London gets more than half its water from the Thames, and this is another reason why the sanitary outlook is not satisfactory. The system of water-carried sewage is now almost universal, the sewage ultimately taking its course along the track of the watershed. Wherever water-carried sewage is in vogue the natural watercourses must get fouled, and the fouling will be in proportion to population. The sewage may be deprived of its coarser ingredients by mechanical or chemical means, but it is not possible to believe that any of the methods of treating sewage at present in use render the effluent wholesome enough to drink without danger. The increase of population in the valley of the Thames is therefore a distinct danger to London. The following table gives the population for 1871 and 1881 of some registration districts situated in the Thames valley:—
| 1871. | 1881. | |
|---|---|---|
| Kingston | 55,929 | 77,057 |
| Richmond | 26,145 | 33,633 |
| Reading | 33,340 | 43,494 |
| Windsor | 26,725 | 31,992 |
| Staines | 20,199 | 23,774 |
| Uxbridge | 25,538 | 27,550 |
| Brentford | 71,933 | 101,706 |
| Eton | 24,928 | 27,721 |
| Wycombe | 38,366 | 40,278 |
| Henley | 18,916 | 19,992 |
| Oxford } | 21,016 | 21,902 |
| Headington } | 22,756 | 28,723 |
| 385,791 | 477,822 |
I am well aware that some of the districts in the above list are below the intake of the water companies, but the figures serve to show how rapid is the increase of population in the valley of the Thames, which is one of the most popular districts in the whole country. This concentration of people along the banks of the river must have the effect of lessening the purity of the water which we drink.
Thus it is evident that what I have called the loose end of our sanitation is a growing expense and a growing danger. Hygiene, to be a permanent benefit, should move along natural lines, and organic refuse ought to be committed to the soil as quickly as possible, when it would cease to be a danger, and would prove a source of profit. If the evil effects of free trade are to be counteracted, it will be by returning the refuse of our towns free of cost to the impoverished agriculturist. If we in England go on as we are going, and if our brethren in the Colonies follow our example, as they are doing, I believe our race must become extinct, and it will be a Chinaman rather than a New Zealander who will sit in contemplation on the ruins of London Bridge.
CHAPTER II.
LONDON FROM THE MEDICAL POINT OF VIEW.
It is impossible to appreciate the causes of the insanitary condition of Old London without a knowledge of the state of medical education at the time. This chapter will show clearly that scientific medicine is of comparatively modern growth, and it will not need any professional training to distinguish between the superstitious dogmas of the past and those scientific principles which have resulted from the systematic study of medicine by strictly scientific methods. If the scientific study of medicine should from any cause be checked, there can be no doubt that we should soon again make acquaintance with those pestilences which wrought such fearful havoc in the Middle Ages.
CHAUCER’S DOCTOR.
In giving an account of the profession of medicine as seen in London, both in ancient and modern times, one cannot do better than begin with that “Doctour of Phisik” described by Chaucer as setting out from the “Tabard” in Southwark with the other pilgrims bound for the shrine of St. Thomas of Canterbury about the year 1380. Chaucer’s lines have been often quoted, but I make no apology for giving them once more, because the description of the “doctour” bears the stamp of truth and is sufficiently minute to bring the individual before us:—