MUNICIPAL WATER-WORKS LABORATORIES. 181 



experiment lias been of incalculable benefit to sanitary science, and the 

 results have been not only of local and immediate value, but they have 

 acquired a world-wide reputation and form a permanent contribution to 

 scientific literature. If one doubts the practical worth of a laboratory in 

 the management of a water-works system, no more convincing argu- 

 ment could be presented than the fact that a private water company in 

 Wilkesbarre, Pa., has recently gone to the expense of establishing a 

 laboratory for chemical, microscopical and bacteriological analyses of 

 the Water sold to the community, and this in spite of the fact that the 

 water supply is taken from a watershed not seriously open to the danger 

 of contamination. The work is in charge of Prof. Wm. H. Dean. 



It is an interesting fact that in many instances the laboratories have 

 been found to have a wider field of usefulness than that for which they 

 were originally intended. For example, the laboratory in Cincinnati 

 did not cease its existence when the filtration experiments were com- 

 pleted; it was continued as a laboratory for testing the materials of 

 engineering construction. It is now in charge of Mr. J. W. Ellms, 

 Chemist, under the direction of Mr. Gustav Bouscaren, Chief Engineer. 

 The building has seven rooms and contains not only the apparatus 

 necessary for water analysis and general chemical work, but a complete 

 outfit for testing cement. The work now includes the chemical analysis 

 of paints and oils, asphalts, rock, sand and cement, physical tests of 

 cement, besides experimental investigations of the properties of cement 

 mortars and asphalts. 



At Pittsburg, also, the laboratory has been made permanent. The 

 Department of Public Works has erected a two-story brick building, 

 known as the Herron Hill Laboratory. The first floor and basement 

 are used by the Bureau of Water Supply for water analysis, tests of 

 supplies purchased and experimental work upon the filtration of water; 

 the second floor is used by the Bureau of Engineering as a cement 

 laboratory. In the water laboratory the floor and operating-shelves 

 are covered with white tiles and the walls are painted with white 

 enamel, so that the room may be washed from ceiling to floor. Steam 

 from a neighboring boiler house is used for heating the water-baths and 

 for distilling water. The incubators used for bacteriological work are 

 placed in the basement, where the temperature can be kept more con- 

 stant than on the floors above. The ammonia stills, sterilizers, autoclav 

 and other apparatus are of the most modern type. A safe in the base- 

 ment serves to protect the records in case of fire. One biologist, one 

 chemist and one attendant are employed in the water laboratory, and 

 a chemist is employed in the department of cement testing. Mr. Wm. 

 R. Copeland is the biologist in charge. 



In the Mt. Prospect Laboratory, of Brooklyn, the miscellaneous work 

 is constantly increasing. The coal used at the various pumping stations 



