Telegram-herald., 1889-09-26

nis Rs@sOas for Believing the ef~Ea
River " 2feF - - Pare


a. re4s9as WY ! tklnk Grand nser
water i hezlIhfui, l nave selected TIE
RIVER IazIes ~ England 70 eompAfe
Grand river with. because of the great
amount Of time, money and seienIifc
ability th0l aAye been sp~nt "a analysis
AM practical investigation.
Tue GG4ai river watershed, above
our pumping works, : $500 square
miles. and that Of tie Thames above
London. Is 5 90 square miles, " nearly
Is0 shEds a. arge. The average fAln-
fsll Of Men gan s about tnlrty inches
a year. and " England about twenty
G. ghl inches. IAe population IN large
cities and villages = not one-nita a.
large 0n the ,rr Ind ryeF watershed a.
ou fhe Thames. The eartn's crusts IN
der tle s0l j. more sandy and gray -Nf
IN Michigan than in England. wAlcn :
adapted u absorption Of rainfall, ana
MAINTAINS springs more continuously
through long drOatns.
A ROYAL commission OF London has
had thls subject under consideration
Tor many years, analyAng the waters
OF various sources and obtaining the
opinions OF scientific chemists and ex-
perts IN great numbers, some OF when
VIII hereafter mention IN condensed
form, and also their conclusions, De-
lievng that such authority - entitled
10 our careful consideration when the
health OF our people : at stake.
special committee of the House or
Commons considered the report oil the
royal commission of 1850, on the water
supply, and employed three OF the
most distinguished chemists OF England
10 ald them IN their Investigations.
Professor Graham, master OF the mlnti
Professor Miller ami Professor Holman.
The filal verdict of the committee was
that tle water OF the river Thames Is
perfectly wholesome, palatable ana
safe IN use. They also sad that not
wlthstandlng the pollution OF the sew
age OF the large towns and the surface
drainage OF the manurcd plough lands,
they doubted the existence Of organic
contamination being percepuble above
tidal How, that amounts TO a sensible
evil; and also that the indefinite dllu-
ton OF such matter IN the vast volume
OF the well-aerated stream Is likely 10
lead TO their d struction by oxidation,
and 10 their disappearance.
In 1867, seven years later, another
committee of the House of Commons
was appointed to investigate the water.
They stated that, after listening TO the
testimony of the most competent ex-
perts, they were satisfied with the quail
Ity of the water III the river Thames.
DR.. Frankland was a dlssenter, and
DR.. III. Letheby, the medical officer Of
the health of London, criticised his
opinion and did not agree with hlm
(Frakland). He says: Il have arrived
at a decided conclusion that sewage,
when it is mixed with twenty times its
volume of running water, and has
flowed a distance of ter or twelve
miles, is absolutely destroyed" He
further says that DR.. Frankland con-
tradicts himself in an article he wrote
in 1867, saying; "'The population of
the basin of the Thames, above where
water is taken, is 900, 600; the drain
age IS poured into the river; the sew
trace of ii can be detected IN an unox-
ldized state"
Sir Benjamin Brodie, professor of
ROyal commission that "Ox.dlZatlon is
constantly going on in the rivers, and
there must be some point at which per-
feet destruction or oxidation of its
animal matter must take place. What
| think more important is the great dI-
luton of the material, and | rely on
this dilutlOn most" And he further
says, "The sewage of Oxford pOurs INTO
the river, but there are numerous feed
ers and tributary streams below, which
effectually dilute the sewage, which is
getting less and less, and Its nOxiOus
character dinlnIshcS and ultimately
disappears"
The ROYAL commission made report
in 1863. and III this report they say:
"The organic contamination o. the
Thames : much less than IL commonly
imagined; still It Is sufficient to do mis-
chef were 1t not for a most beneficial
provision of nature for etfectlng spOn-
taneOusly the publication OF the
streams. Some of the matter Is re-
moved by fish and other animal life,
and some by the growth OF aquatic veg
etatlOn; but the greatest purifier Is an
acrat.On and oxidation, causing the de-
composition winch completely breaks
up and destroys all peculiar organic
constitutions, and to re-arrange their
elements INTO permanent inorganic
forms, inn0cuous and free from any
deleterlous quality. We have abun-
dant evidences OF this purifying pro-
cess"
The testimony Of experts before the
ROval commission furnishes further
evidence; Or. Cohn, professor of
chemistry AT the Royal institution and
at II. Bartholomew hospital, SAYS.
you may see IN many rivers having
sewage discharged into them, that for
a mile or two tue appearance OF the
river IS affected 10y sewage, but beyond
a certain distance there IS no recOg-
nizsble effect at all; the weeds are per
fectly clear and healthy"
Dr.. Miller. professor OF chemistry in
Kings college. London, IN he testi-
mOny, says. q took water at Kings
ton, at Iiammersm tn. at Somerset, at
Greenwich, At Woolwich and Firth on
the same day. and my experiments are
a rect proof of the effect Of the Oxy-
gen IN destroying those organic con
tamiustl0ns which are thrown INTO the
river
DR.. Parker. professor Of the Army
Military school at Netlev. says at
southampton the sewage flows INTO the
Itchen river. and 20 traces are found
SIX or eight miles below"
Mr. Leach, engineer 10 the Thames
cOnservanCy board. says at Windsor
the sewage IS discharged into the river.
Two miles below I could see 10 traces
Of the sewsge.'
NJ HawksIev. vice president of the
institute for civil engineers. SAYS.
"The great c0mpls nt Of London
water s not the quality Of the water
Itself. 50 much a. the thought 0f the
-.rlfn-s~~ districts fhrr--~4 u-h-rr n