The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1893-02-20
ABOUT PURE WATER.
Commercial Club Listened to tx
perts Saturday Night.
FILTRATION WAS THE THEME.
Three Professors, an Expert Engineer
and Councilman Discuss the Prob
lem of the Publication of City Water

by Filtration, Natural and Mechanical
Those Of the citizens who attended the
banquet OF the Commercial Club Satur
day night know what three experts think
about the possibility of getting pure
water supply by means OF filtration. al
least. Tney also know that the Paw
tuxet water is declared by the city com
mittee that has been investigating the
matter TO be no worse than il has been
for many years. and that the said com
mittee believes that filtration will i'm
prove IL 10 such an extent thai 10 will be-
come practically pure. They further
know that eminent scientists think that
the danger TO people from the use OF
water as impure as the Pawtuxet water
now is has become very greatly exag'
gerated in the popular mind.
All these things are distinctly worth
knowing But they do not comprise the
whole catalogue Of the things The Com
mercial Club offered its guests on Satur-
day night. Another was The fine dinner
that was served by Landlord Humphreys,
in the style that has made the Narragan-
in all the region round about.
A feature Of these meetings OF the
Commercial Club that is enj yed by the
members, and that proves TO be very val
uable, is the admirable summary of the
speeches male by Secretary Field and
incorporated in the records. These
summaries are very cleverly done, and
are evidence that Mr.. Field has large
allowance OF the best sort of newspaper
instinct. Ii he had not made sue
cess OF the hardware business. it would
be fair TO surmise that his legitimate vo-
cation is the newspaper. The records of
the previous meeting were read and APP
proved, when President Watson intro
duced the speakers.
The first speaker, when IL came TO
smoke and talk. was Prof Charles A.
Doremus of New York, who had an adj
dress prepared that treated the whole
subject OF the publication Of water sup
plies in large and somewhat general
way, admirably preparing the ground
work for the more specific remarks of the
two gentlemen who followed him. He
described in detail the construction of
the great and costly natural filter-beds :
that have been adopted by some of the
cities Of Europe, and gave his listeners "A
very good idea of the magnitude of the
problem that is before THIS city il il at
tempts To adopt that system. The
speaker did not 90 iGto the question of
the efficacy of the system, nor indicate
what the results had been In the cities
where il had been adopted. Neither did
he venture an opinion as To whether the
conditions that prevail here are favorable
TO IL. He made a great many things
clear, and his speech was preparation
for the intelligent appreciation of the
more particular and practical phases OF
the. question that were taken up when
he had concluded.
Prof. Il. X. Dunham Of the Carnegie
Laboratory, New York, was the next
speaker. aud he devoted himself to ex-
planning the nature and effect on the
human system of the creatures or organ
isms that Is so much nowadays heard
about. called bacteria. Prof. Durham
is bacteriologist, and is we'll ac-
quainted with the little fellows that
make so much trouble for people. lie
stated that number of them
equal to tho population of the globe
would make mass no longer than
the head OF common pin, and pro-
ceeded TO describe their habits and TO in
dicate what is known about them. He
assured his hearers that the danger to
the human family from bacteria is not
rs great as is popularly supposed, and
that the hu man system is guarded against
hem so effectually tuaJ there must be
present favorable TO the recep-
ton OF the bacteria or they were not
likely 10 obtain lodgment in our "little
lnsides."
Prof. Albert r. Leeds of the Stevens
Hoboken, was the third of
the scientific trio, and as he was uuder.
stood TO he in measure the advocate of
q system that the city may be- invited to
purchase there was great interest in his
He favored mechanical ii ira
tion, and seemed to be abundantly able
TO Justify the faith that was in him. He
gave an interesting sketch of the pro-
gress of what can now be almost called
he science OF water. publication ia this
country, describing his own con.
nection with the movement. He
then went into the subject of
the mechanical filtration of water in
detail, and was able TO bring To his aid
an array OF facts that are hard to inter
pret except as he interpreted them-fav-
Drably TO the system he represented. He
had various samples of water that had
been treated by his method, and asserted
that the bacteria can be practically re.
moved from water by mechanical filtra.
,ion--a fact that has been strenuously
ienied by the advocates OF other methods
)f water publication, and is probably
ffsbelleved today by large majority of
people who have not made a stuuy of the
natter.
After the professors from New York
'ame City Engineer Shedd, who did not
speak upon the merits OF the question.
but pleaded for the reference OF The mat
er as IL affects this city To a board of
experts. lie seemed TO fear
hat there would be hasty and ill-c lnsid-
'red action, and wanted TO impress upon
,he city the necessity of being sure il is
light before 1t goes ahead
Councilman Walter III. Barney who is
chairman of the committee that has been
ooking into the matter, made a rat ling
.ood speech. setting forth the work of
lis committee and assuring the Com.
nerciai diners that the water of the
'awtuxes Is not as bad as il is said 10 be
in fact that it is as good as it was when
hc water works were built, more than
wenty years ago.