Mr King on Recent Modes of Water Analysis. ol 



grains of carbonate of lime, etc., which the water contained — 

 an exceedingly futile operation, — while the item with which 

 he should have been almost solely concerned is pushed in at 

 the end ; as if he was ashamed of it, he puts it as a sort of 

 addendum, its peculiar position indicating but too truly the 

 amount of consideration it has received. Now every one 

 knows that it is in no way a desuvable thing to swallow daily 

 in the water one drinks, large quantities of carbonate of lime 

 or other earthy salt ; but what difference does it make whether 

 the water we use contains four or six grains to the gallon of 

 carbonate of lime or chloride of sodium ? and yet this is really 

 the main, I had almost said the only, information we have from 

 such an analysis as this. The item known as organic matter, 

 and obtained in the way I have already indicated, is nothing 

 short of a burlesque. It is absurd, in the first place, as it 

 does not show in any way whatever the amount of organic 

 matter present. A great many changes other than simply 

 driving off organic matter, it is quite well known, may, and 

 almost invariably do, take place when a water residue is 

 exposed to a red heat. In the second place, it is absurd, 

 because even if this was a correct measurement of, or if it 

 even was an approximation to, the real amount of organic 

 matter, it tells nothing whatever of the nature of the organic 

 matter, it takes cognisance of quantity only, and says nothing 

 of quality. Now we are well aware that certain kinds of 

 organic matter are perfectly harmless, while others, there is 

 not the slightest doubt, are exceedingly pernicious. For 

 example, one water, let us suppose, is mixed to a slight 

 extent with some starch or gum, and another is contaminated 

 with some deleterious decomposing animal matter: by this 

 mode of analysis, both these things would be described as 

 organic matter, and if the former water contained twice as 

 much as the latter, it would be described as the worst; 

 whereas exactly the reverse of this would be true, as water 

 containing even very small quantities of certain animal con- 

 taminations is known to be very prejudicial to health, which 

 is what could not be said of a water containing small quan- 

 tities (as a half or quarter of a grain per gallon) of such 

 things as gum or starch. 



