be made to your Act of Parliament, in matters within the scope of my official observation. There are some other minor modifications, which I have submitted to your Committee of Health, and which, as they relate merely to detail, it is unnecessary for me to bring before you. All the recommendations which I have made on this subject result from a careful scrutiny of the operation of your present Act, during the two years that I have had the honour of serving you. Each separate paragraph of my enumeration founds itself upon a distinct recollection of occasions, sometimes numerous, wherein, for want of such enactments, nuisances which you were anxious to suppress have eluded your authority, or advantages which you were desirous to realise have stood beyond your attainment.

It was in the nature of things that this should be so; for the period has been one of experiment. When the City Sewers Act became law for a period of two years, every one interested in its success must have felt the advantage of that limited duration, and have rejoiced in the opportunity, thus afforded, of rendering it eventually the most perfect embodiment of sanitary law.

Parts of the Act have abundantly fulfilled your intention. In the all-important particular of house-drainage--in the enforcement of water-supply, so far as circumstances rendered possible--in the effective preservation of exterior cleanliness--in the abatement of innumerable nuisances--in the provision and maintenance of sewerage and paving and lighting throughout the City--the public has seen your Hon. Court exercising very large powers with very unusual success. And this, let me add, during a time of no ordinary difficulty: a time when, day by day, the vast importance of sanitary improvement has been gaining ground among the educated classes of the country, as a deep and settled conviction; a time when the feelings of all classes have been powerfully excited, and when the metropolis especially has been convulsed with alarm, in the anticipation and in the aspect of a pestilence.

In some other respects the Act has been less operative, and for an obvious reason. To legislate for health was new to you. It was only through the gradual investigation of officers, appointed under the Act, that you could become adequately informed of those sanitary requirements on which your ultimate legislation for the City must found itself. Only by their slow experience, only by failure as well as by success, was it possible that correct knowledge could be obtained of the powers really needful for fulfilling your sanitary intentions.

In carefully watching the fluctuations of health amid your population; in investigating the causes which determine them; and in testing, on every occasion, how far these causes are amenable to the control of your Act of Parliament, I have arrived at the conclusions submitted to you in the present and in my previous Report.

* * * * *

To excuse the length at which I have addressed you, I have but another word to say. My apology consists in the assurance, which again I lay before you, that in spite of all your exertions, untimely and preventable death still prevails most largely in the population under your charge. If the deliberate promises of Science be not an empty delusion, it is practicable to reduce human mortality within your jurisdiction to nearly the half of its present prevalence.

It is the sad prerogative of my Profession to have such knowledge of death as cannot lie within your experience. Knowing all that is implied in each one separate instance of its visitation--how much pain and sorrow, often how much bereavement and destitution, we, perhaps better than others, learn to appreciate that vast amount of social misery which has its symbol in the high death-rate of a population. It is from this practical point of view that I have ever estimated the importance of your functions, and have fixed the obligations of my own humbler office. Notwithstanding all that Medicine can achieve, to succour the body as it struggles against actual disease--notwithstanding those resources of drugs and handicraft, by which the physician or surgeon opposes death or mitigates pain in the detailed exercise of his art, all past experience, and every transaction of our daily practice, confirm the popular adage that _prevention is better than cure_. If this be true in any particular case, much more is it true in the largest application. While _Curative Medicine_--ministering step by step to the individual units of a population, can produce only minute and molecular changes in the health of society; Sanitary Law, embodying the principles of _Preventive Medicine_, may ensure to the aggregate masses of the community prolongation of life and diminution of suffering: in the working of some single enactment, it may affect the lives of generations of men, and may moderate in respect of millions the sources of orphanage and poverty.

Surely, it is no common epoch in the history of the metropolis when you are appealing to the Legislature, on behalf of the Corporation, for the grant of additional powers towards the accomplishment of so great a beneficence. To me it has always been an act of the deepest and most anxious responsibility to address you; and it would ill have become me now, in the attempt to discharge so grave a duty, if I had spared any pains or withholden any conviction.

While endeavouring in this, and in my previous Report, faithfully and in detail to depict for you the actual condition of human life within the City, and while seeking to deduce for you, from reason and experience, those sanitary principles which are applicable for its improvement, I have had no trivial or easy task; and you will pardon me, I hope, both if I have incompletely surmounted the difficulties of so large a subject, and if, by the length of my Report, I have made too great claims on your indulgence.

I have the honour to remain,

&c., &c.

Note to Column I.

Speaking generally, this column may be taken to express the number of
houses in each Ward. Exception must be made, however, in respect of
the four wards marked with asterisks; for in them the real number of
houses somewhat exceeds the number of assessments. This discrepancy
depends on the fact that, in the specified wards, a court containing
several houses is often assessed by composition as a single property.
Mr. Daw informs me that in order to correct on this score the numbers
which stand opposite the Wards in question, addition should be made as
follows:--to Bishopsgate Without, 80--raising its number to 1100; to
Cripplegate Without, 150--raising its number to 1112; to Farringdon
Without, 100--raising its number to 3633; to Portsoken, 150--raising
its number to 1408. This would raise the total number to 16,384, which
is about the estimated number of houses in the City. From the results
of the last census it appeared that the population of the City was
distributed as follows:--within the district of the City of London
Union on an average of 7·1 persons to each house; within the district
of the East and West London Unions on an average of 8·8 persons to
each house.

