Febetjabt 28, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



331 



(illustrated), Captain James L. Bevana, Medical 

 Corps, TJ. S. Army. 



April 4 — "Some Skin Diseases We Need not 

 Have" (illustrated), Dr. H. E. Alderson. 



April 18 — "The Work and the Aims of Our 

 Health Department" (illustrated), Dr. E. G. 

 Brodrick, Health Officer of San Francisco. 



The provision of satisfactory municipal and 

 domestic water supplies constitutes one of the 

 most important problems that is presented to 

 our cities and towns. The municipalities that 

 are situated within easy reach of upland coun- 

 try can as a rule obtain pure water from the 

 uninhabited highland drainage areas. Those 

 located in the flatter portions of the country 

 must depend on the local rivers or on under- 

 ground sources. With increase in population 

 the rivers inevitably become so polluted that 

 it is necessary to purify the water before it 

 can be devoted to domestic use. Such condi- 

 tions prevail in the prairie region along the 

 Ohio Valley and especially in the states of 

 Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. Most of the 

 larger cities in this region resort to purifica- 

 tion of polluted river water. Cincinnati, 

 Columbus, Indianapolis, Louisville and many 

 smaller cities maintain filtration systems. 

 For small cities and towns it is frequently 

 possible to procure underground water sup- 

 plies that will be suificiently constant to war- 

 rant development. Some years ago the United 

 States Geological Survey started investiga- 

 tions of ground-water supplies in the Ohio 

 Valley. As a result two reports have already 

 been published. The survey now announces 

 the publication of a third, entitled " The Un- 

 derground Waters of Southwestern Ohio," by 

 M. L. Fuller, F. G. Clapp and E. B. Dole. The 

 area covered by this report comprises about 

 5,600 square miles, or about one seventh of the 

 state. The region receives abundant rainfall, 

 but the streams are rather far apart and the 

 springs are few and of small volume. This 

 portion of Ohio is densely populated, the 

 average population being about 150 to the 

 square mile in the area as a whole and 50 in 

 the rural districts, and as it contains many 

 paper mills, distilleries and other manufac- 

 turing establishments the river waters are in 



many places badly polluted by sewage and 

 industrial wastes, which render them unfit for 

 drinking. For this reason carefully protected 

 ground-water supplies are highly desirable for 

 domestic purposes, especially in the cities and 

 crowded villages, where the nearness of houses, 

 barns and cesspools may make wells unsafe 

 sources of drinking water. In this portion of 

 Ohio immense quantities of water are also 

 required in the industries, and as the waters 

 of the streams are generally too muddy and 

 too uncertain in quantity for this purpose, 

 wells are largely used, and the need of more 

 specific information concerning ground-water 

 supplies is urgent. Limestones predominate 

 in this region, extending in some places to 

 depths of hundreds of feet, and the lack of 

 sandy water-bearing beds makes the ground- 

 water problem especially difiicult. Fortu- 

 nately, however, the surface is covered with a 

 sheet of unconsolidated pebbly clay, under- 

 lain locally by some sand and gravel, and 

 nearly all the larger valleys are deeply fiUed 

 with sand, gravel or unconsolidated glacial 

 material. These deposits contain much un- 

 derground water, largely of local origin. 

 Many of the wells on low ground, both those 

 in rock and those in the alluvial fillings of 

 the valley, yield flowing water, and nearly 

 everywhere the water is under artesian pres- 

 sure, rising very materially when encountered. 

 In general, deep wells give no promise in this 

 region, for, though water can be obtained from 

 such wells in most places, it will generally be 

 either salty or highly charged with sulphur. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 

 Gifts aggregating more than $1,000,000 to 

 Washington and Lee University, Lexington, 

 Va., are provided for in the will of Robert P. 

 Doremus, member of a New York Stock Ex- 

 change firm, who died on February 1 last. 

 Mr. Doremus was a graduate of Washington 

 and Lee University. 



An increase of $12,800 in the annual state 

 appropriation for Middlebury College has been 

 made by the legislature of Vermont. 



