OF WATER FOR ORGANIC MATTER. 51 



But the question still arises^ what is this organic matter 

 containing nitrogen ? If it is albumen^ I consider it is 

 disinfected^ if the peat is great in amount ; and it is also 

 incapable of putrefaction^ if the oxygen is great. 



We are not perfectly sure that these humates of Mulder's 

 actually exist in the form he mentions. It may be that 

 the nitrogen is otherwise combined, this giving another 

 mode of explaining the conditions of the water. If they 

 are combined,, as Mulder believes, we have only to allow 

 oxygen to enter the brown water and be absorbed, a pro- 

 cess which readily occurs ; the humus is bleached, and 

 the ammonia is free to combine with carbonic acid, and 

 readily to dissolve a fresh portion of the same salts of 

 which it formed a part. If the nitrogen be otherwise 

 combined, whether as albumen or any similar substance, 

 the oxygen would still play a corresponding part. 



By this view of the subject, the brown waters would be 

 giving off carbonic acid, and freeing some carbonate of 

 ammonia. When this takes place in nature, a certain 

 acidity is found, coupled with a little bitterness, a quality 

 possessed by great portions of the waters of the hills. This, 

 I believe, occurs in those waters which have not been 

 purified by descending deep into the earth (where thorough 

 oxidation and sweetening take place), but which have 

 passed only over the surface; and been partially oxidized. 

 The complete oxidation produces carbonic acid; the re- 

 stricted oxidation an acid that is not volatile, and is ex- 

 tremely bitter. I have prepared so little of this, that I 

 am unable to give a good account of it. It was formed 

 from extremely brown water, chiefly from the river Avon, 

 in Lanarkshire. By its formation, the water became very 

 bright; when boiled down, the acid became stronger to 

 ordinary tests, and its bitterness became more intense. 



I may remark, by the way, that in all the bottles in 

 which this occurred there was a deposit of very fine flakes 



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