November, 1905.] 



KNOWLEDGE & SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



283 



SUPPLEMENT. 



[Although it has not been mual to include fiction ivithin the pages of " Knowi-RDGE," the folUming 

 discoHi'se, which is hut a tale Iniilt around a new and possibly impovtant scientific proposition, seems 

 to be one nut inappropriate to the contents of a scientific journal. — Ed.] 



London's 

 TraLnsformation. 



A Sxiggestive Sketch of Da^ys to Come. 



By Tems 1)v\iri a. 



CHAPTER I. 



Introductory. 



London ! That vast city sheltering .so many millions 

 of human beings, a far greater population than any 

 town at any time has contained. London, that pro- 

 vince of brick and mortar covering an area more ex- 

 tensive than that of any other two cities. London, 

 the great capital of the British Itmpire, which is the 

 largest, wealthiest, and most powerful nation the world 

 has ever seen. The central point of the land surface of 

 the globe, the link 'twixt the old world and the new. 

 Truly the " hub of the universe," if there be one. 



A recent writer affirms that " Within the next ten 

 years there will have been added to London a greater 

 number of costly and important new buildings than in 

 any similar period since the re-building of the City 

 after the great fire of 1666." An extra half million of 

 inhabitants will have to be housed, besides those who 

 have been turned out to make way for the great 

 Government and other buildings already planned. 



Can the life of London last? With an ever extend- 

 ing Empire, growing richer day by dav, to provide for; 

 with tr.ide and revenue increasing in proportion; with a 

 population doubling in half a century, the heart which 

 gives it life, the brain which gives it power, the 

 counting-house of its central management cannot ex- 

 tend its bounds without unwieldiness, except by the 

 adoption of some sweeping measure, such as the 

 Tushian scheme. 



But, fortunately, so beneficial a design, effectually 

 neutralising present overcrowding, would extend 

 London's life. 



Yet this vast collection of buildings is but a srrry 

 city. It is, whatever may be said to the contrary, but 

 a collection of towns. There is no centre, no one High 

 Street from which others radiate, no district to contain 

 all the chief buildings. It is an animal without a back- 

 bone, a tree without a stem. The streets are narrow 

 and overcrowded. The main arteries are congested 

 with traffic, and owing to lack of being systematically 



laid down, have to be continually " up " whenever the 

 drains and wires buried under them receive attention. 



Good healthy house accommodation, too, is wanted, 

 the slums need re-building, but they will not be re- 

 built so long as land is so scarce. 



Moreover, it is a dirty place and is cursed with a 

 chronic fog, which chokes the lungs of its dwellers, 

 which darkens and saddens the homes it contains, and 

 which is said to cost at times from ;^5o,ooo tO;^ioo,ooo 

 a day in extra illuminants and in other ways. And 

 this fog is attributed to the murky river and its damp 

 bed, which traverses the great city. 



In one of the latest books on Meteorology* we read 

 "In a city like London or Glasgow, where a great 

 river, fed by warm streams of water from gigantic 

 works, passes through its centre, fogs can never be 

 entirely obliterated." 



A river running through a populous town cannot be 

 healthy. All the filth is washed down into the channel 

 and becomes collected there and its offensiveness dis- 

 seminated. 



And this same river, too, not properly kept in hand, 

 has a way now and again of getting above itself and 

 flooding the low-lying streets. Everyone will remem- 

 ber (or, at all events, those that were in London at the 

 time now being referred to) the awful catastrophe that 

 occurred in the Underground railway about this time. 

 It may be as well to recall the main facts. Some 

 drainage operations were being executed on the Em- 

 bankment, when an unusually high tide swept away 

 some stones in the Embankment wall, which had 

 probably long been slightly displaced. The water 

 rushed through and flooded the excavation, and, wash- 

 ing away the earth around, at last burst in the brick- 

 work of the tunnel of the LInderground railway. This 

 had most appalling consequences. Several trains were 

 stopped. The water rapidly rose in height, some of 

 the passengers clambered on to the tops of the 

 carriages, while others waded and swam to the nearest 

 stations. But it was all in vain, for the tide was at 

 such a height that the level of the water reached far 

 above the platforms, and only a very few persons 

 succeeded in getting up the steps. And, what was 

 worse, the raging torrent rushed along the line for 

 miles, and soon found its way into the " tube " rail- 

 ways, where again whole train-loads perished. It 

 proved to be the most terrible catastrophe that ever 

 occurred in London. 



Then if we go further afield it is surprising to find 

 that poor little ditch, the Thames, whilst greatly prized 



* By Dr. J. G. McPherson. 



