evidence to lead us to believe that the water now supplied by the companies is not generally good and wholesome." This report was made in 1869, and has been before the British public in an accessible form, in all its details, nearly seven years, and its conclusions have been generally accepted. The most recent opinion is contained in a voluntary communication made by Dr. Alfred S. Taylor, the distinguished writer on chemistry, toxicology, and medical jurisprudence, to the secretary of the West Middlesex Water Co., under date of Mar. 7, 1872. He says, "Having during the last twenty-one years made analyses of the water supplied to my house by the West Middlesex Co., and compared it with numerous waters derived from rivers, springs, and lakes in England and Scotland, I can confirm Dr. Whitmore's general conclusion that the water is good in quality and perfectly wholesome. This opinion is not based merely on chemical analysis, but on twenty-one years' experience derived from its use for all domestic purposes." The water of the Thames has been selected as the basis of discussion, not only because it had been more carefully studied than any other source of city supply, but because it may be considered an extreme case. Notwithstanding the fact that one-half the supply of London, a city of considerably more than 3,000,000 inhabitants, is obtained from it, while the river Lea furnishes nearly all the rest, London was said by Dr. Edwin Lankester, coroner of Middlesex, to be the healthiest city in the United Kingdom. Tours is supplied from the Cher; Lyons from the Rhone; Toulouse from the Garonne; Angers and Nantes from the Loire ; Paris from the Seine, the Canal d'Ourcq, and the Marne; Berlin from the Spree; Hamburg and Altona from the Elbe. The last-named city, which is a suburb of Hamburg, takes its supply from a point 8 miles below, when the water has received the drainage of 230,000 people. Most of the above-mentioned rivers are among the largest streams in France and Germany, and flow through extensive and densely-inhabited districts, yet we have no reason to believe that there is any permanent defilement of the waters.

That there is generally no fear on the part of engineers and those having charge of water-supply in American cities is fully shown by the fact that many of our largest cities take water from rivers. Jersey City and Trenton and Hoboken are supplied from the Passaic; Philadelphia from the Delaware and Schuylkill; Washington from the Potomac; Cincinnati and Louisville from the Ohio; and St. Louis, New Orleans, and many other cities from the Mississippi.

THE POLLUTION OF STREAMS BY THE REFUSE FROM FACTORIES.-It is often suggested that the waters of our rivers are liable to become polluted to a dangerous degree by refuse chemicals from paper-factories, woollen mills, printworks, and chemical works. While this may undoubtedly be true in some densely-populated portions of England, where the factories are numerous and the streams very small, it is not probable that for years to come this source of pollution need be feared in this country. Our rivers are too large and our factories too much scattered, and the importance of turning all waste products to account is made imperatively necessary by the sharp competition which prevails among manufacturers. This latter point is well illustrated by our gas companies, who now derive an important revenue from the sale of their coaltar and ammonia-water, offensive products which they formerly allowed to run to waste. The waste products of our most important industries are entirely harmless when diluted with large volumes of water. They consist chiefly of sulphuric and hydrochloric acids, lime, potash, soda, iron and alumina salts, chloride of lime, exhausted dyewoods, and soapsuds used in scouring wool. The more powerful form, when mingled, harmless salts, carbonates, sulphates, and chlorides, which are normal constituents of all river waters. The action of many of these products, if appreciable at all, will be to purify the waters by oxidizing or precipitating the matters derived from sewage. Salts of iron and alumina are especially efficacious in purifying waters. Alum is often used in the West for clarifying the muddy waters of the streams, a pinch being added to a barrel of the water, which on standing a few hours becomes clear and limpid. The possibility of objectionable polluGrains of Impurities in 1 Imperial Gallon.

Impurities.

Organic carbon..

Organic nitrogen..

Smith, in his Manual for Medical Officers of Health, states that the contamination of streams by the refuse of factories prevails exceedingly in Yorkshire and Lancashire. The waters of the river Irwell, a small stream, present the differences in composition at their source and below Manchester shown in the preceding table.

The examination by the rivers pollution commission of fifteen samples of waters contaminated by the cotton and woollen mills in Yorkshire showed the following quantities in 1 imperial gallon which were thrown into the waters of the rivers:

Grains of Impurities thrown into each Imperial Gallon, Organic carbon.....

