July 



1884.] 



. KNOWLEDGE * 



71 



in a quarter of an hour on the main Brighton road between 

 Crawley and Reigate ; and I have also ridden 15 miles of 

 rather rough and hilly by-roads at the rate of nearly 10 

 miles an hour. Probably I should not be able to maintain 

 the same steady rate of speed as I can on the " Hnmber," 

 because the " Rucker " weighs full 25 lb. more than the 

 " Humber," and weight tells in time. But the low-speed, 

 or hill-riding gear, will give the heavier machine a great 

 advantage. My "Humber" is geared to 48 in., the 

 same as the high gearing of the " Rucker." On this, after 

 I have ridden from 30 to 50 miles, hills begin to tell upon 

 me if at all steep. With the " Rucker " I can drop down 

 to the low gearing, which is about .33 in., and get over a 

 stiff hill without any particular strain. This will allow 

 me to ride much farther without getting tired than I 

 should be able to do if I were compelled to keep riding 

 always with the high gearing. 



The pace at which I can drive the new machine I 

 believe to be due partly to the fact that I can ride it with 

 the saddle farther in front of the pedals than I can on the 

 " Humber," on which, though I ride almost leaning against 

 the handle-bar and with my legs occasionally quite touching 

 the axle (on this point I am quite certain) I yet feel that I 

 should like to be farther in front of my pedals. 



I fear that some of my readers will come to the conclu- 

 sion that with me the last machine is always the best. Lest 

 this should be thought the case, I would beg to point out 

 that for each machine I order I draw the specification so 

 that it shall avoid disadvantages I have experienced with 

 previous machines, and possess special advantages of its 

 own; and again, that I am precluded from saying anything 

 here about machines I have tried and found wanting, as the 

 publication of such remarks might cause serious inconve- 

 nience to the editor. The new Rucker has driving-wheels 

 only 38 in. in diameter. 



In my next article I shall give the results of my expe- 

 rience with other small-wheeled machines which I have 



been riding this season. 



* # * * 



Since writing the above I have ridden fifty miles with 

 ]\Ir. Arthur Salmon, one of the fastest riders in my club, 

 for the purpose of testing the new machine. I rode 

 from Reigate to Merstham, on through Redhill and Bal- 

 combe to Cuckfield and Lindtield — a series of hills ; then 

 returned over Hand Cross Hill to Crawley, back through 

 Redhill to Reigate. 



After riding about forty miles over this series of hills, I 

 covered the ten miles from Crawley into Redhill, without 

 making any perceptible effort, within an hour. 



THE INTERNATIONAL HEALTH 

 EXHIBITION. 



IX.— WATER AND WATER-SUPPLIES— (coTi/iinied). 



THE quality popularly termed " hardness " has been most 

 appropriately chosen to designate waters which offer 

 a peculiar resistance to the sense of touch ; it is a harsh or 

 rough feeling when compared with the smooth gliding sen- 

 sation experienced by the use of rain, or, as it has been 

 called, " soft " water. The hardness is due to the presence 

 of dissolved mineral salts, more notably to the carbonates 

 and sulphates of lime and magnesia. It becomes distinctly 

 appreciable when those salts obtain in quantities of over 

 three or four grains in each gallon ; and, in technical 

 operations, it is customary to speak of the degrees of hard- 

 ness in water, as determined by the " soap test." The 

 unit of hardness is represented by the maximum amount 



of curdiness produced by one grain of chalk per gallon of 

 water when soap is usetl. It is thus evident that before 

 soap can be made available as a detergent, when used with 

 a hard water, a certain amount is destroyed or decomposed 

 by the substances which produce that hardness, and the 

 waste so occasioned is directly proportional to the hardness 

 of the water. 



We have now reviewed all the most important factors 

 which bear upon natural water-supplies, with the single 

 exception of upland surface waters, excellent examples of 

 which are to be found in those which feed the rivers 

 and lakes of Cornwall, Devonshire, Northern England, 

 Wales, and Scotland. In all the districts just enumerated, 

 the gathering grounds are chiefly formed of igneous and 

 metamorphic rocks and sandstones. The water thus differs 

 widely from that which we considered in our last com- 

 munication, in being characteristically soft. The upland 

 waters of the Millstone Grit and non-calcareous parts of 

 the Coal Measures, which supjily portions of Yorkshire and 

 Lancashire, are also particularly soft. But there are other 

 British upland waters, which are decidedly calcareous ; 

 they are derived from the limestone and other formations 

 which include the basins of the far-famed Trent, the Tyne, 

 Mersey, Wear, Tees, Tweed, Forth, and Clyde. All these 

 upland surface waters, however, are more or less tainted 

 with harmless colouring matters and objectionable odours. 

 These undesirable items are due to their percolation 

 throughout superficial layers of the peat derived from the 

 decayed remains of successive growths of shrubs, heather, 

 grasses, mosses and other cryptogamic plants. 



Lastly, the influence of man and other animals upon the 

 water-supply demands our attention. The words guano- 

 mounds, kitchen-middens, cesspools, and sewage are all 

 suggestive of the presence of the " lords of creation " ; but 

 when we come to churchyards and cemeteries, it seems as 

 though modern civilization had undergone a process of retro- 

 grade development. The refining influences of our social 

 system have their drawbacks : they foster feelings which 

 in themselves are noble in the ideal, but are too often 

 proved to be practically pernicious, and even ghastly, in 

 real life. In spite of the warnings of able geologists and 

 doctors of medicine, the vast majority of persons in this 

 country prefer to give their friends what they erroneously 

 call a " Christian burial." When the ceremony is over, they 

 little think that they have merely contributed their iota to 

 a hotbed of festering filth, which has been shown over and 

 over again to be only something short of a wholesale system 

 of manslaughter. We have of late come into contact with 

 many gravediggers and undertakers who loathe their trades 

 so strongly, that nothing short of the hard struggle for 

 existence keeps them to their uncoveted employments. 

 How disgusting the disinterment of a leaden coffin, after 

 perchance a lapse of some years, is, is perhaps only known 

 to the few individuals whose unhappy lot is cast amongst 

 the dead forgotten. Let us ask, with Dr. Attfield* :— 

 " How much longer will a misguided sentiment, an ill- 

 guided superstition, or simple ignorance, sanction the 

 poison-breeding process of interment, when the highest 

 religion and the best interests of humanity point to the 

 harmless practice of cremation?" 



To soothe the feelings of the bereaved, would it not be 

 better and more worthy of their creed to follow the dictates 

 of reason? If they desire to perpetuate the memory of 

 beloved ones, how much wiser, to say the least of it, would 

 it be to erect something of value to their fellow-beings. 

 The drinking-fountain dedicated to Greyfriar's Bobby, iji 

 Edinburgh, might well be taken as an example in this 



■ Water and Water-Snpplies," &c., 1884, p. 3. 



