174 THE BRITISH ISLES. 



fulls on Bap^shot Heath, to the south-west of London ; or to draw a supply of 

 100,000,000 gallons daily from the head-streams of the Severn, 180 miles 

 distant; nay, even to construct an aqueduct, some 250 miles in length, for 

 conveying to Jjondon the limpid water of the lakes of Cumherland. There can 

 hardly arise a question of cost in the case of the wealthiest city of the world, 

 which a supply of pure water would at the same time convert into the most 

 saluhrious. 



Gas was first introduced into the London streets in 1807, when Winzor, a 

 native of Znaim, in Moravia, experimentally lit up one side of Pall Mall. lie 

 and his supporters were incorporated, in 1812, as the Chartered Gas Company. 

 At the present time there are six gas companies, who consume an immense 

 quantity of coal, and effectively light up London during the night.* The electric 

 light, however, is invading the monopoly hitherto enjoyed hy the companies, and 

 its use in streets, warehouses, and public buildings is becoming almost daily more 

 general. 



Superficial observers frequently talk of the uncertainty of life in London, whilst 

 that city, notwithstanding the bad quality of some of the water supplied to it, is 

 in reality one of the most health}^ in Europe, and certainly that one among the 

 great capitals in which the number of births is most in excess of the number of 

 deaths.! Four-fifths of the annual increase of the population of London are due 

 to this excess, the remainder resulting from immigration. It is more especially 

 the natives of the surrounding counties who are attracted to London, and the gaps 

 left b}' these migrations are filled up by an inflow from the more remote districts. + 

 Many of the female servants of London are included amongst these immigrants. 

 There are 1,137 females to every 1,000 males. It is said sometimes that there 



* The six companies have a capital of £12,682,000; they annually consume 1,560,000 tons of coal, 

 and produce daily about 42,000,000 cubic feet of gas of an illuminating power of twelve candles, for which 

 they charge 3s. 9d. per 1,000 cubic feet. 



t Birth rate and death rate in a few large towns (1S78) :— 



Births to 1 ,000 Deaths to 1 ,000 

 living. living. 



London 36-2 23-Ô 



Paris — 24-6 



Berlin 41-8 29-9 



Vienna 38-0 29-6 



Rome 27-2 296 



X The population of London according to birthplaces (1871) : — 



. Number. Per Cent. 



rsatives of London ....... 2,(Jô5,.J76 63-2 



„ Middlesex, Surrey, Kent, Essex, Ducks, 



and Herts 317,202 98 



„ Other parts of Fngland .... 634,620 19-5 



„ Monmouth and Wales .... 22,262 07 



Scotland 41,029 1-3 



„ Ireland 91,171 28 



„ British Colonics 25,494 08 



„ Foreign countries 66,101 2-0 



Bom at sea 1,205 



Among^tthe foreigners there were (exclusive of naturalised British subjects) 19,773 Germans, 10,719 

 Frenchmen, 4,825 Dutchmen, 4,229 Poles, 2,287 Scandinavians, kc. 



