The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1872-06-22
THE WATER SUPPLY or CITIES
Concerning the Pure and Impan

| DalblL1VEe uhst hui uullAS WAe0Nht
short water supply and lack Of purity In
the article supplied. IN recent humble,
Of the Stowe flnd an instructive article
on the subject from Dr.. Liebig and d.
Simon, a portion Of which may be inter.
esting Just now to our city readers:
To those unacquainted with the com.
position Of a desirable dfinlable water,
we would remark that o good wholesome
water must contain not more than one 10
three ten. thousands off solid inorganic
matter, Of which at least one.hali ought
10 BIO carbonate Of lime. There ought to
be contained also In one thousand, vol.
umes about eight volumes Of Oxygen.
seventeen volumes Of nitrogen, and some.
what more than enough OF carbonic acid
gas to keep the carbonate Of lime in solu.
ton. The water to be healthtul must be
as free as possible from decomposing
organic matter.
The city water usedin this exnminas
ton was taken from 0 hydrant near the
labratory on May Goth, and was perfectly
clear.
1t yields in 1000 volumes IA volumes
Of oxygen gas and 1856 volumes Of nitro.
gen gas, and contains In one gallon 1889
grains Of organic and volatile matter and
3.0G7 grains Of inorganic matter, Of which
1874 Is lime, which would correspond
leaving the other lime combinations
unnoticed-to 2.45 grams OF carbonate Of
lime. y .FtNHE 0FN rune. . ~
In comparing these figures with those
obtained by Prof Q. F. Chandler, Of the
CrOton water, which he examined by
order Of the New York board OF health,
also with the analyses Of waters in other
cities, we fnd:thatit compares well with,
the New oTk water, and III SnIn in
this respect these fufnis hed to soLne u
the largest European cities, as seen
below:
Grains in Gallon.
Org vol. mat. Inorg.
Croton water, 1869, @. =. Chandler. O.61 4.fi
Boston, E. N. Hartford. ....,....... OH 40
Chicago, 8. v. Q. BlAny. ........... Leg Sea
Baltimore, Lie6lg 4 Simon, i:oSg soe7
Paris, (seineJ Blssey 6 Wlftz.... 100 7.sS
Amsterdam, Yeehtl Ba4mhAuss,. ala 1446
gilmore importance however than these
results in relation to the healthfulness ola
palatable water, we consider the nature
ot=its organic matter, susceptibility to de.
compose, and thus develop the germs Of
manifold diseases, a, - r. Z
To ascertain this fact German chemists'
employ permanganate Of potash, grad.
uated solution Of which has been the
means Of establishing scale by which to
arrive at the relative purity and value Of
different waters.
One thousand volumes Of o very supe.
rior water decolorize from one to two and
one.halt volumes of the above named pre-.
pared solution, (the pump water in Block
street, near the Baltimore Chrome Works,
takes % volumes) while waters which
will decolorize more than six volumes TO
one thousand are considered by the same
authors as unwholesome and unfit for
drinking. AS our Swami Lake water de.
colorizes four and one.half volumes OF the
same solution per ], 900 volumes, it Is thus
proved that though It does not reach the
purity OF q well water, It Is far from being
considered an unWholesome water, and
that the consumers have in fact no reason
TO complain Of its condition on that score.
From the nature Of the water we can
not expect to find an omount Of carbonic
acid gas equal 10 or approaching that of a
spring water-which owes to this agent
in part its Ireshing efect-but it must be
remembered that an excess of this gas
would likely be accompanied with a larger
amount Of carbonate Of lime, and thus the
water be rendered hard and unfit for Gull.
nary and other domestic purposes.