The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1878-08-22
FACTS ABOUT WATER.

FACTS ABOUT WATER.
Columns of the Observer might easily
be filled with the various opinions
which have been formed concerning
water. both in ancient and in modern
times. The Persians held that it was
"the principle of all bodies," while
other Nations maintained that "water
was the first principle in all created
things" Adoctrine somewhat similar
is taught in the Koran: DO not unbe-
levers know that the heavens and the
earth were solid, and we clave the same
in sunder, and made everything out OF
water" In olden times water was said
to be simple substance, and could not
be decomposed. In our times we az
firm it is not simple substance, but
compound one, for fish can decompose
water and live upon its hydrogen. 1t
may also be decomposed by vegetables
Of some kinds, and by electricity. Ex-
periments without number have been
made to ascertain whether water could
not be condensed, preserved or burnt.
"SOme students at Florence" says
one, having procured hollow globe
of gold, filled it with water and sub
mitted it to the action of very power
full press, but they were not able to
produce any condensation of the fluid
whatever, though the press was sufii-
GENTLY powerful to occasion the water
to exude through the pores of the ves-
sci in which it was inclosed." Men in
all ages have noticed the difference in
some waters. We are told that Hip
pocrates, the most famous of the Greek
physicians, wrote about these differ
ences more than 1000 years ago.
A letter is said to be in existence,
from Synesius, Christian Bishop of
the fifth century, asking one Hypatia,
female philosopher, to have constructed
for him "hydroscopium," described
as 'scylindrical tube of the size of q
reed or pipe. with lines drawn upon it
to point out the weight of water" 1t
is surmised that the good Bishop, being
sick, was ordered to drink only very
pure water, and the instrument re-
quired was something like our hydro
meter. Pliny said: "Good water ought
to have neither taste nor odor at all.
Some there bewho Judge of their whole
someness by the balance, and they keep
weighing and posing the waters one
against another" Specific gravity
might often determine the question of
good or bad water, rs that which is I'M
fit for cooking purposes is usually
heavier than distilled or rain water.
Water is not only the most useful fluid
which we possess, but the most COM
mon; it comes in every shower and is
combined with the air We breathe. 1t
is found in four separate states or forms,
as ice, water, vapOr and in c0mbina-
ton with other substances. To one
body it gives hardness, to another trans
parency and to others heat. As
rule, all bodies, whether solid or
fluid, contract in cooling, but wa
ter is an exception to the rule,
for it increases in bulk and becomes
lighter as it gets cooler. If this wise
arrangement was not in force, all our
rivers in winter would be a mass of
solid ice. Water, in freezing, becomes
Intensely cold, but cold water and cold
sulphuric acid, mixed in certain pro-
portions, become intensely hot Water
is heavier than the air, and yet, mixed
occupies a space fourteen hundred
times greater than it did in its Ordi-
nary liquid state. A cubic inch of
water will make nearly a cubic foot of
steam. Water in the shape Of steam
at loso pressure will scald the hand aud
blister, but at high pressure, and with
double heat, will not scald or blister.
Water, under certain circumstances,
will change its condition without any
apparent cause. Ships leaving the Port
of London take their supply Of water
from the Thames. This water is said
to have some peculiar properties which
renders it fit for long sea voyages.
After few weeks or less it turns pu-
trid and offensive; then it changes its
character altogether, and becomes
pure and palatable, and better than any
other water for sea stock. Water from
the Rhone, if allowed to settle and
then put into earthen vessels, will not
purify by heat, though it soon becomes
fetid if put into wooden ones.
In imperial Rome there was good
water, and good supply. Three hum
bred gallons daily was the allowance
for each inhabitant. The present sup
ply of water in the City of New York
amounts to about sixtv-iivc gallons per
head per day. How much is wasted
we are not told. According to Prof.
Chandler, CrOton-water is remarkably
free from impurities, as it contains
rather less than five grains If organic
and inorganic matter per gallon. The
water at Philadelphia contains less
than four. In some parts of the King
dom of Portugal the waters of the
springs are SO hard that for many
purposes they are quite useless; but
the waters Of the wells in Edinburgh
are so soft that soap may be dissolved
and the water remain transparent.
:" The deeper the we'll the harder the
WATER will, in the majority of cases,
hold good. Iron in water will give q
bleacher of cloth no end of trouble.
DR.. Home mentions the case of wom-
an in Scotland who bleached her own
| household linen. After watering some
webs in a spring near her house, to
her great surprise she found they be-
came redder and redder every day.
She attributed it to witchcraft, blamed
the person she hated most, and sold tie
cloth for trifle. The water was after
ward found to contain large amount
of iron. In locating works for bleach
ing or dying, care should be taken to
have the water analysed before pur-
chase of land is made.
Cases of lead poisoning often occur
when water is retained in leaden pipes
and cisterns, although some affirm that
lead is not soluble in water. This may
be true, and yet it is not all the truth.
If q piece of sheet lead be immersed in
water, and kept from the air for some
days, it will not dissolve. But when
the lead is exposed to the ali; Gas in q
cistern) the carbonic acid Of the air
will attack the lead, and water, acting