_Comparative prevalence, in the several Wards of the City, of such Deaths as particularly depend on local circumstances._

+-------+--------------------+--------+---------+---------+---------+
| I. | II. | III. | IV. | V. | VI. |
| | | | | | |
|Number | WARDS |Total |Separate |Cholera, |Fever, |
|of | |for the |Totals of|Dysen- |_&c._ |
|Assess-| |biennial|the two |tery, |Year |
|ments. | |period, |years |Epidemic |ending |
| | |from |ending |Diarrhœa.|Sept. |
|_vide_ | |Oct. 1, |respec- |Year | |
|Note. | |1848, to|tively |ending | |
| | |Sept. |Sept. 29.|Sept. | |
| | |28, | | | |
| | |1850. | | | |
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
| | | |1849|1850|1849|1850|1849|1850|
+-------+--------------------+--------+----+----+----+----+----+----+
| 184|Aldersgate Within | 30 | 15| 15| 1| ...| 1| 1|
| 572|Aldersgate Without | 179 | 122| 57| 32| 4| 15| 5|
| 809|Aldgate | 102 | 66| 36| 3| 1| 7| 7|
| 133|Bassishaw | 7 | 5| 2| 3| ...| ...| 1|
| 314|Billingsgate | 33 | 28| 5| 15| ...| 2| ...|
| 334|Bishopsgate Within | 60 | 43| 17| 20| ...| 1| 3|
| *1020|Bishopsgate Without | 329 | 231| 98| 88| 7| 18| 13|
| 251|Bread Street | 22 | 16| 6| 2| ...| 3| ...|
| 205|Bridge | 18 | 12| 6| 4| ...| ...| ...|
| 536|Broad Street | 42 | 29| 13| 7| ...| 4| 1|
| 194|Candlewick | 13 | 12| 1| 7| ...| ...| ...|
| 499|Castlebaynard | 103 | 75| 28| 28| ...| 5| 5|
| 341|Cheap | 32 | 22| 10| 4| 1| 3| ...|
| 626|Coleman Street | 66 | 42| 24| 1| 3| 8| 3|
| 294|Cordwainer | 5 | 5| ...| 2| ...| ...| ...|
| 158|Cornhill | 4 | 2| 2| ...| ...| ...| ...|
| 471|Cripplegate Within | 80 | 50| 30| 8| ...| 4| 1|
| *962|Cripplegate Without | 299 | 207| 92| 86| 11| 15| 6|
| 232|Dowgate | 25 | 20| 5| 12| ...| ...| ...|
| 961|Farringdon Within | 153 | 117| 36| 67| ...| 9| 4|
| *3533|Farringdon Without | 845 | 613| 232| 370| 19| 48| 40|
| 409|Langbourn | 29 | 12| 17| 3| 1| 1| 2|
| 166|Lime Street | 8 | 4| 4| 1| ...| ...| ...|
| *1258|Portsoken | 143 | 82| 61| 29| 5| 7| 14|
| 343|Queenhithe | 59 | 36| 23| 14| 1| 2| 4|
| 611|Tower | 46 | 22| 24| 9| ...| 4| 3|
| 253|Vintry | 14 | 11| 3| 5| ...| 2| 1|
| 235|Walbrook | 24 | 15| 9| 3| 1| ...| 2|
| |City of London Union| 25 | 18| 7| 1| ...| 7| 2|
+-------+--------------------+--------+----+----+----+----+----+----+
| 15904|The Deaths from all}| | | | | | | |
| 480|causes within same }| 2795 |1932| 863| 825| 54| 166| 118|
|-------|period were 6551 }| | | | | | | |
| 16384| | | 2795 | 879 | 284 |
+-------+--------------------+--------+---------+---------+---------+

+-------+--------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+
| I. | II. | VII. | VIII. | IX. | X. |
| | | | | | |
|Number | WARDS |Small |Erysipe- |Scarlet |Diarrhœa,|
|of | |Pox, |las, |Fever, |Pneumo- |
|Assess-| |_&c._ |Puerp. |Cynanche |nia, & |
|ments. | |Year |Fever, |Maligna, |Bronchi- |
| | |ending |Pyæmia, |_&c._ |tis of |
|_vide_ | |Sept. |_&c._ |Year |Infants. |
|Note. | | |Year |ending |Year |
| | | |ending |Sept. |ending |
| | | |Sept. | |Sept. |
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
| | |1849|1850|1849|1850|1849|1850|1849|1850|
+-------+--------------------+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
| 184|Aldersgate Within | ...| ...| ...| 1| 4| 2| 3| 7|
| 572|Aldersgate Without | 1| 5| 4| 3| 14| ...| 27| 12|
| 809|Aldgate | 2| ...| 2| 2| 5| 2| 18| 9|
| 133|Bassishaw | ...| ...| 1| ...| ...| ...| ...| ...|
| 314|Billingsgate | ...| ...| 2| ...| 3| ...| 2| 1|
| 334|Bishopsgate Within | ...| ...| 1| 1| 2| ...| 3| 5|
| *1020|Bishopsgate Without | 4| 5| 3| 5| 10| 3| 41| 19|
| 251|Bread Street | ...| ...| 1| 1| ...| ...| 6| 3|
| 205|Bridge | ...| ...| ...| 1| 2| 1| 3| 1|
| 536|Broad Street | ...| ...| 1| ...| 3| 3| 4| 6|
| 194|Candlewick | ...| ...| ...| ...| ...| ...| ...| ...|
| 499|Castlebaynard | 1| ...| 1| ...| 4| ...| 6| 11|
| 341|Cheap | ...| ...| 2| 1| 2| ...| 5| 3|
| 626|Coleman Street | ...| ...| 2| ...| 3| ...| 10| 9|
| 294|Cordwainer | ...| ...| ...| ...| ...| ...| ...| ...|
| 158|Cornhill | ...| ...| ...| ...| ...| ...| 2| ...|
| 471|Cripplegate Within | ...| ...| 2| 2| 3| ...| 12| 8|
| *962|Cripplegate Without | 3| 7| 3| 3| 17| ...| 33| 29|
| 232|Dowgate | ...| 2| ...| ...| 1| 1| 2| ...|
| 961|Farringdon Within | 1| 1| 1| 1| 4| 1| 15| 17|
| *3533|Farringdon Without | 2| 10| 13| 12| 34| 10| 56| 72|
| 409|Langbourn | 1| ...| ...| 2| 1| 1| 1| 2|
| 166|Lime Street | ...| ...| ...| ...| ...| ...| 1| 1|
| *1258|Portsoken | ...| 2| 2| 1| 9| 1| 14| 10|
| 343|Queenhithe | 2| 1| 1| 1| 7| 2| 5| 4|
| 611|Tower | ...| ...| 1| 3| 1| 2| 3| 8|
| 253|Vintry | ...| ...| ...| ...| 1| ...| 1| ...|
| 235|Walbrook | ...| ...| ...| ...| 2| 2| 4| 3|
| |City of London Union| ...| ...| 1| ...| 2| 1| 3| 3|
+-------+--------------------+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
| 15904|The Deaths from all}| | | | | | | | |
| 480|causes within same }| 17| 33| 44| 40| 135| 32| 285| 243|
|-------|period were 6551 }| | | | | | | | |
| 16384| | 50 | 84 | 167 | 528 |
+-------+--------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+

