Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1902-11-28
IS SPRING WATER PURE?
SCIENTISTS NOW CHALLENGE
THIS TiME-HoNoRED BELIEF.


Them Were Actually Worshiped-
Proof that Sparkling RiIIs" May
Be Easily Contaminated.
In most rural places. to ask such
a question as this is heresy: but there
is no doubt that the tacit assumption
OF the purity of all springs has done
a good deal of harm, especially in the
case of springs once pure, which have
been necessarily contaminated by the
increase of the population in their
neighborhood. In an article in La
Nature, DR.. F. Malmejac shows that
the purity of a spring depends on q
number of well ascertained conditions.
He~says:
Every one believes that spring wa
ter is certain not to be contaminated
the very name conveys the idea of
purity. The absolute confidence that
is felt In such water is as old as the
world; the ancients nad generation
for it. so>thatF springs with them were
actually worshiped
Nevertheless it is a gross error to
believe that spring water is q syn.
onym for pure water for springs, like
the reservoirs from which they come.
may be contaminated We can I'M
derstand this better when we realize
how springs are formed.
Speaking generally. the water that
we drink comes from the condensa-
ton of vapor in the atmosphere.
whether we collect it as it falls in rain
or as it runs over the ground, or as
1t gathers in pools on or beneath the
surface.
When water falls on the ground,
part runs over it and part soaks down
into the deeper strata, through per.
meable layers, until it reaches an i'm
permeable stratum, above which it col
lects. But water thus collected will
not stay in one place; it will follow the
slope of the impenetrable layer and
will reappear at the surface gener-
ally. where this layer crops out, thus
we have a spring.
at is easy to see now how springs
can be contaminated At the moment
of condensation of the atmospheric
vapor, the rain carries down with ii
all the dust and germs that are con-
stantly in suspension in the air, and
it thus reaches tho ground charged
with considerable amount of animal,
vegetable, microbian, and mineral
contamination
Before reaching the ground these
are of slight importance, but when
the water reaches the layer of arabic
soil that covers the geological strata
almost everywhere, It will become
much more contaminated, as it will
take from this soil all its impurities.
We know that the soil is the great
reservoir where all che waste pro-
ducts of life are transformed; it is
constantly contaminated by the sys.
tematic addition of dirty water. the
waste water of factories. and dejecta
of men and animals
The water that pcnertates into the
coil carries with it all the organic
and mineral matter and all the germs
that it can hold, and in this condition
reaches the lower layers, which act
as filter. It's progress through these
will be more or less rapid as the pores
are more or less fine The more slow.
ly it filters, the more perfect will be
| the liberation. That this may take
| place, it is necessary that the ground
should be homogeneous; then the wa
ter will reach the impermeable layer
pure. But if the water passes through
strata like limestone, which almost
always has huge assures, 1t will flow
| through these as through actual con
Quits, and will reach the underground
reservoir with almost all the impuri
ties that 1t collected on the surface
We shall thus have a contaminated
source that can furnish only contain
mated water, whether 1t appears as a
| spring or is reached by wells
"Pasteur and Joubert have shown
that we may have springs that are
pure at their point of emergence, and
| these results have been confirmed
Bat that it may be so, the springs
must come from deep underground
reservoirs, so that the water may
have been well filtered and protected
from surface impurities.
I'VE must also be sure that we are
dealing with a true spring. Often q
spring that appears under alluvial de
| posits and amid limestone debris is
formed only after the water of the
real spring has traversed these de
| posits. We see thus that we may have
good springs and ba- springs, that is
! to say, springs more or less contamin
| ated
Therefore we must not consider
rspring water as always meaning pure
water since springs can be no better
than the reservoirs from whence they
| come.
THE waters of springs and deer
reservoirs will be always sought fol
| drinking purposes. because they ar,
much superior to running water
which, keeping in tae oren air, be
comes charged with all the impurit;e:
of the atmosphere and of the diff
ferent soils over which 1t runs. with
4 CuJ lohAllS llltO dNNOuHb NOnt d
ton by towns and factories. But il
must never be forgotten that spring
may be contaminated and that wher
it is to supply a large number of per
sons we should always go back to the
actual source and then make sure
that it is well projected.
ITO sum up, that spring may fur
nish a pure drinkins-water. it must
come from a deep reservoir. well I'll
tered and well protected; it must be
collected with care at its true point
of emergence, and the system pipes
in which it is to be conveyed must be
irreproachable Unfortunately all
these conditions are rarely met
Transactions made for The Literary
Digest.
The LARGEST Cave In Europe