vol. xx. (i) MINERAL WATERS NEAR GLOUCESTER 
33 
When the water was pumped up the solids were found to 
be in the folio wing proportions : Mineral matter, 75 per cent. ; 
Organic matter, 25 per cent. The water was clear when first 
brought to the surface, but in about half an hour a cloudiness 
began to appear, white at first but gradually becoming red. 
At the end of three or four hours this subsided as a dark red 
mud which had the following composition : Iron Oxide, 2.1 
grains per gallon ; Iron Carbonate, 2.8 grains per gallon. The 
filtered water had the composition shown in Table IV. 
The object of this boring was to discover if wells near the 
city could yield suitable waters for drinking purposes. 
As to the changes already indicated. I find that in my 
report to the Corporation of Gloucester I say : — 
“ The following explanation of the behaviour of this water 
may be offered. At a depth of 35 feet the pressure of the soil 
and air is sufficient to enable the water to hold in solution a 
considerable amount of carbonic acid, and this in its turn keeps 
the protocarbonate of iron in solution ; on the removal of the 
pressure, and on exposure to the air the carbonic acid escapes 
and the Ferrous carbonate precipitates, which explains the 
cloudiness of the water on standing, oxygen is then absorbed 
and the precipitate becomes red.” 
In 1898 I examined some water from Badgeworth from a 
well 20 feet deep, having the same characters as that from the 
Town Ham, Gloucester, behaving in exactly the same manner 
on exposure, and containing the same excess of organic matter. 
We may now inquire from which beds come the medicinal 
waters, the Lias or the superficial deposits. I may answer, 
from both ; but more especially from the Lower Lias. 
If it be desired to obtain potable waters fit for domestic 
use, it is advisable to avoid sinking a well into the Lower Lias, 
as in every case in which I have been consulted as soon as the 
Lower Lias is entered a strongly mineralised water has been 
obtained quite unfit for domestic use. 
This is well illustrated by an attempt to secure a site for 
an Infectious Diseases Hospital for Gloucester. An otherwise 
desirable spot w’as selected, but before purchasing it a boring 
was made and the Low r er Lias entered. I believe an abundant 
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