79 
FURTHER NOTES ON TREE-TRUNK 
WATERPIPES . 1 
Communicated by T. V. HOLMES, F.G.S. 
EADERS of the Essex Naturalist may remember 
JL V that ancient water-pipes of this kind were much con¬ 
sidered in that periodical some years ago. See Vol. 
xiii., 1903-04. Recently some shoit letters on these pipes 
appeared in The Times, the earliest on 16th September 1913, the 
latest on 26th September. 
The writer of the first letter (“ F.H.S.”) mentions that in 
th3 course of excavations, then in progress, several hollow tree- 
trunks had been unearthed on the northern side of Oxford Street, 
near Berners Street. He adds that about six years ago a large 
number of these old-fashioned conduits were brought to light 
in Leicester Square, but were all carted away by the contractor’s 
men, and he hopes some of the recently discovered pipes may find 
a place in the London Museum. 
A letter signed (Sir) H. Trueman Wood (Secretary, Royal 
Society of Arts, Adelphi) appeared on 19th Sept. He slates 
that in the year 1804 the Society of Arts offered a gold medal 
for the discovery of “a substitute for the elm pipes now in common 
use for the conveyance of water.” This offer, he adds, was. 
continued until 1816, when it was discontinued “ probably 
because there were no applications for the prize.” 
A third letter, on 19th September, signed John W. Ford 
(The Croft, Shalford, Surrey), mentions that in 1816 the Governor 
and Treasurer of the New River Company applied to Mr. Vansit- 
tart, the Chancellor of the Exchequer (when the iron trade was. 
greatly depressed), for assistance toenable them to substitute 
iron pipes for those of elm. The Chancellor gave them a letter 
to the Bank of England, authorising a loan of £100,000, on the 
condition that the money was spent in iron from Staffordshire 
foundries. 
Mr. Ford adds that extraordinary opposition was made to 
the substitution of iron for wood. Among the objections to iron 
pipes were “ that the consumption of the water would produce 
cancer.” 
A fourth letter, signed “ Senex ” (23rd Sept.), mentions that 
when a boy he often saw the old wooden pipes replaced by iron 
ones in the neighbourhood of Knightsbridge. He cannot give 
1 These notes have remained in type for some time, but are now published as affording 
additional information on a subject of considerable interest which engaged our attention a 
few years ago.— Ed. 
