Protection of North American Birds. Vll 



tide of destruction it is powerless to stay. The demand will 

 be met; the offenders will find it worth while to dare the 

 law. One thing only will stop this cruelty — the disapproba-. 

 tion of fashion. It is our women who hold this power. Let 

 them say the word, and hundreds of thousands of birds' lives 

 every year will be preserved, and, until they do use their 

 influence, it is vain to hope that this nameless sacrifice will 

 cease before it has worked out its own end, and the birds 

 are gone. 



Those who wear them and give countenance to the 

 fashion, doubtless do it thoughtlessly and without one 

 moment's reflection as to the results. It is earnestly hoped 

 that the ladies of Montreal may he led to see this matter in 

 its true light, and to take some pronounced stand in behalf 

 of the birds, and against the fashion of wearing them. 



On Montreal Drinking Water. 



By Arthur Weir, B.A.Sc. 



During the session of 1885-86, while a student at McGill 

 University, I made a series of determinations of hardness, 

 chlorine, solids and free albuminoid ammonia in the 

 drinking water furnished to this city, with the view of 

 ascertaining how and to what extent these fluctuated from 

 month to month. The determinations were made from 

 November 1885 to March 1886, inclusive, and comprised 

 in all fifty-one determinations of hardness, forty-eight of 

 chlorine, forty-six of solids, ten of free ammonia and eleven 

 of albuminoid ammonia. The following were the results 

 obtained : — 



CHLORINE. 



The average quantity of chlorine during the jieriod in 

 question was . 26 grains per gallon, the maximum being 

 0.40 on November 4th and 5th, and the minimum being 

 0.1*75 on the 23rd of the same month. Calculated as 

 sodium chloride, this gives, 



Maximum 0.659 grain. 



Mean for the period 0.428 " 



Minimum 0.288 " 



