190 THE WONDERFUL HOUSE THAT JACK HAS 



ing? Because it has less mineral substance in solu- 

 tion, and hence more readily takes up dirt from soiled 

 clothes. For a similar reason, soft water is often pre- 

 ferred for drinking, and distilled water, as far as dis- 

 solving power is 

 concerned, is bet- 

 ter still. The 

 salts of lithia in- 

 crease the dis- 

 solving powers of 

 water, and, on 

 this account, 

 much lithia water 

 is drunk. 



One thing on 

 which all are 

 agreed is that water polluted by waste material from 

 the human body should be avoided. Such water may 

 come from wells situated near out-houses or cemeteries. 

 This waste material may be in city water when the 

 source of supply is some river or other stream into 

 which sewage is drained. The danger most to be 

 feared from drinking such water is typhoid fever, be- 

 cause the germ of this disease is often in the waste 

 that passes from the intestines of human beings. 

 When there is any reason to fear that the drinking sup- 

 ply is polluted from sewers or any other source, it 

 should be boiled about twenty minutes after the steam 

 begins to rise. This will kill all germs. Another bene- 



A. good way to kill germs in drinking water boil 

 twenty minutes. 