+-------+--------------------+---------+---------+
| I. | II. | XI. | XII. |
| | | | |
|Number | WARDS |Infantile|Hydro- |
|of | |Zymotic |cephalus,|
|Assess-| |Dis. |Convul- |
|ments. | |Hooping- |sions, |
| | |cough, |_&c._ |
|_vide_ | |Croup, |Year |
|Note. | |Measles, |ending |
| | |_&c._ |Sept. |
| | |Year | |
| | |ending | |
| | |Sept. | |
| | | | |
| | |1849|1850|1849|1850|
+-------+--------------------+----+----+----+----+
| 184|Aldersgate Within | 2| 2| 4| 2|
| 572|Aldersgate Without | 13| 9| 16| 19|
| 809|Aldgate | 9| 5| 20| 10|
| 133|Bassishaw | ...| ...| 1| 1|
| 314|Billingsgate | 4| ...| ...| 4|
| 334|Bishopsgate Within | 6| 5| 5| 3|
| *1020|Bishopsgate Without | 32| 15| 35| 31|
| 251|Bread Street | ...| ...| 4| 2|
| 205|Bridge | 2| 1| 1| 2|
| 536|Broad Street | 7| 1| 3| 2|
| 194|Candlewick | 2| ...| 3| 1|
| 499|Castlebaynard | 10| 5| 20| 7|
| 341|Cheap | ...| 2| 5| 3|
| 626|Coleman Street | 6| 2| 12| 7|
| 294|Cordwainer | ...| ...| 3| ...|
| 158|Cornhill | ...| 1| ...| 1|
| 471|Cripplegate Within | 7| 7| 14| 12|
| *962|Cripplegate Without | 31| 15| 19| 21|
| 232|Dowgate | 1| 1| 4| 1|
| 961|Farringdon Within | 9| 2| 11| 10|
| *3533|Farringdon Without | 33| 31| 57| 38|
| 409|Langbourn | 3| 2| 2| 7|
| 166|Lime Street | ...| 2| 2| 1|
| *1258|Portsoken | 12| 10| 9| 18|
| 343|Queenhithe | 4| 4| 1| 6|
| 611|Tower | ...| 1| 4| 7|
| 253|Vintry | 1| ...| 5| 2|
| 235|Walbrook | 1| 1| 5| ...|
| |City of London Union| 1| ...| 3| 1|
+-------+--------------------+----+----+----+----+
| 15904|The Deaths from all}| | | | |
| 480|causes within same }| 196| 124| 264| 219|
|-------|period were 6551 }| | | | |
| 16384| | 320 | 483 |
+-------+--------------------+---------+---------+

Letter by Mr. THOMAS TAYLOR, Lecturer on Chemistry at the Medical
School of the Middlesex Hospital, on the Chemical Qualities of certain
Waters.

4, Vere-street, Oxford-street,
November, 1850.

DEAR SIR,

Having, by your desire, submitted the following samples of water to
chemical analysis, I now beg leave to lay before you the result; and
also, at the same time, to reply to certain questions which you
likewise proposed.

The samples of water taken for examination were derived from the
following sources:--

A. Water supplied by the New River Company.

B. Water supplied by the East London Company.

C. Water from a spring in the neighbourhood of Haslemere, Surrey.

D. Water from a well in Bishopsgate-street.

A. This water was taken from an upright pipe in a court-yard of the
Guildhall. It was slightly opalescent, inodorous, and tasteless;
numerous small particles floated in it, which took a considerable time
to subside. The matter deposited was of a rust colour, and consisted
of peroxide of iron, with a little sulphate and carbonate of lime, and
organic matter. It is to be observed that, as the water from this pipe
is seldom used, these impurities collect in the pipe, and are
therefore in some measure accidental, although, prior to collecting
the water, a considerable quantity had been allowed to run away. The
water was allowed to free itself from these impurities by subsidence,
before being submitted to analysis.

