The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1875-08-07
THE PACIFIC
OOmmerttalAobertis
SATURDAY,. AUGUST
THE PURIFICATTON or WATER.

As well as the abundant supply Of this important
element, Is a measure Of vital importance in all
civilized communities. Great and enlightened
cities have paid as much attention TO publication
as 10 supply Of water. When New York CITY
was rejoicing in heE.tens of thousands of streams,
permeating her streets and flowing from the
bounteOus sources Of the distant Croton, she was
not however satisfied with mere abundance Of
fluid, but her city fathers laboriousIy examined
into and removed the occasions Of impurity,-the
mills, the fields Of stIamonium, and the COW yards,
that interviewed between the pure fountains in
the hills, and the hydrants Of the metropolis.
And go did Boston, when she tapped the crystal
line source of the Cochituate-sh spared no
effort in order to deliver the translucent auid Of
her Long Pond in oil its purity to the dainty
drinkers Of the Hub. Nor was PHILADELPHIA neg
lectful of the publication Of her muddy Schuyl-
kill She invested largely in processes of fItra-
ton. We need not dwell upon the enlightened
enterprises Of great London in furtherance Of the
supply and publication Of water. It is among
her chief glories-the supply of good and the
removal Of foul water and such cities as Paisley
and Glasgow, in Scotland, have made themselves
famous by their admirable and extensive processes
for the publication Of water.
Now all this pains and care in respect to water
are taken in lands and climes where a freezing
cold prevails for about one half the year, where
impurities in water are not always perceptibly
offensive 10 the taste, and arc not so deleterious
as IL warmer countries, on account of a slower
process Of fermentation and deterioration. But
within the tropics, where there is an average
temperature of 75o in the shade all the year
round, the water that man drinks should be
above suspicion-should be pure, bright, bland
and inodOrous rs the soft, sweet droppings from
the Heavens. Now can we Of Honolulu, whose
sweltered and debilItated frames require the ac-
commodation of the buggy or the saddle for
every little locomotIon we make-and therefore
must be necessarily delicate and fastidious in
our appetites-can we rejoice in the pure dia-
mond nectar of the skies flowing from our faucets
to cool and comfort our dainty diaphragms? Alas,
it is not so. We cannot take pride in offering to
the stranger, accustomed to his clear sparkling,
filtered water a glass Of our amber stained fluid.
1t is charged with organic matter, which is foreign
to the pure fountains on our misty mountain
tops. Our city water. so pure and sweet in the
hills brings with it, in its course to our dwellings,
a suspicion of cow yards, and abundant signs of
decayed vegetable and animal matter. Hold a
glass Of fresh drawn water before n strong lamp
light, and behold a chaos Of thick intermingling
impurities. We speak not of animalcular or
i~nfusorial life. Very likely our gastric juices, if
we are in good working and fighting trim can
dispose of any vagrant branchipode or even of a
rascally germinal lumbrIcoides but any excre-
mentitious or decayed organic matter is as insid-
nous as a besetting sin, and in spite of the
strength or vigilance of your digestive powers
will attack your yisccra with inAamipg fever or a
raeking cholera.
Hence, no wonder that the doctors sometimes
comfort a fastidious stomach by advising to put
80 something" into the water. But such a
- stick - proves worse than a broken reed, and it
is better to look to the publication of your real
mountain dew. We may not be able to devise a
grand process of filtration, as at FALSELY but we
can remove the COW yards, as was done in behalf
of the Croton supply. Pure water is an essential
of life, vastly superior to any claims of rights of
property, and when such rights stand in the way
of the health of society, they must yield their
claims for an equitable compensation.