37 



Mr. TV. Dixon exhibited and presented to the Club a small case 

 containing worker, queen, and drone of Honey Bee ; also queen cells. 



Meeting held in Room No. 80, Municipal Buildings, November 25th, 

 1889. F. W. Branson, F.I.C, F.C.S., was in the chair. 



WATER. 

 J. LEWKOWITSCH, PH.D., F.C.S., F.I.C. 



After a few short introductory remarks with reference to the earlier 

 opinions as to the true nature of water, the lecturer briefly referred to the 

 circulation of water on our globe as caused by evaporation. Passing to the 

 main theme of the evening, he said water has to be considered as one of the 

 most necessary foods, and therefore we must have this food as pure as possible. 

 "Water may be considered as pure if it is not contaminated with impurities, 

 derived either from the atmosphere or from humous or putrid substances 

 of an animal or vegetable character ; further, if it is limpid and free from 

 suspended mattei', either organised, organic or mineral, and if it holds only 

 small quantities of mineral matters in solution. Of course, such an ideal 

 water will not be found everywhere, and therefore it becomes necessary to 

 state the limits within which the nature of a water has to keep in order to 

 be admitted for daily use. The examination as to its admissibility as a 

 food will best be carried out under the following heads : — Examination of 

 the local conditions of the source of the water, of the physical conditions 

 (taste, odour, colour, temperature), chemical analysis, microscoj^ical exam- 

 ination and biological examination of the micro-organisms present. It 

 will be easily understood that in most cases some of these points will bear 

 sufBicient evidence so as to allow or disallow the use of a water as food, 

 but such a full and exhaustive research as indicated above will certainly 

 decide the question in an unmistakable sense. The local conditions must 

 be such that casual pollutions of the water are rendered impossible. From 

 this point of view open water, e.g., river water, ought to be rejected,. and 

 we should only use it, if no other water is at hand, after careful filtration. 

 Water from springs and wells will be better suited, but in the latter case, 

 when the well is situated in a densely-populated locality, it is of the most 

 vital importance that the well should be guarded against the influx of auy 

 refuse water, &c. The physical properties mentioned above will show at 

 once which water ought to be rejected. The chemical analysis, in the 

 hands of a person who knows how to interpret the figures, will lead to 

 very important results. Although the mineral matters usually found in 

 water are not poisonous, a larger amount of them will point to the necessity 

 of examining the local conditions of the well ; and if a higher percentage 

 of chlorine be found than the composition of the geognostic strata admits, 

 or, worse still, if ammonia and nitrous acid, which ought to be absent, 

 are present, it may be safely presumed that the water has been, or is being, 

 polluted. Of the organic substances present in water, the so-called humic 



