294 Securities against Fire, fyc. 



shed, they may always have a supply of water at hand for their plants, 

 of a proper quality and proper temperature, which may be kept in 

 casks or in a tank, under the shed ; freezing being out of the question 

 in the season when plants call for water. 



9. We have in the present article to turn to a subject truly morti- 

 fying to those who have to contend with it, namely, the contaminated 

 waters belonging to certain closely peopled cities. But in discussing 

 this subject, we shall in order to obtain credit for our statements, ap- 

 peal to competent evidence, already before the public, as regards 

 one of these cities, namely, the city of New York. 



We begin, then, with what Dr. Hosack has asserted in a discourse 

 before the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York, on 

 November 5, 1829; (which the Common Council of New York, 

 three weeks afterwards, by a formal vote, requested to have publish- 

 ed.) The passage to which we refer is as follows. (See p. 41.) 



" At present (says Dr. Hosack) it is calculated, that nearly one 

 twelfth part of the surface of the city of New York, is occupied by 

 privies; and consequently, (the soil consists of a very porous sand,) 

 a constant percolation from the deposits of filth into the wells of the 

 city, must be the result. This (he says) accounts for the impurity 

 of the water, drank by the inhabitants of New York; and the effects 

 it produces upon strangers, before they have become habituated to 

 its use." Dr. Hosack then proceeds to quote as follows, from the 

 famous traveller, Mr. Volney. " It is so true (says Mr. Volney who 

 passed some time in New York,) that the water drank in the lower 

 parts of the city receives filtrations from the cemeteries and privies; 

 that in Front Street, I found the water in my decanters become ropy, 

 if kept three days in the month of May, and at length acquire a ca- 

 daverous stench."— To this passage from M. Volney, I shall add an- 

 other from the same author, when speaking of Philadelphia. " Bu- 

 rying grounds, (says M. Volney,) should be removed from the hearts 

 of cities. Philadelphia has four vast cemeteries, in the finest and 

 most populous parts of the city ; of the smell of which, in summer, I 

 was quite sensible." — So far M. Volney. 



Founded on these authorities, (of which of course that of Dr. Ho- 

 sack is the most weighty, particularly from the great superiority of 

 his means of information,) we shall now consider what are the reme- 

 dies or palliatives, which a case like that of New York admits; di- 

 recting, however our chief attention to the effect of privies; for as 

 Dr. Hosack well observes (in another part of his discourse,) the evil 



