38  iBypertmental  Xegielatton
tradesmen,  a  general  measure  to  that  effect  would
be  dangerous,  and  difficult  to  retract.  I  do  not
see  how  the  question  can  be  decided,  except  by
trying  the  effect  in  a  certain  number  of  County
Court  districts,  and  watching  the  results.
It  would  be  well  worth  the  trouble  to  try  the
effect,  upon  a  certain  body  of  inhabitants,  of  the
most  perfect  sanitary  regulation,  somewhat  in  the
manner  foreshadowed  by  Dr.  B.  W.  Richardson  in
his  “  City  of  Hygeia.”  This  I  should  like  to  see
tried,  as  regards  the  middle  classes,  in  some  newlybuilt
  watering-place,  with  full  and  special  powers  of
sanitary  regulation  to  be  granted  it  by  Parliament,
avowedly  as  an  experiment.  At  the  same  time,  a
few  large  blocks  of  workmen’s  dwellings  ought  to
be  built  and  placed  under  experimental  sanitary
laws.  I  am  convinced  that  legislation  must  by
degrees  be  carried  much  further  in  this  direction
than  is  at  present  the  case,  but  it  ought  to  proceed ­
  tentatively.
One  of  the  difficult  questions  of  the  present
day  is;  How  can  London  be  supplied  with
water  ?  There  would  be  few  engineering  difficulties ­
  if  it  were  allowable  to  separate  the  supply
of  pure  water  for  drinking  and  cooking  purposes
from  the  much  larger  quantities  required  for  other
purposes.  Will  people  drink  the  impure  water?
Who  can  decide  such  a  question  satisfactorily,
except  by  experiment  on  a  moderate  scale  ?  What
could  be  more  absurd  than  to  spend  millions  upon