Potable water : how to form a judgment on the suitableness of water for drinking purposes, addressd to medical officers of health and sanitary authorities, etc / by Charles Ekin.

Date:
1880
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Potable water : how to form a judgment on the suitableness of water for drinking purposes, addressd to medical officers of health and sanitary authorities, etc / by Charles Ekin. 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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    abundance of nitrates and nitrites, vegetable matters furnish under like circumstances none, or mere traces of these com- pounds, and he comes to this conclusion from the results of his analysis of upland waters, which come in contact only with the vegetable matter of uncultivated soil, and which contain, if any, mere traces of nitrogen in the form of nitrates and nitrites.* As has been already stated, it is on the value to be attached to the presence of excess of nitrates, that so much difference of opinion exists amongst analysts. Of the two rival schools, each of which has its distinguished leaders of well-known and tried men, one contends that inasmuch as nitrates are in themselves perfectly harmless salts, that in some cases they may be of prehistoric origin: i.e. derived from animal matter indeed, but which has been fossilised for countless ages, their presence or absence in a water is a matter of no significance. On the other hand, though it is allowed that nitrates are in themselves harm- less, they are held to be a proof, inasmuch as they are the result of the oxidation of animal organic matter, of the water having been fouled by sewage, and they point to at least two dangers. Granted that the organic matter has become to a large extent,, oxidised and rendered harmless by the percolation through the soil of the water containing it, there is always the danger of the organic matter finding its way to the well or spring in an un- oxidised and therefore dangerous state, during periods of heavy rainfall. Although with a proper system of drainage a heavy rainfall acts beneficially by flushing sewers, and carrying off accumulations of filth, it is a well-known fact that in villages and communities where the wells and privies and middens are sunk side by side in the earth, typhoid fever is almost always more rife in a wet season : the reason being that the organic matter is then carried too quickly to the well for it to be oxidised by contact with aerated and porous soil. The second danger is that we have no evidence that percolation through the