and Water used for General Purposes. 
145 
This is a decidedly mineral water. There are other well- 
raters which possess a less pronounced mineral character, and, 
L>r want of better sources of supply, are used for drinking and 
:eneral domestic purposes. A water of the latter description 
i-as lately sent from Xorfolk to my laboratory for analysis, and 
ny opinion desired, whether it was a good and wholesome 
Irinking-water. 
An imperial gallon, on evaporation, left 146"86 grains of 
olid residue, dried at 130' Fahr. 
In the residue I found by direct determinations : — 
Grains. 
Oxidisable organic matter 'Si 
Oxide of iron 1 ■ 06 
Alumina and traces of phosphoric acid '06 
Lime 45-23 
Magnesia 6 ' 06 
Chlorine 8-6:i 
Sulphuric acid 58 "93 
Soluble silica -28 
Alkalies and Carbonic acid not determined separately. 
According to these analytical data the composition of the 
vater per imperial gallon may be represented as follows : — 
Grains. 
Oxidi sable organic matter "34: 
Oxide of iron 1'06 
Alumina and traces of phosphoric acid '06 
Carbonate of lime 22-27 
Sulphate of lime 79-57 
Chloride of sodium 14-21 
Sulphate of magnesia 18-18 
Alkaline carbonates 10-89 
Soluble silica -28 
Total solid constituents per gallon . . . . 146 - 86 
The water was clear and colourless when first drawn, but on 
pxposure to the air it soon became turbid, and deposited a reddish- 
brown coloured precipitate, which on examination proved to con- 
sist of oxide of iron. The water had a slight inky taste, and a 
faint smell of sulphuretted hydrogen. 
The preceding analysis shows that the water contained as much 
as 1 grain of oxide of iron in the gallon. The iron occurred 
in the water combined with carbonic acid, as bicarbonate of 
protoxide of iron, a compound which, on exposure to the air, 
parts with carbonic acid and gives rise to the deposition of 
reddish-brown hydrated oxide of iron. The water owed its pecu- 
liar inky taste to this soluble compound of iron. 
The water, it will be seen, contained a large amount of sulphate 
of lime or gypsum, a constituent which renders it permanently 
VOL. XI. — S. S. L 
