Page:On the Pollution of the Rivers of the Kingdom.djvu/28

 "and compelled them to keep their doors and windows shut.

"That Professor Simpson (now Sir James Simpson, Bart., M.D.), showed from the mortality in the streets bordering on the river, as compared with that away from its banks, that there was a greater death rate in the immediate neighbourhood of the Water of Leith than at a short distance therefrom.

"Thus taking a similar class of houses in the Edinburgh district, and judging by the mortality among children under five years of age. Professor Simpson found that in the streets away from the influence of the foul water the mortality was in the proportion of 100, while in the streets near the Water of Leith the mortality was as high as 160!! In the Leith district also the death rate was greater, as in the streets at some distance from the harbour the mortality was in the proportion of 100, with a death rate among children under five years old of 1 in 12, while in the same class of streets near the river and harbour the mortality was 141, and the death rate among children 1 in 7!!

"That these statistics are positive evidence of the effects of the foul state of the Water of Leith conveying the sewage of Edinburgh and Leith, and the results are supported by the concurrent testimony of many persons who speak to the nausea and sickness brought on by the gases and vapours evolved from the water, and to the general ill health connected therewith.

As regards the atmosphere near the Water of Leith.

"The state of the atmosphere was not only judged of by the test of the nose but special experiments were made."

"Thirty-one samples of air were collected at various parts on different occasions. On the 7th April nine samples were tested, and whilst the degrees of purity of the air at three stations in Edinburgh away from the influence of the Water of Leith were respectively (100 being absolute purity) 85, 70, and 67, and the air at the Water of Leith at Coltbridge before being mingled with sewage was 75, the atmosphere in the immediate vicinity of the sewers and of the Water of Leith conveying sewage had its degree of purity reduced to 63, 58, 55, and 55, and in one instance, as below the dam under the Water of Leith village, the