Chemical Qualities of Water. 
563 
only waste useful manuring matters by allowing substances wbicli 
ought to go on the land to find their way into our wells, but we con- 
taminate water with poisonous matters, which every now and then 
manifest themselves in sudden outbreaks of low fever and other 
disorders. As I have a great objection to speaking in general terms 
without being able to lay my hand on special cases, I may observo 
that Cirencester, where I resided for a good many years, affords a 
very fair illustration of the condition of country towns in this respect. 
It is naturally a very healthy place, but the drainage is essentially 
bad, and in some houses and streets the water is so contaminated with 
injurious substances that people will not reside there, for it is notorious 
that the localities in which this bad water is found are occasionally 
visited by fever. This holds good with regard to separate houses, 
as well as the town itself. When I first went to Cirencester I was 
anxious to live away from the towu. I looked over a certain house, 
which pleased me in every respect, but some one said to me — " Do not 
go to that house, even if you can get it rent free, because all the 
people who have lived there have suffered seriously on account of 
the unwholesome state of the locality; the water is bad, and the 
drainage is bad." On examining the water I found it very bad indeed. 
I ascertained at the same time that the supply came from a surface 
spring, into which no doubt the drainage of the house, the offices, and 
the yard, found its way. Well, at first this warning made me hesitate, 
but the spot was too enticing to be dismissed from my mind without an 
attem2>t to remedy the evil. My first step was to stop the supply 
of water by cutting off the drainage from the house. I walled over the 
well in the house, and compelled the servants to use water from a 
deep well in the yard, which was of excellent quality ; and I am 
happy to say that, through this simple means, I succeeded in main- 
taining my own family in perfect health ; so much so that during 
ten years I did not spend a farthing for medicine. 
Now bad water occurs very much more frequently, perhaps, than is 
generally supposed ; at least I infer so from the many samples of water 
totally unfit for drinking purposes which I have received during the 
past year. Those who reside in the country, supplying themselves 
with water where there is no general Board of Health to make pro- 
vision for their wants, should have a watchful eye to their individual 
premises. Allow me, then, to point out the properties which we 
most esteem in water, first for drinking, and then for washing and 
cooking purposes. 
Water foe Drinking Purposes. 
There are four properties which we most esteem in drinking-waters ; 
first, the absence of any putrescent organic matter; secondly, the 
absence of any discoloration, due either to suspended fine clay, which 
gives water a muddy appearance, or to dissolved organic matter, such 
as we find sometimes in peaty districts ; thirdly, softness ; and fourthly, 
coolness. It devolves upon me to show how these four properties are 
intimately connected with the chemical composition of water. 
The absence of putrescent organic matter is accounted for in the 
