The water question. Memoir addressed to the Commissioners appointed by His Majesty ... to inquire into the state of the supply of water to the Metropolis / [J. Wright].

  • Wright, J. (John), 1770?-1844
Date:
1828
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The water question. Memoir addressed to the Commissioners appointed by His Majesty ... to inquire into the state of the supply of water to the Metropolis / [J. Wright]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    peculiar feeling which we call weight; that the purest water feels the lightest, and what is reckoned the worst feels the heaviest on the stomach. In healthy persons this sensation is little regarded; but in disease it becomes very distinct, and is often very tormenting. Sometimes the stomach feels as if it would burst: sometimes the sensation is, as if a cord were tied round the middle of the body.” Again—“ The peculiar noxious principle of bad wa¬ ters is nothing but the corrupted animal and vegetable matters, with which they are impregnated. These mat¬ ters are therefore poisonous. In consequence, they ought to be suspected, wherever they are found. In inquiring, therefore, into the salubrity of waters in general, or into that of any particular example, it is this impregnation, which ought to be the chief object of research. Simple earthy matter (though much has been said against it), has never been shewn to be particularly unfriendly to the human system. Metallic matter, of all kinds, is a more just object of suspicion. But, the putrid or putrescent matter, the animal or vegetable substances in a state of decomposition, is that which is actively mischievous. It is immediately and directly deleterious; and it is astonish¬ ing to consider, how greatly the influence of this matter has been overlooked, even by writers who were fully aware of the general importance of the subject.”