Such are some of the facts connected with this important fluid--water. So common 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, whether 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 agreeable 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 habituated, so that even when pure soft water can be had, the former is often preferred, 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, 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 _fire_, whether in the shape of alcoholic poison, or that of the more simple element-- “Αριστον μεν υδωρ”--PINDAR. PRINTED BY WILLIAM OSBORN, 88 William-street. FOOTNOTES [1] It is proper to remark that, the pier at each extremity, of the range of arches of eighty feet span, has an extra thickness, making it a pier of equilibrium; this is also the case with the one in the centre of that range of arches, so that on each shore and in the centre of the river this additional security has been given. [2] This report was from the pen of Samuel Stevens, Esq.