By evaporation to dryness, an imperial gallon left a solid residue,
weighing 17·33 grs., which consisted of--

Carbonate of lime, with a little oxide of iron 11·12
Carbonate of magnesia 0·60
Sulphate of lime 1·56
Chloride of sodium 2·40
Silicic acid 0·37
Organic matter 1·19
-----
17·24

When heated, this water became turbid; and, by continued boiling for
two hours in an apparatus so arranged that the whole of the steam was
condensed and returned to the water, 10·95 grs. of the earthy
carbonates, coloured by oxide of iron, were deposited.

The relative hardness of this water, as determined by the soap test,
distilled water being taken as unity, was 13·3.

* * * * *

B. The second sample of water was taken from a small tap in the house
of Mr. Hall, Bishopsgate-street. The tap was attached to the main.

This water was without smell or taste, and free from floating matter.
After standing some time, it deposited a very small quantity of oxide
of iron. Although clear and transparent, it was not bright.

It contained 19·10 grs. of solid matter in the imperial gallon. The
solid matter consisted of--

Carbonate of lime, with a little oxide of iron 14·58
Carbonate of magnesia 0·44
Sulphate of lime 1·54
Chloride of sodium 1·71
Silicic acid 0·32
Organic matter 0·72
-----
19·31

Like the preceding water it became turbid when heated to the boiling
point, and by continued ebullition for two hours, 12·90 grs. of
carbonate of lime, coloured by oxide of iron, were precipitated.

Hardness in reference to distilled water as unity = 19.

* * * * *

C. This water was taken by ourselves from a spring-head near
Haslemere, Surrey. The spring issued from the foot of a low sand-hill
covered with bushes, and was received into a natural basin about four
or five feet in diameter, the bottom of which was lined with pebbles
and small gravel. From this basin the water flowed into a large
shallow pond.

The temperature of the spring at its source was 49° Fahr., that of the
air being 56° Fahr.

This water was perfectly clear and brilliant, but not sparkling. It
had no appreciable taste, but was peculiarly soft and agreeable. It
did not contain carbonic acid in a free state, for when mixed with a
solution of chloride of calcium and of ammonia not the slightest
turbidity was produced. When boiled it did not lose its transparency,
nor produce any deposit, until concentrated to about one-sixth of its
volume, when glittering scales of hydrated silicic acid separated.

An imperial gallon, when evaporated to dryness, left a solid residue,
which weighed 5·24 grs.

This residue was perfectly white when dried at 300° Fahr.; when heated
to low redness, it charred slightly at the edges. The quantity of
organic matter was therefore exceedingly small.

Hardness in reference to distilled water as unity = 2·4.

On analysis, an imperial gallon was found to contain--

Carbonate of lime 2·00
Chloride of sodium 1·46
Sulphate of soda 0·407
Silicic acid 1·143
Organic matter 0·23
-----
5·24

Traces of an alkaline nitrate were also detected.

During the short visit I made with you to Farnham, we examined several
other springs near to their sources. In their general characters these
waters closely resembled the preceding sample, all of them being
remarkably soft, clear, transparent, inodorous, and free from any
excess of organic matter, or of oxide of iron.

By your desire two samples were subsequently sent to me; one marked
‘Barford,’ the other ‘Boorley.’

The water marked Barford contained 6·30 grs. of solid matter in the
imperial gallon; when evaporated, scales of silicic acid separated
from it in the same manner as from the water taken at Haslemere.
Neither of these waters contained any trace of carbonic acid. Their
relative hardness (distilled being unity) was--Barford 2·4, Boorley
1·5.

* * * * *

D. The fourth sample of water was drawn from the pump near the church
in Bishopsgate-street.

This water was selected as exemplifying the general composition of the
shallow well-water of the City of London, when the well is situated
near to a burial-ground, as is frequently the case with the parochial
wells.

The water from this well is perfectly bright, clear, and even
brilliant; it has an agreeable soft taste, and is much esteemed by
the inhabitants of the parish, although, as will be seen by the
subjoined analysis, it is an exceedingly hard water, and the large
quantity of earthy salts it contains renders it unfit for all culinary
and for most domestic purposes.

When heated to the boiling point, this water becomes turbid, and by
continued boiling of an imperial gallon of the water for two hours,
23·03 grs. of solid matter were deposited, consisting of 22·15 grs.
carbonate of lime, and 0·88 carbonate of magnesia, with a trace of
phosphate of lime.

An imperial gallon of this water, when evaporated to dryness and the
residue dried at a temperature of about 300° Fahr., left a residue
which amounted to 88·07 grs. From another sample of the same water
taken a month afterwards, 84·53 grs. of solid residue were obtained.

By an analysis, an imperial gallon of the water gave--

Carbonate of lime 28·97
Carbonate of magnesia 2·61
Sulphate of lime 17·85
Chloride of sodium 16·95
Nitrate of potass 12·40
Nitrate of soda 1·50
Nitrate of magnesia 4·92
Nitrate of ammonia 4·01
Silica 0·80
Phosphate of lime traces
Organic matter
------
90·01

The residue left by evaporation was of a light brown colour; when
calcined at a low red heat it became slightly charred; but I could
not, with any degree of certainty, determine the precise quantity of
organic matter it contained: it was certainly very small.

The excess of solid matter, as shown by the analysis, over the
quantity obtained by evaporating the water to dryness, is owing to the
decomposition of the nitrate of ammonia.

