Ancient Supply of Water to Towns, 257 



ANCIENT SUPPLY OF WATER TO TOWNS. 



BY THE REV. W. HOUGHTON, F.L.S. 



" "KpLcrrov {lev vhwp" says Pindar, in his first Olympian hymn, 

 and, if the poet's words be restricted to wholesome water, no 

 exception can be taken to them ; but if unwholesome water be 

 the subject of remark, then the expression kcucmttov fi€v vSoop 

 is most true. The ancient Romans, though they knew nothing 

 of the composition of water, and in matters of science were 

 for the most part mere babes when compared with the scien- 

 tific men of our day, yet unquestionably surpassed us in 

 the matter of a supply of water to their cities. The enormous 

 quantities of water conveyed, often from great distances, to 

 ancient Rome by the magnificent system of aqueducts, the 

 costliness and efficacy of the works themselves, fill us with 

 astonishment, and ought, at the same time, to fill us with 

 shame for allowing ourselves, in this boasted age of social 

 progress, to come so lamentably far behind the ancient Romans 

 in a matter whose importance it is not possible to exaggerate. 

 The ancients justly prided themselves on their water supplies. 

 Pliny is enthusiastic in his admiration of the system of aque- 

 ducts that supplied Rome : " If we take into consideration," 

 he says, " the quantities of water brought into the city for the 

 use of the public, for baths, for fishponds, for private houses, 

 for canals, for gardens, for places in the suburbs, and for 

 country residences, and then reflect on the arches that have 

 been constructed and the distances traversed, the mountains 

 that have been pierced with tunnels, and the vallej^s that have 

 been levelled, we must admit that there is nothing more 

 worthy of admiration in the whole world." Were the Roman 

 naturalist suddenly to appear amongst us now, we can conceive 

 what expressions of unbounded delight and surprise would 

 proceed from his lips as he gazed on our mighty steamboats, 

 our railroads, gasworks, the Atlantic telegraph, enabling men 

 of two different worlds, thousands of miles apart, to speak 

 almost as if face to face. But the system which provides the 

 Metropolis and some other towns with water would most 

 assuredly stand out in strong contrast to the other wonders of 

 this age, and sink into insignificance when compared with the 

 aqueductal system of Rome in the time of the Emperors. 



The earliest notice of channels for the conveyance of water 

 occurs in the sacred writings. Thus we read of " the conduit 

 of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field " (2 Kings 

 xviii. 17), of "the upper watercourse of Gihon " (2 Chron. 

 xxxii. 30). The Hebrew word translated i( conduit" is rfotti 

 VOL. XI. — NO. iv. s 



