236 



THE AMERICAN MONTHLY 



[Decembei 



if there is no reasonable objection to 

 the nomenclature recommended by 

 the committee, we have no doubt but 

 success will eventually follow. We 

 do not look for immediate results 

 from this movement, although we are 

 sure that some of our American manu- 

 facturers will be glad to act upon any 

 proper decision of the committee. 

 When the replies are all in, we would be 

 pleased to print the names of all manu- 

 facturers who have responded favor- 

 ably, that our readers may know how 

 ready they are to accede to reason- 

 able demands in the interest of pur- 

 chasers, even though it involves tem- 

 porary trouble and delay in their 

 factories — and also of those who do 

 not care to act upon such considera- 

 tions. 



Meanwhile, we propose to advocate 

 the scheme of uniformity at every op- 

 portunity, and to do all in our power 

 to further the efforts of the committee. 



Stri^ of Diatoms. — In Count 

 Castracane's article upon this subject, 

 referred to by Prof. Hamilton Smith 

 on a preceding page, he states that in 

 determining the number of striae on a 

 given portion of a frustule, he has 

 made use of photography, which he 

 considers as far more reliable than the 

 method of counting by an eye-piece 

 micrometer. He has made about 3,000 

 photographs of diatoms under the 

 uniform magnification of 535 diame- 

 ters. We are at a loss to understand 

 his condemnation of the micrometer 

 for this work — he strongly maintains 

 that it is misleading but without giv- 

 ing the reason. He maintains, and 

 supports his argument with what seems 

 to be satisfactory evidence, that on • 

 all the frustules of any species upon 

 which the markings are regularly 

 arranged, "the fineness of the striae is 

 the same on valves of different dimen- 

 sions, that is to say, that the fineness 

 of the strias is determined by the idio- 

 syncracy of the species, and conse- 

 quently * * * the striae and their 

 fineness are a quality of specific import- 

 ance." 



The Boston Water-supply.- 

 The water of Boston has lately bee^ 

 very disagreeable owing to the sc 

 called "cucumber" taste and a pecu- 

 liar odor, and, from the accounts in the 

 newspapers, we judge the trouble has 

 been of a very serious character. We 

 are indebted to Mr. Bragdon, of 

 Boston, for articles published in the 

 papers of that city, which treat the 

 subject at considerable length. 



We have already published several 

 articles treating of the odor and taste 

 of the water supplied to cities, but, 

 without undue repetition, we may now 

 add a few words with special reference 

 to the present trouble at Boston. It ap- 

 pears from the reports, that while the 

 cause of the peculiar taste was gener- 

 ally ascribed to the decay of vege- 

 table matter, there was much uncer- 

 tainty as to the precise nature of the 

 substance undergoing decomposition, 

 and also as to the pond in which the 

 contamination originated. We most 

 heartily commend the systematic and 

 thoroughly scientific manner in which 

 Professor Ira Remsen undertook to 

 discover the origin of the trouble. 

 We have not space to devote to a 

 lengthy abstract of Prof. Remsen's 

 report — a brief summary of his results 

 must, therefore, suffice. 



The chemical examinations re- 

 vealed the fact that those waters in 

 which the cucumber taste was notice- 

 able contained more albumenoid am- 

 monia than those which were free 

 from that taste, and also that as the 

 taste became stronger the quantity of 

 albumenoid ammonia was greater. 

 Owing to oxidation at the surface of 

 a pond, a marked increase in the 

 quantity of nitrogenous matter was 

 observed in specimens of water taken 

 from increasing depths. However, 

 the chemical analyses failed to indi- 

 cate the source of the contamination. 

 The report then continues as 

 follows : — 



Having failed by chemical means to 

 determine whether the substance which 

 causes the " cucurnber taste " is at the 

 bottom of the pond or not, I now under- 



