TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 173 



VII. Away, then ,with the false economy and cold expediency which would stifle 

 all the finer feelings of our nature, cramp all the expansive powers of our minds, 

 rob us of all the warmer desires of our hearts, which would check the progress of 

 the world in all that can constitute real greatness, by selfishly refusing to convey 

 to the dark regions of the earth the light which art, science, and religion have 



S emitted us to enjoy. Away still more with the impure philosophy which would 

 egrade us to mere machines for the gratification of the inclinations given us for 

 wise and noble ends — creatures of the fiesh rather than of the mind and spirit, 

 wallowers in the filth of this world rather than aspirants for the purity of 

 heaven. 



Whether, therefore, we examine into the present resources and demands of the 

 population, or whether we look to the economy of the vegetable or the animal 

 world, the experience of human history, the record of human progress, the con- 

 stitution of the human frame, the objects of human existence, or the prospects 

 of our race in the future of this world and the eternity of the next, we shall find 

 that the law of increase is of natural and divine enactment. Let us honestly 

 strive to discover wherein lies the secret of our strength, the security for our hap- 

 piness, and we shall realize the conviction that it is to be found in fulfilling the 

 terms of the charter whereby we hold possession of the earth and dominance over 

 the lower creatures : " Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth." 



On the Water Supply of London. By J. F. Bramwell, F.B.S. 



In the year 1874 the population of London supplied with water was 3,055,000, 

 dwelling in 511,000 houses, and the daily average quantity throughout the year was 

 110,250,000 gallons. The quantity per head, therefore, for all purposes was a 

 little under 32 gallons. This water supply was in the hands of eight companies, 

 and the aggregate capital employed in 1874, including share and loan capital, was 

 £11,196,000. The gross income from the water was £1,137,000, and, in addition 

 to this, there was £10,000 from land rents, making a total of £1,153,000. The 

 expenses were £447,000, so that the nett income was £705,700, giving a rate of 

 interest upon all capital employed of proximately - 3 per cent. The last report, 

 made in June, showed that the population supplied was 3,790,000, dwelling in 

 533,000 houses, and the average daily quantity was 132J million gallons, equal to 

 a little less than 35 gallons per head. The water supply of London for purposes 

 of cleanliness (personal and domestic), manufacturing, and road-watering was 

 generally satisfactory ; but, except in rare cases, this could not be said of the water 

 for drinking and culinary purposes, nor in any case could it be said of the water for 

 the purpose of extinguishing fire. And yet the importance of these two objects it 

 was diihcult to exaggerate, as on the quality of the potable water depended to a 

 large extent the health of a vast population, and on an adequate provision for the 

 extinction of fire depended the preservation of the largest aggregation of wealth in the 

 world. There were many who supposed that the defects complained of arose from the 

 fact of the supply being in the hands of private trading companies, and who urged 

 that if the undertakings of those companies were acquired by the governing body 

 of the metropolis, so as to put the whole water supply under one management, every 

 complaint would disappear ; but this could not be the case if, after the acquisition 

 of the property by the governing authority, the present system was continued. 

 That system was the obtaining of water for all purposes either from the Thames, 

 the sea, or from wells. With the exception of the well-supply the water so ob- 

 tained was put into depositing reservoirs, was filtered, and was thus treated whether 

 it be used to flush a sewer or whether it was drunk and delivered at one and the 

 same pressure, whether it be required at the basement of a house or for the ex- 

 tinction of a fire. If the governing authority pursued the same system, obviously, 

 though there might be some economy in management, there would be no radical 

 change, either in the quality of the water for drinking, or in the quantity and 

 pressure for the extinction of fire. It would be no advantage for the Corporation 

 to buy up the present companies unless they went to a di lie rent source for a supply ; 



