The magnetic purification of river water and the report of the sewage committee of 1864 / by Thomas Spencer.

  • Spencer, Thomas
Date:
1865
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The magnetic purification of river water and the report of the sewage committee of 1864 / by Thomas Spencer. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    terial and construction, as compared with those erected accord- ing to former plans. The usual thickness of filtering material for instance, put into filter beds, is over 6 feet, which is made up of graduated layers of well selected sand and gravel. By the mecha- nical arrangement I have introduced at Wakefield and elsewhere, 3 feet of material, including the purifyiug layer, is ample, and were it necessary, 2 feet might be made sufficient. I need hardly say therefore, that along with this saving of matei-ial in the beds themselves, is included a saving to the extent of more than a yard in the height of their walls. Filter beds may therefore be erected over covered reservoirs—as at Southport—the weight to be upheld by the arches being thus much diminished, to say nothing on the score of saving in respect to the area of the land occupied by the works. As yet I have cited no example of the power of this new material to purify sewage water before entering streams, and consequently in a very little diluted state. Nearly five years ago the residents on the banks of a stream in Essex obtained an injunction against the authorities of the Military Depot at Warley, to restrain them from polluting the same, by reason of a most offensive water-closet influx from the barracks. In this dilemma, the engineer of the department, Mr. Digby Wj^att, applied to me. I confess that on seeing a sample of the fluid with which the material was required to deal, I was not sanguine as to the permanency of the result. Previously, it is true, I had thoroughly purified river water con- taining sewage, but this was something more than mere foul water. However, the successful nature of the result is better told in the following statement of Mr. Wyatt himself; and to which I may add my belief, that nothing since has been heard of the injunction. India. OpricE, Nov. 1, 1863. I have much pleasure in stating that my experience of the operation of the Magnetic Carbide applied by Mr. Spencer to the purification of water is of the most favourable description. Some years ago it was my duty to remedy, if possible, the deleterious effects alleged to be produced from an overflow of sewage water from manure tanks constructed at the Honourable the East India Company's Depot at Warley. I took great pains, and made various experiments towards attain- ing the desired end; visiting Aldershott and other localities in which attempts had been made, with more or less success, and almost invarial)ly with great cost, to attain the same purpose. From reading a communication in the Eeports of the British Association. I was induced to put myself in communication with Mr. Spencer, and pro- cured from that gentleman sufficient Magnetic Carbide to experiment upon.
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