evaporates and purifies the air; standing water impregnates it with offensive and noxious vapours. Nothing contributes so much to fill the air with disagreeable and unwholesome miasmata as stagnant or marsh water; even fish will die in it if the water is not frequently changed by a fresh ingress and egress to modify and carry off that which had been for some time retained.* Nor is the above the only inconvenience confined to this article of health, for we are likewise troubled with insects and vermin in places where there are large standing waters: gnats, and a multitude of other little flies, are always found about standing water, for they breed there, and are very troublesome. The gnats in particular cannot exist in any abundance but where there is standing water: that fly lays its eggs upon the surface of a pond, and never anywhere else; and from these is hatched a little worm, which lives and feeds in the water for some time, till it undergoes a change like that of the caterpillar, which insect, like the butterfly, is produced from its body. The gnats do not lay their eggs upon the running water, because the current would carry them away; neither does the worm that is produced from them thrive except in such as is thick and foul; about these places, therefore, there will always be a vast quantity of these and similar insects, as well as toad-spawn and tadpoles, from which running waters are free. What we have said of the air is equally true as regards the water; as its faults and imperfections breed particular disorders in those who breathe it, so do those of the water in such as drink it, whether in its crude state or however altered by boiling. The difference of waters is greater than is generally imagined. Rainwater differs from that of springs, and that of springs from river-water. All water which falls in rain undergoes a natural distillation, and is much more pure and soft when it falls than after it has passed through different strata of the earth, and rises in springs.† Spring-water is therefore found to contain some foreign admixture; if this should be earthy and brackish, the water is called hard; if it contains other substances, it then receives the denomination of mineral-water. That water is the fittest for general use which is the purest and most free from all heterogeneous particles, or unmixed with any foreign substance, whether of the animal, vegetable, or mineral kind: but an absolutely pure and unmixed elementary water we can indeed scarcely procure; for whatever bodies it meets with, as we have just observed, it will generally carry some of their particles along with it; and more especially if it come into contact with any of those salts which are plentifully dispersed through the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms: even in passing through air it will attract some particles which change its property; and whatever vessels we keep it in, we generally find a sensible change. We must therefore be content with that which contains the fewest of these incongruous parts, and those of the most inoffensive kind; that is, such as give the least hindrance or disturbance to its natural operations, more especially such as may be injurious to the animal body, or that work any change in the human constitution. This is a consideration of great importance, The purest water which can be produced is obtained by melting freshly-formed snow, or by receiving rain in clear vessels at a distance from houses; but even this water is not absolutely pure, as it contains portions of gas. Pure water was first made artificially by Mr. Cavendish: it was effected by the combustion of two measures of hydrogen gas with one of oxygen. All water, as before stated, which has been in contact with the ground, becomes impregnated with more or less earthy or saline matter, but from which it can be separated by distillation, and this distilled water is absolutely pure; though pure water produced by this means is not altogether wholesome, neither is snow-water. The water of Bala Lake, in Merionethshire in Wales, is so pure that a chemist had difficulty in detecting any earthy matter in it. Its flavour is exceedingly grateful.-(N.) + In Switzerland and the Tyrol, the inhabitants are subject to what is called the goître, which is a swelling in the fore part of the throat, occasioning a wry neck, attributed entirely to the water they drink in the valleys, which is produced from the melted snows that descend from the Alps. Mr. Coxe supposes the impregnation of the waters to be stony, not metallic: the same occurrences are however to be met with in some parts of Derbyshire.-(Coxe's Travels in Switzerland.) * for those substances are often so small in quantity, that they operate by slow and imperceptible degrees, and their effects by this means may often escape the nicest observation; yet by long and constant perseverance they may become very prejudicial if not destructive. "Non vi sed sæpe cadendo, Even poisons of the most pernicious kind have been known by experience to be contained in mineral waters, which were yet so subtile that the nicest chemical analysis could not discover them.