ELISHA MITCHELL SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY. 33 



it is generally inadequate to meet the demand about 

 towns and manufacturing* centers, and futhermore, in 

 such latter cases, and frequently even near isolated 

 country residences, the surface in the neighborhood of 

 the spring- becomes so contaminated with decaying or- 

 ganic matter that the water becomes unfit for drink- 

 ing purposes. The same general statement ma\' be 

 made concerning ordinary open or driven wells, which 

 for the sake of convenience must be located near resi- 

 dences where the surface soil becomes more liable to 

 contamination as the region becomes more thickly set- 

 tled. Examples of this are not infrequently seen, where 

 the water from wells and springs in newly settled com- 

 munities is found to be healthful, but a few years later 

 it has become so contaminated with organic matter, 

 which has permeated the soil from above, that sickness 

 follows its use, and it must be finally abandoned. It 

 is difiicult, however, to get the average citizen to un- 

 derstand that the organic matter of the water in his 

 well or spring comes from the soil immediate^ about 

 his premises, as the prevailing notion concerning these 

 supplies of water is that they come, not from the im- 

 mediate vicinit3^ but from some distant region. Con- 

 sequently in many of our towns and even about the is- 

 olated country residences, the barn yards and the priv- 

 ies and the hog pens seem to be built upon the princi- 

 ple of convenience alone, and this frequently places 

 them in close proximity to the well or spring from 

 which the family supplies of drinking water are ob- 

 tained. 



But outside of this the question as to the purity of 

 the water, the suppl}^ of water from the isolated springs 

 and open v\^ells is generally quite inadequate for towns 

 or manufacturing establishments of any considerable 



