110 Mr. John H. Balfour Browne [March 17, 



only 4-1 per 10,000, and between 1896 and 1899 the death rate 

 went down to 2-6 per 10,000. The State Board report: "The 

 death rate from typhoid fever has generally fallen as the percentage 

 of the population supplied with public water has risen, for the reason 

 that the majority of the deaths from this disease have occurred 

 among communities and portions of communities not supplied with 

 public water." 



But an examination of our own Thames water at Hampton 

 showed there were 1644 micro-organisms in 20 drops of water, and 

 the Thames water, after passing through the sand filters, was found 

 to contain only 13 such organisms in the same number of drops. 

 The discovery of the 1644 germs was at the time so startling that 

 the shares of one of the water companies dropped in value ; and I 

 think these 1600 did valiant duty in the arbitration which had to 

 determine the value of the company's undertakings when they were 

 being transferred to the Water Board. 



But notwithstanding these startling vindications of sand filters, 

 the great town of Chicago takes its water from Lake Michigan, which 

 receives the untreated sewage of various towns having in the aggre- 

 gate a population of over two million people, and has not thought it 

 necessary to subject its water to any preliminary purification before 

 distribution. That town has, however, with curious inconsistency, 

 diverted its own sewage from the lake, but it has undertaken that 

 sanitary improvement only in connection with the commercial under- 

 taking of the drainage and ship canal. 



We know that one of the riddles of the politico-economic platform 

 is " What is raw material, and what is a manufactured article ? " But 

 we have seen sufficient to see that " raw water " is quite a rare com- 

 modity, and that most of our waters are manufactured articles. Even 

 Eastern countries like China and India have long " doctored " water 

 with alum to get rid of clay by coagulation. But in this country not 

 only do we get rid of the turpidity of water by sedimentation, but we 

 purge the waters of micro-organisms, including pathogenic germs, by 

 storing in large reservoirs as well as by filtration. Very hard waters, 

 waters containing lime and magnesia, are treated and softened by 

 what is called Clarke's process. Everyone knows that chalk waters 

 fur boilers and kettles, and that the bicarbonate of lime is precipitated 

 l\y boiling ; but Clarke's process consists of a chemical method which 

 expels chalk by chalk, and is an ingenious application of science to 

 the practical purpose of softening water which lengthens the life of 

 boilers and saves soap. But, again, water may be too soft. Hill 

 waters are sometimes too soft to be palatable. Water at Keswick is 

 under half a degree of hardness ; Loch Katrine water, 1 degree ; 

 Thames and New River water is about 14 degrees. 



But it is found that distilled water or soft lake or river water 

 acts with extreme rapidity upon lead, and many cases of lead poison- 

 ing have occurred in consequence of persons drinking waters which 



