ADDITIONAL NOTES ON TREE-TRUNK WATER-PIPES. 233 



present purpose, however, it is enough to note that he remarks 

 (pp. 200-1) that the ancient Romans used " pipes of lead, of wood, 

 or even of earthenware." Also that the leaden pipes " were not 

 cast tubular, as at present, but consisted of thin plates of lead 

 bent up into the form of a cylinder, and soldered along the edge." 

 We thus gather from our author, a man quaUfied to speak 

 with authority, that down to the year 1835 even our larger 

 towns were by no means necessarily supplied with waterworks. 

 And we may therefore confidently assume that our smaller 

 towns were then almost invariably devoid of them, apart from 

 the fact that none are mentioned as possessing any. We may 

 gather from Hydvanlia that probably a chief reason for slow 

 progress in the spread of waterworks throughout the country lay 

 in the indifference of their advocates to the appearance of the 

 water they supplied from the rivers, which must usually have 

 ■seemed inferior to that afforded by the shallow wells. On the other 

 hand, the possibility of sinking deep wells, with anything like 

 •certainty as to satisfactory results, became evident only as a 

 knowledge of the geological structure of the country slowly 

 progressed. And this knowledge was but in its infancy in 1835. 

 The author of HydvauUa makes many remarks on the purity 

 ■of water and its filtration. When speaking of the Lambeth 

 Company's supply from the Thames, and its liability to 

 be rendered turbid by mud and other matters, he adds : — 



" Though turbid water be ofifensive to the sight, experience has satisfactorily 

 prov£d that it is not injurious to heaUh ; nevertheless, perfectly clear and limpid 

 •water being preferable for beverage, and indispensable for washing and various 

 •other domestic purposes, all the water companies will probably adopt some 

 decisive means for purifying and rendering it thoroughly clean, so as to convey it 

 in that condition to the inhabitants. The period may not be far distant when the 

 inhabitants of this great and populous metropolis will perhaps have the advantage 

 of generally receiving filtered water for their chief domestic uses, successful 

 •experiments having demonstrated its practicability. Besides the increasing taste 

 for cleanliness, other circumstances require that improvements shall adapt its 

 ■condition to the wants and habitudes of the age, and therefore its supply should 

 be as pure and transparent as its nature will admit. "^ 



At the same time he evidently looks upon the mere desire 

 for " transparent " water as a beverage as a squeamish 



weakness. He remarks (p. 324) : — 



" When cattle go to a clear stream to allay their thirst they often abstain from 



■drinking till they have rendered the water turbid by stirring up the sediment with 



3. From a note on p. 327 we learn—" In several recent Acts of Parliament for improving 

 waterworks, a clause has been introduced to compel the supplying of filtered water." 



