310 Dr. John T. Plummer on the 



contain an exceedingly offensive fluid, wholly unfit for use. At 

 these seasons the water is not clear, and it does not become lim- 

 pid by remaining several days at rest. At length, however, it is 

 partially purified by a portion of the matter which produces the 

 turbidness, becoming black and falling to the bottom ; specks, 

 and sheets of mould also appear upon the surface. The old 

 methods of ascertaining the presence of sulphuretted hydrogen, 

 detect none of the gas in this nauseous water; but according 

 to the result of repeated applications of Pasquier's iodic test, 

 each gallon of the water contains 2.36 cubic inches of hydrosul- 

 phuric acid. Tincture of iodine is certainly a very delicate re- 

 agent in this case, but I fear it is not unequivocal in its indica- 

 tions. Excepting the properties mentioned, I do not know that 

 this periodically loathsome water differs from our common well 

 water, and I have ventured to entertain the conjecture, that in 

 the few wells under consideration, the water is rendered offen- 

 sive by the growth and decay of fungi in the well. My reasons 

 for this opinion are : 1. The periodical character of this condi- 

 tion of the water, for fungi as well as other plants have their 

 regular seasons of germination. 2. The odor resembles that of 

 very putrid mushrooms. 3. The vegetable matter in the water 

 becomes black, as many of the fungi do. 4. The turbidness of 

 the water appears to the naked eye exactly like water in which 

 some delicate agarics were macerated. 5. The absence of any 

 other ostensible cause of the disagreeable quality of the water* 

 6. A piece of recently gathered Boletus badius, which I hap- 

 pened to have in my office, was cut into shreds and macerated 

 half an hour in pure cold water. To the decanted liquid a few- 

 drops of clean starch water were added, and having been prop- 

 erly mixed with the boletic water, tincture of iodine was dropped 

 in, the resulting blue color immediately disappeared, as in the 

 well water similarly tested. 



If this should prove to be the cause of the loathsomeness of the 

 water, it may not be difficult to remove it. 



Soil — In Vol. xl, page 198, of this Journal, is given an ex- 

 tract from one of my letters, in which I say, that in soil producing 

 plants [reported by chemists as] containing sulphate of lime, I 

 have not been able to discover any indications of that salt. To 

 this remark the Editors have appended a note, founded on the 

 supposition that the soil examined had been digested with alka- 



