Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1859-03-10

! lcIS VI the laDoraIOfleS. Iney IND the natu-
raj water almost as pure and more aerated.
The ideal of water is perfectly pure rain wa
ter such as it would be if condensed directly
from the clouds themselves, and without pas
sing through the lower strata of the atmos-
phere. Collected originally by means of evap-
oraton-by which eVaporatoR all the salts of
the oceans, all the impurities of the ponds, all
the noxious gases, and hurtful substances have
been left behind-it is watery perfection soft,
pure, aerated and bright Water which has
passed deep into the ground is liable to con-
tain all that is soluble there; but it is more
brilliant. 1t nearly always contains less inor-
ganic matter, this being generally destroyed
| by the action of the soil it is generally har-
| der, refusing to pass over the skin until sof-
tened with soap or alkali. The well-water of
| towns is generally bad bad to the taste and
bad for the health though clear and bright
1t often has an oily taste to the mouth,
says DR.. Angus Smith, "not from the exiS-
tence of oil in it at ALL but because it has al
kaline salts in solution, imparting latness or
inSipidity, and rendering it heavier" The
AthenianS knew this when they said that GER
| tain waters were heavy, and made the mouth
feel full. But this quality is common at the
present time and DR. Angus Smith says he
generally finds that if any we'll is very fa-
| nous in town, it is one which has become
loaded with salts coming from impure drain
age" In one which he tested, he found as
much as an ounce Of these salts to a gallon.
Good water has only few grains of such
salts.
But to go back to rain-water Unless prop
ery collected and filtered it is worse than any
other, for human purposes excepting that
which is actually Stagnant and full of decOm-
| posing matter In large towns it becomes
| tainted by passing through an atmosphere la
| den with SCOT, suphuric and sulphurous acid,
| ammonia, Carbonc acid, and animal matter
! 1t is therefore, unfit for drinking. And in
the country, it falls through strata charged
with pollen and vegetable matter with minute
animal life and other unwhoeSome emanations.
The first rains, then, ought to be allowed to
run off, and only the second taken, after the
! first have washed the atmosphere clean If
collected too soon or taken from foul and i'm
proper paces-frOm the roofs of houses, lead
en- cutters, open tanks floating with leaves,
! drowned insects, particles Of SCOT and other
refuse, or from stagnant ponds swollen with
rains-and if used without alteration, it is of
| course unwholesome But if it has fallen on
/ y
to dissolve, and has passed slowly through a
! few feet or even inches of fine sand, or other
porous and insoluble matter it is the best of
all kinds. Sand is the natural flterer. But
where it does need liberation, charcoal is the
best for house purposes. 1t must be animal
charcoal thoroughly burnt and purified and
next to this, in antiseptie efficiency, is a filter
of pure white sand.
Modern science shows the unhealthy waters
to be:
l. Those which hold animal or vegetable
matter
,. Those containing an overpus of gaseous,
earthly, saline or metallic principles.
3. Those deprived, or with an insufficient
| quantity Of air
Some chemists say that it is the confined
waters of Switzerland and their mixture with
melted snOW.Water, which is almost absolutely
! destitute of iodine, that helps to make SO many
cretins. OF course they do not assert that
the water is the sole cause The want Of a
free circulation of air in the deep valies and
the want of a free and generous diet, together
with the close intermarriages common even in
Roman Catholic mountainous districts-all
these causes count for much in this maady
but FoiSSac makes the confined streams and
melted snow-water stand sponsors for more
This is given as the opinion Of only some among
the chemists, of some perhaps of the most
rash Others, who need more sure data be-
fore fixing a cause, hesitate and doubt, and if
they do not deny, at least do not affirm that
statement. But at all events, it requires very
little chemical courage to say that melted
snow water is bad, owing to its absence of 10
dine iodine being the grand specific against
scrofula, glandular swelling, and the like
! However, as rain-water holds larger proper
tion of iodine than any other, and as the streams
of Switzerland are partly fed by the rain which
| falls abundantly there, we may place this as
set-Off against the other side. Davy indeed
thought that the waters of Switzerland were
more highly iodiSed than the rest, but would
not say so /; and on these differences of opin-
ion we may not dare to pronounce.
The melted ice of sea-water has no saltnesS,
and is sweet and pleasant, but unwhoeSome,
causing glanduler swelings in the throat, ar
irving il fact to the condition of snow-water
which has been CONCEALED and locked up with
out atmospheric air Lord Mulgrave drank
this melted sea-ice in his northern expedition
and felt no i'll effects from it but Captain
Cooks men, who did the same, during scar
city of fresh water, were seized with cholic and
glandular swellings In this instance the an
clients were wiser than we. They knew of the
freedom from salt of iced or eyaporated sea-
water They obtained evaporation, or distil-
lation, by leaving feeces to be soaked with
the evening dews which rise from the ocean as
from the earth. When wrung out, the water
was found to be free from salt, sweet, and
pleasant But they knew its unwholesOme
4 a G. 1r,p in
the preparation of their food.
Sea-water is lower in temperature than the
atmosphere at noon equal in the morning
and evening, and higher at night ; retaining
the days heat longer than the earth does