306 THE AMERICAN MONTEILY [Oct. 



best systems of water-supply available in many localities. 

 This being- the case, household methods of purification 

 require to be taken into the account. That preferred by 

 the writer is as follows : The water is boiled and allowed 

 to stand in a covered stone jar until all sediment has 

 deposited. It is then transferred to ordinary air-tight 

 glass fruit jars, a lot of which, having convenient modes 

 of fastening, are kept for the purpose. Wlien put in an 

 ice chest or cool cellar such water comes out beautifully 

 clear, sparkling and palatable. Such water has no 

 unpleasa,nt flavor unless kept too long, and even this 

 might be avoided by sterilising the jars and filling them 

 with the water while hot, which would require reheating 

 after the sediment is removed. Practically there is no 

 necessity for this extra trouble. Certainly all the waters 

 treated by the writer in this way have proved to be 

 excellent, and there can be no question as to their free- 

 dom from the infection of any of the d'seases that have 

 been named in the discussion. It may be noted also 

 that substantially the same principle is employed when 

 water is used for quenching thirst in the form of tea, 

 coffee, soups and the like. It is the boiling that makes 

 such waters safe, the various ingredients added serving 

 to please an acquired taste for the most part. Mankind 

 is accustomed to take many precautions of this sort with 

 out any clear ideas of the reasons. It is the province of 

 advancing civilization to enable such precations to be 

 taken intelligently, and consequently more perfectly, and 

 this is the aim of the present discussion in regard to 

 water-supply. — Proc. A. M. S. 



Exchange.— H. W. Parritt, 8 Whitehall Park, N. Lod- 

 don, Eng-land, wishes to exchang-e microscopical slides, 

 books and objects for crustaceans, echinoderms, spong-es, 

 zoophytes, shells and other marine objects, fresh or dried. 



