NA TURE 



53 



THURSDAY, MARCH i6, 1916. 



LONDOX HYDROLOGY. 

 Old London's Spas, Baths, and Wells. By Dr. 

 S. Sunderland. Pp. xii+169. (London: John 

 Bale, Sons, and Danielsson, Ltd., 1915) Price 

 75. 6d. net. 



A LARGE number of springs in London have 

 been closed (in recent years) in order to pro- 

 :ect the public from the risks of water-borne 

 ■naladies. Some, like the famous Broad Street 

 Pump, at the time of the cholera epidemic in 1854, 

 lave been proved to be the active distributors of 

 iisease. But it may be questioned whether in the 

 vholesale closings of the London wells the innocent 

 lave not suffered with the guilty. It is sometimes 

 orgotten that the change in water-supply gener- 

 lUy signifies the substitution of mixed waters for 

 jhe water of a single source. It is at least open 

 jo question whether, from the f)oint of view of 

 lealth, fresh drinking water from a single source 

 s not to be preferred to mixed waters of what- 

 :ver purity. 



In this attractive book Dr. Sunderland states 

 hat in 1866 people in the City of London had 

 iiccess to thirty-five public pumps, all now closed. 

 Slany other districts of the great London basin, 

 juch as Clerkenwell, were rich in springs. All 

 hese particular sources have been abolished with 

 jlrastic thoroughness in order to avoid the danger 

 j>f possible contamination. In return, under a 

 r Water Board," London enjoys the blessing so 

 :iptly described by an astonished visitor from a 

 waterless country in the East as a " spring in 

 jverj' house." But now the Londoner drinks 

 I: ot water, but waters. 



1 The present volume originated in the author's 

 {•residential address before the section of the 

 jvoyal Society of Medicine which is concerned 

 jvith the medical aspects of waters and climates. 

 t gives the best account yet published of the 

 prings of old London, especially of those — sur- 

 jrisingly numerous — which have been at various 

 limes medically employed. No fewer than thirty 

 iiedicinal springs "of slight importance" in and 

 |ear London are described, all of which were 

 .oubtless esteemed for curative properties by the 

 eople in their localities, whether for drinking or 

 athing. The. chalybeate springs form everywhere 

 le largest class of mineralised waters, and many 

 jf this kind in London were applied locally for 

 astringent properties, like the "Eve 



leir 



|V'aters" of Highgate and of the St. Anne's Well 

 1 Hyde Park. This popular recourse and attach- 

 XO. 2420, VOL. 97] 



ment to waters for common ailments belongs, 

 as we know, to all times and to all places, 

 but in London it has been in our own 

 day finally extinguished by the zeal of the 

 sanitarian. 



A wider importance attached to the old London 

 spas — medicinal springs which from merit or 

 accident acquired a considerable reputation in the 

 town, and became in consequence, in varying 

 degrees, fashionable health and pleasure resorts. 

 The author traces the history and character of 

 these spas, some of which were " spurious " and 

 others "genuine" and medically valuable. He 

 gives particulars of twenty situated north of the 

 Thames, and eight of these were within a mile of 

 King's Cross. It is interesting to note that one 

 of these, the Islington Spa, was under Royal 

 favour much frequented, as many as sixteen 

 hundred persons drinking the water in one morn- 

 ing. Another notable northern spa was that of 

 Hampstead. It took origin in the seventeenth 

 century, and was a true health resort — offering a 

 tonic water in a tonic air. Perhaps the chief 

 among the spas of London, possessed of real 

 medical value, Hampstead fell a victim to the 

 great malady of health resorts — the unbridled 

 appetite for pleasure. " It is reasonable to 

 believe," says Dr. Sunderland, speaking of another 

 London resort, "that the beneficial effect of the 

 tonic water was counterbalanced by the feastings, 

 just as in the present day some of the good effects 

 of the British and foreign spas frequented by the 

 richer classes are annulled by the high living at 

 the magnificent hotels where some of the visitors 

 stay." 



South of the Thames there were thirteen spas, 

 including Richmond, Epsom, and Shooter's Hill, 

 which were really country health resorts. We 

 are told that Streatham is the "only one of the old 

 London spas where the waters can be drunk at 

 the present day with beneficial effect." This mild 

 medicinal water was formerly much frequented 

 and esteemed by competent authority. 



It is appropriate that this forgotten chapter in 

 British hydrology should be recalled now. The 

 brief but golden age of the London spas ceased 

 with the rise of others further from the capital. 

 Leamington, Cheltenham, Bath, Tunbridge Wells 

 came into favour, and some of these in their turn 

 have paled before the glories of more remote 

 attractions. It is the old ston,- of the lure of the 

 unknown, of the "distant and the far." But con- 

 ditions now are different. It must be remembered 

 that an exact knowledge of the actions and uses 

 of waters has only been made available in the 

 present generation. Thanks to an accurate study 



D 