Organic nitrogen....

Nitrogen as nitrates and nitrites.
Ammonia...

Total combined nitrogen.
Chlorine.....

Arsenic (computed as metal).
Mineral matters".
Total solids *.

45.3481

7.2198

0.0287

8.1529

14.0105

15.3580

0.0077

332.3880 235.9000

"The commission gave a page in their report of 1871 to a fac-simile of a letter written with the water of the river Calder at Wakefield, which equals in depth of color that from a watered ink; and similar examples might have been made from the river water at Bradford."

A clearer idea can be obtained of the influence of factory refuse on river waters by comparing the quantities of chemicals used with the quantities naturally contained in the streams. The Croton water contains in 1 U. S. gallon of 231 cubic inches the following normal impurities: Grains in 1 U. S. Gallon.

This is equivalent to 3,364,286 pounds, or 1682 tons of 2000 pounds, of inorganic matter daily; of this two-thirds, or 1121 tons, are carbonate of lime, and 271 tons are suiphate of lime.

At the Arnold Printworks, at North Adams, Mass., on the S. branch of the Hoosac, the following quantities of the most common chemicals were used daily lime, 1 barrels; soda-ash, 200 pounds; sulphuric acid (H2SO4), 320 pounds. There were contained in the 43,200,000 gallons of water that flowed daily down the stream

Lime.

Soda (NaO)....
Sulphuric acid (H2SO4).

Or, as combined

Total nitrogen.

Chlorine..

Hardness

Total solids..

tion will depend in each case upon the ratio of the refuse matters to the quantity of water in the stream. Dr. Edward

The Valley Bleachery on the Woonasquatucket River at Providence, R. I., consumed daily, sulphuric acid, 17 pounds; soda-ash, 3000; bleaching-powder, 1500.

The following table gives the most complete exhibit of These numbers are incredible, and can hardly be accepted as presented without further explanation.-C, F. C.

the character and quantities of chemicals, etc., consumed in a large factory; it shows the average daily consumption of materials of all kinds at the Atlantic De Laine Works at Providence, R. I., for the ten months from Jan. 1, 1870, to Oct. 29, 1870. The quantity of wool washed amounted to 1926 pounds per day. The flow of the stream was 36,000,000 gallons in twenty-four hours.

· 421

six hours in the lead pipes of a private residence yielded 0.11 grain metallic lead, a considerable portion of which was visible to the eye in the form of minute white spangles of the hydrated oxycarbonate (PbO,HO + PbO,CO2). (3) Water drawn from one of the hydrants of the School of Mines laboratory in the middle of the day, when the water was in constant motion, yielded traces of lead. This water

Chemicals.

Works.

291.41 43.99 73.33

Logwood...

144.05

Fustic-wood

Supposing all the materials used to have been allowed to run into this little stream, less than one-tenth the size of the Croton, the entire pollution would have amounted to less than 1th grain per gallon. As a matter of fact, a large portion of these substances were fixed upon the goods and sent to market, while one-half the entire quantity consisted of dyewoods, which are chiefly composed of insoluble cellulose (sawdust and chips). It is not probable that the refuse from this factory added .05 of a grain per gallon to the water of the stream.

ous.

pipe. These results indicate the source of many hitherto unaccountable cases of lead-poisoning, and are of a character to alarm the residents of New York, and to lead them to adopt precautionary measures for protection against this insidious cause of disease. Certainly, no pains should be spared to impress upon servants the importance of allowing the water to run for a few minutes before taking it for drinking or cooking purposes, especially early in the morning, after the water has stood all night in the pipes. The habit of filling the kettle from the boiler, or of using water from the boiler for any purpose except washing, is very dangerThe following case recently occurred in New York: An elderly gentleman was completely prostrated with paralysis or palsy. His physician at once suspected leadpoisoning from his symptoms, and instituted inquiries which developed the fact that the patient had been using wheaten grits for dyspepsia, and that the first duty of the cook in the morning had been to soak them preparatory to boiling them. She had therefore used daily the water which had stood all night in the pipes. The occurrence of a considerable portion of the lead in experiment No. 2 in suspension, instead of solution, is an additional argument for the use of filters, though it will of course be useless to employ them unless they are frequently reversed, that they may be cleansed.

