1869.] Tlie Fidw-e Water-su])])ly of London. 233 



semicircular channels, intended for carrying sewage under canals, 

 but serving, in addition, to collect and store up the more solid filth ; 

 its ventilating shafts and gully-gratings, and its final discharge 

 into Limekiln Dock, is highly suggestive; and in reading the 

 description, it is difiicult to avoid the conclusion that so noxious a 

 set of conditions must have contributed in some measure, at any 

 rate, to the virulence of the explosion. 



The high and middle levels of the northern drainage system 

 unite at Old Ford, and the united torrent is carried on to Barking 

 Creek, The unfinished low-level sewer, " choking with filth, from 

 whatever source it came, probably from Po])lar, took its course in 

 this direction, right through the centre of the Limehouse district, 

 on either side reeking with pestilence, into Eatclifie Highway." 

 My own local knowledge is not sufiicient to enable me to decide 

 upon the extent to which these various abominations may account 

 for the sharp boundaries of the area of explosion ; but Mr. Eadclifie, 

 while admitting their probable influence, does not regard them as 

 sufiicient to account for the special phenomena observed. He 

 remarks that East London was not peculiar in respect of unfinished 

 sewerage works, for that all places on the Hne of the low-level 

 sewer must have been in the same condition, and that the middle 

 and high level sewers fiowed through many places besides East 

 London. But, on the other hand, it must be remembered that the 

 mere circumstance of these places being situated higher up the hne 

 of the sewer, would, as Mr. Orton remarks, render them less likely 

 to suffer injury from the sewage, the sewage being less in quantity, 

 and probably less foul. Be this as it may, it cannot be doubted 

 that the influence of filth on the course of the epidemic is deserving 

 of careful inquiry, and this is freely admitted by Mr. Eadchfi"e 

 himself. 



Another formidable objection to the water-theory of the explo- 

 sion is founded by Mr. Orton on the fact that certain places, and 

 notably Stamford Hill and North Woolwich, which were continu- 

 ously supplied from the 0\([ Ford reservoir, did not sufiier from 

 cholera. The circumstance is highly remarkable ; and Mr. Eadclifie 

 is only able to explain it by showing the possibility that the infected 

 water was really not distributed to the places in question until the 

 day after the contamination, when the poison may be supposed to 

 have become too dilute to be operative. Dr, Farr, however,* while 

 noticing the fact that water was distributed to North Woolwich on 

 the constant system, a circumstance that, by ensuring the main 

 being full at the time of the contamination, would probably prevent 

 the district from receiving the first portions of the contaminated 

 water, suggests that in these remote districts the cholrine might 



* ' Cholera Kcport,,' xxvii. 



