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 / [Charles Ekin].

  • Ekin, Charles.
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 / [Charles Ekin]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    way affected. The facts then, so to speak, in connection with water analysis are not the subject of dispute, but the deduc- tions to be derived from the facts; and here we entei a legion which is altogether outside the province of a chemist pure and simple, his usurpation to the contrary notwithstanding, and the question becomes one rather for the medical expert. The chemist has no special knowledge or experience, beyond that pertaining to all intelligent educated men who take an interest in sanitary matters, to guide him in forming an opinion as to what may or may not be the conditions under which diseases may arise that are the outcome of unwhole- some surroundings, and the sooner this is recognised and the matter relegated, in disputed cases, to those who are alone competent to give an authoritative opinion, viz :—those, who, practising medicine have made hygiene a special study, so much the better will it be for the health of the community. In order to properly understand the subject it will be well to take a brief review of the various sources from which we take our water supplies. To begin with rain water. This as being distilled from the clouds one would naturally expect to be as free from impuri- ties as it is possible to obtain water: as a matter of fact however it ranks amongst the more impure supplies. Rain falling in the neighbourhood of dwellings and cultivated land washes out from the air the impurities, the result of emana- tions from the earth, which exist there, and is collected too on surfaces, such as roofs, which are in themselves more or less dirty. The Rivers Pollution Commissioners calculate that “ half a pint of rain water often condenses out of about 3373 cubic feet of air, and thus in drinking a tumbler of such water, impurities, which would only gain access to the lungs in about 8 days, are swallowed at once,” and they are of opinion, “ that it is in vain to look to the atmosphere for a supply of water pure enough for dietetic purposes.” §