History of the London water supply : from the creation of man to A.D. 1884 / by Adam Gladstone.

  • Gladstone, Adam.
Date:
1884
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: History of the London water supply : from the creation of man to A.D. 1884 / by Adam Gladstone. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    of an ancient British manuscript by Walter, Arch- deacon of Rhydycen (Oxford), and written about the fourth century, the foundation of the City of London to Brute, a descendant of iEneas, who migrated to tliis country, according to his relation, about half :i century after the destruction of Troy; and he reckons from him seventy kings who reigned successively before the arrival of Julius Ceesar. There are men who deny to London so ancient a history, and ignore altogether traditions of a date anterior to the in^^ention of letters; but there are many others great and good, including Lord Coke and Bishop Gibson, the editor oi Camden s Britannin, who favour these ancient legends. It is sufficient for my purpose to point out that neither in the legendary nor the authentic history of our Metropohs does there appear ever to have been a time before the arrival of Juhus Ccesar when the inhabitants found a scarcity of water. It is quite true that when Ccesar came to Britain our British forefathers Avere not probably large con- sumers of water, either for domestic or sanitary pur- jDOses, but every man had what he required. As there were no liouses, there were no cisterns, no ■fittings, and no water rates. Csesar says a British town was no more than a thick wood fortified by a ditch and a mound. The ditch served the double purpose which in our times is served by our rivers and streams; for notwithstanding the boasted advance- ment of the race during twenty centuries, the local sanitary authorities are still the great enemies of those who supply water, because, for economical reasons,