THE 
VETERINARIAN. 
VOL. XLII. 
No.495. 
MARCH, 1869 
Fourth Series. 
No. 17L 
Communications and Cases. 
REMARKS ON THE ALLEGED DEATH OF 
SEVENTEEN COWS AND TWO HORSES 
THROUGH DRINKING BAD WATER. 
By Professor Tuson, Royal Veterinary College. 
Continued from p. 81. 
Before proceeding to criticise Dr. Truman’s analyses of the 
Colwick waters published in last month’s Veterinarian^ it will 
be desirable, if not necessary, to make a few remarks expla¬ 
natory of the terms employed by that gentleman and 
by chemists in drawing up reports on water analyses. 
By total solids ” is meant the entire weight of organic and 
mineral substances which is left upon evaporating a known 
weight or bulk of water to complete dryness at a tempera¬ 
ture of 212° Fahr., and subsequently heating the residue to 
260° Fahr. until it ceases to lose weight. After being weighed, 
this mixed organic and mineral residue is heated to low redness 
to expel organic matter, moistened with carbonic acid water 
and weighed again. In this manner the amount of mineral 
matter is estimated; the product obtained by deducting the 
weight of mineral matter thus arrived at from that of the 
total solids shows the quantity of organic matter. 
“ Hard ” waters are those which curdle soap, owing to the 
lime and magnesia salts which they contain ; soft waters con¬ 
tain no, or very small quantities of, lime or magnesia com¬ 
pounds, and do not curdle, but readily produce a lather with 
soap. The amount or degree of hardness ” of a water is pro- 
XLII, 11 