The quantity of alkaline and earthy nitrates in this water is very
remarkable. These salts are doubtless derived from the decomposition
of animal matter in the adjacent churchyard. Their presence, conjoined
with the inconsiderable quantity of organic matter which the water
contains, illustrates in a very forcible manner the power the earth
possesses of depriving the water that percolates it of any animal
matter it may hold in solution; and moreover shows in how complete and
rapid a manner this process is effected.

In this case the distance of the well from the churchyard is little
more than the breadth of the footpath, and yet this short extent of
intervening ground has, by virtue of the oxidizing power of the earth,
been sufficient wholly to decompose and render inoffensive the liquid
animal matter that has oozed from the putrefying corpses in the
churchyard.

* * * * *

The result of these analyses confirms the general statement that the
water derived from the sandy districts of Farnham and Bagshot is of
eminent purity, and therefore peculiarly fitted for all those purposes
of domestic and manufacturing economy which require the use of a very
soft water.

When regarded in conjunction with the analyses made by other chemists,
of the water taken from the streams, pools, and other collections of
water in the same locality, it also points out that, if it be
desirable to secure the water in its utmost state of purity, it should
be collected at its very source, before it has had time to become
impregnated with the various mineral and saline ingredients of the
different soils through which it would have to pass. The total absence
of free carbonic acid in these waters is a very remarkable fact, and
one which I believe has not been hitherto noticed.

It will also be perceived that the principal solid constituent of the
water supplied by the New River and the East London companies is
carbonate of lime, held in solution by an excess of carbonic acid, an
opinion already expressed by several chemists. These waters also
contain an appreciable quantity of oxide of iron.

When the water from these sources is boiled, or simply brought to the
boiling temperature, the excess of carbonic acid is driven off, and
the carbonate of lime being thus deprived of its solvent, the greater
portion of it, together with the oxide of iron, is thrown down in the
form of an insoluble crystalline powder, while the water is rendered
comparatively soft and pure.

Were it therefore possible that means could be devised by which the
quantity of water necessary for the daily supply of London could be
deprived of its excess of earthy carbonates in a manner sufficiently
economic, comprehensive, and effectual, the citizens of the metropolis
would enjoy the advantage of a tolerably pure soft water, free from
those inconveniences which attend the use of the present hard-water
supply.

Confining myself wholly to a chemical view of the subject, the
principal disadvantages attending the use of hard river waters are--

First, The precipitation of earthy matter on the inside of vessels in
which the water is heated. This furring of the vessel, as it is
called, leads to its more rapid destruction, and has also the
inconvenience of rendering it more difficult to cleanse, so that the
flavour and odour of the various substances cooked in it are not
readily removed. From the non-conducting power of the earthy crust, an
increased consumption of fuel is also required for the due heating of
the vessel.

Secondly, The admixture of the earthy salts with the various articles
of food submitted to the action of hot water.

Thirdly, Diminished solvent power, as required for the purposes of the
chemist, the brewer, and for many domestic purposes, as in the making
of tea, soups, &c.

Fourthly, Diminished cleansing power, both as regards the direct
solvent action of the water, and also as causing the decomposition of
soap, and consequent increased consumption of that article. I must,
however, remark that the annual loss reported to arise from this cause
appears to me considerably overrated, since water is rarely used for
the washing of linen until previously boiled, and the common practice
of adding carbonate of soda to the water completely destroys the ill
effects resulting from the hardness of the water. The additional
expense of the carbonate of soda, thus added, is too trifling to merit
notice; but when this salt is used in excess, as is generally the
case, it produces the more serious evil of materially impairing the
strength of the fabric submitted to its action.

The only real advantage which hard water possesses over soft (and in
the present state of things one of considerable importance), is, that
it does not act upon or erode the lead of the pipes and cisterns in
which it is contained.

There are also some particular cases of minor importance in which hard
water is preferred; thus dyers prefer hard water for rinsing of their
goods, soft water extracting too much of the colour; but these cases
are comparatively rare, and might be easily accomplished by an
artificial hardening of the water.

The following Table indicates the relative hardness of the different
waters as determined by the Soap test; distilled water being taken as
unity, as proposed by Professor Brande. It also shows the effect of
boiling in reducing the hardness of the water. The numbers express
the direct quantity of an alcoholic solution of soap, which an equal
bulk of each water requires in order to form a lather remaining
permanent for from five to ten minutes.

Distilled water 1·0
Water from Haslemere 2·4
Boorley 1·5
Barford 2·4
Water of the New River Company 13·3
Ditto after being boiled 4·7
Water of the East London Company 19·0
Ditto after being boiled 5·6
Water from the well in Bishopsgate-street 47·4
Ditto after being boiled 26·0

The experiments which I have recently made on the action of pure water
upon lead, clearly point out the necessity of keeping the pipes always
full, especially in those instances in which the water has a tendency,
however slight, to erode the lead. As the importance of this part of
the question does not appear to have been sufficiently appreciated by
the advocates of a constant instead of an intermittent supply, I will
briefly recount the facts of the case, although I do not offer them as
presenting anything particularly novel. If a piece of bright lead be
placed in a stoppered bottle, completely filled with recently
distilled water, so that the access of air be wholly excluded, the
lead is but very slightly acted upon, and it is only after the lapse
of three or four days that its surface becomes spangled with a few
minute crystals of carbonate of lead.

