Am.  Jour.  Pharm. ) 
December,  1904.  i 
Purification  of  Water  Supplies. 
559 
J.  A.  W.  Brubaker,  Secretary  of  the  Millersburg  Home  Water 
Company,  Millersburg,  Pa.:  "  Enclosed  you  will  find  a  statement  in 
the  matter  of  the  extermination  of  algae.  This  experiment  was  made 
by  the  Millersburg  Home  Water  Water  Company,  and  the  results 
are  very  satisfactory." 
A.  W.  Harris,  Director  of  the  Jacob  Tome  Institute,  Port  Deposit, 
Md. :  u  I  am  writing  now  to  say  that  the  improvement  in  the  taste  and 
odor  of  the  reservoir  water  was  extremely  marked,  and  the  trustees 
have  expressed  themselves  as  very  much  pleased  with  the  result  of 
the  experiment.  The  water  is  now  in  a  very  satisfactory  condition, 
and  it  seems  to  us  your  discovery  is  likely  to  prove  of  great  impor- 
tance.   We  shall  always  feel  grateful  for  having  known  of  it." 
Alfred  M.  Quick,  Engineer  Water  Board,  Baltimore,  Md.:  "  I 
have  completed  the  experiment  of  treating  the  water  in  Lake  Clif- 
ton with  copper  sulphate  to  eliminate  the  algae,  and  am  glad  to  say 
the  result  has  been  an  unqualified  success." 
These,  with  other  cases  which  have  been  referred  to  in  the  Phila- 
delphia press,  seem  to  me  sufficient  to  establish  the  question  in 
regard  to  the  efficiency  of  the  method  for  the  removal  of  algae.  It 
might  also  be  considered  as  having  answered  the  question  of  harm- 
lessness  to  men,  since  in  many  of  these  cases  the  water  was  not  cut 
out  of  service  for  an  instant,  but  the  consumer  was  supplied  with 
the  copper-treated  water  in  the  same  quantity  and  way  that  the 
algal  polluted  water  was  furnished.  Of  course,  a  great  deal  might 
be  said  in  regard  to  the  effect  of  copper  upon  the  human  system, 
and  there  is  a  large  amount  of  evidence  to  show  that  by  actual  test 
this  metal  is  not  as  poisonous  as  it  is  popularly  supposed  to  be. 
Without  attempting  to  review  the  literature  upon  the  subject  or 
give  you  a  list  of  the  considerable  number  of  experiments  which 
have  been  carried  on  by  investigators  who  have  eaten  large  quan- 
tities of  copper  for  more  than  a  year  at  a  time,  it  probably  is  suffi- 
cient to  say  that  there  does  not  exist  an  authentic  case  of  copper 
poisoning.  This  may  seem  surprising,  but  a  careful  investigation 
of  the  facts  will,  I  am  sure,  demonstrate  the  correctness  of  this 
statement.  While  it  is  true  that  there  are  many  so-called  cases  of 
copper  poisoning,  and  the  popular  belief  in  the  deleterious  effect  of 
this  metal  upon  the  human  system  is  very  strongly  established,  the 
fact  still  remains  that  all  of  the  so-called  cases  of  copper  poisoning 
are  due  to  other  things,  and  the  bad  effects  ascribed  to  copper  have 
