have furnished or indicated much of the material used in the Essay. To Ewbank's book particular obligation is acknowledged, alike for what is to be found in its pages, and for references they afford to other sources of information. Many other miscellaneous works have been consulted — which are occasionally indicated in the marginal notes. PREFACE. yji To Mr. David T. Valentine, the Assistant Clerk of the Board of Aldermen, the writer is greatly indebted for the means of compiling the Memoir. His long and faithful service in the office he holds — his remarkable familiarity with all that has been done by the corporation in relation to the water works, and indeed with all the other business, multifarious as it is, of that body — the methodical arrangements of his office, which enabled him at once to put his hand on any paper or document in- quired for — combined with the most courteous and obliging disposition, have aided unspeakably in this compilation, and saved many a weary hour of fruitless research. A few words as to the style in which the volume is published: It was the earnest wish and desire of the Author, that a book, commemorating so magnificent an enterprise should be sent forth with some luxury of typography, and especially with the illustration of numerous engravings, and he earnestly pressed this view on the Committee. But considerations of economy seemed to them to forbid any unavoidable expense, and he was therefore reluctantly compelled to publish an unadorned volume. Such as it is, it is submitted to those at whose bidding, and through whose gratifying confidence, it was undertaken, Messrs. HENRY E. DAVIES, EDWARD D. WEST, CLARKSON CROLIUS, JR., FREDERICK R. LEE, and CHARLES W. SMITH, of the Board of Aldermen, and GEORGE F. NESBITT, WILLIAM DODGE, RICHARD H. ATWELL, DANIEL WARD, and CHARLES J. DODGE, of the Board of Assistant Aldermen, and through them to the Common Council and the city, with the regards of their obliged friend and servant, THE AUTHOR. ROBERT H. MORRIS, MAYOR. MEMBERS OP THE COMMON COUNCIL. ALDERMEN. First Ward. CALYIN BALIS. Second Ward. CALEB S. WOODHULL. Third Ward. JOHN A. UNDERWOOD. Fourth Ward. ROBERT MARTIN. Fifth Ward. ROBERT JONES. Sixth Ward. CLARKSON CROLIUS, JR. Seventh Ward. CHARLES W. SMITH. Eighth Ward. SYLYANUS GEDNEY. Ninth Ward. MOSES G. LEONARD. Tenth Ward. ELIJAH F. PURDY. Eleventh Ward. ABRAHAM HATFIELD. Twelfth Ward. RICHARD F. CARMAN. Thirteenth Ward. HEZEKIAH W. BONNEL. Fourteenth Ward. JOHN STEWART. Fifteenth Ward. HENRY E. DAYIES. Sixteenth Ward. EDWARD D. WEST. Seventeenth Ward. FREDERICK R. LEE. ASSISTANT ALDERMEN. First Ward. HARMON C. WESTERYELT. Second Ward. GEORGE F. NESBITT. Third Ward. WILLIAM DODGE. Fourth Ward. DAYID T. WILLIAMS. Fifth Ward. WILLIAM ADAMS. Sixth Ward. RICHARD H. ATWELL. Seventh Ward. JAMES NASH. Eighth Ward. CHARLES P. BROYYN. Ninth Ward. WILLIAM D. WATERMAN. Tenth Ward. DANIEL WARD. Eleventh Ward. CHARLES J. DODGE. Tu-ilfth Ward. GEORGE W. ALLERTON. Thirteenth Ward. PETER ESQUIROL. Fourteenth Ward. JOHN B. SCOLES. Fifteenth Ward. WILLIAM Y. BRADY. - Sixteenth Ward. WALTER MEAD. Seventeenth Ward. JOHN PETTIGREW. PRELIMINARY ESSAY WATER, as one of the elements alike of animal and vegetable life, has always been an object of man's attention. In the early ages, indeed, it was reverenced as the sub- stance of which all things were supposed to be made, and the vivifying principle that animated the whole ; hence rivers, fountains, and wells were worshipped, and religious feasts and ceremonies instituted in honor of them, and of the spirits which were be- lieved to preside over them. This custom is not extinct among Pagan nations ; for the " Sacred Ganges" yet receives the worship of millions of Hindoos, and the " Holy Well" in Benares is visited by devotees from all parts of India, with offerings of rice, &c. Nor have Christian nations escaped this form of idolatry. In Europe the worship of wells was at one time universal ; and even so late as the seventeenth century, ac- cording to Ewbank. people in Scotland were in the habit of visiting wells, at which they performed numerous acts of superstition. Shaw, in his History of the Province of Moray says, " that heathen customs were much practised among the people, such as pilgrimages to wells, and building chapels to fountains. At the present time, in some parts of England, remains of well-worship are preserved in the custom of performing annual processions to themr decorating them with wreaths and chaplets of flowers, singing hymns, and reading a portion of the Gospel as part of the ceremonies," These same customs gave rise to the numerous holy wells which formerly abounded throughout the old world, and the memory of many of which is still preserved in names of towns. In the church of Nanterre, near Paris, the birth-place of St. Genevieve,