172 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



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MUNICIPAL WATEK-WOKKS LABORATORIES. 



Bv GEORGE C. WHIPPLE, 

 MT. PROSPECT LABORATORY, BROOKLYX, N. Y. 



THE laboratory idea is fast taking hold of our municipalities. It 

 is the natural result of modern science and American practical- 

 ity. More and more our civilization is making use of the great forces 

 of nature, and more and more is it becoming necessary that nature's 

 laws should be understood: hence the need for the precise data of the 

 expert and the long-continued observations of the specialist. This is 

 emphatically true in the domain of sanitary science, where the advances 

 in chemistry, microscopy and bacteriology have wrought revolutionary 

 changes. The microscope is no longer a toy, it is a tool; the microscopic 

 world is no longer a world apart, it is vitally connected with our own. 

 The acceptance of the germ-theory of disease has placed new responsi- 

 bilities upon health authorities and has at the same time indicated the 

 measures necessary to be taken for the protection of the public health. 

 With the knowledge that certain diseases are caused by living organisms 

 find that these may be transmitted by drinking-water has come the need 

 of careful supervision of public water supplies, which has resulted in 

 the establishment of many laboratories devoted to water analysis. 



The pioneer work of the Massachusetts State Board of Health and 

 the Board of Health of New York City has been followed by the instal- 

 lation of laboratories in most of our large cities. In many cases these 

 are operated in connection with departments of health, and the super- 

 vision exercised over the water supplies is of great benefit to the com- 

 munities. An instance of this is furnished by the Health Department 

 of Chicago. The water supply of Chicago is taken from Lake Michigan, 

 and before the operation of the drainage canal the sewage of the entire 

 city was discharged into the lake. The location of the water-works 

 intakes was such that the water pumped to the city was subject to 

 great changes in quality, varying from day to day according to the 

 direction of wind and currents. For a long time it has been the practice 

 of the department to issue daily bulletins as to the sanitary condition 

 of the water in the city. Samples from the various sources of supply 

 are received at the laboratory each morning, and upon the results of 

 certain rapid methods of analysis the chemist bases his judgment as to 

 the probable character of the water in the city mains during that day. 

 The report is promptly given to the representatives of the press, and the 

 consumers are thus warned of approaching danger. 



