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An Historical Account of Sub-Ways in the British Metropolis, for the Flow of Pure Water and Gas Into the Houses
An Historical Account of Sub-Ways in the British Metropolis for the Flow of Pure Water and Gas Into the Houses Author:John Williams General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1828 Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million book... more »s for free. Excerpt: ,; v. " More recently the adoption of squared paving stones, instead of the small round ones, called pitching stones, together with the improved mode of paving in parallel lines from curb to curb, has materially improved the streets of London. , " Still, however, with every improvement hitherto suggested, the pavement of the streets has always been, and to the present day remains, most inconveniently defective, though very great annual expenditure has taken place; nor has any invention hitherto been announced to remedy the acknowledged defect. The names of Telford and McAdam stand justly pre-eminent in the science of Road-making; and it is not for me, nor do I intend, to dispute their claim to high consideration and estimation: so far the reverse, that I am free to confess I do not conceive the theories and practice introduced by those gentlemen respectively can be improved upon. But this admission I must confine to apply to roads only. The application to streets of the principle introduced by Mr. McAdam is now only in course of trial; and I refrain from expressing any opinion on its efficacy or fallacy. The experience of the public will best determine. But as Mr. McAdam himself admits (if I do not greatly mistake) that his theory cannot with advantage be practised upon those narrow and confined streets which are great thoroughfares; and as many of the warmest advocates of the theory, and friends to the practice of Macadamization admit, whilst they regret, the increased creation and accumulation of dust and sand, in drawback of the merits of the device; it hence appears that, as applicable to streets,...« less