St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1876-10-27

sut'0SS,
they had sunk all their capital and were
about to abandon the undertaking
when the Duke of DevOnshire, the
owner of much property in the town
and neighborhood, though not a resi-
dent, came to their rescue, bought out
their entire stock at a reduced price,
and afterwards continued the work at
his own expense and risk. 1t WAS
thought to be Il good operation for the
shareholders, but in the end it proved
better one for the duke for the augel
soon afterwards reached fissure in the
chalk formation, (Which underlies near
ly the whole of Southern England, and
forthwith there came Il copious supply
of pure water. A subsequent enlarge
ment of the opening has increased the
volume, 50 that there is now even Il
superabundance, much of the water
running to waste. The water, however,
being impregnated with chalk, is hard.
though less So than the river wa.,n.
at bennington, whose prevailing base,
us III most river water, is lime. But IL
new process, discovered by the late DR..
Clark, has been successfully tried on u
large scale for sottening water that
comes through Il chalk formation and
ii is probable that Eastb"urne may be
fore long make use of this valuable dis
coverN.
This process has been recently adopt
eel by the War Department for the
Snttcnihg and publication of water for
the use of the invalids and troops at
Woolwich. and is thus described in u
late number of the London Times:
1.-The machinery and appliances erect
ed at Shutters hill by Her Maiestv's War
Department for the >ofteming of water
for use at Woolwich, and which does
away with the system of mechanical
tilteratinn. has proved an entire success.
The water used in the process is pump
eel up 10y steam from arteSian wells
from assures in the chalk formation.
Having been tiltcIing through the Kent
purity. but of great hardness. The
latter is got nd of by mixing conccn-
trHtcd solution of lime with the artesian
we'll water III the proportion of nine
ounces of soluble lime to forty gallons
of water. These two previously clear
fluids being mixed together Il muddiness
Immediately >upervencS in the water.
the abstraction of the carbonic acid
rendering the hardening principle Obi
carbonate of limc) inSoluhlc. The lime
water. If used perfectly clear, also pos
ScS>eS the property of coagulating dis
solved organic matter into white floccOli.
The mineral and organic impurities be-
ing thus converted in precipitates of
greater specific gravity than the water
they settle to the bottom III the course
of -four or five hours. leaving the super
fluent water beautifully pure aud soft
the same benefit being obtained as
would result from the water being
boiled two hours, the hardness being
reduced from ~ to 6 degrees At the
Government Water Works referred 1,
it has been demonstrated that the chem
ical publication and Softeuing of water
on Il large scale far SURPRISES in sim
I
tilteIing. Il million or ten millions ut
gallons being as easily and quickly
purified and >ottened as "A single gallon
New works have been opened during
the present season by the Colne VALLEY
Watrrw"rkS Company, for supply ing {:
portion of London with water draw
from the chalk beneath the BuShcN
meadows near Watfnrd. Very cNtcn-
si>r reservoirs and buildings. Will
powerful machinery have been provid,
ed. and nearly IL million gallons u
water can he pumped, purified, SotteneG
and distributed each twenty four hours
The lime used in this process is first
Stacked, and then passed into the ad-
joining lime tanks, where it is mixed
with water to the conSiStence of thick
cream. There are two lime tanks, cacl
containing 7l.OOO gallons of the mix.
tuTc. This mixture of lime aud water
after settling. flows by gravitation t,
the reservoirs, and there. on being ad.
mitted. acts upon the contained water
After remaining for about five hours il
/ the reservoirs. during which time the
chalk held in solution is prccipitatcd hN
the lime, the sottened water flows back
by grdyitation to the engine house
whence it is forced by the pumps up tc
the distributing reservoir on Bushey
Heath. The water. as pumped from it,
source, has lS4 degrees of hardness. but
on leaving the works it possesses only
three degrees, which places it well
within the limits of soft water. In the
course of time the precipitated lime be-
comes deposited in the reservoirs in
which the softcning process is carried
out. This deposit is cleared out Occa-
sionally. and is run into an adjoining
pit, where it is collected and afterwards
sold for manure. 1t is almost impOssi-
BILE to ovcr-estimate the value of this
discovery to those who draw their water
supply from chalk formation and il
is to he hoped that chemistry may yet
discover some method for precipitating
the lime in river water and in hard
spring water. CT.
The Secret of Success in Life.