A guide to the microscopical examination of drinking water : with an appendix on the microscopical examination of air / by J.D. MacDonald.

Date:
1883
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A guide to the microscopical examination of drinking water : with an appendix on the microscopical examination of air / by J.D. MacDonald. 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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    indicating putrefaction. Farther observation may, neverthe- less, prove them to be of deeper sanitary significance, and even now, though there is no good evidence of their hurtful action, no one would hesitate to condemn a water containing Bacteria or fungi, or swarming with the lower forms of life. At any rate, whatever may be the conclusions hereafter arrived at, as to the sanitary import of the innumerable suspended matters, it cannot be doubted that Medical Officers of Health should be able to state what they are. This must be done chiefly by the microscope; but, as it is often difficult for those who are unacquainted with Natural History, even with a voluminous work of reference in their hands, to determine the nature of the various objects that may present themselves, the design of the following synopsis is to furnish a number of figures of those objects, with such a commentary as may enable them to be identified. No attempt has been made to link particular forms with special effects; it is doubtful, indeed, if this be possible at present, beyond a limited extent, being rather a point for the inquiry of future times, which this little work can merely purport to aid. The Tables and figures may also prove useful to young naturalists, who are beginning to investigate the world of waters, that wonderful world, in a single drop of which we may behold varieties of form, almost as numerous as those upon the surface of the great globe itself. Many books have been published with a similar object in view; but one more may find a place, to facilitate the study of a very interesting •department of Natural Science.
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