The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1877-02-08
Properties and Uses Of Water.

Water is the most abundant and the
most necessary for living beings except
air. What water is mankind never
knew until nincty-hvo years ago. In
1881 the experiments Of Lancaster com
plctcd those OF Cavcndish in l776 and OF
Volta in l777, and revealed the true ma
ture of water. humboldt Gay-lasSlC,
ana Dumas have since confirmed and
developed Lavoisicr's discovery. We
now know that water is not can Gle
mcnt," ~ Thalcs and Aristotle taught,
and as all believed for more than twelve
centuries; but that il is composed Of two
gases. oxygen and hydrogen. Nine parts
of water consist Of eight parts Of oxygen
and one of hydrogen. When chemically
pure, water contains nothing else. Pure
water, however, does not exist in nature.
1t dissolves salt, it mclts away rocks, it
abSorbs the gases of the air, oxygen, nitro
gen and carbonic acid it contains com
mon salt, sulphate ct lime and calcareous
mattcr-in one word, it contains all that
is soluble upon earth, Moreover, water
not only mOurishCs plants and stakes
thirst, but it almost entirely constitutes
the tree Of the forest, the fruit and seeds
Of those trees, and the bodies of every
living thing.
The extent to which water minglcs
with bodies apparently the most solid is
truly wonderful. The glittering opal
which beauty wcars as an ornament is
only flint and water. OF every l,2O0
tons of earth which a farmer has in his
estate 400 are water. The snow-capped
SUBMITS of our highest mountains have
many million tons of water in Il solid
form. In every plaster of paris statue
which an Italian carries through our
streets for sale there is one pound Of
water to four pounds Of chalk. Thc air
we breathe contains five grains of water
to each cubic foot Of its bulk. The po-
tatoes and turnips which are boiled for
our dinner have in their raw state, the
one scventy-iive per cent. and the other
ninety per cent. of water.
If n man weighing one hundred and
forty pounds were squeezed in a hydrau-
lie press seventy pounds of water would
ruh out, the balance being solid matter.
4 man is, chemically speaking, t0rty-iive
pounds of carbon and other elements,
with nitrogen ditlused through five and
Il half pailluls of water, thus mingling no
less wonderfully. A sunnower evap-
CRATES one and ore-fourth pints Of water
II day, and II cabbage about the same
quantity.
Without water the whole earth, Hima-
layas and Andes included, would he but
a gigantic heap of dry powder, on which
not even the most lichen could exist.
With the disappearance of water all or
ganic life would perish.
1t is a mistake to suppose that water,
because it contains animalculB or con-
terva, is necessarily unwholsome. How
ever repugnanJ it may be to use water
containing these foreign bodies, it is only
when they are dead aud putrid than dan
ger arises from their presence.
The color of water has frequently been
discussed by physicists. Arago said
" The reflected color of water Is blue and
the transmitted color is green Z" and cx-
planned /" the green color Of waves by
considering them rs prisms of water, OF
which one of the faces reflects white
light, which is rc'ractcd by the following
wave and thus goes forth green" Bun
son asserts that water chemically pure is
not colorlcss, but il of Il pure blue color.
NJ. Wetts:ein. after minute chemical re-
searches, states that the green color is
due to the presence of organic matters.
Generally speaking, rain water, which
fails in remote country districts is the
purest then comes r.yer water next
the water of lakes after these common
spring water and thea the water o.!