Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1912-06-07
Testing Drinking Water

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much influence on the health as the
air breathed or the food eaten, says
w. r. Wright. assistant bacteriolo.
gist of the Idaho State Experiment
Station. If drinking water is con-
taminated by surface or underground
drainage from a barnyard, an earth
closet. or some other similar objec-
tionable source, it is quite certain to
contain bacteria which thrive in the
intestinal tract of man or animals
Chief among these are the colon ba-
cillus, which causes summer com
plant in young children; typhoid ba-
cilus, the cause of typhoid fever, and
the tubercle bacillus the agent which
causes consumption. AS the two lat
ter are rarely present if the colon ba-
cillus is absent, a test for this or
ganism is sufficient test for the
purity of drinking water.
What Is Needed
A simple and inexpensive test may
be made in any home or school by OBJ
serving the following directions:
l. Collect the following material
and articles. Three one-ounce or
two-ounce bottles; a piece of cotton
batting; a teaspoon; four pieces of
Irvine, each foot long and of diff
ferent sizes! a bar of soap; tea
kettle; clean ten-quart pail; a
freshly Numbered towel; dairy Their
mometer; a cup of freshly separated
milk; fireless cooker or a box or
barrel stuffed with fine hay.
2. Early on a bright still morning
fill each of the three bottles about
two-thirds full of the milk, double a
small piece of the cotton and press
into the neck of each bottle; tie one
of the strings, a foot long, to the
neck Of each bottle, and hang them
with the teaspoon in the teakettle by
pressing the lid down to hold the
strings and keep the bottle sus-
pended.
3. Set the teakettle, containing
water, bottles of milk and spoon on
the stove and boil for an hour.
4. At the end of an hour remove
the teakettle from the stove, and
after hanging a tumbler on the spout
and stuffing it with cotton. perm it
the contents to cool to the tempera-
tpre of the hand.
5. Carry the teakettle and CON
tents, unopened, to the we'll to be
tested. (Just previous to this, hands
should be washed with soap and
water and dried on the clean towel. J
g. Pump four pals of water at the
usual rate of pumping, leaving the
last in the pail.
Z. Lift the bottles of milk and the
spoon out of the teakettle by the
strings and set the bottles on a board
or shingle or have an assistant hold
them by the bodies of the bottles Do
not touch any part OF the spoon ex-
cept the handle.
Remove the stopper from the
coarse string bottle and put about 10
drops of water into it, being careful
not to touch the bowl of the spoon or
the mouth of the bottle with the
fingers. Replace the stopper.
8. Put one drop into the medium
string bottle. using the same care.
10. Tie the strings of all of the
bottles together and suspend them
from a stick across the top of a pail
of water that is to be kept at a tenn
perature of from 90 to 100 Fahren.
heit in fireless cooker or box OF
barrel of hay for SO hours.
II. If none of the bottles of milk
are curdled the water is safe for
drinking; if only the coarse string
bottle is curdled and there are no ga;
holes the water is probably safe; il
the coarse string bottle is curdleC
and full of gas holes the water IL
very questionable; if the medium
string bottle is curdled and full OF
gas holes the water may be consid
cred very unsafe and should bs
boiled before drinking