MODERN IDEAS OF SANITAEY ECONOMY. 



71 



much more with some common suhstances. We may, there- 

 fore, by using a very small amount of water, and sending it 

 out impure, pollute a fine stream, so that all below us must 

 be compelled to seek new sources of water. Now a stream is 

 constantly increasing ; it is a channel frequently of drainage 

 all along the sides ; we therefore destroy the valuable water 

 coming from every point into the stream, the property of 

 others, for some triflng use of our own. 



It seems to me that the old laws about water may very 

 fairly be revised in such new circumstances ; and indeed, if 

 the district is to increase in activity, a change both of the 

 pure and impure water flow is indispensable. Now, it often 

 happens that private parties must have water -works made for 

 themselves ; lodges, as they are called, are in abundance 

 around us, — the water is either got out of the carefully 

 drained ground, which has become valuable, even if it pro- 

 duced nothing but water, or it is got out of a filthy stream, 

 which must be filtered and stored up at a great expense, and 

 with a merely moderate result. The one grain has already 

 spoiled the beauty of the one million grains of water, and it 

 cannot be returned. But suppose the water were sent along 

 the stream bank in a simple earthenware sewer, which would 

 collect all that accumulated on the way, each man would have 

 some justice, and the expense of lodges, which by no means 

 improve a country, would be saved. This would be very 

 appropriate in counties like Lancashire or Yorkshire, which 

 have not only large towns, but a very dense manufacturing 

 population living in numberless small villages, hamlets, and 

 isolated houses and works, which are in frequent want of a 

 method of draining, involving great expense when divided 

 among a few. We should have a valley drain, a district 

 drain, at a small expense, and the isolated spots around us 

 would partake of the advantages of a closely-combined popu- 

 lation. The amount of water actually rendered impure in 

 print-works, dye-works, &c,, is not great : the larger amount 