Substitutes for Lead.-Various substitutes have been suggested for lead, as, for instance, wrought iron, which generally makes the water rusty; galvanized iron, which is said to be objectionable on account of the zine, which is readily taken up by the water, rendering it unwholesome, numerous cases of zinc-poisoning by these pipes having occurred in New England, where this pipe is much used; gutta-percha has been suggested, but it is not durable; brass is used to some extent, but is dangerous: Prof. Appleton of Brown University has found both copper and zine in water supplied through a brass pipe; glass, porcelain, etc., have also been tried. None of these substances possess the peculiar flexibility, softness, and other desirable qualities of lead, which makes it so easy to cut and bend, and join and fit pipes of this metal. The problem, therefore, is to provide a pipe which shall possess all the good qualities of lead, and be free from the one great objection

METALLIC IMPREGNATIONS.-Water is frequently rendered impure by the metallic tubes used to conduct it. Organic matter, nitrates, nitrites, chlorides, etc., and in some cases even pure water, attack certain metals, causing them to dissolve. Copper.-Cases of sickness have occurred caused by water drawn through copper pumps, copper having been actually detected in the water.

Lead.-Lead is by far the most common material used in the construction of service-pipes for water, and this metal is the one which is the most easily dissolved by water, and at the same time most poisonous in minute quantities, being a cumulative poison. A celebrated case occurred in the royal family of France at Claremont, where one-third of the persons who drank of the water were affected. This water contained only th of a grain of lead in a gallon. As little as th of a grain of lead to the gallon has been known to produce palsy in persons who habitually drank it. It is a great pity that the peculiar advantages of lead as a material for the manufacture of water-pipes are more than counterbalanced by the danger of lead-poisoning. When the Croton water was first introduced into New York, it contained considerable lime derived from the mortar of the recently-constructed aqueduct. This prevented, to a considerable extent, the action of the water on the lead pipes, and it was stated at that time that no lead was taken up by the Croton water; but as the lime of the mortar beeame carbonated, the water ceased to dissolve it and began to act upon the lead pipes. Examinations have recently been made of Croton water which had been in contact with lead for different lengths of time, under usually-occurring eircumstances, of which the following are the results: (1) A gallon of Croton water from a lead-lined cistern, in which it had stood several weeks, was found to contain 0.06 grain of metallic lead. (2) A gallon of water which had remained

has been achieved by the invention of the lead-encased block-tin pipe or tin-lined lead pipe. This is essentially a pipe of pure tin surrounded by a lead pipe, to which it is firmly and perfectly united by an intervening alloy or solder composed of the two metals. The water comes in

FIG. 14.

FIG. 15.

contact with the pure tin surface only, and cannot therefore be contaminated with lead. That tin is harmless it is hardly necessary to argue, as vessels covered with this metal are extensively used for culinary purposes throughout the civilized world. It has been argued that commercial tin contains arsenic; but if we can consume daily, with impunity, food which has been boiled and stewed in tin pans, notwithstanding the arsenic contained in the tin coating, we need have little fear of poisoning from the trace of arsenic which may possibly be present in the tin lining of this sanitary pipe. The tin-lined pipe fully realizes all that is desired as a service pipe for aqueduct water. Tested side by side with ordinary lead pipe, waters which take up from th to ths of a grain of lead per gallon from the lead pipe are not perceptibly affected by remaining for considerable lengths of time in the tin-lined pipe. It was at first thought that the expense of the tin would interfere with the introduction of this pipe, but it is

Joint with the Pipe attached.

Section of Jointed Pipe.

FIG. 19.

readily as though the tin were absent. In such case a few feet of block tin pipe should be used in the well to deliver the water to the tin-lined pipe. This pipe is not well adapted for hot water, as tin is very sensitive to heat. This is no objection, as the hot water from boilers should not be used for any purpose save washing. Some difficulty was at first experienced in making joints on this pipe; the plumbers were careless and heated the solder hotter than was necessary, and thereby melted the lining in the pipe. This difficulty has been obviated by the tinned brass joints which the foregoing figures illustrate. Fig. 16 is a joint ready for use, before the pipes are attached. It is composed of brass, heavily tinned within and without. The ends of the pipe are enlarged on the expander, Fig. 18, and after they have been carefully forced upon the conical ends of the joint, a union of the solder is effected by the application of the hot copper tongs shown in Fig. 17. Thus a simple, expeditious method has been devised for joining this pipe, which meets all the objections raised by the plumbers, except perhaps that they will have no excuse for charging for several pounds of solder for every joint. If one fears this joint is not sufficiently strong, it is very easy to

cover it with a "wiped joint," as Joint reinforced with shown in Fig. 19. Fig. 20 is a T-joint Solder. with the pipe attached:

FIG. 20.

