56 



of money is thus opened. As nearly every neighborhood has semething in abund- 

 ance which is more or less rare in others, this plan can not be wholly impracti- 

 cable. (3) Along with this high grade material the station could send carefully 

 prepared directions for study in order to insure the proper use of the material. 

 (4) This central station, being under the immediate control of the Academy, 

 would preclude the suspicion that there was a mercenary element back of the af- 

 fair, and would come to the teachers or school authorities with the force and in- 

 fluence of the Academy itself. (5) It would furnish all material to schools at 

 actual cost, which would make the expense to equip a botany or zoology class 

 through the winter a very slight one. (6) It would be a central station to which 

 regular collectors could send the surplus of their collections for free distribution, 

 and so materially widen the value of their work. 



[Upon motion, the Chair appointed a committee to investigate the desirability 

 of such a plan ; the committee consisting of L. J. Rettger, Dr. C. H. Eigenmann 

 and W. P. Shannon.] 



The Occurrence of Uroglena in the LaFayette (Ind.) City Water. By 



Severance Burrage. 



It not infrequently happens, even with the best public water supplies, that the 

 attention of the consumer is attracted by some peculiar taste or oder in the water. 

 This is particularly apt to be the case when the supply is derived from a lake or 

 pond, or if it has to be stored for any length of time in a reservoir. In such 

 instances the superintendent or water commissioners receive complaints to the 

 effect that the water has a very disagreeable taste and smell, and that there must 

 be dead fish or eels in the pipes. Just such complaints were heard in Lafayette 

 in the early part of October, and vigorous attempts were immediately made to get 

 rid of the trouble by flushing the pipes at different points in the city. But there 

 was not much improvement. 



The city water supply is derived from driven wells in the vicinity of the 

 Wabash River, and is a remarkably pure water, both from the chemical and bio- 

 logical standpoints. This water is pumped directly into the pipes. There is a 

 reservoir situated on a hill some two miles from the pumping station, and it has 

 been generally understood that the water stored there was only used in case of an 

 emergency, such as a large fire. But upon inquiry it was learned that the pumps 

 were not kept working all night. Thus, as the supply from the pumps was 

 stopped, the reservoir water must work back gradually into the pipes, replacing 



