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Maignen, whose filters are now so much heard of, is also 
introducing a system for softening water on a large scale. 
All these plans are, however, based upon the original discovery 
of Dr. Clark, and depend more or less upon the application of his 
principle, with this addition that he merely sought to get rid 
of the bicarbonates, whereas, by an addition of various chemicals, 
adapted to the particular quality of the water, other chemical 
impurities of the water, chiefly the sulphates, can be removed. 
Now that so much attention is heing drawn to the question, 
we may hope that before long excessive hardness in the water 
supplied will become a thing of the past ; and the next generation 
will be astonished that the inconvenience was so long submitted 
to by their patient and long-suffering fathers. 
Here I should like to introduce a few remarks on the analysis 
of water. It is generally supposed that an analysis by a skilled 
expert is sufficient to protect the inquirer from any ill effects 
likely to arise from the water analysed when pronounced fit for 
use. That this is not altogether the case, however, appears from 
the following extracts on the point. 
In a paper read lately by Mr. Folkard, a skilled chemist, he 
made these remarks :— 
« Analytical chemistry, as far as mineral substances are 
“concerned, is in a very advanced stage, not so with organic 
“chemistry, dealing with the tissues of plants and animals,” 
Mz. Baldwin Smith, as the result of a long experience of the 
subject and knowledge of the opinion of many eminent chemists, 
concurred with the author of the paper, that the chemist was 
unable to determine whether water was wholesome or not. 
Dr. Franklin said that chemical analysis is unable to detect 
those small quantities of morbific matter which are calculated to 
transmit disease to people drinking the water. 
The Report of the Commission on River Pollution says, “The 
existence of an infectious property in water cannot be proved by 
chemical analysis.” 
