A manual of hygiene, public and private, and compendium of sanitary laws : for the information and guidance of public health authorities, officers of health, and sanitarians generally / by Charles A. Cameron.

Date:: 1874

Credit: A manual of hygiene, public and private, and compendium of sanitary laws : for the information and guidance of public health authorities, officers of health, and sanitarians generally / by Charles A. Cameron. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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$CHAPTER VI. COMPOSITION AND EXAMINATION OF WATERS. Water in a state of absolute purity is never found naturally, and is only prepared with some difficulty. Rain-water collected in such a way as to obtain it as free as possible from impurities has always been found to be contaminated with foreign gaseous and solid matters. '&oh'\erve. {Compf.es Rendus, 1864, p 755) found in a cubic metre from '272 to 15-666 grammes of ammonia, from 1-813 to 15-52 grammes of nitric acid, and from 5 to 19 3 grammes of common salt. The following tables from Dr. Angus Smith's work on air and rain show the amount of impurities in rain waters. They give the summaries of a large number of experimental results:— AVERAGES. TOTAL ACIDS OF CHLORINE AND SULPHUR. Total Acids of Chlorides and Sulphates. Grains per Parts per Gallon. Million. •3801 5-43 •6661 9-51 1-1129 15-89 ] -2400 17-71 1 -2760 18-23 1-4392 20-57 1-5217 21-74 1-5655 22-36 1-8427 26-32 2-1098 30-14 2-9902 42-72 3-0081 42-97 3-3281 47-54 3-3554 47-93 3-4559 49-37 3-4824 49-75 3-5464 50-66 3-5978 51-40 3-6789 52^55 3-7648 53-78 4-3424 62-03 5-3690 76-70 5-5421 79-17 Rain ohtalned from Scotland—Inland country places ... England ,, Scotland—Sea-coast country places, west German specimens, a few .. Scotland-Sea-coastcountryplaces, average east ... London, 1869 Scotland—Towns (Glasgow not included) Birkenhead, near Liverpool Darmstadt—Germany St. Helen's England—Towns Manchester, 1869 Waterloo, near Liverpool Runcorn Liverpool ... ••• ••• Manchester, average of 1869 and 1870 ... Ireland—Valentia Newcastle-on-Tyne Manchester, 1870 England—Sea-coast, west, one specimen Near an Alkali Works ... Glasgow AVERAGES. AMMONIA.. Valentia—Ireland Scotland—Sea-coast country places, west Inland Ammonia. Parts per Million. •180 •484 •532$