230 ADDITIONAL NOTES ON TREE-TRUNK WATER-PIPES.
remembered that he had an old book which probably contained
something about these pipes, and was good enough to send it to
me for perusal. This book is one which, if exhibited on a book-
stall, might well seem to the geologist or engineer too much out-
of-date, to the archaeologist not old enough, to be worth buying.
It is styled Hydraulia, and was published in London in the year
1835, the author being William Matthews, author of The History
of Gas Lighting, &c.. He describes "The Water Works of
London, and the Contrivances for supplying other great cities in
different ages and countries." As regards wooden water-pipes,
though they are mentioned not infrequently, their shapes and mode
of formation are nowhere described, doubtless because our author
considered it a needless and useless task to enlarge upon the
familiar but obsolete.2
On pp. 33-34 some account is given of the development of a
water company for supplying apart of Westminster. The works
were begun in 1691. In 1812 the proprietors took up the whole
of the wooden pipes and put iron mains in their place. The
district is now supplied, says Mr. Matthews, by the New River
and other companies. We learn that the London Bridge Water
Works suffered from the competition of the New River Company,
partly through the better quality of the water of the latter, and
partly because the New River Company had laid down iron
pipes, while nearly the whole of the London Bridge Company's
pipes were of wood, and consequently "incapable of sustaining
the pressure necessary for conveying water into the higher stories
of many houses, even in situations where the water-wheels had
sufficient power to force it to the required altitude." An
additional circumstance, hostile to the continuance of the London
Bridge Works, was the fact that when the other companies were
laying down iron pipes the erection of the New London Bridge
was in contemplation.
In the account of the development of the New River
Company are many remarks on the disadvantages of wooden
water-pipes (pp. 66-70). They are said to be generally of elm,
a soft and porous kind of timber, a great part of the pipes
requiring to be changed every two, three, or four years :—
" At one period the New River Company alone had different trains of
2 See notes by Mr. Dick, and extract from Evelyn's Sylva, in the previous part of
E.N., for description of the process of making the pipes.—Ed.