the advantages of sufficient drainage and ventilation; the remaining, which is the worst and most confined portion of this quarter, is in a hollow fiat, at the western foot of the declivity. The south-eastern quarter is occupied by the resident gentry, and is open, pleasant, and healthful in its position. The remaining quarters, viz., the northern and southern, are occupied, generally, by persons, if not affluent, certainly, for the most part, in moderate circumstances.
The inhabitants are abundantly supplied with the purest water, by the conveyance of springs from some little distance to a public reservoir in the heart of the city; by wells, affording water of different degrees of hardness; and by a fine and capacious reservoir, which is supplied from the river two miles above the city. As the waters of the district will be more particularly spoken of, I shall defer saying more upon them in this place.
The system of drainage has latterly been much improved; it is only within a few years that the drains were merely surface gutters in the centre of the streets, necessarily the cause of much offensive unpleasantness. This has, however, been recently obviated, by an extensive series of sewers running underground through all the streets, with the further advantage of a local authority to oblige every house to communicate with them; so that there is now enjoyed a complete and healthful drainage.[1] This has been, in great measure, carried into effect since
- ↑ It should have been written “a NEARLY complete and healthful drainage." The medical man is even now, in some parts of the city, occasionally made sensible it is not so perfect as it might be.
