THE NEW ENGLAND STATES. 21 



It is believed that if such a nomenclature as this were used the gen- 

 eral public would be able to obtain more information from the name 

 alone than from the inspection of an analysis. It is apparent that 

 much work would be saved for the physician, who could soon reduce 

 the waters to be considered in any given case to a comparatively 

 small number simply by the use of a well-arranged index, instead of 

 being compelled to study hundreds of analyses. The group, class, 

 and subclass having been determined, it would be a comparatively 

 easy matter to study the individual analyses. 



For ease in comparison waters may be further classified according to 

 their total saline content. Throughout this bulletin the following 

 classification has been used: 



40 parts or less per million Very lightly mineralized. 



40 to 75 parts per million Lightly mineralized. 



75 to 200 parts per million Moderately mineralized. 



200 to 500 parts per million Highly mineralized. 



500 and over parts per million Very highly mineralized. 



This classification is based upon the fact that most surface waters l 

 in the East approximate 100 parts per million of salts in solution and 

 may be considered therefore as moderately mineralized. The other 

 subdivisions are purely arbitrary, but are believed to be useful in 

 extending the classification. 



1 Twenty-four rivers of the Atlantic seaboard were found by Dole to average for one year 82 parts per 

 million of evaporated residue at 180 C. U. S. Geological Survey, Water-Supply Paper 236. 



