Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-03-08
A WATERY THEME.
History of the Discovery of the Chemical
Composition of This Element-A Journey
From the Surface of the Allegheny to the
Ocean.

'.Men may come and men may go,
But i 20 on forever,n
When the rising sun cast its hrst rays upon
the earth ages upon ages ago, 1t saw wafer an
around. Ages passed, the face OF the eartn De-
came peopled, water was used in various ways
and for various purposes. but 1t was not
until 800 years before Christ that the ques-
ton was asked, what is waterP" AT tnat
date Thales. Greek philosopher. taught tnat
all material things had their source in water.
He maintained that water was the fontal ele-
ment from which everything in nature was
evolved. This bold view was maintained Tor .
long time then 1t was modified to some extent,
and three coordinate elements were added TO
water. These were air, earth and fire. Centuries
passed, alchemists came and went; the phiioso-
piers stone and the thousand and one other
problems worked upon by the alchemists re-
ceived the benefits of their mystic researches,
and it was not until the year 1900 that one OF
them thought water important enough to turn
his attention to it.
AT that date Won Helmont, one of the most
learned men of that time claimed that water
was not an element, but that it could be con-
verted into other matter. In proof Of his doc
trine he took small trees out of the earth and
placed them in large receptacles containing
water, Days and weeks passed, but still the
trees were full of life and growing, conse-
quently the conclusion was drawn that the
liquid, water, was converted into the solid
wood. Helmont also showed that If quantity
of pure, clear water was evaporated to dryness
an earth of some kind was obtained as residue.
In view Of these facts the conclusion was
drawn that the water was substance of gen.
erative character, and that If 1t could produce
wood and earth it could of course produce all
the elements necessary for vegetable ex-
istence.
let US pass over another long period of years
to 1888 At this time the blind, irrational
work of the alchemist was gradually giving
way to the rational research of the chemist.
Lavoisier, the celebrated Swedish chemist began
to doubt Won Helmont's theory, and not only
that but he called in practical chemistry to
prove it false He took an earthen retort and
provided it with neck Of such length that
when he boiled water in the retort the steam
was condensed in the retort neck and passed
back into the retort again in the form OF
water,
This retort he weighed with great exactness;
then he placed a given weight of water into
the retort and sealed it Theoretically. The re-
tort was then heated and kept hot enough to
cause the water to boil for period Of three
months. At the expiration of this time he ex-
tinguished his fire and weighed the retort and
its contents. There was no change in weight.
When, however, he weighed the retort and the
water separately, he saw that the retort had
lost IN weight while the water had increased
and was no longer clear, as when first put into
the retorT, but turbid.
Upon evaporating this water to dryness he
obtained residue weighing 20 grains. Now
the retort had lost IL grains in weight, so these
IL were accounted for, and as no air or any
other element had come into contact with the
water while boiling, the shrewd conclusion was
drawn that the excess of three grains had been
in the water before it was placed in the retort.
This led to the next experiment, and it was
soon shown that Won Helmont's doctrine was
wrong; that water did not generate earth, but
that it could dissolve certain parts of the earth
and keep them in solution.
A few years after Lavoisier carried out this
series of experiments, Priestly discovered
oxygen and Cavendish first gave a correct de-
soription of hydrogen. Having proceeded so
far, it was not long until Lavoisier, Watt and
Cavendish almost simultaneously discovered
the composition of water, showing that it was
composed of the two gases mentioned, two vol
umes of hydrogen being combined with one vol
ume of oxygen.
From this time on chemistry advanced with
giant strides, and soon the youngest scholar of
chemical lore could prove the composition of
water either by decomposing it into its COM
ponent parts, or by producing water by the
combination of hydrogen and oxygen.
When the clouds open their sluices and send |
their excess of moisture upon the earth in the |
form of rain, we have the purest water found |
through slight traces of dust taken up out of |
the atmosphere 1t also always contains some |
air in solution taken up in the same way, but the
moment the rain water comes into contact with |
mother, earth it loses its purity. and when it |
energies from the earth in form of spring |
water it can have taken up so large quantity |
of impurities that it is no longer fit for con-
sumption.
If the quantity of foreign substances dis |
solved by the water in its travels under the |
surface of the earth is SO great that the water |
acquires pronounced taste we have mineral |
spring, ocalled because the water has ex-
tracted part of the soluble constituents of the |
minerals with which it came into contact. If |
the water, for instance, came into contact with !
an iron ore it would dissolve some of the iron |
and acquire decided '.nky" taste, and in this |
case we would have chalybeate water. Then |
again, the water may take up sulphuretted |
hydrogen, or it may be saturated with carbonic |
acid gas and present bubbling, sparkling ap-
pearance, caused by bubbles of escaping gas. |
Samples of this kind of mineral waters are the |
well-known seltzer and Saratoga waters.
In general the temperature of the spring wa |
ters Is somewhat lower than the temperature |
of the atmosphere but in many cases 1t is
higher, some springs even discharging boiling |
water Springs OF this kind have been known
from time immemorial. History gives an ac- |
count of De Soto and his party being in camp |
at some "hot lakes few months before his |
death. As he is known to have died in the |
northern part of Louisiana there is no doubt |
that the hot lakes referred to were the hot |
springs of Arkansas.
1t has been ascertained by geologists from |
the physical evidence to be seen in the vicinity |
of the Arkansas hot springs that they have |
been flowing for over 2, 200 years.
y
Let us now turn our attention to the ocean, |
and as we can travel with ease in the columns |
of THE DISPATCH, we will go TO the ocean by |
way of the Allegheny river Up in Potter |
county, New York, a little stream of water |
flows over rocks and fallen trees, meets a |
friend here, an acquaintance there, after tax |
ing cousin or two along with it in the course |
of its travels, it becomes quite brook and will |
'Chatter. chatter as it flows
To join the brimming river.n
After short journey and after several brooks |
have united we have the Allegheny river. Now |
the small brooks forming the source of the |
river contained traces of lime, iron salt. mag |
nesia, etc., in solution, perhaps Dur or five |
grains to the gallon. Once upon its travels the |
river water takes up more and more of the |
above impurities so that by the time the river |
passes Freeport 80 miles from Pittsburg, it |
contains n inc grains of solid residue to the |
gallon. From here on to Pittsburg the river |
water has many opportunities to enrich itself, |
and it improves its opportunities Tor il we
der the Sixth street bridge to dryness, we win |
get a residue of IL grains,
In due course of time the river water reaches
the gulf and still later the ocean. Now i'm
mense quantities of water leave the ocean daily
by evaporation, the grains of salt, magnesia, |
lime, etc, that the river collected all the way
from New York to the gulf (and of course all
streams entering the ocean directly or in
directly carry out the same process) remain in
solution, in due course of time the grains
amounted to pounds and the pounds to tons, so
that at present 100 pounds of ocean water carry
three to four pounds of salts in solution. This
process is continually repeating itself. the
fresh water flows into the ocean, there it
evaporates and is carried inland; hundreds of
miles from the ocean it may be condensed, fall
nnnn the earth and anain START nnon its travels