The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1896-12-24
ABOUT FILTRATION
Engineer Herring Chats With
Board Of Health.
ESTIMATES COST OF THE PROCESS
Reports Received From
Various Departments.
Only Usual Routine Work Done.
Additions to the Great
er Evil.
ESTIMATES COST OF The PROCESS


Board of Health, held yesterday, there
were present President Smith, Drs.
Wood, Day, Howard and Emerson;
Messrs. c. B. Reynolds, c. A Brown
Keliipio, T. F. Lansing and two visitors.
The minutes of the previous meet
ing were read and approved.
Under the act to mitigate, DR.. Mon
sarrat's report showed 81 examinations
and one Japanese added to the list.
Inspector Keliipio's report showed
,517 fish received at the market dur
ing the past week.
Mr.. Meyers report on the condition
of affairs at the leper settlement on
Molokai, was read.
President Smith announced that he
had received another letter from L. A.
Thurston bearing on the matter of loss
claimed by certain Chinese fishermen
for the period during which they were
prohibited by the Board of Health
from fishing in the waters of the har
Dor The claim for compensation was
ID
President Smith gave it as his opin-
ion that it was "a question of law and
not one of discrimination of the Board.
After a short discussion on the mat
ter il was voted referred to the Gov
eminent.
At this point in the meeting Mr.. F. S.
Dodge came in with Mr.. Herring, the
engineer who arrived here on the last
steamer from the Coast.
President Smith introduced Mr.
Herring to the members of the Board,
and then. after all had taken their
places again, spoke to the engineer on
just now is claiming much of the
Boards attention.
Asked as to his opinion regarding
mechanical filtration, Mr.. Herring re-
piled that as yet not much was known
about mechanical filters. He was
therefore somewhat in doubt about rec
ommending them. Experiments were
and had been going on in Louisville,
KY, for about a year. Here four Or
five of the best mechanical filters were
undergoing a long series of expert
ments. Upon the manner in which
those experiments turned out would 5e
based the opinion of the engineers.
For a long time these mechanical fill
tiers have been used in the large mand-
factories of the United States for the
last 20 or 80 years for the simple rea-
son that they produce clear water. The
matter of the presence of organic mat
ter is not considered at these places.
In regard to the mechanical filters
it is not certain that they remove Or
ganic matter. No biological expert
ments have been made.
The conclusions reached by Mr.. Yves
ton, after experimenting with a small
filter are the best in existence at the
present time.
Mr.. Herring then gave a short sketch
of the workings of the mechanical fl
ter. The water must run through it
and to waste for 80 minutes before a
| gelatinOus film forms at the top. Be
fore this is formed only so to 20 per
cent of the bacteria are kept out. Aft
er, 81, 9S and even 80 per cent have been
kept out. In some instances, however
where the film has been formed only
II per cent have been kept out.
Previous experiments have not been
conducted on the proper grounds, and
that fact led TO the experiments al
Louisville with the Ohio River water
! President Smith: Aside from the me
chanical. what systems of filtration are
there?
Mr.. Herring: There are two meth
DDS extensively in use. One is the con