The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1878-03-22
THE LAWS OF HEALTH.

water no vegetables, no vegetables no ami
mails, no animals no men. Indeed water
forms larat tconstituent part of the whole
vegetable and animal world Nearly three
fourths of the human. body is water. The
relations Of water to health, thereorc, must
be very important 1t is the great agent Of
change within the system. 1t gives full
ness aud fexibility to the softer tissues. 1t
holds in solution the nutritiyc substances,
and by its agency alone can they enter the
system; and by the same agency the waste Of
the tissues must be borne away. Being per-
fectly neutral itself, water becomes, by its
solvent power. sweet, sour, salt astringcnt
bitter Cr poisonous, according as the body
dissolved possesses these properties. tread
lily takes up either gasses liquid, or solid
substances, and diffuses them wherever it
flows. We not only driuk water, but VIC
eat water in all our food, and it has been
estimated that an adult man consumes from
seventy to ninety ounces each twenty-four
hours. OF course water is constantly cs-
Gaping from the system, and carrying with
it the worn out PARTICLES through the skin,
the lungs and other natural channels
Owing to the solvent power of water, it is
never found entirely free from foreign iu-
gradients, which molify its character and
give it the names, soft, ,laru, mineral :.;"era and
seawater. These qualities may be harmless,
and even useful in hygcnic point of view
or they may be hurtful. Great care should
be taken,to guard against organic and min
eral impurities in the water we use. These
may be either mechanically suspended or
dissolved. Organic impurities arc derived
from many sources Pure writer brings
them down from the air, or roofs of houses;
cistcrns receive them from the leaking of
sinks or waste pipes shallow and deep wells
arc liable to become contaminated by means
of floods, or by their near proximity to
drains. ccsspools and vaults. Here is a
source Of special danger. Five children
from the same family, all the parents had,
were laid in the grave yard within one
month. The cause of their death was the
drinking water from such Il well So said
the attending physicians. Springs and
streams may also become impure through
discharges from large manufactures Wa
ter has also the power to corrode lead, form
ing compound which is highly poisonus
Hence great care should be taken in the
use of lead pipes conveying water to the
house or barn, for tho use of man and
beast. The morbid effects of impure wa
ter often result in diarrhea, dyscntcry, chol-
era, endemic and malarious fevcrs, and many
other forms of disease. Impurities in wa
ter cannot always be discovered by the un-
aided senses. Even the taste, however deli
cate, is entirely untrustworthy, as organic
matter. when dissolved, is often quite taste
less. Fifty five grains of carbonate of So
da, and seventy grains Of carbonate of lime
| give no ,uotc "ni v,o-r t~vut1 G,o sroinS
of the sulphatc of limo is hardly perccptiy
ble But it would be very harmful to take
so much Of these poisons into the system.
We coull hardly afford to wait for the
effects as means Of discovering their pres
cncc. Distllation may be resortcd to as a
means Of purifying the water, but that is
also impracticable. Boiling and freezing
are more reliable as meaus of killing or
removing the vegetable or animal poison
Chemical means are sometimes employed
for ncutraizing the effect of these poisonous
substances, but the effective and practica-
BILE method of purifying water is by fltra-
tion. Charcoal alone will remove eighty
eight per cent. Of organic matter and twenty
per cent. of mineral matter.-H. o., IN
| Western Farm Journak