If the stopper of the bottle be now removed, the lead still remaining
beneath the surface of the water, the erosive action of the water on
the lead proceeds more rapidly, but still slowly. But if now a portion
of the water be poured off, so as to leave the lead only partially
immersed, rapid action on the lead immediately commences. In the
course of thirty-six or forty-eight hours, its surface becomes coated
with crystalline scales of carbonate of lead, which, falling off, are
succeeded by others, so that after the lapse of a few days an abundant
deposit of carbonate and hydrated oxide of lead is found at the bottom
of the vessel. If the experiment be made with distilled water that has
been previously agitated with air, so as to completely aërate it, the
lead is more rapidly acted upon, even in a closed vessel, thus clearly
showing how much the action of the water upon the lead depends upon
the presence or absence of atmospheric air.

Now, in a minor degree, this is precisely what takes place in a leaden
pipe conveying water capable of eroding lead. While the pipe is full,
comparatively but little action occurs; but when the pipe is filled
alternately with air and with water, it is placed under the most
favourable circumstances to ensure a rapid erosion of its substance,
and consequent contamination of the water.

The rush of water necessarily produced by an intermittent flow must
also detach portions of carbonate of lead from the sides of the pipe,
even in those cases where the water has no very decided action on
lead, and it is therefore far from improbable that in this manner the
poison of lead is occasionally conveyed into our kitchens, and becomes
mixed with our food.

According to your desire, I have examined the action of the waters
from the above-mentioned sources on clean lead, and have arrived at
the following conclusions:--the water from Haslemere has a slow though
decided action upon the metal, no effect taking place until the lead
had been partially immersed for four or five days. After that time, a
small deposit of carbonate of lead was perceptible at the bottom of
the vessel, although none could be detected in solution. The absence
of carbonic acid in the water from Haslemere, Boorley, and Barford,
would in all probability prevent their acting upon lead, were
atmospheric air at the same time excluded. A piece of lead that had
been kept for a week in a closed bottle filled with water from
Haslemere did not exhibit the least trace of carbonate of lead, nor
could the presence of lead be detected in the water.

It is scarcely necessary to add, that the water as drawn from the
pipes of the New River and East London Companies does not exhibit the
least solvent action upon lead; when, however, purified by boiling,
and placed in contact with lead, crystals of carbonate of lead were
observable after the lapse of three days in the water of the New River
Company, while, owing to its greater hardness, the water of the East
London Company did not exhibit any traces of carbonate of lead until
the expiration of more than a week, and even then only in a slight
degree. The same waters purified by the patented process of Clark did
not exhibit so decided an action upon lead as when purified by
boiling; but after evaporating to dryness the water in which lead had
been immersed for three weeks, and dissolving the residue in dilute
nitric acid, the presence of a minute quantity of lead was rendered
evident.

It therefore appears that if leaden pipes, and especially if leaden
cisterns, are to be employed in the distribution and storage of water,
on the system of interrupted supply, it will be a necessary safeguard,
that the water thus conveyed and stored should not be of less hardness
than from six to seven degrees, compared with distilled water as
unity; and conversely, it also follows, that if the inhabitants of the
metropolis are to gain the advantage of using a still purer and softer
water, it will be requisite to do away with the existing leaden pipes
and cisterns, and to substitute for them some material which shall not
communicate any poisonous or noxious ingredient to the water. As
matters now stand, we escape daily poisoning by the use of water
loaded with earthy salts, and are thus compelled to drink an impure
water on account of the impurity of our vessels. Would it not be
better, and is it impossible, to drink the pure element from a pure
cup?

I remain, dear sir, with much respect,
Yours obediently,

THOMAS TAYLOR.

To JOHN SIMON, Esq., F.R.S.,
Officer of Health to the City of London.

THIRD ANNUAL REPORT.

_November 25th, 1851._

GENTLEMEN,

I have the honour of laying before you, in the various subjoined tables, such information as will enable you to measure the present sanitary condition of the City of London.

* * * * *

1. The first table (Appendix, No. I.) contains a statement of the present population of the City, as derived from the Registrar-General’s recent census; and it compares the existing numbers in each division of the City with those given at the last enumeration in 1841.

In examining this table you will observe that, during these ten years, the general population of the City has increased about 3⅖ _per cent._; that this increase has not been uniform through the nine sub-districts of your jurisdiction; that in some it has been unimportant; that in others there has been an actual decrease, extending even to 4⅔ _per cent._ on the previous population; while in the whole East London Union the numbers have risen considerably above the aggregate rate of increase, and in the St. Botolph sub-district exceed those of the former census by more than 16 _per cent._

Passing over the minor differences which have taken place in the distribution of the population, I cannot regard that larger increase without apprehension and regret. Probably for the most part it represents the continued influx of a poor population into localities undesirable for residence, and implies that habitations--previously unwholesome by their over-crowdedness--are now still more densely thronged by a squalid and sickly population.

I congratulate your Hon. Court on the recent acquisition of powers (to the nature of which I shall presently advert) for the reduction and prevention of this serious evil.

* * * * *

2. The second table[61] presents a summary of the City mortality for the year which terminated at Michaelmas last; showing the deaths, as they have occurred, male and female, during each quarter of the year, in the several districts and sub-districts of the City; and including at the foot of each column, a statement of the year’s death-rate _per_ thousand of the living in each such district and sub-district.

[61] _Appendix_, No. V. The calculated death-rates are omitted from
this, as from the other annual tables:--the quinquennial rates (App.
No. II.) giving more useful results.--J. S., 1854.

You will observe that, during the 52 weeks, dated from September 29th, 1850, to September 27th, 1851, there have died of the population under your charge 2978 persons; giving, for the City aggregately, a rate of nearly 23 deaths for every thousand living persons.

