SCIENCE. 



53 



of this deposit placed on a glass slide covered with a 

 thin glass cover, and examined under a microscope, the 

 field will be opaque with the dense nature of the impuri- 

 ties, but if diluted with a little fresh water, objects such 

 as are drawn in figures — and — will be observed. These 

 forms, which will be readily recognizable by microscopists, 

 are composed of unacellu- 

 lar plants, very beautiful 

 in form and mostly of a 

 brilliant emerald green 

 color. A nimalhfe is also 

 well represented by forms 

 usually found in stagnant 

 ponds, from the purely 

 microscopical forms to 

 those visible with the 

 naked eye ; the hydra 

 (figure) with its tentacles 

 ready to grasp as its prey, 

 the little crustaceans 

 which are darting about. 



It is no part of this 

 paper to describe these 

 forms specifically, but the 

 sanitary effect of their 

 presence will be referred 

 to in general terms. To 

 prevent any misinterpre- 

 tation I would state that 

 the forms shown are not 

 seen at a single view, but 

 the contents of the circles 

 represent forms which are 

 all present in the Croton 

 water, and may be seen 

 by making several exami- 

 nations of the deposit at 



different seasons. While such forms may be noticed, the 

 bulk of the deposit is found to be composed of dead, rot- 

 ten, and decayed matter (omitted from illustration to 

 make place for more 

 interesting forms) from 

 which the living chloro- 

 phil has long disappeared ; 

 the larger fragments are 

 of a dirty brown color, in 

 some of which a growth 

 of fungi may be noticed, 

 indicating its antiquity. 

 On an average from six to 

 eight tons or even more 

 of such contaminations 

 mixed with dead, effete 

 matter, is mingled with 

 each day's supply to the 

 city, and when at its worst 

 gives the water that fishy, 

 sickening odor, which in 

 the height of the sum- 

 mer is always present in 

 the Croton water. 



With the exception of 

 the eggs of entozoa I 

 consider most the living 

 forms I have noticed in 

 the Croton water to be 

 perfectly harmless in their 

 living state ; but they are 

 continually undergoing a 

 process of decay, die, and 

 when dead they are very 

 offensive in their odor, and when present in such num- 

 bers as found in Croton water, must contribute to foul 

 the water. 



As I have stated, the bulk of the deposit is dead effete 



matter, forming a stinking slime which is repulsive in its 

 nature, and must be dangerous to use as food. If col- 

 lected in a spoon no person would swallow such black 

 putrid slime ; are therefore the conditions improved or 

 changed when it is thinly dispersed in finely divided parti- 

 cles, so as to make its presence barely visible ? 



Where does all this filth 

 come from which poisons 

 the water of New York 

 city ? In answer to this 

 question, a very brief de- 

 scription of the condition 

 of the Croton water shed 

 will be given, showing the 

 condition of the source of 

 the supply. 



Croton water is the re- 

 sult of collecting the rain 

 fall drained from a large 

 extent of country covering 

 forty miles, which is event- 

 ually stored in a series of 

 reservoirs and lakes for 

 future use. The borders 

 of many of these lakes are 

 very shallow and loaded 

 with aquatic plants, and 

 thus brought under the 

 influence of the sun, which 

 destroys the vegetation 

 and converts it into a 

 putrid deposit, which is 

 broken up by the action 

 of the water into fine par- 

 ticles, and eventually de- 

 Flc - s- livered at the faucets in 



Living vegetable forms from the Croton water — (Michels.) OUT city 



Not long since the Croton lake and the source of the 

 supply up to Croton dam was thoroughly surveyed by Mr. 

 Robert Morris, for the New York Herald, whose report 



was confirmed later by Mr 



Fig. 6. 



Animal organisms found in Croton water 



J. Y. Culyer, Engineer, of 

 Prospect Park, Brooklyn, 

 in a letter to the New York 

 Tribune, and the Sun, 

 Times, and World have 

 all contributed to expose 

 the state of things we 

 shall now describe. 



The report we refer to, 

 states that even Croton 

 Lake wore a green and 

 stagnant look and its 

 shores were sedgegrown, 

 marshy, and laved by lit- 

 tle streams that dripped 

 down from barns, houses, 

 hog-pens and farm yards. 

 Various parts were cov- 

 ered with slimy grass, 

 decomposed vegetable 

 matter, and in parts the 

 water was covered with a 

 thick scum. Around other 

 lakes he found stagnant 

 water, fever and ague 

 swamps, filthy drains, 

 wayside sloughs, and on 

 their banks cattle pens 

 and dirty yards. In one 

 place near Mr. Hyde's 

 house, a hollow was found where every kind of rural filth 

 had accumulated and decayed. On pushing his cane 

 into the mass, a stench was stirred up that made him 

 glad to give up further exploration in that direction, 



-[Michels.) 



