AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 331 
ESTERVILLE 3D.—THE PROPERTY OP MR. T.OYILLARD SPENCER, 'WESTCHESTER, N. Y. 
Above we present our readers with the cut 
of one of the finest cows in the State. Her 
color is mostly a deep, bright red. She was 
calved Sept. 28th, 1846. Got by O’Connell, 
(118 A. H. R.;) out °f Esterville 2d, by Dan 
O’Connell, (3,557;) Esterville 1st by Alfred, 
(2,987;) Amethyst by Prince of Northumber¬ 
land, (2,826;) Young Amazon by Crusader, 
CHEMISTRY OF COMMON LIFE. 
TnAT voluminous and indefatigable writer on 
agriculture, Jas. F. W. Johnston, is constantly 
sending forth some new work upon his favorite 
subject. Those who have already read one or 
more of his popular works—and who has not— 
need not be told that most of what comes from 
his pen is eminently practical in its character, 
and well adapted to both interest and instruct 
the reader. He is now issuing a series of eight 
monthly numbers, (12£ cents each,) designed to 
explain the chemistry of the following subjects: 
The air we breathe and the water we drink. 
The soil we cultivate and the plant we rear. 
The bread we eat and the beef we cook. The 
beverages we prepare and the liquors we con¬ 
sume. The narcotics we indulge in. The odors 
we enjoy and the smells we dislike. What we 
breathe and breathe for, and what, how, and 
why we digest. The body we cherish and the 
circulation of matter, a recapitulation. 
We need not say that the work is well done. 
The high reputation of the author is a pledge 
with which the public will be satisfied. An 
example of the simple yet perfectly scientific 
manner in which he handles his very interest¬ 
ing subjects, is afforded by a paragraph selected 
from his account of the chemistry of “ The 
water we drink 
The neighborhood of grave-yards is equally 
fitted, with the accumulation of town refuse, to 
adulterate water with undesirable admixtures. 
The water of a well which is close to the old 
church-yard on the top of Highgate Hill, has 
lately been examined 'by Mr. Noad, and found 
to contain as much as 100 grains of solid mat¬ 
ter to the gallon, consisting of— 
(934;) Amazon by Sultan, (1,485 ;) Bellona by 
Mars, (411;) Kolia by North Star, (485 ;) &c. 
Esterville 3d took the first prize, after a sharp 
competition, at the New-York State Agricultural 
Society Show at Albany in 1850, and the first 
prize at the Show of the American Institute in 
1853, which was the best and strongest show of 
Short-horns it ever made. She has now at he r 
side a fine heifer calf, got by the celebrated 
bull, Duke of Athol, (10,150.) He was out of 
one of Mr. Bates’ celebrated Duchess cows, 
and was imported by Mr. Spencer in 1852. Mr. 
S. has other very choice Short-horn cattle, im¬ 
ported and bred by himself. 
Nitrate of lime,.40.12 grains. 
Nitrate of magnesia,.17.06 „ 
Sulphate of potash,.17.04 „ 
Sulphate of soda (Glauber salts,). 9.52 „ 
Chloride of sodium (common salt,) 9.63 ,, 
Chloride of calcium,. 5.91 „ 
Silica,. 0.90 „ 
100.18 grains. 
This large amount of nitrates is traced to the 
neighboring grave-yard, as such compounds are 
generally produced where animal matters decay 
in porous soils. While the buried bodies were 
more recent, animal matters of a more disagree¬ 
able kind would probably have been found in 
the well, as I have myself found them in the 
water of wells situated in the neighborhood of 
farm-yards. 
Well-waters sometimes contain vegetable 
substances also of a peculiar kind, which ren¬ 
der them unwholesome, even over large tracts 
of country. In sandy districts the decaying 
vegetable matters of the surface-soil are observ¬ 
ed to sink down and form an ochrey pan, or 
thin yellow layer in the subsoil, which is im¬ 
pervious to water, and through which, there¬ 
fore, the rains cannot pass. Being arrested by 
this pan, the rain water, while it rests upon it, 
dissolves a certain portion of the vegetable mat¬ 
ter; and when collected into wells, is often dark 
colored, marshy in taste and smell, and un¬ 
wholesome to drink. When boiled, the organic 
matter coagulates, and when the water cools, 
separates in flocks, leaving the water whole¬ 
some, and nearly free from taste or smell. The 
same purification takes place when the water { 
is filtered through charcoal, or when chips of 
Oak wood are put into it. These properties of 
being coagulated by boiling, and by the tannin j 
of Oak wood, show that the organic matter con-: 
tained in the water is of an albuminous charac¬ 
ter, or resembles white of egg. As it c'oagu- 
j lates, it not only falls itself, but it carries other 
impurities along with it, and thus purifies the 
water—in the same way as the white of egg 
clarifies wines and other liquors to which it is 
added. 
Such is the character of waters in common 
use in the Landes of the Gironde around Bour- 
deaux, and in many other sandy districts. The 
waters of rivers, and of marshy and swampy 
places, often contain a similar coagulable sub¬ 
stance. Hence the waters of the Seine at Paris 
are clarified by introducing a morsel of alum, 
and the river and marshy waters of India by the 
use of the nut of the Strychnos potatorum, of 
which travelers often carry a supply. One or 
two of these nuts, rubbed to powder on the side 
of the earthen vessel into which the water is to 
be poured, soon causes the impurities to sub¬ 
side. In Egypt, the muddy water of the Nile 
is clarified by rubbing bitter almonds on the 
sides of the water-vessel in the same way. 
“ In all these instances the principle of the 
clarification is the same. The albuminous mat¬ 
ter is coagulated by what is added to the water, 
and in coagulating it embraces the other impu¬ 
rities of the water, and carries them down along 
with it. 
“ These cases, and especially that of the sandy 
Landes of Bourdeaux, and elsewhere, throw an 
interesting light upon the history of the waters 
of Marah, as given in the fifteenth chapter of 
Exodus. 
“So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea; 
and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; 
and they went three days in the wilderness, 
and found no water. And when they came to 
Marah, they could not drink of the waters of 
Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name 
of it was called Marah. And the people mur¬ 
mured against Moses, saying, what shall we 
drink? And he cried unto the Lord, and the 
Lord showed him a tree, which when he had 
cast into the waters, they were made sweet.” 
