we shall not consider its intro- duction purchased at too dear a rate, even were the expenses attending it increased to double the actual amount. We need not attempt to specify in detail the benefits which are likely to accrue to the city of New-York from the introduction of an abundance of pure water. Its * " It has been computed that the Boston people have drank sufficient lime, were it all collected, to build the Bunker Hill Monument as high as it was ever designed to be carried." 151 value is not to be estimated by dollars and cents ; though it might easily be shown, that it already saves to the citizens a sum far exceeding the annual interest on its cost. We have already referred to its superiority as a solvent of vegetable matter, over the hard well water, formerly used. Since then, we have made a calculation, by which we are satisfied that in the single items of tea and coffee, it will save to the inhabitants of this city annually, not far from 90,000 dollars. To this may be added the improvement of the public health, and the consequent saving in medicine, and physicians' fees, a sum probably exceeding that above specified ; the increase of the working days, and the extension of the average period of working ability among the laboring classes ; and lastly, the moral and intellectual advancement of the entire population, attendant upon the improvement of their physical condition ; each of which is not an unimportant item in the aggregate of public prosperity and happiness. Such are some of the facts connected with this important fluid — water. So com- mon and abundant is it in nature, that we are apt to overlook its value ; but we need .only be deprived of it for a season, when we shall set a due estimate upon its importance. Pure and sparkling to the eye, bland and refreshing to the taste, whe- ther it bubbles up from mother earth, gurgles in rills, flows along in streams and rivers, or spreads out in lakes and oceans, it every where proves a blessing,- — and ought to be universally regarded as one of the most inestimable gifts of Providence to man. As it is the only fluid capable of quenching thirst, so it is the only one compatible with the prolonged duration of animal life — we need not add, that as alcohol, under all its combinations, fermented and distilled," is a deadly poison, fatal to organized beings, whether they belong to the vegetable or animal kingdom, water can in no case be improved by combining it with this deleterious fluid. It was formerly common in this city, and still is so in many places where the well- water is brackish, to modify its taste by the addition of a quantity of brandy, or some other form of ardent spirit, with a view, not only of rendering it more agree- able to the palate, but also of correcting the deleterious properties, occasioned by the salts held by it in solution. But in all such instances, the spirit which is added proves far more injurious than the small quantity of vegetable and mineral matters which it is designed to correct. To the latter, the system becomes in a manner habituajed, so that even when pure soft water can be had, the former is often pre- ferred, as is now the case with many individuals, who prefer our brackish well water to that of the Croton. But where ardent spirit is added, an artificial appetite for stimulants is soon created, — there is a constantly increasing demand for a repetition as well as increase of the dose, derangement of the digestive organs succeeds, and in a large majority of instances, the health is irremediably impaired. But fortunately, 152 no arguments are needed in this place to convince the citizens of New-York that pure Croton water needs no corrective, — and that it is the sworn enemy of Jire, whether in the shape of alcoholic poison, or that of the more simple element — " Aqioxov fiev vdaq" — Pindak. PRINTED BY WILLIAM OSBORN, 88 William-street. z- :nllt!l'wilim!!t til! mtttlSHm