The rate of last year was little over 21 _per_ thousand.

In my last Annual Report I suggested that the death-rate then prevailing was probably (from temporary circumstances) more favourable than the true average of the City; that it corresponded to the period of recovery from severe epidemic influences; that it seemed exceptional; and that you might be prepared for this year’s mortality showing again a tendency to increase.

Such has been the case; and it illustrates the necessity of appealing to cyclical averages for correct intelligence as to the healthiness of a population. To my mind the increased mortality of this year does not indicate any deterioration of the City in respect of sanitary matters under your control; it shows merely that the death-rate, which must be considered our present average for the City, is in truth higher than that which favourable circumstances, foreign to your jurisdiction, last year permitted us to attain.

Looking to the total mortality of the last three years (the period for which I have had the honour of serving your Commission), I find that 9493 deaths have taken place; which, the mean population of the time being 129,922, gives an average rate of 24·35 deaths _per_ thousand _per annum_. This accords very nearly with a death-rate (24·36) deduced from the septennial period 1838-44, during which (according to the Registrar-General) 22,127 deaths occurred in a population estimated at 129,739.[62]

[62] Since 1841, when the Census gave these figures, the limits of the
West London Union have been slightly altered. The Inner Temple and
Barnard’s Inn have been added to it, while part of St. Sepulchre’s
parish has been taken away.

Assuming our City mortality to be accurately represented by these averages, I need not inform your Hon. Court that such a death-rate is unduly high. I have already, in previous Reports, laid before you the materials for measuring its excess,--materials which seem to show that our existing death-rate is nearly the double of that which better circumstances have elsewhere rendered attainable.[63]

[63] The death-rate to which I particularly refer in the text, and
which I cited in my last year’s report, is that of a large district in
Northumberland, numbering 27,628 inhabitants, where, during the seven
years 1838-44, the mortality was at the rate of only 14 _per_ thousand
_per annum_; and even in this comparatively low proportion a very
distinct share might still be called preventable deaths.

It is not to the City alone of metropolitan districts that this high mortality belongs. Unhappily it affects the entire Metropolis; and we may find other towns in England, and still more on the Continent, where the death-rate is higher than under your jurisdiction. Yet your Hon. Court will not doubt that the standard to be adopted for your estimate of healthiness ought to be the lowest known death-rate; that every avoidable death represents an evil to society; and that, if a mortality of 12, or 13, or 14 _per_ thousand _per annum_ can be reached for one mixed population, there is ample room for discontent among any other population, which finds itself doomed to perish at double the rate of the first.

* * * * *

3. In the third table[64] all the deaths of the last three years are enumerated in a form which may enable you to compare one year with another, and one sub-district with another, in respect of their several contributions to the total mortality.

[64] This information is now included in the Quinquennial Synopsis,
_Appendix_, No. II.

* * * * *

4. In the fourth table[65] are classified, according to the ages at which they occurred, 9476[66] deaths of the last three years. This table is arranged in a manner to display its results--(1) for each year separately, and (2) for each Union separately, in order that you may observe what local or annual differences have obtained as to the ages of chief mortality. You will notice that in 3469 instances, nearly three-eighths of the whole, death has befallen children under five years old. Children at this age constitute about a tenth part of the population of the City. They accordingly die at about four times the rate which would fall to them as equal participators in the average mortality of the district. The next table will throw some light on this disproportionate excess of infant deaths.

[65] Now embodied in Table VIII.

[66] In the remaining number (17) the particulars of age and residence
could not be correctly ascertained.

* * * * *

5. In it[67] an enumeration is made of such deaths, during the last three years, as have arisen in consequence of acute disease partially or entirely preventable. They amount to 3923--more than two-fifths of the entire mortality of the period.

[67] _Appendix_, No. IX. includes this Table.

I would especially beg the attention of your Hon. Court to the particulars set forth in the successive columns of this table.

The first column shows 391 deaths by fever; and of these, without hesitation, I would speak as entirely preventable. Under favourable sanitary conditions fever is unknown. The deaths arising from it befall for the most part persons in the prime of life, whose premature removal, in the midst of their vigour and usefulness, is not only a direct weakening of society, but is also, in respect of orphanage and widowhood, a frequent source to the public of indirect detriment and expense.

In the second column, swelled by the epidemic visitation of 1849, you will find 902 deaths referred to Asiatic Cholera, and to other kindred diseases. Comparatively few cases of the kind have occurred since Michaelmas, 1849; an overwhelming majority belonged to the summer quarter then terminating, when the Metropolis generally was suffering from the presence of Cholera. I have already had occasion to show you that this frightful pestilence belongs only to localities which, by their general epidemic mortality, have previously been stigmatised as unhealthy; that, over districts otherwise healthy, it migrates without striking a blow; that it may, therefore, with confidence be spoken of as a disease proportionate to removable causes--in other words, as a preventable disease.

I cannot pass over these two columns, without begging you to observe what perhaps may be novel to you. If, instead of reckoning the cholera-deaths as belonging solely to the one year in which they happened, you reckon them as belonging to the whole term of years which elapsed between the two visitations of the epidemic, and distribute them equally over that period, so as to form an average--say for fifteen years, you cannot fail to notice how largely, in the long run, the destruction by fever (which is always here) surpasses the fatality of that Eastern disease; so much so, that the average annual mortality by the latter probably does not amount to half the fatality of the former.

