Morning journal and courier., 1881-05-13
Water.

Its Various Relations to Animal and Veg
 etable Life, and Especially Man.
 kind When Living in Large Numbers on Limited Areas on the Earth-s Surface. [By Patrick Clark of Railway N Jl The more modern researches of physi- ologists and chemists, aided by modern scien-
 tific instruments, develop the fact that by aoetght man, and in fact nearly the whole of
 the animal life throughout the globe, consists Of about eighty per cent. of aodter and twenty of other matter, mainly carbon and lime and
 the investigations of the students of natural
 history that it( water) is the mothers womb from which has developed the whole range of animal and vegetable life, from the simplest nomad to the most complex organism It performs countless variety of functions in the material world in combination with other
 substances. By it's aid the coral insect has built the foundations of our continents; to it's great solvent powers is due the whole of the limestone formation the most abundant on the globe Mountains have been lifted to
 their astonishing height by volcanic action gen sTuted by its combination with sulphuret of iron, and then torn down again and carried into the sea by its mechanical force, thus lay ing the foundation for new and fertile conti- nents when the old ones are worn out by mans proh1gacy. In fact. only for water and
 the law of it's specialization (viz., that it ex-
 bands in the act of crystallizing), the whole
 surface of our globe would be today a barren
 rock. substance intimately connected
 with our physical we'll being will repay some
 study. In their primitive condition human
 beings were distributed over large area of
 the earth's surface compared with their num-
 bers. Assuming that the family relation al-
 ways existed, yet primitive man was pastoral
 and consequently the number of human be-
 ings and their domestic animals did not ex-
 ceed one hundred to the square mile, which
 is greater number than exist to-day, in a
 very large area of our own continent Their
 hotl ac1y,, xt,o-1
 other factories which now pollute the natural
 streams. Nature had provided for the nat
 ural conditions as they existed, and men and animals were supplied with pure and wholeE some water from nature's springs and rivers
 The pure rain-water, rendered impure by com- ing in contact with efete material on the earth's
 surface, became purified by percolation down.
 ward through the earth by means of the roots of growing vegetation. That which flowed into the rivers was purified by the growing animal and vegetable life with which the rivers abounded. The smaller
 forms of aquatic life instead of dying, were eaten alive by the larger and by aquatic
 birds, and these in turn died in the larger streams at or near the ocean: and the ocean
 being saline, the decaying animal and vege- table matter was rendered innoxious by the action of chloride of soda with which the
 ocean abounds; the pure water being separat-
 cd by evaporation, to again be carried over
 the earth by the air and again fall in the form
 of pure rain-water. Such was the condition
 of the habltable world when, according to the
 Bible, mankind reached the extreme age of
 one thousand years.
 Had the primitive condition continued, no
 farther effort on the part of mankind would
 have been required than to provide for their
 ordinary necessities; but under an immutable
 law of nature (viz., the law of aggregation),
 men built hamlets, towns, and cities, tn ag-
 gregatlng dense population on small area.
 Then began the various devastating diseases
 known as plague, cholera, typhus and typhoid
 levers, with all their types, from yellow fever down to malarial We need only refer to the
 terrible deyastations of these diseases throughout all western Asia during the last three thousand years to verify this state ment. Baalbee, Nineveh, Babylon and Pal myra, ruined and formerlylost cities, attest the truth of our statement, to say nothing of the lost and ruined cities of ancient Greece, or
 Bagdad which, still remains to tell annually
 the mournful story of a want of proper san- itary conditions. If the towns and cities of this country or Europe were to-day depen- dent on local supply of water for domestic purposes, they would be annually devastated
 by epidemic diseases, the penalty for our neg lect in the matter of sanitary precautions.
 When men and other animals congregate to- gether and live in dense masses, the efete mat ter resulting from such conditions becomes so abundant that vegetation and the lower
 
 consequently the earth in and about cities be- comes saturated with it, contaminating the pure rain water with its noxious qualities, which, when drawn from our wells and taken into the stomach, produces the various cpl demic diseases which carry to premature grave. It follows. that if the foregoing is true (and the investigations of the learned men of the world prove it to be SOL that in densely populated communities, qoeW acGter, whether obtained from driven or open wells or springs is liable to be unhealthy, and con- sequently that the supply of water for pota- ble and culinary purposes should not be ob- tained from the ground on which these com munities dwell. From whence then shall com- munities derive their supplies? Fortunately science and Grt supply the means of deter mining this question, science (which is only the result of observation and experience re- duced to a system) pointing out the way, and art following the directions. The science of geometry has measured the earth's sa1rfdce, and has also given us knowledge of it's gen. eral as well as detailed conformation. The science of geology has given us knowledge of it's structure beloao tue satztace. The science of chemistry has given us knowledge of it's elementary combinations while botany and zoology give us a knowledge of the natural history of it's plants and animals. The subject of the natural history of aquatic plants and animals and their relation to the subject matter of this article has already been touched upon. It is there fore only necessary to inquire in the light of the foregoing, from whence the supply of water for potable and culinary purposes for towns and cities should be derived? Plainly not from the ground on which they are built but from the sparsely populated hills and val leys of the country; in word from the source of our rivers which empty into the ocean, In applying the foregoing to that part of the State of New Jersey lying between the mountains and Staten Island Sound, and the Passaic and Raritan rivers it follows that the only healthy source of water supply for the towns and cities located within these boundaries is the two r. ii.ers before mention ed, and the three rivers emptying into the Sound at Railway, in which may be included & small stream at Elizabeth and one at New Brooklyn. The water of these streams is pure and healthy when taken from them and immediately used. Nature is wise; she has provided perfectly for the health and well be- ing of the whole range of animal and vegeta ble life; but when her conditions are changed by artificial means, then begin the troubles of which so much complain. If we take the pure and healthy water of her rivers, teemine with lower forms of animal and vegetable life enj0yiasg the su7alight from twelve to sixteen hours per day during summer Gin the tempe rate zone), and under ordinary GtnaosDhe5lc pressure of say fifteen pounds per square inch and, by means of mechanical force force it into several miles of dark pipes (water mains) under pressure of from fifty to one hundred pounds per square inch, the violent change of condition kills the delicate organisms, decom- position ensues, and the water becomes d. most as unhealthy as if pumped from the in- mediate nelghborhood of our sinks and cess- pools. Hence it follows that the delicate and low forms of aquatic life should be kept out of our water mains This can only be done by filter. No water works is complete, nor can wholesome water be obtained from them, without one that will keep the lower forms of aquatic life out of the mains between the first of March and the first of December, within the temperate zone.
 The foregoing may be supplemented by the o llo wing statement, which will add to it tha t practical force which is so highly prized by most people.
 The writer took charge of the Railway water-works on the first of June, 1879. The pumping station is on the north branch of the Railway river, which furnishes mini mum supply of ten million gallons of water every twenty-four hours The works have no reservoir or stand pipe, but pump direct ly against the mains. Two duplex compound en0iues are usad altarnatelY month ahout