79
FURTHER NOTES ON TREE-TRUNK
WATERPIPES.1
Communicated by T. V. HOLMES, F.G.S.
READERS of the Essex Naturalist may remember
that ancient water-pipes of this kind were much con-
sidered in that periodical some years ago. See Vol.
xiii., 1903-04. Recently some short letters on these pipes
appeared in The Times, the earliest on 16th September 1913, the
latest on 26th September.
The writer of the first letter ("F.H.S.") mentions that in
th; course of excavations, then in progress, several hollow tree-
trunks had been unearthed on the northern side of Oxford Street,
near Berners Street. He adds that about six years ago a large
number of these old-fashioned conduits were brought to light
in Leicester Square, but were all carted away by the contractor's
men, and he hopes some of the recently discovered pipes may find
a place in the London Museum.
A letter signed (Sir) H. Trueman Wood (Secretary, Royal
Society of Arts, Adelphi) appeared on 19th Sept. He states
that in the year 1804 the Society of Arts offered a gold medal
for the discovery of "a substitute for the elm pipes now in common
use for the conveyance of water." This offer, he adds, was
continued until 1816, when it was discontinued "probably
because there were no applications for the prize."
A third letter, on 19th September, signed John W. Ford
(The Croft, Shalford, Surrey), mentions that in 1816 the Governor
and Treasurer of the New River Company applied to Mr. Vansit-
tart, the Chancellor of the Exchequer (when the iron trade was
greatly depressed), for assistance toenable them to substitute
iron pipes for those of elm. The Chancellor gave them a letter
to the Bank of England, authorising a loan of £100,000, on the
condition that the money was spent in iron from Staffordshire
foundries.
Mr. Ford adds that extraordinary opposition was made to
the substitution of iron for wood. Among the objections to iron
pipes were "that the consumption of the water would produce
cancer."
A fourth letter, signed "Senex" (23rd Sept.), mentions that
when a boy he often saw the old wooden pipes replaced by iron
ones in the neighbourhood of Knightsbridge. He cannot give
1 These notes have remained in type for some time, but are now published as affording
additional information on a subject of considerable interest which engaged our attention a
few years ago.—Ed.