264 



CHOLERA AND THE WATER SUPPLY. 



[1855. 



they were onoe attached to (he dress. Round the head was a diadem 

 of various flowers, the cups of which were formed of rubies and 

 jaoynths and emeralds of groat beauty, and sometimes of smalts of dif- 

 ferent colours. A beautiful ring was found on one of the fingers of 

 this female. The circle is formed of two clubs of Hercules, the point 

 where they meet beneath being surmounted by a ruby ; whilst on the 

 upper and opposite part of the ring is a box, where might have been 

 the hair of a lover or Persian perfumes : the cover i.5 formed of a 

 large emerald. The work is of the most delicate filagree, displaying a 

 great variety of beautiful forms: in short, all reg.ard it with astonish- 

 ment, and doubt whether modern art could produce anything so per- 

 fect. Sigaor Bonucci supposes that the age of the tomb may be about 

 that of Alexander the Great, or, at least, 2000 years. The art of the 

 painter, and the potter, and the sculptor, and the architect of that time 

 is brought before us as fresh as though it had been executed hut 

 yesterday ; nay, more, the handiwork of the milliner and the uphols- 

 terer is shown to our wondering eyes ; and, dressed in the habiliments 

 of the drawing-room, the inmates of the tombs seem ready to receive 

 us. 



Tlie Asli Moiuiels of Jeriisalcma 



In a letter to the London Athenaeum, Mr. Finn, the British Consul 

 at Jerusalem, gives a description of the "Ash Mounds" near Jerusalem, 

 and mention some curious results of their examination which may 

 lead to important and highly interesting discoveries. 



" Outside of this city (Jerusalem) towards the north-west, and not 

 far from the Nablus Road and the Tombs of the Kings (so called), are 

 some considerable heaps of blue grey ashes, on which no grass or 

 weeds ever grow. One of them may be 40 feet in height. They are 

 remarkable objects in themselves, especially as contrasted in colour 

 with the dark olive groves around them. Hitherto it has been ques- 

 tionable whether the two ash-hills without the Damascus Gate have 

 been heaped up from the ashes of the burnt sacrifices, or from the 

 residuum of the produce of potash in the soap manufactories here. 

 Dr. Roth, who had taken with him two samples, states ' that their 

 analysis in our famous Liebig's laboratory bears evidence to the sup- 

 position that those ashes are the remnant of the burnt sacrifices, 

 because they are chiefly of animal, and not of vegetable origin ; and 

 even contain small fragments of bones and teeth burnt to coal ; and 

 yet it would be impossible to ascertain the species of the animals to 

 which they belonged.' The analysis exhibits a small percentage of 

 silicic acid, which is never found in the ashes of flesh or bones. Dr. 

 Roth is of opinion that we may account for this circumstance by sup- 

 posing that the ashes of the vieai-offerings in which silicium may be 

 found, were likewise carried ofi' to the hills in question. The samples 

 were taken both from the top and the basis of the larger hill, — not 

 just from the surface, nor from a considerable depth either. 



This almost unexpected result is one that leads to important anti- 

 quarian consequences, — not only exciting wonder at the confirmation 

 of Holy Writ, and bringing our feelings back to immediate contact 

 with those of the Aaronic priesthood, but as helping among other facts 

 to determine the course of the ancient walls, since these ashes must 

 have been thrown beyond the wall. 



Tlic Kclatious of Ijead to Air and Water. 



Dr. Christison states that "water containing 1-1000 or 1-1200 pai-t 

 of salts, may be safely conveyed in lead pipes, if the salts are chiefly 

 sulphates and carbonates ; and that lead pipes cannot be safely used 

 when it contains l-4000th part of saline matter, if this consists of 

 muriates." 



At the request of the Board of Consulting Physicians of the city of 

 Boston, Prof E. N. Horsford, of Cambridge, U. S.,in 1849 examined, 

 with great care, the relations of lead to air and water, and gives the 

 following as his conclusions: "A coat of greater or less permeability 

 forms in all natural waters to which lead is exposed. The first coat is 

 a simple sub-oxide, absolutely insoluble in water, and solutions of salts 

 generally. This becomes converted in some waters into a higher 

 oxide ; and this higher oxide, uniting with water and carbonic acid, 

 forms a coat soluble in from 7000 to 10,000 times its weight of pure 

 water. The above oxide unites with sulphuric and other acids, which 



sometimes enter into the constitution of the last coat ; uniting with 

 organic matter and iron rust, it forms another coat, which is in the 

 highest degree protective." 



