378 



NATURE 



\March 9, 1876 



by the Commissioners. Omitting these two, the average is 

 3780, which is still far higher than any of the others. 



If we refer to the headings Organic Carbon and Organic 

 Nitrogen, there can be little doubt of the superiority of the Kent 

 Company's water, but judging merely from the statistics under 

 the awful heading of "Previous Sewage Contamination," that 

 of the River Companies seems the purest. 



Why the source of supply from the two rivers should be con- 

 demned as hopeless it is hard to determine. This startling 

 recommendation to give up the supplies of water on which 

 London for centuries has depended, is brought forward just at a 

 time when the most strenuous efforts are being made to purify 

 the rivers Thames and Lea, and but a few years after the Com- 

 missioners on the Water Supply of the Metropolis, within whose 

 proper sphere this question lay, had reported that with perfect 

 filtration and efficient measures taken for excluding from them 

 the sewage and other polluting matter, these rivers will afford 

 water which will be perfectly wholesome and of suitable quality 

 for the supply of the metropolis. 



It is not for me to enter into the chemical part of this ques- 

 tion, but I may venture to express a doubt whether considerably 

 more might not be done by increased reservoirs for subsidence, 

 and by artificial aeration of the water, in addition to filtration, 

 so as to carry still farther the oxidation of any organic matter it 

 may chance to contain. 



I have less hesitation in strongly insisting on the fact that, 

 irrespective of the New River water, the metropolis is already 

 supplied with 9,ooo,cxx3 gallons per diem, or at least 2\ gallons 

 per head, of the deep-well water so highly commended, a quan- 

 tity which would seem amply sufficient for dietetic and culinary 

 purposes. I am, moreover, of opinion that the difficulty of dis- 

 tributing this water over the whole area by means of a second 

 service distinct from that of the water for ordinary domestic 

 purposes, though great, is by no means insurmountable. Even 

 were the waters of the Thames and Lea unfit for drinking pur- 

 poses, it is very far from being the case, that London is in the 

 same plight as Coleridge's " Ancient Mariner," with — 



" Water, water everywhere, 

 Nor any drop to drink." 



Enough is already there for all culinary and dietetic purposes, 

 could it but be distributed ; and to lay out incalculable sums of 

 money and inflict incalculable mischief, in order to import che- 

 mically pure water with which to lay the dust in our streets, and 

 to flush our sewers, seems " a multiplying improvement in mad- 

 ness, and use upon use in folly." We might almost as well 

 import wine for the purpose ; and in that case the Commissioners 

 might find a historical parallel in the proclamation of Jack 

 Cade: — "Here, sitting upon London Stone, I charge and 

 command, that of the City's cost, the conduits run nothing but 

 claret wine the first year of our reign." 



As deeply interested in the water-power and general pros- 

 perity of one of the chalk valleys within the fated radius of thirty 

 miles, I may have spoken strongly on this question, and may 

 not unfairly be accused of having done so from interested 

 motives. No one, however, can submit silently to an insidious 

 attack upon the property which he is fairly entitled to hold ; and 

 after carrying on experiments, for upwards of twenty years, as 

 to the percolation of water to the underground springs in a chalk 

 area, I may cla'm some experience in such a question, and much 

 doubt whether my judgment is seriously distorted. Even should 

 the abstraction of water be spread over a much larger area than 

 has been supposed, so as to reduce the amount conveyed away 

 from any particular district ; or even should the gross quantity re- 

 quired prove less than supposed, it may be left to any one who will 

 take the trouble to investigate the matter, to determine whether 

 the effects if wider spread, or somewhat diminished in intensity, 

 would be much less injurious. Any injury from this cause would 

 moreover be felt with double intensity at those seasons, which 

 are of by no means unfrequent recurrence, when even without 

 this gigantic artificial abstraction, the water in the upper por- 

 tions of the chalk district becomes short, and wells which during 

 the previous season may have had fifty or sixty feet of water in 

 them run absolutely dry. 



