296 - Securities against Fire, fyc. 



in London ;) although this last water does not satisfy every one as well 

 as drunk out of decanters. Paris and Philadelphia employ river 

 water : eastern princes also often have had river water carried after 

 them in their distant journies and expeditions : and an emperor of 

 China is known likewise to have had his daily supply of drink, for 

 himself and family, taken out of a particular part of the river pass- 

 ing by his palace at Pekin. The water of our rivers in its origin, 

 comes to us out of the heavens ; it has, indeed, as it flows in its bed, 

 many additions, but it also makes many depositions ; it is well venti- 

 lated ; and if it receives some mineral substances which may affect 

 us in one way, it generally receives others, in its course, which neu- 

 tralize these, otherwise its waters would lose their character for 

 salubrity ; and by evaporation, it is freed from many of its impurities. 

 Rivers cannot remove the bad effects of marshy margins ; but we 

 must avoid such spots, which are equally injurious, whether the 

 waters concerned be moving or stagnant, sale or fresh. — We must 

 not be too nice also as to the water of rivers,* for our bread, butter, 

 cheese and wine, undergo processes to form them, which shall not 

 be named here, yet they afterwards become relished by all ; just as 

 certain riv r er waters, when taken to sea, first ferment, and then be- 

 come useful. The water to be adopted for aqueducts, we may add 

 here, should come from a good level, to avoid the expense of raising 

 it artificially to that level ; it should be such as will not only satisfy 

 our chemists, but should have its purity confirmed by the looks and 

 testimony of those in its neighborhood who have been accustomed to 

 it ; no manufactories should be allowed to interfere with it ; it should 

 be plentiful for present purposes, and sufficient to meet any early ex- 

 pected increase of demand for it ; and if not quite so clear as might 

 be wished, it ought to stand for a short time in a reservoir, before its 

 final distribution ; (two reservoirs in such cases being likely to be 

 wanted.) If not at last of a purity, however, to satisfy every one, 



* Our enjoyments may suffer by too much, refinement. Cleanliness has been 

 called the "grace and virtue of exterior life;" and Mr. Lieber, in his recent publi- 

 cation respecting the Girard college, has an ingenious enumeration of its uses; (see 

 p. 69 — 71.) but what lover would apply a microscope to the skin of his mistress? It 

 is this microscopic nicety which must be kept out of view ; our happiness being bet- 

 ter consulted when we seek to govern ourselves by the principle of content* Let 

 us take up our different objects then in the fullest perfection in which they first offer 

 themselves to us, and take care afterwards that they suffer no unnecessary change for 

 the worse when in our hands. 



