The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-01-16 00:00:00

CHEMISTS' ASSOCIATION.

The Chemists' Association held its customary sessional
meeting last night, when the attendance of members was
very large, and a number of strangers were present, among
them Mr. Jeffery. The meeting was rendered more than
ordinarily interesting in consequence of the announcement
that Mr. Mercer, whose high reputation as an analytic
chemi:t recent events have tended much to establish, was
to read a paper upon the Rivington Pike water. Mr. John
Abrahams, president of the society, was in the chair.
THE RIVINGTON PIKE WATER.

The paper of the evening was an analysis, by Mr.
Mercer, of Church-street, of several specimens of water
taken from the Rivington basin, the Prescot reservoir,
and the Kensington reservoir. The gentleman had a small
chemical apparatus on the table before him, with which,
from time to time he illustrated his positions. Mr.
Mercer spoke to this effect :—There is no subject of
greater social importance to the inhabitants of a large
town than the character of the water with which they are
supplied; and as the arrival of the Rivington water in our
mains has given rise to considerable excitement and
difference of.opiniott, I have thought it desirable that the
. .

subject should be brought before our society, in order
that it may meet with that calm and scientific dis-
cussion which its importance deserves. Through the
kindness of Mr. Alderman Bennett, I am enabled to place
before the society authentic samples of Rivington water,
taken by himself from the various reservoirs. He detailed
the results of a microscopic and chemical examination of
the water, which has already appeared in our columns,
and read a letter he had received from Mr. H. Evans. The
mineral constituents, he said, were principally derived on
its passage from Rivington to Liverpool. According to
Clark's test, the degree of hardness at Rivington is two
degrees, and at Present six degrees: The points in
connection to which he specially drew attention were, the
presence of organic matter and its extreme softness,
The organic matter contained in this water was an ingre-
dient which did not contribute to any useful purpose,
either alimentary or domestic, and frequently rendered
the water containing it disagreeable and unwholesome.
The amount at present in the water is not very large,
but we must bear in mind that the proportion in summer
is likely to be much increased. He did not think the
amount it at present contained likely to be injurious to
health. With respect to the quality of the Rivington
water for detergent purposes, there can be no question
as to its superiority over our spring water; and this
quality of softness in a water, is of great importance : not
merely for the saving of soap, for the agreeableness of wash•
ing at the toilet, but also in respect to the wear and tear of
clothes. But this quality of softness is one which renders
such a water very liable to act upon lead ; and he Flawed, by
experiment, that lead was acted upon by water taken from
the Prescot reservoir. He also referred to the question whether
or no it would keep on long voyages, when mixed with our
spring water, and expressed an opinion that it would not.
In concluding, he expressed the hope that, on a more
extended series of experiments with, and observations on,
this water, it would be found neither unwholesome from

