The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1877-05-04
THE WATER WE DRINK.
BY HON. GEORGE GEDDEs.

BY HON. GEORGE GEDDES.
OF late much attention has been
given, by scientific and practical men, to
the water used in cities; and in the
Investigations made, startling facts have
been proven, that are of surprising i'm
portance, not only to towns where the
population is dense, but to the rural
districts. propose to place some of
them before your readers, hoping by so
doing to improve the health Of some
families who live on farms, and who
perhaps fancy that they are drinking
the best of water, while i'm fact they are
constantly imbibing poison, that sooner
or later will appear, perhaps in the
dreaded form of diphtheris or typhoid
fever.
fear that the facts and differences
from them that l am about to give, will,
like many a sermon to which we have
listened, be charitably given to our
neighbors, and not appropriated to our
selves, II Is so easy to make ourselves
think that we have done things
well; that we are exceptions to the
general laws of health; that our well in
the barnyard must have in it good water,
as II certainly tastes well to us, and looks
sparkling and bright!
propose to talk plainly, and beg
of my readers, each for himself, to in
quire into his own surroundings, and
then see his neighbors' if he so desires.
1t may be thought that am unduly
earnest in these Introductory words.
If am, my excuse is that | know of
instances of typhoid fever and other
diseases in families, where the local
causes are plainly to be seen by any one
who will look for them: and vet the
persons most injured cannot be made
to believe that there is ANYTHING about
their premises that requires altering.
But few years since, all the British en-
pire was praying for the restoration to
health of the heir apparent to the throne,
who was near deaths door, suffering
from typhoid feveor, induced by the
obstruction of the drain to the royal
palace-a cause unsupported by all the
servitors ofthe most august monarch in
the world, until disease caused the phy-
sicians to search for it. If ROYALTY SO
rests in security and ignorance over
the generation Of pestilence, is it not
important that we should have some
voice raised for the protection of peoplc
not so surrounded by wealth and the
ability to use the best learning and tai
ents in all the world?
The Importance of pure water 10
health is eloquently set forth by the late
Professor Johnston in that valuable
work of his called 'sThe Chemistry of
Common Life" lie says: "Water and
air, which have to enter so often into The
animal body, and penetrate to its most
uencate ana most sensitive organs and
tissues, arc made SO destitute of sensi-
Bile properties CASTE and smelly that
they can come and go to any part of the
frame without being perceived. Noise
lessly, as it were, they glide over the
most touchy nerves; and so long as
they are tolerably pure, they make
thousand visits to the EXTREMIST PARTS
Of the body without producing the most
momentary irritation or sense of pain.
Externally, also, they can be applied to
the most delicate, inflamed or skinless
part of the body, not only without irri-
tation, but generally with the most
grateful and soothing effects" He con-
tinues by saying that this absence of
taste and smell, though but rarely
thought of, is most essential to our daily
comfort.
But in common life there is very lit
tie pure water used. The best of all
natural water comes from the clouds,
but that is contaminated by the impuri-
ties 1t washes out of the air; that which
rises In springs, by the substances il
meets with In the earth ITSELF"
Well water, like spring water, is made
into mineral water by the solution of
mineral matter from the surrounding
earth. and as wells have generally no
other supplies of water than is furnished
by mere soakage from the adjoining
earth, and only such discharge as re-
suits from the use of the people that
draw from them, the water is more
strongly impregnated than that of
springs from which streams are coll
stantly flowing. Water in running
streams partakes of the mineral matter
contained in the soil that the streams
drain. These mineral matters are, many
Of them, dissolved, as salt or sugar are
dissolved, so that their presence cannot
be detected by the sense of sight. Hence
the clearest and brightest of waters
those Of springs and transparent rivers,
even when filtered-are never pure
lJohnston.] The purest Of these wa
ters are found in places where solid
granite OF other rocks upon which wa
ter makes the least impression, form the
beds over which they flow, and make
up the surroundings that they drain.
Johnston says that in the waters of av-
erage purity, which are employed for
domestic purposes, there is not present
more than from 20 to 80 grains of solid
matter In the gallon. The water of the
river Jordan contains 73 grains, and the
water supplied by the various compa-
MES TO the city ofLondon, England, has
rom 10 1-2 to 40 grains to the gallon.
II Is not sufficient to give the number
of grains of impurities that gallon of
water may contain to decide whether 1t
IL wholesome to drink. The character
of the impurities is important. " II Is
claimed that a certain degree of hard
moss. ffom the presence of lime, i'm
proves the quality of water for all
domestic purposes, except washing, and
water from the chalk district is prefer
red In Europe TO softer waters derived
nom other sources. "-[Prof. Kedxie1.
And have seen II stated that conscripfs
for the French armies, who were reared
ia hard water districts, were taller and
stronger IN bone than those who were
reared In places where there was no
lime IN the water.
FOR enokin0 Uaahfuo and xnaL;...