Section of a T-joint with Pipe attached.

Fig. 22 is a joint for the attachment of a faucet: FIG. 22.

A Faucet Joint.

Every difficulty seems thus to have been met, so that we have reason to believe that the poisonous lead pipe will soon be generally replaced by this sanitary pipe, which possesses all its advantages without its dangers. VII. PURITY OF CITY WATERS.-Impurities contained in 1 Wine Gallon of 231 Cubic Inches, expressed in Grains.

14.45 2.13 1626 64.35 4.38 6517

T-joint with Pipe attached.

Amsterdam.... River Vecht (V. Baumhauer and Van

Amsterdam.... Deep well at the Keisergracht.

VIII. LITERATURE.-General: Knapp, Ronalds, and Richardson, Chemical Technology (vol. iii., London, 1851); Annuaire des Eaux de la France (1851, 2 vols.; 1851-54, 1 vol.): Rossmässler, Das Wasser (Leipsic, 1860): Ludwig. Die natürlichen Wüsser (Erlangen, 1862); Bolley, Die chemische Technologie des Wassers (Braunschweig, 1862); Bischof, Lehrbuch der chemischen und physikalischen Geologie (2te Auf., Bonn, 1863-66; English trans. 1ste Auf., 1854-391; Handwörterbuch der Chemie (9ter Bd., Braunschweig, 1864; Lecoq, Les Eaux minérales (Paris, 1865); Lersch, HydroChemie (Berlin, 1864); Hydro-Physik (Berlin, 1865; Knapp, Lehrbuch der chemischen Technologie (3te Auf.. Bd. i., Braunschweig, 1865); Hunt, The Chemistry of Nat. ural Waters (pamphlet from Am. J. Sci., 1865), also in his Chemical and Geological Essays (Boston, 1875); Watts's

