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eastern and south-eastern parts of Salford, and it receives 
the waters of the Irk at Hunt’s Bank, in a condition much 
worse than its own— in fact, as filthy as waters can well be ; 
thence the river flows sluggishly along the western part of 
Manchester to Hulme, where it receives a portion of the 
waters of the Medlock and Shooter’s Brook, charged with 
the contents of the sewers of the eastern and southern parts 
of Manchester, and is then stopped at Throstle Nest by a 
dam across its stream. For many miles in its course 
towards Runcorn it emits offensive smells and bubbles of 
light carburetted gas, which rise to its surface.” As the 
weirs then were so they now are simply traps set for the 
purpose of catching the filth in the streams. Of late years, 
many fine schemes have been proposed for preventing the 
floods, but why not first try the taking away the weirs and 
giving the streams fair play. Instead of removing the 
obstructions to the streams, our authorities have ever since 
been pouring fresh sewage into them, and all the towns 
above us have followed our bad example; so the Irwell, 
in place of approaching us in a state fit for fish to live in, 
as it formerly did, is in as foul a condition as the dirty Irk. 
Of course, it is for the most part out of the power of the 
municipal authorities altogether to remedy the disadvan- 
tages of the subsoil, but surely they ought to do something 
towards improving the sewerage and drainage of our city 
and town. 
In reply to a question from the President, Mr. Lund, 
F.R.C.S., stated he was of opinion that if it were possible 
to obtain, for drinking purposes, chemically pure water, it 
would not be so wholesome for constant use as water con- 
taining a small admixture of calcareous matter to give it 
some degree of hardness. Potable water ought to be 
absolutely free from organic matter, or any of the products 
of decomposition, and, especially 'from sewage contamination. 
The sources of the constantly high death-rate in a large 
city like Manchester, were not to be discovered by tracing 
