ON THE DETERMINATION OF ORGANIC MATTER IN WATER. 
293 
small and the oil of far higher congealing point and on that account of much 
less powerful odour, that it is vastly inferior to the oriental attar, and is men¬ 
tioned in this place only as a curiosity. What has been written about the pro¬ 
duction of rose-oil at Brussa is simply untrue. At Adrianople even rose-distil¬ 
lation is no longer attempted. 
ON THE DETERMINATION OF ORGANIC MATTER IN 
WATER. 
All water which is obtained by any but artificial means holds in solution nu¬ 
merous substances of exceedingly diverse character. This is the case with all 
water derived from any natural source of supply. The substances taken up in 
this manner into solution may be arranged under two heads, gases and solid sub¬ 
stances. The latter, though they consist in great part of mineral salts, present, 
in addition, almost invariably, a collection of matters which, it cannot be 
doubted, are very numerous and of various composition, and which are placed 
under the common denomination of u orgauic matter.” 
The presence of the ordinary saline constituents of water is of practical in¬ 
terest in its bearing upon the application of particular waiters to washing aud 
similar purposes, but it is not the object of the present paper to discuss the 
composition or action of these salts in any of the purposes alluded to. 
The importance of a supply of pure water for drinking, how r ever, has been 
of late years particularly obvious; and, in examining water from different 
sources, and also from tracing to their origin outbreaks of different epidemic 
diseases, it has become pretty plain what are the conditions which operate most 
actively in rendering water suitable or otherwise for such purposes. Of all the 
circumstances affecting the quality of water as a wholesome beverage, the pre¬ 
sence or absence of organic matter stands out in unmistakable prominence. 
Accordingly, the chemist is frequently called upon to furnish information as 
to the amount and character of such substances in given samples. It is pro¬ 
bably seldom that he has presented to him a more important, and, at the same 
time, difficult problem. Nevertheless, it is only comparatively recently that 
the subject has attracted attention at all commensurate with its interest. 
The organic matters held in solution in water are of two kinds, namely, those 
which contain nitrogen and those which are non-nitrogenous. 
It is the nitrogenous organic matters which have always been charged, and 
no doubt justly, with all the mischief which arises so frequently from the em¬ 
ployment, for drinking purposes, of water so contaminated. The explanation 
would suggest itself as probable, that the particular forms of organic matter 
which, when taken into the system induce disease, are such as exist in an ac¬ 
tually organized state, in the form of minute bodies, similar to those which 
constitute the germs or even the entire organization of beings in the very lowest 
grades of existence. Now, the fundamental material from which all organized 
structures are primarily elaborated is known to be nitrogenous, and this in¬ 
cludes, of course those obscure matters, known as ferments, which are so prompt 
in setting up change in other organic compounds. 
No more complete classification than into these two subdivisions of nitro¬ 
genous aud non-nitrogenous is at present possible ; we are so little acquainted 
with the constitution of organized bodies in general, and we are intimate with 
so few of the products of their disintegration, except, indeed, such as are ulti¬ 
mate and final, carbonic acid, water, and ammonia, that we are unable even to 
guess at the probable intermediate phases which they may present. 
The organic matters containing nitrogen, which are found in water, are chiefly 