Diet. of Chemistry (vol. v., London, 1868, and Supplements); Muspratt's Chemie (2te Auf., Bd. v., Braunschweig, 1870); C. F. Chandler, Lecture on Water (Am. Chemist, ii. 161, 201, 259, 281, 321); Tyndall, The Forms of Water (London, 1872); Lefort, Traité de Chimie hydrologique (2me ed., Paris, 1873); H. W. Dove, Die Kreislauf des Wassers auf die Oberfläche der Erde (Berlin, 1873); Tissandier, Wonders of Water (London). Special: Storer, Dictionary of Solubilities (Cambridge, 1864); R. Angus Smith, Air and Rain (London, 1872); Granville, The Spas of Germany (2d ed., London, 1838); The Spas of England (London, 1841); Blum, Natürliche und künstliche Mineralwässer (Braunschweig, 1853); Bell, The Mineral and Thermal Springs of the U. S. and Canada (Philadelphia, 1855); Durand-Fardel, Traité thérapeutique des Eaux min. (Paris, 1857); Gazette des Eaux (Paris; still published); Annuaire des Eaux minérales (Paris, lere année, 1859; still published); Durand-Fardel, Dictionnaire des Eaux min. (Paris, 1859); Althaus, The Spas of Europe (London, 1862); Lee, Principal Baths of Germany, France, and Switzerland (4th ed., London, 1863); Moorman, The Mineral Waters of the V. S. and Canada (Baltimore, 1867); Macpherson, Our Baths and Wells, the Mineral Waters of the British Islands, etc. (London, 1871); Walton, The Mineral Springs of the V. 8. and Canada (New York, 1875); Braun, On the Curatice Effects of Baths and Waters, a Handbook of the Spas of Europe (London, 1875); Hirschfeld and Pickler, Die Bäder, Quellen und Curorte Europa's (Stuttgart, 1875–76); Flickler, Die Brunnen und Bude-Diätetik (Stuttgart, 1876); H. and R. Schultze, Lehrbuch der Fabrikation von Mineralwässern (Berlin, 1870); Quarizius, Die künstliche Darstellung aller gangbaren moussirenden Getränke (3te Auf. von Dr. A. Graeger, Weimar, 1870); B. Hirsch, Künstliche Mineralwässer (in Muspratt's Chemie, 2te Auf. vi. Bd., Braunschweig, 1870); Elsner, Zusammenstellung der bisher angewandten Mittel die Enstehung des Kesselsteins zu verküten (Berlin, 1854); C. F. Chandler, Report on Water for Locomotives and Boiler Incrustations (New York, 1865); Dupasquier. Des Eaux de Source et des Eaux de Rivière (Paris, 1840): Terme, Des Eaux potables (Lyons, 1843); R. Angus Smith, Air and Water of Towns (Report of the British Ass. Ade. Sci., 1848, p. 16); Lévy, Traité d'Hygiène (4me éd., t. ii., Paris, 1862): Tardieux, Dictionnaire d'Hygiène publique (2me éd., t. ii., Paris, 1862); Gairdner, Public Health in Relation to Air and Water (Edinburgh, 1862); Condy, Air and Water (London, 1862); Chatin, Sur les Eaux potables (Paris, 1863); Grimaud, Des Eaux publiques (Paris, 1863); Manes, Des Eaux publiques (Bordeaux, 1866); Parkes, Manual of Practical Hygiene (2d ed., London, 1866): Mapother, Lectures on Public Health (2d ed., London, 1867); Mahony, The Presence of Organic Matter in Potable Water always Deleterious to Health, to which is added the Modern Analysis (Dublin, 1869); Trommsdorf, Die Statistik des Wassers und der Gewüsser (Erfurt, 1869); Pappenheim, Handbuch der Sanitäts Polizei (2te Auf., 2ter Bd., Berlin, 1870): Procter, The Hygiene of Air and Water (London, 1872); Smith, Mannal for Medical Officers of Health (London, 1873); Wilson, Handbook of Hygiene (London, 1873); Fischer, Das Trinkwasser (Hanover, 1873); Becquerel, Traité élémentaire d'Hygiène (5me ed., Paris, 1873); Fothergill, The Maintenance of Health (London, 1874): Vogt, Trinkwasser oder Bodengasse (Bâle, 1874); Hart, Manual of Public Health (London, 1874); Reichardt, Grundlagen zur Beurtheilung des Trinkwassers (Jena, 1875); Corfield, Water and Water-Supply (London, 1875); Hassall, Food and its Adulteration (London, 1876); Humber, Water-Supply of Cities and Towns (London, 1876); Report by the General Board of Health on the Supply of Water to the Metropolis, with four Appendices (London, 1850); Repart of the Commissioners on the Chemical Quality of the Supply of Water to the Metropolis (London, 1851); Special Report on the Metropolis Water (No. 2) Bill (London, 1871); Report of Royal Commission on Water-Supply, with Minutes of Evidence, and Appendix (London, 1869); Wanklyn and Chapman, Water Analysis (2d ed., London, 1870); E. Reichardt, Die chemischen Untersuchungen der Brunnen und Quelleässer (Leipsic, 1871); Francis, Practical Examples in Quantitative Analysis (London, 1873); Kubel, Anleitung zur Untersuchung von Wasser (2te Auf., Braunschweig, 1874; French trans., Paris, 1876); Bunsen, Anleitung zur Analyse der Aschen- und Mineralwässer (Heidelberg, 1874); Fox, Water Analysis (London, 1875); Macdonald, A Guide to the Microscopical Examination of Drinking Water (London, 1875); Humber, A Comprehensive Treatise on the Water-Supply of Cities and Towns (London and Chicago, 1877); Fischer, Die Chemische Technologie des Wassers (Braunschweig, 1878-80); Fudor, Baden und Wasser (Braunschweig, 1882); Wolffhuegel, Wasserversergung (Leipzig, 1882); Nichols, Water-Supply (New York, 1883). C. F. CHANDLER.

Water, Arrangement of, on the Earth's Surface. See CATARACTS, EARTH, LAKE and RIVERS.