Nor must it be lost sight of, that if the _deaths_ by typhus double in number those produced by cholera, the list of _persons attacked_ by the former disease, and thereby for a long while incapacitated and suffering, is immeasurably beyond this proportion. Two or three times the number of deaths by cholera would give you the number of seizures, and enable you to estimate all the direct mischief caused by it; while, in regard of typhus, probably for one death there are twenty cases of protracted illness, tardy convalescence, and injured constitution. Not only are the deaths double in number, but each of them indicates an infinitely larger amount of sickness and suffering not immediately productive of death.

The frightful suddenness of the rarer disease, and the condensation of its epidemic fatality into some single year, give it more apparent importance than belongs to the familiar name of typhus; but I can assure your Hon. Court, that if a large amount of preventable death, and a still larger amount of preventable misery, be strong arguments for sanitary improvement and activity, those arguments are more abundantly derivable from the constant pressure of fever and its kindred maladies, than from the sharper but infrequent visitations of the foreign pestilence.

In the third column of this table come deaths by scarlatina. Of these, perhaps a certain proportion would occur even under favourable circumstances; for, whatever may have been the original derivation of the disease, it is impossible to doubt that the severity of its attack mainly depends on conditions peculiar to the person of the patient, and that no perfection of external circumstances will ensure mildness of infection. But on the other hand it is certain, that, under attacks of the disease at first equally malignant, adequate ventilation with pure air will enable one patient to wrestle successfully against the poison, while another, less favourably circumstanced, will rapidly sink beneath its influence; and hence I have no hesitation in assuring you, in respect of the 213 deaths registered under this head, that a majority would have been avoided under improved domestic arrangements.

In the fourth column, you will read of 91 deaths by small pox. Your judgment will not be a harsh one, if you assume that 90 of these were the result of criminal negligence. Under the present administration of the Poor Laws, vaccination is not only accessible to all members of the community, but is literally pressed on the acceptance of the poor. Those stupid prejudices, which for some years retarded the universal adoption of Jenner’s great discovery, have now died away; the neglect of vaccination must be regarded as the omission of a recognised and imperative duty. Deaths of children, arising in this parental neglect, ought to be considered in the same light as if they arose in the neglect to feed or to clothe; and I am disposed to believe, that the readiest way of bringing this view of the case before those uneducated classes, where the omission usually arises, would be to procure Coroner’s inquests every year in respect of some half dozen or more instances where the evidence of neglect might happen to be glaring.

In the fifth column of the table stand recorded a hundred deaths by the poison of erysipelas, in one form or another; arising sometimes spontaneously, sometimes in connection with the child-bearing state, sometimes in sequel of accidental lesions and surgical operations.

My daily experience as a Surgeon--especially as a Hospital-Surgeon, enables me confidently to speak of these diseases as an artificial product of unhealthy exterior conditions. The contrasting results of surgical operations in town and in country--of operations undertaken amid pur-ventilation, in spacious cleanly rooms and dry localities, with those undertaken under opposite circumstances (in the dwellings of the poor for instance, or wherever else amid damp, dirt, and over-crowding), and the similar experience which exists as to the origination of puerperal fever, would be quite conclusive as to the fact, that of the 101 deaths under this head, a large majority might have been prevented.

Next, in the sixth, seventh and eighth columns, stand deaths arising in the chief acute diseases of infancy, those to which the disproportionate mortality of infants is mainly due. Many careful statistical observations, as well as personal experience, convince me that the immense fatality recorded under this head, is, to a very great extent, due to obviable causes.

To bring this matter distinctly before you, I must take, as a standard of comparison, some district where the general death-rate is sufficiently low to distinguish it as eminently healthy; and in such an one you will notice a marked diminution, not only (of course) in the _number_ of infant deaths, but likewise in their _proportion_ to the total mortality.

Such a district is that of the combined parishes of Glendale, Bellingham and Haltwhistle, in the county of Northumberland. In it the general death-rate is 14; in the East and West London Unions of the City of London, the general death-rate is 26·73. In the former district, children under five constituting more than an eighth of the population (1/7·6), their deaths form about a quarter of the whole mortality; while in the latter district, where the children are in smaller proportion--namely about 1/9 of the population, their deaths are not much less than half (1/2·21) of the whole mortality. Thus, in the healthier district they die at less than double the average rate for all ages; in the unhealthier, at more than four times that average.

A still better method of district-comparison, is to arrange in a series the death-rates prevailing in several localities for persons _over five years of age_, and side by side with this column, another for the death-rates of children _under five years of age_. The first column will of course indicate very well the relative sanitary conditions of the districts; but the differences between them will be expressed far more clearly, and, as it were, in a magnified form, in the column of infantine death-rates. Thus, for instance--to repeat the comparison just instituted between the Northumberland and the London district; the death-rate for all ages over five is about 12 in the former district, and nearly 15 in the latter; a difference quite sufficient to establish the inequality of their sanitary conditions. But, how much more strongly is this disparity expressed in the comparison of the infantine death-rates--26·5 for the healthier district, 107·57 for the unhealthier one!

Nothing can be more conclusive than the evidence afforded by statistics, as to the dependence of high infantine mortality on the general causes of endemic unhealthiness. My own observation within the City gives complete confirmation to this view, showing me that the diseases specified in my table (diarrhœa, bronchitis and pneumonia, hooping-cough, croup and measles, hydrocephalus and convulsions) however various in nature they may seem, and however apt you may be to dissociate their occurrence from the thought of local causation, yet unquestionably multiply their victims, in proportion to the otherwise demonstrable unhealthiness of a place, owe most of their fatality to local causes, and may, therefore, to a great extent he disarmed of their malignity.