The analysis of potable water : with special reference to the determination of previous sewage contamination / by Charles Watson Folkard ; with an abstract of the discussion upon the paper, edited by James Forrest.
- Folkard, Charles Watson
- Date:
- 1882
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The analysis of potable water : with special reference to the determination of previous sewage contamination / by Charles Watson Folkard ; with an abstract of the discussion upon the paper, edited by James Forrest. 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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![climate for the year, which in this country varied but little from ^Ir- Homer- 50° Fahrenheit; (4) should be free from living organisms, vegetable and animal, and from all dead decomposing organic matter, and should not dissolve lead; (5) should hold only a moderate quantity of mineral matter in solution, and thus be soft and not deposit a coating of lime or magnesia when being boiled. On the subject of potable water, he thought it was very questionable whether many persons drank cold water from choice. Where it was drunk at all, it was among the lower classes who unfortunately could not help themselves. When boiled it was drunk to a large extent, as in tea and coffee, and it was very largely used in culinary operations, and it was important that water used for such purposes should be such as did not deposit fur in boilers or tea-kettles. Uncontaminated spring- or other water, derived from a considerable depth below the surface of the earth, was the only water that at its source had a normal even temperature at all seasons, summer and winter, and, as far as he knew, was also free from living organisms, vegetable and animal. It was also difficult to find any water but spring or subterranean that was at all seasons clear, transparent, bright, and when seen in large bulk, blue. Water derived from brooks or rivers, or from lakes, natural or artificial, varied in temperature at different seasons of the year, being comparatively warm in summer and cold in winter ; it was more or less opaque, and when seen in bulk lacked the blue colour peculiar to uncontaminated spring-water; it had in solution in warm weather less oxygen gas than spring-water; it held partly in suspension and partly in solution, after rains in hot seasons, manure washed from land and droppings from animals; and it also abounded in life, vegetable and animal, and was liable to inoculation by means of drains with the virus of specific diseases, causing ill-health and often death to those who drank it. He agreed with the Author in thinking that when samples of water from different sources were submitted to mere chemical analyses, it frequently happened that the results gave very little clue to their whole- someness, or the contrary. He said very little clue, because there could be no doubt that chemical analysis often did give some clue, but in other cases it gave none whatever. Chemical, and only chemi- cal, analysis could be relied upon to determine the quantity and quality of the gaseous contents of the water, the mineral contents and consequent hardness. The brightness, colour and transparency of the water could be judged by the sight. Chemistry threw little light upon the nature, quantity, and quality of the organic [the INST. C.E. VOL. LXVIII.] D](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22278588_0035.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