423

Wa'ter-Bed, a device invented by Neil Arnott, M. D., F. R. S., physician extraordinary to Queen Victoria, for the prevention of bed-sores upon the persons of bed-ridden patients. It is an ordinary bed, resting upon an under-bed of India-rubber cloth filled with water, and is in many cases extremely useful.

Wa'ter-Beetle, a name given to the representatives of two families of beetles which live in fresh waters-the Dytiscida and Gyrinidæ. These two families are very distinct from each other, and agree chiefly in that they have the body oval and depressed, the first ventral segments visible only at the sides, the legs of the second and third pairs flattened and fitted for swimming.

I. The Dytiscidæ have the prothorax, with the epimera and the episterna, distinct; the prosternum compressed, produced behind, and fitting into a cleft or emargination of the metasternum;" the abdomen provided with only six ventral segments; the eyes two in number; and the "antennæ inserted under the front, behind the base of the mandibles, glabrous, polished, usually filiform," and 11- (rarely 10-) jointed; the legs all moderate and normally proportioned, ciliated with long hairs, and the posterior usually compressed, elongated, and formed for swimming; "posterior coxæ very large, usually oblique, contiguous at the inner margin. The insects thus distinguished are carnivorous, and are related to the Carabidæ, from which they differ almost only in the form of the posterior coxæ and the natatorial legs. The species, from their habits, are known under the name of diving beetles. The larvæ are long and cylindrical, and have large and flattened heads "armed with scissor-like jaws, by which they seize other insects or snip off the tails of tadpoles, while they are even known to attack young fishes, sucking their blood." They moult several times before attaining the pupa condition. The body ends in a pair of long respiratory tubes, which they protrude into the air, though eight pairs of spiracles exist." They undergo their transformation on land, on which they creep preparatory to metamorphosis. II. The Gyrinidæ are beetles "of an oval form, somewhat attenuated at their end, usually of a brilliant bluishblack color above, with the punctures reflecting a golden tint:" the prothorax has the prosternum short and carinated, and the episterna and epimera are distinct; the abdomen has seven segments; the eyes are four, and the upper and lower are both rounded; the antennæ are inserted under the sides of the front, behind the base of the mandibles, and are short and thick, with the third joint auriculate, the following ones indistinct, and the last elongate; the coxæ are small and globular; the "anterior legs very long, and received in oblique grooves of the proand mesosternal segments; tibiæ slender, with one terminal spur;" the middle and posterior legs are short, broad, and much compressed, with the tibia spurless; and the middle legs have the first joint large and triangular. The beetles of this family associate in groups, and are more generally known by their peculiar habits. In the proper season and place they abound, and move rapidly in whirllike motion on the surface of the water, and, if disturbed, suddenly dive to the bottom. This habit of gyrating has obtained for them the name of "whirligigs." The larvæ have considerable resemblance to centipedes, having long respiratory filaments upon the sides of each segment which strikingly simulate feet. They undergo their transformation on land, as do the Dytiseidæ. (See Leconte's Classification of the Coleoptera of North America, etc.) THEODORE GILL.

Water-Boatmen. See APPENDIX. Wa'ter-Buck, the Kobus ellipsiprymnus, a large and handsome antelope of South Africa, always found near rivers. It is a good swimmer and is exceedingly timid. It emits an intolerable odor, and its flesh is uneatable. The height of the adult male is about 4 feet 6 inches, and his horns are rather more than 30 inches in length.

Wa'ter-Bug, the popular name of insects of the order Hemiptera. See ENTOMOLOGY, by PROF. S. TENNEY, A. M.

Wa'terbury, city and R. R. centre, New Haven co., Conn. (see map of Connecticut, ref. 6-D, for location of county), on Naugatuck R. R., about SS miles N. E. of New York. It is mostly built in a valley, through which flow Naugatuck and Mad rivers and several smaller streams, which furnish a large and well-developed water-power. A!though a marketing centre for a great part of the surrounding country, a large portion of its capital is invested in manufacturing. Large quantities of rolled and sheet brass, tubing, lamp-burners and trimmers, silver-plated ware, pins, brass kettles, percussion-caps, clocks, buttons, suspenders, machinery, and almost every variety of article manufactured from metals, are produced here, and furnished to the markets of the country. There are about 30 joint-stock corporations located here, with a united capital exceeding