74 FOOD AND DRINK. 



is converted into sugar. Such fruits are indigestible and 

 should be avoided : cooking, however, in part removes the 

 objections to them. 



30. Pure Water. It is important that the water we 

 drink and use in the preparation of food should be pure. 

 It should be clear and colorless, with little or no taste or 

 smell, and free from any great amount of foreign ingre- 

 dients. Chemically pure water does not occur in nature : 

 it is only obtained by the condensation of steam, carefully 

 conducted, and is not as agreeable for drinking purposes 

 as the water furnished by springs and streams. Rain-water 

 is the purest occurring in nature ; but even this contains 

 certain impurities, especially the portion which falls in the 

 early part of a shower; for in its descent from the clouds, 

 the particles floating in the air are caught by the falling 

 drops. 



31. Water from springs and wells always contains more 

 or less foreign matter of mineral origin. This imparts to 

 the drink its pleasant taste the sparkle, or " life," coming 

 from the gases absorbed by the water during its passage 

 under ground. The ordinary supply of cities is from some 

 pure stream or pond conveyed from a distance through 

 pipes, the limpid fluid containing generally only a small 

 amount of impurity. Croton water, the supply of New 

 York City, is very pure, and contains only four and a half 

 grains to a gallon : the Ridgewood water of Brooklyn holds 

 even less foreign matter. 



32. Drinking- water may contain as large a proportion as 

 sixty to seventy grains per gallon of impurity, but a much 

 larger quantity renders it unwholesome. The mineral 

 spring waters, used popularly as medicines, are highly 

 charged with mineral substances. Some of them, such as 



30. How should drinking-water be as regard? color and smell? Chemically 

 pure water ? How obtained ? Agreeablenes-s of perfectly pure water ? 



31. Spring and well water? Whence the sparkle, or life? The water supply 

 of cities ? Croton wate ? Ridgewood ? 



32. Impurities in drinking-water? Mineral springs ? 



