484 The Public Health. [ Oct., 
as the whole of the naval commerce of Bristol is dependent upon 
this floating-harbour. 
The Froome has been an open ditch from the formation of this 
harbour, and is filthy in the extreme ; it has been partially covered 
over within the past three or four years. In its vicinity the former 
outbreaks of cholera occurred and the fever nests of the city exist. 
The Froome is the principal cause of pestilence in Bristol, as it is a 
grand system of open sewage still in use, unfortunately, as it is at 
times nearly stagnant, and always foul. The new sewers open in 
two places into the tidal river Avon, and have no connection with 
the floating-harbour. 
One at the Underfall Dam in St. Philip’s, near the Great 
Western Railway Terminus, and the other below St. Vincent's 
Rocks. One (the first) will cause the sewage to pass through the 
New Cut, part of the Hotwells, and below Clifton, to mix with the 
second mass of foecal matter and run to the Severn together, and 
both will render it lable to be washed back by the rising tide to 
Bedminster and other districts, and even into Cumberland Lock 
and Floating Harbour. It is the opinion of persons well qualified 
to judge on such matters, that a great mistake has been made here, 
and that the engineers of the work are to blame for this breach of 
hygienic laws. This extensive sewerage work has produced con- 
siderable disturbance of the ground, and in many instances has 
fatally damaged the wells of Bristol, some of which have become so 
highly charged with animal matter as to be extremely deleterious. 
But the Bristol waterworks have supplied most of these districts 
with a very pure river water, rising on the Mendip range of hills, 
generally sufficient for the demands of the public, except im the 
height of summer and in very dry seasons, when it fails sadly. 
At night, too, there is no supply even for fires until the company 
turns it on! When the reservoirs are full, there is sufficient 
pressure to send the water even to the top of Clifton, an elevation 
280 feet above the sea level. The Bristol Waterworks Company 
should be compelled by Act of Parliament to considerably increase 
their sources of supply, and the landlords should also be com- 
pulsorily obliged to obtain an adequate water-supply from the 
Company for their various tenants, especially in the poorer districts, 
where the wells are shallow and bad. 
*~ No disinfectants are anywhere used to decompose the sewerage 
matters. 
In addition to the local nuisance occasioned by the great open 
sewer, the Froome, there are many objectionable factories, all of 
which vomit forth volumes of smoke into the atmosphere, no 
provision having been made for the consumption of this material, 
The atmosphere is very impure from this circumstance, and at 
times impervious to actinic power. 