+ This should teach us not to be too hasty nor too peremptory in our conclusions, and that we should have something to depend upon before we pronounce any particular water to be salutary. Omitting here the marvellous properties ascribed by ancient writers to some foreign waters, making thieves blind, others depriving a person of his senses, and some again of restoring them to their first state, we shall consider it of more importance to examine and ascertain the differences of water in our own country, in their several natures and kinds, as regards health and convenience, there being many manifest signs and criteria by which we can often form a tolerable judgment, with as much certainty and precision as the nature of the subject and our comprehension will allow. : First then let the architect employ a skilful chemist to examine and analyze the water which is immediately upon the spot, and that of the river which is near, to find how far its qualities are likely to answer the purposes of life and health, for the health and comfort of a family are greatly dependent upon the nature of the water which they consume. Inattention to this very important point, in choosing a situation for a residence, has frequently proved the after-cause of universal dissatisfaction, if not the abandonment of the house altogether. The first and one of the most obvious properties is its fluidity, that its parts may be separated with the least known force, and easily moved amongst one another. We know that the purest water yields to the least force, and allows solid bodies to move in it with the least resistance; and hence if we observe any tenacity or clamminess, we judge that its parts are held together by some intervening substance, and that something besides water is contained in it. This tenacity may often be discovered by moving the hand or any other body in it, by pouring it out of one vessel into another, or by observing the drops whether they are round and small or large and pointed. Hippocrates recommends the lightest waters as the most wholesome, which appears confirmed by Herodotus, who tells us of a very healthy and long-lived people who drank a water so light that most kinds of wood sank in it.§ This is well countenanced by experiments upon the waters brought from Africa by our seamen; whence there is great reason for concluding that the father of Greek history was correct, and thus it gave "Health to the sick and solace to the swain." After lightness, let the water be examined by the eye and by the taste; that which is most transparent is to be preferred; but it should never have the least bad taste or smell. Goodness of water, say some authors, depends on its being in running streams, neither stagnant, muddy, nor leaving any We have the authority of a very accurate experimental traveller to vouch that there is water in Africa lighter by four ounces in the pint than the common water in England, and that there is also water in Spain of an intoxicating quality; so great is the difference in countries. At the foot of Mount St. Julian, near Pisa, there is a spring of such excellence, that in the earlier part of the last century it was sold in Florence dearer than common wine. (Misson, vol. ii. p. 297.) The Grand Duke drank no other beverage, and upon dropping a little rose-water into a glass of it it became as white as milk.-(G.) § Lignum vitæ and several of the heavier woods will sink in our freshwater rivers.-(R.) particles in the vessel in which it may be placed; its remoteness from ponds; and to be clear and light, lying on a bed of sand or gravel, and without any mud or slime as a sediment.* It is an established observation, that the best waters boil and cool again the quickest; and that they evaporate in the least time and with the least degree of heat. These effects are undoubtedly owing in some measure to their more perfect fluidity, by which their parts are more easily separated and carried off. Another appearance in the best waters may partly arise from the same cause, and that is their sparkling in a glass, and forming a number of air-bubbles on the sides of the vessels which contain them. All water contains a large quantity of air, or some subtile elastic fluid; and when the pressure of the atmosphere is taken off from the surface and considerably diminished, so as to destroy the equilibrium, this fluid will expand and come out in very great quantities, rising in bubbles from the bottom of the glass, and from every part of the water, increasing in their ascent. Some have maintained that there is a subtile ethereal spirit in water which manifests itself in these bubbles. Some waters do indeed contain a very large quantity of such a spirit, the Pyrmont particularly will sparkle in the glass and fly like champagne; but this cannot be a mark of its purity, but is rather a proof of a large mixture of some particular body in it; and accordingly we find from the proportion of its contents that it is very far from a simple water, for upon evaporation it leaves sometimes nearly twenty grains of residuum to a pint. But there are several waters which leave scarcely a twentieth part of this quantity, and consequently approach much nearer to a state of purity. Another circumstance which greatly varies this appearance in the warmth or coldness of the water is, that all elastic fluids are condensed by cold and rarefied by heat, consequently if water taken out of a well or brought from a cool cellar be colder than the circumambient air, the superior warmth of the air will expand the elastic parts which were before in a compressed state, and they will form into numbers of these little round bubbles, and when