48 Marshall O. Leighton 



The contentions of Professor Kinnicutt, set forth in the above 

 paragraph, are supported by abundant evidence, and it constitutes 

 as strong a statement in support of the vv^riter's position as he himself 

 could ever hope to draw ; therefore the paragraph is submitted without 

 discussion or amendment. 



The analyses quoted in the following paragraphs are merely 

 the chosen representatives of a great number that give the same 

 testimony. They all show clearly the amount and condition of 

 the nitrogenous matter, and can be used' to dififerentiate in some 

 small degree between a comparatively stable and an unstable form 

 of organic matter in water. But they show further that all those 

 finely drawn distinctions by which we are supposed to determine 

 whether or not such organic matter is of benign or dangerous origin 

 are too precarious to be seriously considered. In every case it is 

 easy to find a host of discrediting exceptions ; and when we go beyond 

 the confines of New England and the country immediately there- 

 about, and especially when we select our samples from the South 

 or the Middle West or Far West, those exceptions become the rule. 



That real man, the lamented friend of the most of those con- 

 tributing to this volume, Dr. Thomas M. Drown, found not a few 

 places in or near New England where his standards of interpreta- 

 tion were useless. For example, many of us remember hearing 

 him say that the polluted water of the Hudson above Poughkeepsie, 

 N. Y., does not show upon sanitary analysis any traces of sewage 

 matter. Yet neither he nor, it is believed, the most enthusiastic sup- 

 porter of nitrogen determinations would accept that raw water as a 

 beverage. In later years, not many months before Dr. Drown's 

 death, the writer discussed with him the advisability of making an 

 extended series of sanitary analyses upon the waters of the Lehigh 

 River basin. Dr. Drown approved of a sanitary survey, but failed to 

 see any promise in the analytical work. He ended his discussion of 

 the matter by saying: "My long experience in this hne of work has 

 impressed me with many doubts concerning its value." 



The practice of making sanitary analyses and of judging the 

 potability of a water from them has cost many lives. The cases are 

 numerous and too well known to require discussion. In really 

 competent hands such analyses do not usually produce serious 



