The morning call., 1891-11-29
PURIFYING WATER,
4 Novel Process With Some Astonishing Re-
suits.

Now, Ii we could only take from water all
that is not water we should have an end of
about half our trouble. Winter and sum-
mer the microbe is always with us. Every
city in the Union takes spaSms about the
poisons in the drinking water, and there has
never seemed to be any way to entirely es-
cape them. Freeze the water into solid ice
aud the microbe simply suspends his
precious life till the blocks dissolve in the
drinking tank, and then he leaps to exist
ence again with the promptneSs OF the gas
collector. Boil the wafer till nothing can
live within five yards of its surface and he
waits till the liquid is cool enough to drink,
when he hobs up as calmly as ever he was in
life and awaits your gulping with the calm
content OF beast that knows he has you
even II you do have him.
Filtering is good thing in Its poor, weak
way, but the tiltering agent soon becomes
clogged with the impurities Ii takes from
the water, and after that it adds, If pos
sible. to the general volume of vileness in
the water. All these things taken together
have long suggested this problem to the
men who want pure water: What will
change the impurities held in solution in
the water to palpable substances in suspen-
Sionp What will precpitate them from
the floating suspension to the bottom and
what will remove the water from above
them, leaving them forever behind and
HdCUleSsT very Eau water may Not cOu-
tain a particle visible to the naked eye.
Very good water may be quite discolored.
ct in any case the problem is to take
from the water all that is not water. That
done. the riddle of cities is solved.
This William Anderson, the English Scien-
tiSt, seems to lave done in the revolving
process. He has a long metal trough, in
which u perforated cylinder revolves. The
trough is filled with water and bits Of iron
are placed in the cylinder. As the cylinder
reyolves these iron particles are rubbed
against each other and against the sides of
the tank and the metal is dissolved. Then
the action of the air upon this water,
charged with the chemical properties of the
iron, collects the straying, invisible, impal-
pable foreign matter and reduces it to tan
glble substance. Passing from the trough
the water Is deposited in series of shallow
settling pans constantly agitated so that the
air shall exercise its consuming powers on
the impurities. There is no better Clarity
ing agent ihan pure air. But to aid it and
to provide against contingency which too
often arises In cities where the air is i'm
pure the action OF that worn iron is intro
duced.
Chemically, of course. the process will be
understood-is understood, indeed, and has
been many years. The iron which is worn
off the bits by attrition is in the best possible
condition for solution, and it is dissolved.
The water, by the time IL passes into the
settling trOughs, is highly eli arged with
soluble iron. There the oxygen in the at
mosphere transforms ferrous carbonate
into ferric oxide. which attacks the organic
matters held in solution or suspension, and
has the power of coagulatIng them. About
each particle of this materialized substance
the iron rust collects, renders it heavy and
precipitates it to the bottom. The further
agitation destroys all impurities. OF course,
organic life in water must follow the cOndi-
tons proper for its inception. Take away
the decayed vegetable matter and there is
nothing upon which organic life can subsist
Therefore the dangerous organic life is
rendered impossible. The organic impuri-
ties held in solution and suspension have
been destroyed, and there is no possibility
of their eturntng.-Newark journal.