Ml' J. ILimter on Water Sujjphj of Villages. 341 



in passing through a soil which is probably surcharged with 

 matter deposited by or filtered from the water itself ; indeed 

 it is quite well known that a filter of this description requires 

 both cleaning and renewing, otherwise it soon becomes a 

 polluting rather than a purifying medium. It cannot be 

 denied that there are many springs of wholesome water, but 

 there are also very many which, though once of that character, 

 cannot now be regarded as else than outcroppings of sewers. 

 Springs in the neighbourhood of villages with an increasing 

 population must necessarily become sources of danger. 

 Primitive sewers, or other ways of getting rid of animal 

 excreta, will multiply ; high manuring of adjoining fields 

 will follow ; and the drainage water from these may indeed 

 be the sparkling spring itself. There is yet another element 

 of danger, and I may best explain it to the Society by putting 

 on the board a few chalk lines. [Mr Hunter here referred 

 to the case of Eoslin, where at the moment typhoid fever was 

 raging, the outbreak being clearly traceable to an impure 

 water supply. The following is the diagram he drew :] 



FIELD 



^$>' 



n 



ENGINE FOR PUMPING 



RIVER ESK 



