The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1859-07-16
PuPffying water.

lent at this season of the year, and the cause /
of which people are generally unable to ac-e
count for.
Toe great care, therefore. cannot lie taken /
in the ventilation of rooms--espcciaily |
sleeping rooms, SO as to keep a constant sup |
ply of as pure air for breathing as there is |
circulating ont Of doors, and in having pure
and healthy water at all times and for all
purposes And here in this city, where els |
tern water is about the only kind We have,
great pains should be taken TO purify it be-
fore use. Among the many cisternsin daily
use, we have noticed very few, either for
public or private purposes, that are provided
with any means OF publication. An analysis
OF our cistern water will show that we daily
swallow and ablufe ourselves with a yasr
deal OF filth. When there has been no rain
for long time the air becomes filled with
poisonous yapors, generated by evaporation
and decay from the earth; malarious gases
of all kinds constantly escaping from the
decay and change of animal and vegetable
substances, are held in suspension in this
atmosphere When rain falls TO the earth
il absorbs these poisonous gases and I'M
healthy yapors in its descent through the at
mosphere, and retains them until evapora-
ton of the water takes place, when they
are again Get free and escape into the air.
II is thus that rain water, even as pure as 1t
can be caught from the heavens is, after
spell Of dry, hot, weather, very unhealthy
to take into the stomach, being indeed much
more impure than running river water, for
this latter, as in oil running stream5 is filter
ed and purified by the bed OF sand ever
which it flows. 1t is easy to see, then, how
rain water, naturally impure as it comes
from the clonds, is rendered totally unfit for
human use when it receives an admixture
from the roofs, cutters, aud spouts of dusty,
smoky and dirty city. Coal dust, dust from
the streets-the analysis of it would not be
very pleasant to contemplate, dead insects, and
innnmerable foreign substances accumulate
about the roofs and catch-all cutters of
houses, and where there are no filters, is all
washed into the cistern, there to stand in
stagnant decomposition and absorption, un-
til il is gulped dew =. our throats or smeared
over the delral, ;t.,, Of our skin.
A filter alIS - ,t;iis every purpose OF pu-
riicatiOn can l,e constructed aud attached 10
every cistern with very little cost or trouble.
Make q wood,n box, holding ten or doz e
gallons, or even take an empty nail keg,-
| bore il full of holes-Gll il with clean peb-
bles and sand aud charcoal, and your filter
is done. Fix il so that the water from
the roof will have to pass through il into
the cistern, and your water will be quite
thoroughly cleansed. The largest pebbles
and coarse sand should he placed in the bot
tom, around the sides and on the top sur
face OF the altering box, and the fine sand
and charcoal in the center The sand and
gravel catch the dirt, and the charcal abSorbs
the impure and poisonous gases. The con-
tents Of the filter should be taken out aud
washed or renewed several times year.
| The cisterns themselves should be inspected
and cleaned ont once or twice year, aud
now is n very good time To de- this as the
water in many about town is getting low
and in some cases has entirely given out.
a good opportunity will thus be given Ia
see the amount o. dirt that has been washed
in during the past year, and decoction 81
which You have all heen all along drinking
DR.. Bell, in his Treatise on Baths, men
tons the following simple continuance for
purifying water. A large rarthrn funnel,
or stone bottle with the bottom beaten ont,
may have ts neck loosely stopped with
small stones, over With smaller ones may
lie placed, snppnTi;ng layers oI gravel in
rI-asiag an 6nene1S, and lastly, covered
To the depth OF few inehe5 with fine
ssnd. AL ih"roughl, cleaned by wash
inn. Thi7 apparatus may be renewed by
taking OH and washing the upper stratum
of SAINT y still better method, suggested
10y DR. Brli. /, fo hltu.ir by ascension this
is done ~ having two Jars, communicating
: together AT the bottom; one contains the
gravel, sand, Sc; in the other the tnIbid
water is poured, which finds ia way into the
second, AMI rising through the filtering parts
comes upqtite pure. An improved apparatus,
adds DR. Bell, consists of small box, lined
with lead, and having at its lower part char
coal between two layers of sand. The pas
sage of the water through this filter ia &C
celebrated by artificial pressure-by which
from IN equal body and surface of water
seventeen times the quantity can be passed
as through common filter in the same time
The Egyptians clarity the waters If the
Nile 10y rubbing an almond paste on The in
side OF the jar. In DOngola, Nabia. Sc.
beans and castor oil seed are used. instead
= Of he almond. The Nile water was how
ever, more successfully clarified by the in
PRODUCTION of a solution of alum, or OF ia.
powder itself, in the proportion Of quartet
or half a grain To L quart of water.
Ii hump OF alum the size of hazeI-nu
he placed in bucket of muddy or impur,
water, and allowed TO dissolve, il will in ia,
course Of AN hour precipitate the dirt {,
the bottom and clarity the water quite clean
N The water of the Seine at Paris are pnri6
e cd in this manner.