Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-08-21
THE CHEMICAL SECTION.
Publication of Sewage by Chemical Prectpi-
tation Treated on by Prof kinnicutt.

Furhncation OF sewage by Chemical Prectpi-
tation Treated ON by Prof kinnicutf.
Prof. L. p. Kinnicutt Of the Worcester
Polytechnic Institute read paper before the
chemical section entitled "The PurIficatiou Of
Worcester Sewage by Chemical Precipitation"
He said that the only large plant in the United
States for the publication OF sewage 10 at wor-
cester. Mass. The sewage Of Worcester
contains . notably large quantity Of
the waste product of various manu-
featuring establishments and an unusually
large amount Of free acids and iron salts The
sewers receive not only all the surface drainage
Of the city, but also q part OF the fiow OF q
small stream, SO that the daily fow il very
large, being about twelve million gallons.
The method in use for the publication Of the
sewage is the one known the Carpenter pro-
cess. Lime is added until the sewage il iuss
alkali and the crude sulphAte OF aluminium
though the amount of iron sulphate in the
sewage is often SO large that the addition Of the
alumina Is unnecessary. by this process an
alysis shows that all the suspended matter i'm
the sewage is removed and the total organic
matter is reduced over two-thirds.
The effiuent is clear and colorless. without
odor and only q slight alkaline taste, and,
though by no means drinking water can cause
no nuisance when run into stream whose vol
ume is not over i've times that OF the efiueut.
The precipitate, or sludge. as il is called has
no bad odor, and when dried contains nearly
GO per cent iron oxide. 10 per cent carbon Is
per cent nitrogen and per cent phosphoric
acid. Its theoretical value is about AS per ton;
what price IL will bring is very doubtful II
worst comes to worst the sludge can easily be
burnt for the sludge, after remaining exposed
to the sun and air, burns OF itself when ignited.
Mr. MAxwELL's PAPER
biological Functions OF the Lecithines" was
the title Of q paper by Walter Maxwell, A. N.
In paper presented by Mr.. Maxwell at the
1890 meeting of the association he showed that
O vegetable organism. during the initial stages
Of growth and under the action Of the fermenO
operating in termination, possesses the power
of taking the phosphorus present in seeds or IN
soils, as mineral phosphates, separating the
phosphorus from the inorganic combination
and causing 1t to reappear In the Young plant
let in an organic form as a lecithine. In brief,
it was shown that the lecithine bodies are .
mineral kingdom passes over into the vegetable
kingdom.
In the second part Of Mr.. Marwelrs paper
before the chemical section today he went on
to show that the lecithine bodies. on the other
hand, present in the animal kingdom revert 20
the mineral form under the action Of the fer
ments present in the animal organism. The
investigations were conducted with the egg of
q hen. The phosphorus contained in the egg. in
the respective forms OF mineral phosphates and
was determined. In the next place the eggs we're
incubated and the products Of incubation were
studied. IL was found that the phosphorus
contained in the natural egg q lecithine 70
appeared in the incubation product calcium
phosphate and forming the bone OF the
chicken.
The investigations Of Mr.. Maxwell have
brought 70 light . great biological fact, vis:
That the lecithine bodies are q medium, or the
main channel, through which the element phos-
.l.s t.f~~ H.