Report on the chemical examination of several waters for the City of Boston / [Benjamin Silliman].
- Benjamin Silliman Jr.
- Date:
- 1845
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Report on the chemical examination of several waters for the City of Boston / [Benjamin Silliman]. Source: Wellcome Collection.
6/36
![6, although so much darker in color- No visible animacules and no sensible turbidness—quite transparent. It had a fresh odor. Nearly insipid, leaves a pleasant taste in the mouth, and is somewhat unlike the last. Number Eight.—[Spot Pond—between the island and S. E. shore, at 9 and 13 feet depth from the surface—collected Sept. 3d and 6th.] This sample presented the most marked differences from all the preceding specimens. It was not so highly colored as No. 7, but the tint of color was different, being greenish yel¬ low, instead of brownish yellow. Its transparency is greatly diminished by the presence of innumerable filaments of a whitish green color, suspended and uniformly diffused in the water, looking like small fibres of linen. These filaments, after the water had remained quiet for some time, rose to the surface in a greenish scum and then the lower portions ap¬ peared much clearer—while numerous animalcules were seen darting nimbly in various directions through it. The sedi¬ ment is but slight—about equal in quantity to that in Nos. 6 and 7. The difference in color is several shades. This wa¬ ter had an unpleasant odor, like that of a faint animal decom¬ position—by no means agreeable. In taste not so decided as Nos. 1, 2 or 6, but rather sweetish and marshy. Number Nine.—[Long Pond—upper division, from a depth of 62 feet—collected Sept. 8th.] Is a water which could not in any sense be called clear or transparent. It is decidedly turbid, of a reddish brown color, while the matter diffused through it is so finely divided as to present no visible points. A very slight coating, only, of furry matter was attached to the bottom of the jar, and the sediment collected in the angles was small and spongy. In color this water is hardly darker 4han No. 7, when freed from the suspended matter by filtration. Inodorous and slightly marshy in taste, like No 8. Number Ten.—[Spot Pond—-26 feet depth—same locality as No. 8—'Collected Aug. 26th.] This extraordinary looking water is as dark colored as many swamp waters, of a deep reddish brown, resembling a solution of iron—and the very abundant sediment at the bot¬ tom of the bottle (one quarter of an inch in thickness) is of a still deeper brown. On comparing this water with any of the preceding, so strong a contrast in color is presented as to make it stand alone, since it has more color than all the others united. It is slightly odorous and rather disagreeable but nearly insipid, having less of a marshy taste than No. 9.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b30357287_0006.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
