The Portland daily press., 1867-04-20
From Harper's Weekly, April e.J
Impure Water.

Strictly speaking, water Is never found pure.
There are always some things dissolved IN it,
or intimately mingled withI5. These may be
mineral or vegetable or animal AS water is q
solvent OF so many substances, you see at oncs
that when 1t has been in contact with rocks or
earth it cannot be free from aecompanlments.
But this is true even of that which tails from
the clouds, for as 1t passes through the atmoS.
phere it takes down with it various substances
which have risen from the earth aud are dlffus-
ed in the air. By this cleansing shower-bath
that it gives the air it brings back to the earth
impurities, some OF which, il is interesting to
know, have considerable agency in its tertillza-
tion. 1t even brings down some Of the air it
self, for there is always air in water, not
ly that which we often see gathered in bubbles
but some is so intimately mingled with it, or,
we may say, dissolved in it, tnat it is not viz.
ible.
The water, then, that we commonly use Is
really quite a compound mixture, and water as
a simple substance can be obtained only by
subjechng the water furnished by nature 10
certain processes. The air in it eau he expell-
ed by boiling, and 1t can be freed by the chem-
ist from the varied solid substances dissolved
in it. But thus purified, or rather thus Simple,
it would be vapid and tasteless, and it would
not furthermore, answer the purposes OF lite
either vegetable or animal. For example, ii
water We're deprived OF its air fishes could not
hive in it, anu if it contained in 80 utIon no
salts Of lime, there would be no provision fox
the growth OF their bones.
preston, pure water, is water that has not injU.
rious substances in 1t, or that has not an undue
proportion of those which, IN ordinary guam
Titles, are harmless. Good water differs much
in different localities in the amount OF solid
matters contained IN it. Water that runs over
granitic rocks, or percolates through granite
sands, is apt to have but little of them. There
are localities where the amount is as low a.
one twentieth Of grain in the gallon, but this
is uncommon. Some waters in the granitic rec
ScOIland have tn X
the gallon. The general average in waters
commonly used for domestic purposes is ffom
20 to 80 grains.
The gradation as to purity in water is gener.
ally this: First, raih-water IN the open country,
where the air is not charged with Impurities
as much as it is in the neighborhood or cities.
Second, river water-of course that which Is
remote from the sources of iDpurity. Next
comes the water OF lakes; and then the COM
mon spring waters the water of the deep well
being less pure than that of the superficial
| spring. The water of the ocean or OF lake
| that has no outlet is largely charged with solid
matter, because evaporation does not carry this
| up with the water. In the ocean the saline
| matter amounts to from 2200 to $500 grains in
the gallon, ana in some parts OF the Dead Sea
to $1,000 grains or 25 per cent.
Now let us notice some of the common
sources of such impurities in water as are in
furious.
Filth of any kind accumulated upon ths
ground in the neighborhood of wells may be
soaked into the earth by water, and carried
down SO far as 70 percolate through into the
well. If there be vegetation that can appro-
pirate the impurities, this result is prevented.
There is, therefore, no danger from thorough
ly-manured, cultivated ground near wells, but
| the water in them must be vitiated by any con-
tinued deposit of filth near them where there
| is no cultivation. We see this very decidedly
| exempliied where wells are very near barn
| yards in which manure is allowed to accumu-
| late. The evil is less where the accumulations
1.rr, rnh n q N
| he recognized, and yet slowly but surely in
| turing the health of those who use the water.
Wells in closely-built cities, therefore, can
| not furnish good wholesome water. The
ground necessarily becomes impregnated with
| impurities which can not be fully appropriated
| by the scanty vegetation, and these Will ind
| their way more or lees to the wells. 1t Is not,
| therefore, from failure in quantity alone that
cities need supply from without, but failure
| in quality also.
Sometimes wells in cities have been changed
| into cess-pools by some who have res0rted to
external means Of supply. In all such cases
| the water in neigbboring wells is injured by
the lateral dffnsion of the contents o the ceSs-
| pools The deposit OF earth is in layerc, and
| impurities that are at the same time level with
| the water of well will find their way much
more readily than those that are above MS lew
ell We believe that this is not an uncommon
evil in places where water introduced from
without is used by only part OF the citlzeus.
The water in wells in the neighborhood Of
grave yards is adulterated by animal products
of decay when the romans are recent, and by
mineral when they have been deposited for
some time The water of q well close to an old
church yard in England, on being examined,
was found to contain 100 grains of saline mat
ter In gallon, almost one-halt Of which was
nitrate OF lime and of magnesia.
IT. when the supply of water comes from
lake or river, there are discharges OF filth from
factories and from the common sewers near or
above the place of supply, the impurity Of tho
mater is undoubtedly great source OF disease
The water of the River Thames Is largely pol
luted in this way and is wholly unit for drink
| ing purposes, even though 1t may DO taken
| from a distance above London; for there is SO
large population all along its banks that there
| must necessarily be much hitn discharged into
| r. hefore II reaches the city. A fact in regard
| 10 tbe eel-trade OF London shows how much
| the CITY sewerage polutes the water OF the riv-
or: Eels are brought up the Thames In small
| vessels constructed for the purpose, the eels
| hejng contained in apartments iutoswhioh the
| >a,er from without is admitted through holes
go small they cannot escape through them. SO
| destructive is the increasing impurity OF the
Thames to these animals that the eel-tralers
are obliged to stop farther and farther from the
city every year to deliver their living cargoes.
In a report in relation to an epidemic OF ty-
phoid fever in the city of Pittsburg It's cause is
referred by one of the physicians 10 the water
in daily use. Ii il be true, as stated, that sit
Is obtained from the Allegheny River through
a supply-pipe laid in the body of tho stream at
apoint where much refuse and ofTal from the
upper part of the city are encountered" it viii
| prove constant source of ill-health and SICK
| ness to the inhabitants. In the supply OF wa
ter recently effected in the city of Chicage
better plan is adopted, the opening OF tn sup
| ply-pipe being long distance out IN tne IASe.
Though it has no relation to health, there rs
an economical point in reference 70 1ose 5oe sSpR
OF soft water that it may be Wei 70 theT MI
nasa mseh Of the soap is This
small tsm in made nFEs Tsssrd DSR%df tho aSar a
euiatlon wa, Was c;tv Of Liverpool to this effect:
if causes of its hs5dnSss fSs GssG S4od be re-
uuceo a ,eonId save fifty thousand pounds yearly,
xbieh Gb1 represents capital of one million and
a quarter sterling at four per cent.
One of our readers has requested US to give
our views on the curative powers ofelectricity:
| This would would be going out of tie range Of
these articles, as we confine ourselves in them
health and leave the cure of disease to be treat
| ed of in the medical journals.