296. ‘Securities against Fire, &c. 
in London ;) although this last water does not satisfy every one as well 
as drunk out of decanters. Paris and Philadelphia employ river 
water : eastern princes also often have had river water carried after 
them in their distant journies and expeditions: and an emperor of 
China is known likewise to have had his daily supply of drink, for 
himself and family, taken out of a particular part of the river pass- 
ing by his palace at Pekin. The water of our rivers in its origin, 
comes to us out of the heavens ; it has, indeed, as it flows in its bed, 
many additions, but it also makes many depositions ; it is well venti- 
lated ; and if it receives some mineral substances which may affect 
us in one way, it generally receives others, in its course, which neu- 
tralize these, otherwise its waters would lose their character for 
salubrity ; and by evaporation, it is freed from many of its impurities. 
Rivers cannot remove the bad effects of marshy margins; but we 
must avoid such spots, which are equally injurious, whether the 
waters concerned be moving or stagnant, salt or fresh.—We must 
not be too nice also as to the water of rivers,* for our bread, butter, 
cheese and wine, undergo processes to form them, which shall not 
be named here, yet they afterwards become relished by all; just as 
certain river waters, when taken to sea, first ferment, and then be- 
come useful. 'The water to be adopted for aqueducts, we may add 
here, should come from a good level, to avoid the expense of raising 
it artificially to that level; it should be such as will not only satisfy 
our chemists, but should have its purity confirmed by the looks and 
testimony of those in its neighborhood who have been accustomed to 
it; no manufactories should be allowed to interfere with it; it should 
be plentiful for present purposes, and sufficient to meet any early ex- 
pected increase of demand for it; and if not quite so clear as might 
be wished, it ought to stand for a short time in a reservoir, before its 
final distribution ; (two reservoirs in such cases being likely to be 
wanted.) If not at last of a purity, however, to satisfy every one, 
* Our enjoyments may suffer by too much refinement. Cleanliness has been 
called the “‘ grace and virtue of exterior life;?? and Mr. Lieber, in his recent publi- 
cation respecting the Girard college, has an ingenious enumeration of its uses; (see 
p- 69—71.) but what lover would apply a microscope to the skin of his mistress? It 
is this microscopic nicety which must be kept out of view; our happiness being bet- 
ter consulted when we seek to govern ourselves by the principle of content. Let 
us take up our different objects then in the fullest perfection in which they first offer 
themselves to us, and take care afterwards that they suffer no unnecessary change for 
the worse when in our hands. 