they are urged by a boiling heat, the whole body of the water is turned into an elastic steam, and flies off, excepting a small proportion of earth or salts that remains in the residuum. Further, it is to be remarked, that after observing what appearances are made at the spring-head, and in the channel through which the water flows, as whether any ochreous or chalky sediment be left upon the stones, or whether the water has any film or scum at the top, we should take up a sufficient quantity of it into a clean, well-corked glass bottle, and subject it to the following trials, which are judged necessary. First, the most common and easiest method of judging whether water contains any considerable mixture of saline matter, is to put a little of it into a clean, thin * In travelling to the Red Sea from Alexandria, Belzoni says, "After entering the Desert we were parched with thirst, but at last found two wells, which the traveller in that country hails with as much joy as the sailor who first sees land after a long voyage: the water of one of these wells was soft, the other quite putrid and brackish. There are few waters, says he, in the world better than that of the Nile, and now to have to drink the worst was such a change in one day that we could not help feeling the consequences of it. Mr. Beechy was taken very ill from drinking of the first well, and we had great apprehensions from the next, which was worse. Another well was found near the Red Sea that was better."-(Belzoni's Journey to the Red Sea, vol. ii. p. 40.) In Persia the water of the river Choaspes was so good that it was not allowed to be drunk by any but the kings, and was carried with them in vessels of silver wherever they went. "There Susa, by Choaspes' amber stream, The drink of none but kings."-(Paradise Regained, book ii.) The Persians by a law permitted those who conveyed a spring to any place which had not been watered before, to enjoy the benefit for five generations; and as a number of rivulets flowed from Mount Taurus, they spared no expense in directing the course of their streams. At this day, without knowing how they came thither, they are found in the fields and gardens. -(Stawell.) + Mr. Boyle Rutty's Synopsis, p. 315. glass, and having ready prepared a saturated solution of the saccharum saturni, or sugar of lead, in clear water let two or three drops fall into the glass, and if it make no cloud, milkiness, or precipitation, we may be pretty sure that the water contains no quantity of mineral salt that we need regard, for one grain of salt of almost any kind, put into a pint of pure distilled water, will discover a cloud and wheyishness upon dropping in a little of this solution, and after standing a few hours will form a thin crust upon the sides of the glass. If there be any very considerable quantity of acid, alkaline, or neutral salt, three drops of this solution will instantly turn a wine-glass full quite tinted and milky, and in proportion to the quality of the contents, these effects will vary, so as to afford an opportunity of forming some probable conjecture about them. This trial is so very easy, and at the same time determines so quickly the comparative purity of most waters, that it may always be recommended. The more useful, and indeed the best way of determining the hardness or softness of water, is by scraping any quantity of soap, (such as that of Castile,) and observing how it dissolves or lathers: if the water be perfectly soft, the soap will dissolve quickly, uniformly, and without curdling, and upon shaking the glass briskly, will raise a strong froth or lather at the top; but the smallest degree of hardness will show itself either by the soap not dissolving so readily, by its turning curdy and uneven, only less froth remaining after it is agitated; and the different degrees of hardness may hereby be very well determined. This is tried the best with a small quantity of soap, as about a grain to an ounce of water. Water, as we have said, should be entirely free from any particular taste or smell, and perfectly insipid, otherwise we may safely conclude that it is impure. It ought likewise to be soft, limpid, bright, and transparent; still several good waters, and especially river water, will be muddy and opaque, but this can scarcely be called an imperfection if they subside and become clear upon standing, like that of the Thames; yet whatever water shows any other than its natural colour, that of a pearl or blue tint,* is certainly impure. And further it is to be observed whether water boils garden-stuff well. River-water is commonly good for this purpose, and pump-water generally the reverse: however, if the fault in the latter be not great, it may be borne with, and remedied by pumping up into pails a sufficient quantity of water in the morning, and then letting it stand for some time in the open air, by which it will be softened. Though a brook may run through the grounds, yet it is always required to have springwater in the servants' court-lidge of a house: in fact, that house is best situated in respect of water which has good and wholesome springs for its wells. An agreeable stream of running water, with falls at a moderate distance, is desirable alike for beauty and pleasure, as well as its pools for the duck, widgeon, and stately swan. ON THE FORMATION OF WELLS. As wells are frequently necessary to be dug, and water sometimes lies at a great depth, it will be proper here to give some explanation of springs. Now water which falls on the surface of the earth, upon mountains and hills, in rain and snow, penetrates its surface, and descends downwards till it. meets with a stratum of marl, clay, or stone; it then glides laterally on the stratum which sustains it, * In Geneva the observer's attention is always arrested by the peculiar blue tint of the water of the Rhone which runs through the city, and thus shows its extreme purity.