ated supply. The
complete application of the _tout a l'egout_ system has been delayed by
the want of the greatly-increased volume of water necessary for its
application, and strong petitions have been presented demanding the
postponement of the application of the law of 1894. The present supply
is about a hundred and twenty-four litres of eau de source and
ninety-six of eau de riviere daily for each inhabitant, but in summer
this amount may become greatly diminished. Paris thus stands second in
the amount of daily water-supply in the European capitals,--the figures
ranging from Rome with four hundred and fourteen litres per capita,
daily, to Constantinople with fifteen. London has only a hundred and
seventy-three for each inhabitant daily; and Berlin, seventy-three, next
to the Turkish capital. The figures for American cities are very much
higher,--New York, three hundred and fifty-nine; Boston, three hundred
and sixty-three; Philadelphia, six hundred; Chicago, six hundred and
thirty-six, and Buffalo, eight hundred and forty-five (September, 1898).

* * * * *

Another grave evil produced by an insufficient water-supply is the lack
of pressure in the pipes in case of fire, and the possible lack of water
itself. The number of _bouches d'incendie_, or fire-plugs, which it is
proposed to raise to eight thousand, placed a hundred metres apart, in
all the streets of the city, is as yet far from attaining that figure.
The infrequency of serious fires in the capital is, however, very
noticeable when compared with the losses of American cities. Various
causes contribute to this result: the solid character of the
dwelling-houses generally, especially in the older quarters of the
city--the handsome, new apartment-houses that have been put up in such
numbers of recent years in the neighborhood of the Arc de l'Etoile are,
very many of them, much less well built; the general absence of furnaces
and of those overwrought fires to which the severity of his climate
incites the American citizen; the total absence of buildings of an
inordinate height, and, in modern times, the much more restricted use of
electricity and the consequent diminution of that too frequent danger of
the present day, "defective insulation." The fire service is, also, very
efficient; the brass helmets of the _pompiers_ are as inseparable from
any public performance, theatrical or musical, as the uniforms of the
Garde Republicaine; th