Stream Pollution 65 



like a thin coarse blotting or wrapping paper. It would naturally 

 lead the observer generally to the conclusion that waste paper pulp 

 had been deposited on the stones and after the falling of the water 

 had dried there. Examination of the material in the water showed, 

 however, that it was of a very different character from pulp fibres. 

 The rocks were overgrown with soft gelatinous, branching, fila- 

 mentous masses, rather loose and yet sufficiently firmly attached to 

 the rocks to hold in place even where the current moved strongly. 

 Pieces of this material torn free were constantly floating down 

 stream and accumulated in the eddies lower down or floated on 

 the surface as flocculent masses. Careful inspection of the material 

 in place will convince any one that it is not an actual deposit of 

 fibres, but a growth which has both structure and continuity. 

 Furthermore, it is somewhat filamentous in texture, as may be 

 readily ascertained, and does not partake of the nature of wood 

 fibre. It is a fungoid bacterium and clearly indicates the highly 

 polluted condition of the water which, with its addition of sulphite 

 liquor at this point, gave precisely the environment most suited 

 for the development of this particular class of organisms. 



No better illustration could be given of the fact that the addition 

 of this industrial waste has powerfully modified the normal condi- 

 tions of the stream. This material grows only under these extreme 

 and abnormal conditions of environment and the very existence 

 of those conditions is fatal to the development of the aquatic 

 organisms that frequent pure waters. Such organisms are indeed 

 the best index of polluted areas and until the conditions have been 

 modified so that they cannot exist, it is hopeless to expect that the 

 normal fauna and flora can be restored. The conditions described 

 extend some distance down stream. They were not followed 

 continuously, but on a subsequent trip similar organisms were 

 observed, though less abundant, in the water above the Spier Falls 

 dam, so that one may infer their probable presence throughout the 

 intervening: stretch of the river, especially since in this stretch 

 the water is quiet and has relatively little opportunity to purify 

 itself. 



At a later date the water of the Hudson through much the same 

 region was studied from a boat. The party went up stream on 

 the Conservation Commission boat as far as Fort Edward. The 

 general character of the stream and the special conditions in the 

 channel were observed throughout the entire stretch. From point 

 to point the shores, backwaters, and shallow stretches along the 



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