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is not free from objections, the most important being its unsuitability
for "washing," the lime curdling the soap and causing great waste.
In respect of hardness the water of the Kent Company's chalk wells
stands at the head of the list, the mean degree of hardness during
1871 being 29.65 degrees ("a degree = 1 part of carbonate of lime or
its equivalent) in 100,000 parts of water. The mean degree in the
local Companies' water being as follows:—Chelsea, 21°27; West
Middlesex, 21°32; Grand Junction, 21°62. The hardness of water
can be greatly reduced by the application to it of Clark's simple,
practical, and inexpensive process, which consists in the addition to
the water of carbonate of lime, chalk, the effect in the case
of the Kent Company's water being to reduce it to one-third
the hardness of River water, while in a series of experiments upon
the Grand Junction Company's water, the hardness was reduced
from an average of 21°3 to something under 6°. These results, says
Dr. Frankland, show how considerably the polluted condition of
Thames water can be mitigated by this method of treatment, and
how all the hard water supplied to the Metropolis can easily be
rendered soft and suitable for washing and cleansing purposes. Dr.
Frankland expresses preference for deep well water, which, moreover,
is of a much more uniform temperature than river water, the
extreme range observed during the year in the Kent Company's
water being 11° (from 48°9 to 59°9) ; the Thames water having a
range of 33°7 (viz., from 37° to 70°7), and being during hot weather
" so warm as to be nauseous to the palate." The amount of organic
matter, the worst form of impurity occuring in potable water, especially
such as is of animal origin, present in Thames water, is much
in excess of that contained in that of the Kent Company, as shown
in the subjoined Table, the Kent Company's water being taken as a
standard of comparison:—