234 The Future Water-supply of London. [April, 



well be supposed to have become precipitated, in virtue of its greater 

 density, before the water was deUvered. Mr. Eadcliffe * makes the 

 important admission that he holds the immunity'- of these places to 

 be fatal to the idea that the water of the Old Ford reservoir was, 

 during the epidemic, constantly and directly impregnated with 

 choleraic poison by infiltration from the river Lea. If this be true, 

 the case against the East London Company must rest entirely on 

 the use, on one occasion, of water from the open reservoir ; and the 

 whole explosion must then be traced to the two deaths in Priory 

 Street. I own I think this admission goes too far ; for, looking to 

 the whole circumstances of the epidemic, coupled with the history 

 of other epidemics, I am constrained to admit the strong proba- 

 bility that the water-supply was implicated ; and yet, on the other 

 hand, I am unable to refer the whole explosion to the limited cause 

 assigned by Mr. KadclifFe. My reasons for this rejection of Mr. 

 Eadcliffe's theory may be stated briefl}'. 



The two deaths in Priory Street took place on the 27th of 

 June, 1866. It appears probable that the contamination of the 

 Old Ford reservoir occurred early in July, and the distribution of 

 unfiltered water must therefore have followed the deaths in a few 

 days' time. In the week ending July lith the outbreak may be 

 said to have commenced in East London ; but the real force of it 

 was not manifested until the following week, when the deaths sud- 

 denly rose to a most alarming extent. The following figures, taken 

 from Table 21 in the Appendix to Dr. Farr's ' Cholera Eeport,' will 

 serve to illustrate the progress of the ejDidemic. They refer solely 

 to the East districts of London and the district of "West Ham. 



AVeek endiug Deaths from Cholera. 



July 7, 1866 3 



„ 14, „ 41 



„ 21, „ 438 



„ 28, „ 1002 



Aug. 4, , 1046 



„ 11, „ 664 



» 18, „ 341 



„ 25, „ 169 



An examination of these figures naturally suggests the inquiry, 

 How many of these deaths can be supposed to have been the eflect 

 of cholrine discharged into the sewer on June 27th ? Now, the 

 experiments of Thiersch and Dr. Saunderson, already quoted, prove 

 that choh'ine, at any rate when dried on paper, is almost inert, 

 when fresh, attains its maximum of activity on the third day, and is 

 again inert by the sixth. 



Probabilities are, therefore, against the idea that the discharges 

 of the two Priory Street patients, could have acted as poison, unless 



* • Report,' p. .32.'i. 



