Report on the quality of the waters used in the in-wards of the parish of St. George, Hanover Square / by Dr. Druitt.

  • Druitt, Robert, 1814-1883.
Date:
[1856]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report on the quality of the waters used in the in-wards of the parish of St. George, Hanover Square / by Dr. Druitt. 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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    if they are undergoing any kind of decomposition or putrescence. Now, almost all waters in common use, even waters from the chalk, and from the Berkeley Square well, contain some amount of organic matter. It may be readily seen that this is quite unavoidable, if it is considered that all the super- ficial strata of the earth—gravel, sand, clay, chalk, and lime- stone—are full of the debris of animal and vegetable matter, of which some strata are almost entirely composed. But the kind of organic matter which is reaUy a serious source of danger, is fresh animal sewage, such as is poured into rivers, or may soak through the surface into shallow wells; and there is no doubt that water, contaminated in this way, is unwholesome at all times, and possibly, at certain seasons, may be deadly in its effects. I believe the best test of the quality of the organic matter dissolved in water, to be its power of keeping sweet if ex- posed to air and light in a warm place; and if a water, under such circumstances, exhibit no sign of decomposition mthin a few days ; if it have no impleasant smell or taste and no ill effects are proved to result from drinking it, I see no reason why it should not be drank by any one who likes it. Another test there is which is sometimes very unfairly ap- plied to water, and that is the existence in it of living animals and vegetables. Now it is fair to state that the germs of these minute beings exist almost everywhere, and that the development of them depends not so much upon the water, as upon the mode in which the water is stored. Water kept in a dark, cold receptacle, may continue free from them for an indefinite period ; whilst the same water exposed to air, light, and sunshine, would soon teem with animals and plants; and, it must be observed, that the greater part of the sediment found in tanks and reservoirs, consists, not of mat-