the amount a organic matter, nor to have such a rapid
action upon lead ss to render it injurious to health. It
was of the utmost importance, however, that these questions
should be settled ; for water, like Cwsar's wife, should be
above suspicion.
In the course of his discourse, which was delivered
from notes and not written, Mr. Mercer read the fol-
lowing important letter from one of our most eminent
Liverpool chemists, Mr. Evans, of Hanover street :-
52, Hanover street, Liverpool, Jan. 15, 1857.
My dear Sir,—l regret very much my inability to attend
either Council or general meeting this evening. In re-
ference to the Pike water, I was anxious to draw the
attention of the society to the face, that the sporules of a
fungus are to be found in it, in great abundance, as delivered
to the public. The result of drinking water thus contami-
nated must be very prejudicial to health, giving rise to all
kinds of disorders of the digestive system, and sowing the
seeds of cholera and other fatal and alarming diseases. I
enclose you a drawing of those sporulie. The water
was drawn a few hours after it had flowed into the
cistern (a leaden one, closely covered, in the roof of the
house); when drawn it had the usual appearance of Pike
water, and on allowing it to repose, in the vessel it was
collected in- (a clean glass bottle), a dirty, earthy-looking
deposit formed at the bottom, and a brownish_col3urel
scum on the surface. Examined by the microscope, the
deposit consisted chiefly of earthy matters, with fragments
of vegetable tissues. The scum I found to consist almost
entirely of clusters of the sporules of a fungus, knit together
with nsyceleum threads—as shown in the drawing. I left
this water, slightly covered, exposed to the action of the
air for a couple of days, and, as I expected, on re-examining
it, I found the vessel converted into a prolific aquarium,
presenting, under the microscope, a most tivay appearance.
There were animalcules of various kinds, but chiefly
rotifers, similar to the accompanying sketches. Nice drink
to force down the throats of the Liverpool public !
Yours faithfully,
N. Mercer, Esq. H. SUGDEN EVANS.
The Chairman said that when it was first proposed to
bring the surface water from the district of Bolton, he was
apprehensive that they were about to make a change for
the worse. He accordingly visited the district in company
with a gentleman, interested like himself as a citizen of
Liverpool in the matter, and he returned with the con-
viction that the water was good. He visited it a second
time with the same result, and he visited it again last
autumn, when he returned with the conviction that the
water would be good and a blessing to the town. He
brought some of the Rivington water, not taken from the
reservoirs, for they were not constructed at the time, and
he tested its qualities, particularly its keepinc qualities,
with red sandstone water, and he found that it kept better
than the latter. The only doubt was as to its action on
lead, but he had no doubt that the admixture of the two
waters would effectually prevent contamination. The
Rivington water could not be found sufficiently pure in
the chern,cal sense to act upon lead in a deleterious
manner. With respect to vegetable matter, the analysis
of Dr. Taylor showed that there was a greater amount of
organic matter in the well water than in the Rivington
water, and in that respect the Rivington water did not
suffer by the comparison. In conclusion, the chairman
said that he had no doubt that the members of the society
would keep a close watch on the Rivington water and
its action in leaden cisterns; for himself, he was resolved
to continually test it. (Hear, hear.)
Dr. Edwards said that as he had not analysed the
Rivington water (which he intended soon to do) he would
refrain from giving a positive opinion on its quality. It
might be true that mater acted on lead in virtue of Pm
purity, but if they had sulphate of lead present they would
have a protection against its corrosive influence on leaden
cisterns. He was strongly of opinion, however, that water
for dietetic purposes never should be stored in leaden
cisterns. (Hear, hear.) They were not safe; and at the
present moment medical men would tell them, though the
fact was not made generally known, that there were more
cases of families suffering from lead poisoning than could
be readily believed. He could name several instances where
gentlemen in Aigburth, Wavertree, and the surrounding
districts had sunk wells and absolutely poisoned their
families by storing it in leaden cisterns. He was not
aware of any case of poisoning through lead by the red
sandstone water supplied to the town, but under any
circumstances leaden cisterns were not safe, and it was
time they were done away with.
Mr. M`Kinlay said that he witnessed exneriments where
a small quantity of sulphate of lime was shown to be much
more efficacious in preventing corrosion of lead from
water, by creating another surface on the cistern than a
large quantity of the like sulphate. The Rivington water
had only a small quantity of sulphate of lime in it, and
therefore gave a better protection than if the sulphate
were there in excess. He considered that nothing had
been shown to prove that it was likely to be poisonous
from its action on lead.

Dr. Edwards observed that he had omitted to mention
that, from all he could hear, the Rivington water was very
much like the water now supplied to Birkenhead. Ho
had analysed the latter, and he was not aware of its being
found unhealthy to the public generally.
Mr. J. R. Jeffery, with the permission of the society,
urged that all that had been said was merely apologetic
for the Rivington water. But he would ask, why
should they have it, for dietetic purposes ? No
one would say that, as a beverage, it was as good
as the red sandstone water, and why then should
it be for,.ed on them for that use? (Hear, hear.) He
was not opposed to the Rivington water; it was most
excellent for many purposes—(hear, hear)—but, it was not
sufficiently good for table use. He would say, let them
have both, and he was convinced that if the town were
polled, the ratepayers would say the same. (Hear, hear.)
So convinced was he that the red sandstone water was
the best and most wholesome for the table, that he would
give, as an individual, out of his own pocket, £lOO to
preserve it to the people of Liverpool. (Applause.)
Mr. Mercer replied, urging that the words " pure' and
" wholesome " were not exchangeable terms when speaking
of water. That was one of the grounds which he took in
dealing with the question.
We should mention that all the gentlemen admitted that
the red sandstone water was a pleasanter beverage than
the Rivington water, btit the question for discussion was
the wholesome or the unwholesome quality of the water
from Rivington.
Thanks were then voted to Mr. Mercer, after which the
meeting broke up. •

DEPARTURE OP THE IDA. —Tbig splendid clipper ship
sailed for Melbourne, under the flag of Messrs. Gibbs,
Bright and Co.'s Eagle line of packets, yesterday afternoon
She carries out a full compliment of passengers, and a very
large cargo of valuable British manufactured goods.

THE LATE DISPUTE IN TEMPLE STREET.-Mr. Firth
writes us to correct an answer which he made at the
Police Court, and which he alleges we mis-reported.
He states that, when asked the question--." Do you under-
stand the noble art of self-defence ? " his reply was, " yes,
a little, and fortunately for me, it
_often induces me to
keep my temper.

THE NORTHERN TIMES.---LIVERPOOL, FRIDAY.