l82 THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
defensive line. The pottery and palstave are now in the London
Museum on loan: the former are illustrated in the Antiquaries Journal
for October, 1938.
Editor.
Commemoration Service to John Ray.—A memorial service
to John Ray (1627—1705), our most famous Essex scientist, was held
in the church of Black Notley, his birthplace, on Sunday, January 15,
1939. when our member, Mr. Alfred Hills, attended as representative of
the Club. The date chosen for the commemoration was the nearest to
that of Ray's death, which took place on January 17, 1704-5. A laurel
wreath was laid on his tomb and at the close of the service the congrega-
tion gathered around the monument and recited prayers written by Ray
himself. The curate-in-charge, the Rev. E. C. P. Johnson, took the
service and in his address, which included a sketch of Ray's life and attain-
ments, he referred to the restoration of the tomb by the Essex Field
Club in 1912.
Editor.
BOOK NOTICE.
The Water Supply of the County of London from Underground Sources,.
by Stevenson Buchan, B.Sc, Ph.D., with map-illustrations. H.M..
Stationery Office, 1938. Price 6/- net.
This is an important Memoir of the Geological Survey on a most
important subject. It points out that the supply of water from wells—
deep or shallow—in the London area is rapidly diminishing, only some
111/2 per cent. of the requirements of the great metropolis being now pro-
vided from underground sources. Records of over 1,000 London wells
are given, one half of which are now disused : while from rivers and
reservoirs the Metropolitan Water Board manages to distribute to its
eight million customers 37 gallons per head daily !
The Memoir traces the history of London's water-supply from the
earliest times, when water was drawn direct from rivers and brooks, to its
transport by conduits from the higher grounds in 1236, 1471, 1535 and
1549, to the opening of the New River supply in 1613, and the modern
drawing of the supply from the Thames and its various tributaries outside
the London area.
A copy of the Memoir is in the Club's Library.
Editor.