. SCIENCE. 
13 
SATURDAY JULY 10, 1880. 
UNIFORM TIME. 
BY PROFESSOR ORMOND STONE. 
It would be a great convenience to the traveling 
public if all the railroads of the country employed 
a uniform standard of time. The inconvenience of 
the present system is so manifest, that it is strange 
that a united effort has not been made before this to 
correct it. In so small a country as England the 
question is a very simple one, but in a country like 
ours extending over nearly sixty degrees of longi- 
tude, or four hours of time, the problem assumes a 
different aspect owing to the tendency everywhere 
to employ local time. 
In selecting a standard meridian the mind natur- 
ally fixes upon Washington as the capitol of the 
nation and the seat of the largest and best equipped 
observatory. This meridian passes through the 
States of New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Vir- 
ginia and North Carolina, and it is hard to imagine 
what good reason there is that the railroads passing 
through those States should not run by Washington 
time. The meridian of Washington is nearly mid- 
way between the termini of the three great trunk 
lines of New York and Pennsylvania. Nevertheless 
the actual standard employed by each of those roads 
is clear at one end of the route. Even the Baltimore 
and Ohio runs by Baltimore instead of Washington 
time. The meridian thirty minutes west of Wash- 
ington passes through Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, 
Tennessee, Georgia and Florida, and might be 
adopted as the standard for those States. In four 
of them it passes very near the capitol or the chief 
city of the State. In the same manner the roads of 
Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas and Louisi- 
ana might refer their time to a meridian an hour 
West of Washington ; and so on, for the States 
and Territories lying beyond. 
Such a system offers many advantages. The 
Western Union Telegraph Company transmits 
Washington time signals each day at noon to nearly 
all the railroad towns in a large portion of the 
Union. These signals might be utilized independ- 
ently of the local time, and the great confusion 
which now exists would be done away with with- 
out greatly violating the preconceived notions of 
the general public. True noon would still occur 
within a few minutes of twelve o’clock by the 
standard time. In addition to the Washington 
Observatory, two others — the Cincinnati and the 
Morrison Observatories — have already adopted the 
standard of time which would accord with this 
plan, and it is to be hoped that others will follow 
their example. 
WATER SUPPLY OF CITIES. 
DR. H. C. H. HEROLD. 
The condition of the water supply of cities is now 
receiving increased attention from sanitary authori- 
ties and the medical profession in all countries, es- 
pecially in England, where the subject has been 
fully investigated under government authority. 
In the series of reports made to the Privy Council 
of England, Mr. Simon says, “ That while it is im- 
possible to make even a rough estimate of the number 
of persons annually sacrificed by impure water, taking 
the cases of enteric fever alone, no less than 6,879 
deaths occurred recently in one year in England and 
Wales.” In the admirable fifth report, Mr. Simon pre- 
sents an abstract of no less than one hundred and 
sixty-four epidemics of typhoid fever, investigated by 
the department during four years, in all which cases 
excremental pollution of air or water — generally both 
— were found to be the the cause of the sickness. 
It is not my present intention to discuss this ques- 
tion as a whole, but to offer a few facts which will be 
important to those who rely on wells for their supply 
of water. 
A few weeks since, a large firm whose place of bus- 
iness occupies an entire block in what is called the 
down-town portion of the city of New York, finding 
that the use of the water drawn from their well en- 
tailed painful results to those who drank it, directed 
me to make a chemical analysis of a sample of the 
water taken from the well in question. 
The water was clear and sparkling, but had a per- 
ceptible bitter taste. The result of the analysis 
proved to be as follows : 
Grains in U. S. Gallon. 
Total Residue after evaporation 26.195 
Organic or Volatile matter. . - 5*372 
Soda (Na O) - 3*596 
Chlorine (Cl) 5*312 
Magnesia (Mg O) 2.635 
Sulpharic Acid (SO3) - 4*247 
Lime (Ca O) — 4 044 
Carbonic Acid (CO2) - 3.664 
Silicic Acid - 1.447 
The above ingredients are present in the following 
combinations : 
Chloride of Sodium (Na Cl) 6.846 
Chloride of Magnesium (Mg CI2) 1*513 
Sulphate of Lime, (Ca O, SO3) 7.221 
Bi-Carbonate of Lime, (Ca O,) (2CO2). . . 2.754 
Carbonate of Magnesia, s(Mg O) 4(C02) 6(HO) 4 .854 
I need not add, that when this report was made, 
the use of the well was at once discontinued, for it 
was palpably unfit for drinking purposes, the large 
per centage of Chloride of Sodium (nearly 7 grains to 
the gallon) was decisive of sewage or drainage con- 
tamination being present, one grain to the gallon of 
that substance being considered by the best authorities 
as the outside limit, for water fit for domestic use. — 
The large amount of other inorganic impurities will 
also be noticed by professional readers, for such a 
large amount of solid residue, would make it a very 
bad water even for boilers, on account of the Lime, 
Magnesia and Silica being deposited as a very hard 
incrustation. Lastly, the analysis shows that the 
organic matter is largely in excess of what it should 
be — 5.372 grains to the U. S. gallon. 
For the purpose of comparison, I offer the result 
of a chemical analysis of the much abused Croton 
Water of New York City, made by Professor 
C. F. Chandler about three years ago, which is as 
follows : — _ . . TT „ _ „ 
Grams in U. b. Gallon. 
Soda 0.326 
Potassa 0.097 
Lime 0.988 
Magnesia 0.524 
Chlorine - 0.243 
Sulphuric Acid - - 0.322 
Silica - 0.621 
Carbonic Acid 2.604 
Organic and Volatile Matter 0.670 
