186 [Assembly 



plants, and that is the reason why rain water is so much better than 

 spring or well water for agricultural purposes. Carbonate of ammo- 

 nia, muriatic and nitric acids have been discovered by chemists in rain 

 water collected before it reached the earth's surface. 



In hot climates it becomes filled with animalcule as it falls from 

 the clouds, and soon after smells strong from their decay. If you 

 desire to collect rain water for drinking and culinary purposes, your 

 roof should be made of slate, as that is almost the only substance en- 

 tirely insoluble in water; if lead, zinc or copper is used the water be- 

 comes impregnated with the oxides of these metals ; in tile roofs the 

 water becomes impregnated with lime. Rain water if made pure by 

 filtration, is the softest and most agreeable of all water, there are vari- 

 ous ways of filtering, one is to let water percolate through some por- 

 ous stone or other porous substance, too fine to admit any extraneous 

 substance contained in the water, likewise through sieves, sponges, 

 flannel, &c., but of all materials charcoal is undoubtedly the very 

 best. It prevents putrefaction, absorbs all the gaseous matter that is 

 generated, and impedes decomposition ; unwholesome and o.'Tensive 

 water by being placed in a cask charred in the inside will become 

 transparent and agreeable to the taste, pass brandy through charcoal 

 dust and it will become white, it will likewise whiten the syrup of 

 sugar. Nature filters water by means of sand beds. The inhabitants 

 of large towns in Europe have imitated nature in this respect, and 

 the use of sand is common for that purpose. 



The source of well and spring water is rain, when it falls upon high 

 ground it filters through the soil as long as it is sufficiently porous to 

 permit it, and is finally stopped by rock, or some impervious substance, 

 as clay, &c., at length by the pressure of the water, or through some 

 rrevice it finds its way to the earth's surface, and thus forms a spring, 

 the water of which is impregnated by any saline substance it may 

 have met with in its passage through the ground, so that we have not 

 unfrequently met with brackish wells and springs; the consequence is, 

 spring water can never be pure, as it must invariably in its course, dis- 

 solve some matter deteriorating its quality, as nearly all soils contain 

 one or more of the following salts, viz : glauber salt, common salt, 

 sulphate of magnesia, sulphate of soda, muriate of soda, &.c. 



You can immediately distinguish between hard and soft water by 

 the use of soap which contains an alkali, in soft water it will dissolve 