—(B.) FF in the direction to which it leans; when on meeting with an aperture it again appears on the surface of the earth in the form of a spring, and winds its way along the valley to the ocean. Now as water has always a tendency to descend, springs are always lower than the source from which they are supplied. Springs are also most common on the sides and at the bottoms of mountains; they are seldom found quite at the summit of a mountain, and are rare where a country is everywhere level to a considerable distance, because there the strata are horizontal, and do not conduct the waters to any particular point.* Therefore, in order to obtain water in flat countries, it is generally necessary to dig into the earth and form wells, when it is found to flow copiously from the sides of the opening at no great distance from the surface. When wells are dug in elevated situations, water is seldom met with till we have dug to a considerable depth, and got below the general level of the country. I shall here observe, that where wells are necessary to be dug they ought to be done at first, for fear that after the house is built no water should be found on the spot ;† and these are to be sunk in such places where the pump will stand most conveniently: the wells are likewise to be of such depth as to obtain a sufficient quantity of water, and low enough to retain that supply in the summer When a reasonable conjecture can be made at what depth the water may be found, the diameter of the well should be proportioned to its expected depth. This may sometimes be known by the wells in the neighbouring places, and then finished with a lining of brick or stonework, which will need no further care for ages. season. Finally, the collection of water between the strata lies so different in various places, that the depth of the wells is necessary to be five, six, or eight times as great in some places as in others, not accounting the extremes of either: but sometimes a great deal of expense in digging wells where they are deep may be saved by boring. This method is practised in France and Italy with great success, and has also been very happily tried in several counties in England, particularly Kent and Sussex. The expense of this is so much less than that of digging wells to the required depth in the usual manner, that where the situation of the place renders it at all likely of success, and water is to be found at a moderate depth, it should be tried. Where it is most likely to succeed is in those places encompassed with hills at a distance, or in a flat country. In the Isle of Wight, a few years ago, a well was dug three hundred feet deep before a drop of water was found, and this was at the level of the ocean: hence in the neighbourhood of the sea the necessary depth of wells may be easily ascertained by merely observing the level of the ocean, and which in the island of Bermuda appears to be their guide. It is necessary to observe, they have also found here that by going a few feet deeper it has been of serious consequences, for the salt-water has then rushed in *In contemplating this beautiful arrangement of hill and dale, it is impossible not to call to mind the language of David: "He sendeth the springs into the valleys which run among the hills. They give drink to every beast of the field; the wild asses quench their thirst: by them shall the fowls of the air have their habitation and sing among the branches. He watereth the hills from his chambers; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works."—(Psalm civ. 10-13.) + In sinking wells, for want of timely consideration, injudicious situations have often been selected, and mansions erected at a distance from copious sources of water which have afterwards been discovered with regret. A curious circumstance occurs in making wells at Modena and Stiria in Italy. The workmen begin by digging through several strata or soils, till they come to a very hard kind of earth, much resembling chalk; here they begin their masons' work, and build up a circular wall, which they carry on leisurely till they get to the top without being interrupted by any depth of water, and without the least apprehension of not finding it when they come to make the experiment. The well being finished, they then bore through the hard bed of chalk upon which the well is built, with a long auger, but taking care to get out of the well before they draw it out again; which when they have done, the water springs up into the well, and in a little time rises to the brim; nay, sometimes overflows the neighbouring grounds. Now there can be little doubt that the water flows from reservoirs, which are collected within the Apennine mountains, not far from Modena, and taking their course through subterranean passages, endeavour to force their ascent to the same height from which they descend whenever they can find vent.-(Travels in Italy.) |