It now only remains for me to thank the Council, the officers 

 of the Society, and the fellows at large, for the uniform kindness 

 and consideration which they have extended to me, not only 

 during the two years I have had the honour of being your 

 president, but during the eight preceding years, during which I 

 was one of your secretaries. I look back with pleasure on the 

 prosperity which, during those ten years, the Society has 



enjoyed, a prosperity which I hope may continue even in a 

 greater degree, now that I quit this chair in favour of my old 

 friend and fellow-secretary, Prof. Duncan, who is, in all respects, 

 so thoroughly well qualified to fill it 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



The Journal of the Chemical Society for January contains the 

 following papers :— Isomeric terpenes and their derivatives 

 (Part v.), by G. H. Beckett and C. R. A. Wright, D.Sc. The 

 authors in this paper describe the results of their experiments 

 upon peppermint camphor from Japan. This substance has 

 been shown by Oppenheim to be an alcohol (menthylic alcohol) 

 of the formula CioHjgOH, which by the action of dehydrating 

 agents yields menthene, CioHjg, this latter substance when 

 treated with bromine yielding a tetrabromide CiQHigBr4, which 

 on heating splits up into hydrobromic acid and cymene. The 

 cymene thus obtained is identical with those previously obtained 

 from other bodies. The authors have examined also the toluic 

 acid from seven different cymenes, and conclude therefrom that 

 " by the action of a large number of agents on terpenes and bodies 

 related to them, absolutely the same cymene results, this cymene 

 being identical -with the paramethylpropyl benzene recently 

 obtained synthetically by Fittica." Clove oil hydrocarbons and 

 the liquid oil from camphor sublimation have also been exa- 

 mined. — On the decomposition of stearic acid by distillation 

 under pressure, by George Johnston. The oils produced con- 

 tain, among other products, mixtures of seven paraffins with the 

 corresponding olefines. — On tolyl-phenyl, a new hydrocarbon, 

 by T. Camelley, B.Sc. The- hydrocarbon is produced by the 

 action of sodium upon a mixture of bromobenzene and pure 

 bromotoluene (i : 4) : — 



CaHsBr + C^W^.QM^x -»- Na, = aNaBr -f- CgH^ j g^' 



The behaviour of this hydrocarbon'on oxidation is described, and 

 and also some of its nitro and amido substitution derivatives. — 

 A simple form of gas regulator for maintaining a constant tem- 

 perature in air-baths, water-baths, incubators, &c., by F. J. M. 

 Page, B.Sc. — The remainder of the journal is devoted to 

 abstracts from foreign periodicals. 



The January number of the Ibis commences with a paper 

 by Mr. Robert Ridgway, of the Ornithological Department 

 of the United States National Museum, Washington, en- 

 titled " Second Thoughts on the genus Micr aster " in which 

 he modifies his view previously expressed as to the reduction of 

 the number of species, from an examination of the specimens in 

 Messrs. Salvin and Godman's collection. The same author also 

 writes on the genus Giaucidium, embodying the results of Mr. 

 Sharpe's criticism of a previous paper by him on the same sub- 

 ject ; G. jardinii is figured. — Mr. D. G. Elliot has remarks on 

 some type specimens of Trochilidse from the museums of Neu- 

 chatel and Florence ; and notes on the Trochilidae. In the former 

 paper three of Tschudi's types — Bourcieria insectivora, Heliodoxa 

 leadbeateri, Leucippus leiicogaster — are discussed. The male of 

 the first is described ; Trochilus otero (Tschudi) is the second ; 

 the third is one of two species only of the genus. Four of Sig. 

 Benvenuti's types are described. Mellisuga Judith is PanopUtes 

 Jlavescens ; Mellisuga salvadorii is the female of Cyninthus 

 cyanurus, Mellisuga ridolfii is a female oi' Eriocnetnis vestita, and 

 Folytmus cecilice is Campylopterus lazulus. Mr. Elliot's second 

 paper is on the genus Lampropygia. — Mr. C. Bygrave Wharton 

 has Notes on the Ornithology of Corsica, describing 113 species, 

 mostly from the west coast. — Mr. R. B. Sharpe gives Part I. of 

 Contributions to the Ornithology of Borneo, with a plate figuring 

 Orlhotomus borneonensis and Calamodyta dorite, based on a col- 

 lection made by Mr. Arthur Everett, Circus spilonotus, Copsychus 

 problematicus (sp.n.), Brachypodtus imviaculatus (sp.n. ), Her' 

 pornis brunnescens (sp.n.), Henicurtis ruficapillus are the species 

 described for the first time from the island. Mr. Sharpe also 

 determines two new species of South African birds collected by 

 Mr. F. A. Barratt near the Macamac gold-fields. They are 

 Afidropadus flavostriatus, and Bradypterus barratti. — Mr. J. H. 

 Gurney continues his notes on Mr. Sharpe's Catalogue of the 

 Accipitres in the British Museum, discussing the Buteoninse. — 

 Mr. H. E. Dresser gives notes on Severtzoff's Fauna of Tur- 

 kestan. — Prof. Newton writes on the assignation of a type to 

 Linnean gfenera, with especial reference to the genus Strix. — 

 Messrs. H. Seebohm ana J. A. Harvie Brosra give notes on the 

 birds of the Lower Petchora, based on an expedition made there 

 last summer. 



