12G Transactions. 



hundred years later did the question come to be seriouslj- enter- 

 tained. In 1832 the movement commenced which, after much 

 debate and many vicissitudes during a jDeriod of nearly twenty 

 years, culminated in the successful carrying out of the existing- 

 gravitation works. The reason which seems to have weighed in 

 its promotion was one of convenience mainly ; but the idea of 

 sanitation was also present, inasmuch as the cleansing of the 

 streets and Hushing of such sewers and channels as existed was in 

 view. The desirableness of attaining a higher standard of purity 

 does not seem to have exercised much if any influence, and the 

 importance of this aspect of the question was as yet almost over- 

 looked. 



Thus, during the Cholera of 1832, while the general and local 

 boards of health urged attention to cleanliness, ventilation, 

 temperance, guarding against partaking of unripe fruit, no word 

 of warning was given against the use of impure water. And in 

 the Courier newspaper of the time the only mention I find of 

 water in connection with the cholera has reference to certain 

 ignorant and evil-disposed persons who, according to the editor, 

 had spread false reports to the effect that the presence of the 

 epidemic in the town was due to the wells having been poisoned 

 by the doctors. He mentions, also, that a gentleman from Castle- 

 Douglas informed him that the wells of that place had all been 

 cleaned, in order to satisfy popular clamour, a person having been 

 seen shaking something over them. The popular view was in this 

 instance in advance of the scientific, which frequently happens, 

 the scientist being weighted by the necessity of providing reasons 

 and proofs. The connection between cholera and impure water 

 was established in the year 1856, when in one of the districts of 

 London it was proved that of the inhabitants using the water of 

 one company, which was comparatively pure, the deaths from 

 cholera in 1853-4 were 37 per 10,000, whereas of those using the 

 water of another company, which was impure, the deaths from 

 cholera reached 130 per 10,000. 



There is little doubt it was in consequence of the alarm 

 caused by the outbreak and spread of cholera in the country that 

 steps were first taken in the direction of introducing a better 

 supply of water into the town, and just before the disease reached 

 Dumfries a survey had been begun with that view. The work 

 occupied several weeks, and the position arrived at appears from 



