Battersea Park possesses a large expanse of water, and a few hundred yards of it might be very well spared by the gardeners and aquatic birds, to whom it is at present dedicated, for the purpose of a large swimming bath, which would complement the gymnasia in which the park at present abounds. The water, being only about 3 feet in depth, would not be suitable for a swimming bath without further deepening, but that is an operation which, I presume, would present no difficulty. It would be a great advantage to have a continuous and steady influx and outflow of water in all these lakes; this would insure constant freshness of the swimming baths. I am not conversant with engineering matters, but I should think that this might easily be effected by means of artesian wells in suitable situations, if the flow of water cannot be obtained from the water companies. I have thus shown how the great want of London, in the matter of open-air swimming baths, might be supplied by utilizing a portion of the water in five of the existing parks.[8] As there are other parks projected, or in course of formation in other parts of London, it would, of course, be easy to apply the same principle to the lakes that might be formed in them. [8] I have purposely said nothing about the extra-urban parks of Greenwich, Wimbledon, Richmond, and Wanstead, all of which offer great facilities for the construction of swimming baths, all having fine sheets of water. I confine myself to the more pressing wants of the teeming millions of London proper. These baths would not interfere in any way with the existing swimming baths, for there would still remain a sufficiency of bathers who prefer tepid to cold water, and as a vastly greater number of persons would take to bathing than do now, they would, undoubtedly, first resort to the covered baths, in order to learn to swim, before frequenting the open-air baths. The covered swimming baths would also still be resorted to by those who prefer to swim in the evening, and by those who like to continue their bathing during the winter months.