ADULTERATION OF FOOD PRODUCTS. 



21 



In faultily constructed dams there is 

 sometimes a loss by percolation through 

 the dam, but in works properly planned 

 and carried out, the loss on this account, 

 if any at all, should be so small as to be 

 of no practical consequence. 



SUMMARY OF NECESSARY SURVEYS. 



Considerable reference has already been 

 made to surveys necessary in the investi- 

 gations relating to storage reservoirs. A 

 summary or recapitulation on this point 

 may not be amiss, as the subject is one of 

 great importance. The following are the 

 principal details, which should in all cases 

 be covered by such surveys: The area of the 

 reservoir site or storage basin should be 

 traversed with a line containing no greater 

 error in closing than is usually admitted 

 in making surveys of land boundaries. 



Contour lines should be run throughout 

 the reservoir site at elevations of not more 

 than ten feet apart. 



The area of the watershed should be 

 determined by a survey such as the neces- 

 sities of the case may require. As has 

 already been stated, the location of the 

 principal points on the boundaries of the 

 watershed is sometimes sufficient, while at 

 other times the exigencies of the case may 

 require a traverse survey similar to that 

 recommended for obtaining the area of the 

 reservoir site. The topography of the 

 watershed and the length and courses of 

 its main drainage channels should be de- 



termined by appropriate surveys. Cross- 

 sections of the canyon or outlet of the 

 valley at the point selected for the dam 

 site at distances of not more than ten feet 

 apart, for a width of not less than an 

 eighth of a mile. 



Borings to bedrock, or other material, 

 suitable for a dam foundation, should be 

 made across the canyon at the dam site at 

 intervals of about twenty five feet. 



Surveys should be made to determine 

 in what manner the water can be drained 

 from the foundation of the dam. If the 

 draining can be done by cuts or tunnels 

 the length of these should be measured, 

 and the material through which they will 

 be constructed should be noted. If the 

 draining must be by means of pumps, the 

 heighth to which the water will be pumped, 

 as well as the quantity of water to be 

 raised, should be determined. 



The gauging of the rainfall and. dis- 

 charges from the watershed already re- 

 ferred to should, of course, be made with 

 great care, and such other observations in 

 regard to evaporation, percolation, etc., 

 as are deemed of value should also be 

 made. 



When all of these data have been col- 

 lected by reliable surveys, the calculations 

 necessary to determine the value of a 

 reservoir site and the cost of improving it 

 become an easy matter, and an engineer 

 can proceed to make his report with cer- 

 tainty and confidence. 



ADULTERATION OF FOOD PRODUCTS. 



BY W. C. F1TZS1MMONS. 



THE average citizen has little concep- 

 tion of the extent to which much of 

 our daily food is adulterated with foreign 

 substances, many of which are injurious to 

 health. A still greater portion of the 

 adulterants used are often, if not always, 

 distasteful or disgusting. A theory of 

 some scientists is that the ultimate atoms of 

 matter are all of the same substance, and 

 that material things as we find them, so 

 varied and diverse in characteristics, are 

 merely the results of an infinite diversity 

 of combinations among the ultimate atoms 

 and molecules of matter. It is asserted 

 that a palatable article of syrup may be 



made of rags; and while the ultimate anal- 

 ysis of the two might reveal the same 

 primal elements in their composition, the 

 knowledge of the fact would scarcely ren- 

 der such syrup especially appetizing. 



In order to give readers some conception 

 of the extent to which adulteration of sub- 

 stances daily consumed by all is practiced, 

 citations from a report emanating from the 

 Department of Agriculture will prove of 

 value. It was found by a series of careful 

 and prolonged investigations covering the 

 range of nearly all food products, includ- 

 ing potatoes, that the amount of adultera- 

 tion is at least 15 per cent, of which no less 



