a large city it is impossible to realize to what a degree we are dependent upon it.  In Antwerp, fortunately, a water-supply has been regarded as somewhat of an innovation, and almost every house, in the better class quarters at least, has its own wells and pumps.  It was, however, the end of the summer, and the wells were low; our own pumps would give us barely enough water for drinking purposes.  The authorities did all they could, and pumped up water from the Scheldt for a few hours each day, enabling us, with considerable difficulty, to keep the drainage system clear.  But this water was tidal and brackish, whilst as to the number of bacteria it contained it was better not to inquire.  We boiled and drank it when we could get nothing else, but of all the nauseous draughts I have ever consumed, not excluding certain hospital mixtures of high repute, tea made with really salt water is the worst.  Coffee was a little better, though not much, and upon that we chiefly relied.  But I really think that that was one of the most unpleasant of our experiences.  A more serious matter from the point of view of our work was the absence of water in the operating theatre.  We stored it as well as we could in jugs, but in a rush that was inadequate, and we began to realize what the difficulties were with which surgeons had to contend in South Africa.

We were really driven out of Antwerp at a very fortunate moment, and I have often wondered what we should have done if we had stopped there for another week.  Such a very large proportion of the inhabitants of Antwerp had already disappeared that there was never any great shortage of supplies.  Milk and butter were the first things to go, and fresh vegetables followed soon after.  It was always a mystery to me that with the country in such a condition they went on for as long as they did.  The peasants must have worked their farms until they were absolutely driven out, and indeed in our expeditions into the country we often saw fields being ploughed and cattle being fed when shells were falling only a few fields away.  However, margarine and condensed milk are not bad substitutes for the real articles, and the supply of bread held out to the very end.  A greater difficulty was with our kitchen staff of Belgian women, for a good many of them took fright and left us, and it was not at all easy to get their places filled.  As the week went on the pressure of the enemy became steadily greater.  On Tuesday, the 29th of September, the great fortress of Wavre St. Catherine fell, blown up, it is believed, by the accidental explosion of a shell inside the galleries.  It had been seriously battered by the big German howitzers, and it could not in any case have held out for another day.  But the results of the explosion were terrible.  Many of the wounded came to us, and they were the worst cases we had so far seen.