June 5, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



837 



THE STORAGE OF WATER. 



In a lecture delivei-ed before the Royal in- 

 stitution and printed in Science Progress, Prof. 

 E. Frankland states that storage has an excel- 

 lent effect upon the chemical and especially 

 upon the bacterial quality of water. Thus the 

 storage of Thames water by the Chelsea Com- 

 pany for only thirteen days reduces the number 

 of microbes to one-fifth the original amount, 

 and the storage of the river Lea water for fif- 

 teen days, by the East London Company, re- 

 duces the number on the average from 9,240 to 

 1,860 per cubic centimetre or to one-fifth ; and 

 lastly, the water of the New Kiver Cut, con- 

 taining on the average 4,270 microbes per cubic 

 centimetre contains, after storage for less than 

 five days, only 1,810, the reduction here being 

 not so great, partly on account of the shorter 

 storage, but chiefly because the New River Cut 

 above the point at which the samples were 

 taken is itself a storage reservoir containing 

 many days' supply after filtration. Indeed, 

 quietness in a subsidence reservoir is, very 

 curiously, far more fatal to bacterial life than 

 the most violent agitation in contact with 

 atmospheric air ; for the microbes which are 

 sent into the river above the falls of Niagara, 

 by the City of Buffalo, seem to take little or no 

 harm from that tremendous leap and turmoil of 

 waters, whilst they subsequently, very soon, 

 almost entirely disappear in Lake Ontario. 



Prof Franklin holds that if the water of the 

 Thames basin were properly collected and 

 stored it would furnish London with an ample 

 supply of excellent water for fifty years to 

 come. 



CRATER LAKE. 



The U. S. Geological Survey has issued a 

 special map showing Crater Lake, Oregon. 

 In the accompanying description Mr. J. S. 

 Diller states that the lake is approximately 

 circular and averages a little over 5 miles in 

 diameter. It is reputed to be the deepest fresh 

 water in America, having the remarkable depth 

 of 2,000 feet. The steep slopes of the escarp- 

 ment rise from 500 to 2,200 feet above the water, 

 forming a remarkable pit. The average diam- 

 eter at the top of the pit is 5.7 miles, and its 

 depth is 4,000 feet. Nearly one third of its 



bottom is over one hundred feet below the level 

 of Klamath marsh, at the eastern foot of the 

 Cascade Range. 



" The problem at once arises. How was this 

 vast mountain, nearly six miles in diameter and 

 possibly 5,000 feet or more in height above the 

 present rim of the lake, removed, and the stu- 

 pendous pit now occupied by Crater Lake pro- 

 duced ? Did it go up or down ? If it was 

 blown out by an explosion we should find an 

 enormous rim of fragmental material commen- 

 surate with the basin ; but if it sank by escape 

 of its molten interior through a lower outlet 

 the rim would be small and composed of imbri- 

 cated and overlapping sheets of lava and frag- 

 mental material. In fact, the rim is small and 

 composed in large measure of solid lava sheets. 

 It is evidently the peripheral part of the origi- 

 nal mountain's base, and not due to accumula- 

 tion at the time the basin originated. Maj. C. 

 E. Button, who made a special survey of Crater 

 Lake, compares it to Kilauea, of Hawaii, whose 

 origin he attributes to subsidence of the material 

 in a molten state owing to its escape at some 

 lower level. The pumice upon the surface 

 for many miles around Crater Lake was proba- 

 bly blown out at (}rater Lake before the pit de- 

 veloped, and the volcano of Wizard Island was 

 active at a much later stage upon the bottom of 

 the pit. It was the scene of the last eruption 

 about the lake, and, although recent in appear- 

 ance, must have occurred centuries ago. ' ' 



GENERAL. 



The New York Academy of Sciences has 

 appointed a committee consisting of Prof. Wil- 

 liam Stratford, Mr. C. F. Cox, Prof. E. B. 

 Wilson and Prof. G. S. Huntington, to solicit 

 subscriptions on behalf of the Huxley Memorial 

 Fund. As has been already stated in this Jour- 

 nal, the fund will be used to erect in South 

 Kensington Museum a memorial statue similar 

 to those of Darwin and Owen, and secondly, if 

 a sufficient amount of money be raised, to 

 establish scholarships or a fund for original re- 

 search. Contributions should be sent to Mr. 

 Cox, Grand Central Station, New York. 



During the Buffalo meeting of the A. A. A. 

 S., Section H, anthropology will observe, as far 

 as practicable, the following order of program: 