Dr. Horatio Adams, in a lengthy and very able report, before the 

 American Medical Association, at its annual meeting, in 1852, depre- 

 cates the use of lead pipe for the -oonveyance of water, under any 

 circumstances. Having shown, both by analysis, and its effects on the 

 system, that lead is present in the Cochituate water drawn through 

 lead pipes, also in the Croton water, the New Orleans water, the Cin- 

 cinnati and Louisville water, he concludes — " That it is never safe to 

 use water drawn through lead pipes, or stored in leaden cisterns, for 

 domestic purposes ; and that any article of food or drink is dangerous 

 to health which, by any possiblity, can be impregnated with saturnine 

 matter." 



Gmelin, a distinguished .German chemist, does not differ from 

 Christison. 



Salubrity of Towns* 



M. Junod, of the French Institute, has communicated to that body 

 some interesting facts respecting the relative salubrity of parts of cities 

 according to their aspect and position. He says that in most Euro- 

 pean cities, the wealthier and more intelligent portion of the inhabi- 

 tants have settled upon and occupied the western districts, while in 

 the eastern parts have been located the working classes and trading 

 population. This is the case not only in London and Paris, but also 

 at Berlin, St. Petersburg, and Vienna. The old Italian cities exhibit 

 the same peculiarity, and all their cemeteries are situated eastward. 

 M. Junod endeavours to prove that these arrangements are in strict 

 accordance with reason, and are based on a natural law. During 

 westerly winds, the barometer in general is very depressed, and all 

 the evaporations of the earth, as well as the smoke and other emana- 

 tions from the burning of fuel, descend and remain near the surface. 

 When, on the contrary, easterly winds prevail, the barometer ranges 

 high, and the air becomes purified, as all vapours ascend, and soon 

 disappear. If, therefore, westerly winds blow, they convey to the 

 inhabitants of the eastern districts the unwholesome exhalations and 

 vapours of the west ; whereas the western districts receive only the 

 purer air of the surrounding country. If easterly winds prevail, the 

 noxious vapours of the eastern districts become scattered before they 

 reach the western portions of the city. 



From these observations the following inferences are deduced. Con- 

 siderations of health ought to induce a preference for the building of 

 residences in the western portion of a city. And, on the contrary, all 

 the trades and occupations which are of an unwholesome nature, or 

 which produce and emit smoke, steam, or other oifensive exhalations, 

 should be consigned to the eastward. Even in single dwellings, it is 

 expedient to plan the kitchens, larders, washhouses, kc, -to face the 

 east. 



Cliolera auti tlic "Water Supply. 



The connection between the prevalence of epidemic cholera and the 

 impurity of the water used for domestic purposes has frequently been 

 pointed out. In a paper read before the London Chemical Society in 

 April last by Dr. Thomson, samples of Thames water taken from ser- 

 vice pipes in localities where the mortality was great were exhibited, 

 which contained most striking indications of the presence of sewerage. 

 Not only was nitric acid detected in all of them, but ammonia was 

 distilled over in considerable quantities, and sulphate of ammonia 

 prepared by this process was exhibited to the*lMeeting. The mechan- 

 ical impurities gave equally strong evidence to the same purport, being 

 composed of vegetable and animal organisms, &c., — and even the 

 debris of human food can be demonstrated with the greatest facility 

 by the microscope in the sediment derived from the service-pipes in 

 those waters which are pumped from the lower sources of the Thames. 



Dr. Thomson considers Dr. Clarke's plan for softening hard water 

 perfectly practicable ; and suggests that in order to adopt a uniform 

 scale by which to measure the amotmt of foreign matter in water ; 

 distilled water should be represented by 0°, and every grain of matter 

 present in solution in water per gallon by a degree ; so that waters 

 may be described as being possessed of so many degrees of mechanical, 

 organic, and inorganic impm-ity respectively. 



