Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1882-08-20
PUBLIC HEALTH-PURE WATER.


As the question ofthe purity Of the
water which is supplied to the citizens
of Wheeling, has been recently agitated
by the medical profession of the city,
and arrangements have been made for
the weekly analysis of this fluid, brief
discussion of the subject will not be
without interest. Health can as little
be supported without pure water, Us
without pure air. Where either of
these is deteriorated by admixture with
foreign matter, disease will be COM
mon if not a constant resident.
The ancients were well aware of this
fact, when they went 10 such expense
in procuring good water from great dis
tances. At this day, Rome, though
fallen from her high estate, is sup
piled with never-failing streams of wa
ter, conveyed for many miles by means
of aqueducts built in her early days Of
splendor and dominion. While we
smile with mingled feelings of pity and
contempt at the ancient Romans, who
were often regulated by the opinions Of
augurs and sOothsayers in their military
expeditions and important transactions,
We ought not to forget that at other
times their consulting the appearances
presented in animals was an evidence
of practical wisdom, when this process
was conducted with view of ascertain
ing the influence Of the air and water
on living beings. NITRUvIUS says the
liyers and spleens OF animals were in
speeted in order to judge from them
OF the nature of the waters OF
a country, and the salubrity OF It's ali
mentary productions; and to regulate
accordingly their choice of sites for the
building of their cities. The size aud
bad state of the liver and spleen are in
fact pretty certain sign Of the insa-
luhrity of the pasturages, and OF the
had quality Of the waters which, espe-
cially If they be stagnant, produce in
cows, and above all, in sheep, fatal
diseases, the seat of which is the liver
and spleen; and frequently from thi'
cause are destroyed whole tlocks II
marshy countries.
The inhabitants of a country exposed
to the double influence Of bad water SnC
impure air, suffer in similar manner
The latter will even be comparatively
harmless, if pains be taken to improv,
the quality ofthe former. Painful ant
unseemly eruptions of the skin, indi
"estion in its worst forms, and scurvy
have all been caused by the habitua
use ofbad water, and have been prompt
IL cured by substitution of this beyer
age in purer state.
The common division into soft ant
hard is generally recognized in speak
ing of water when used for domeSti
purposes and the arts.
The first, or soft, is rain, river AM
snow water; the second, or hard, is tina
generally obtained from springs anC
wells. Water perfectly pure, that is
free from all mineral OF saline impreg
nation, is scarcely ever met with in ma
ture. Good water ought to be perfectly
inodorous, transparent, ana give M
other taste than that Of softness. Il
should readily mix with soap, so a
to form a homogeneous, opaline fluid
which will not be decomposed for sew,
eral hours. When poured from ont
vessel into another, it should send on
air-bubbles; and animal or vegeta
bic substances are more readily softeneC
or cooked by being boiled in it thar
they would be in hard water.
The taste Of pure rain and river waite
as eontrasted with the vapidness of tina
which has been boiled and distilled
proceeds from It's containing atmos
pherie and fixed air. A hundred cubit
inches of good river water will contain
about q inches Of carbOnic acid (fixeC
air., and II of common atmospheric
air. These are necessary ingredients il
water to be used as beverage; hence i
we boil or distil it to clear it of earthly
matters and salts, or obtain it from
melted snow or ice, we must, in Orde
that it may lose its vapidness and re-
cover its taste, expose large surface o.
il to the air, or sgitate it by free stirring
River water, even Of the best quality
oil, contain different kinds Of salts, bu
IN sueh very minute portions that it i
not necessary to take any account o
.S.r, axcept in chemical experiments
Almost all spring waters possess tn
rroDerty termed ''hardness' in great
=, or les degree. This depends chief!