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57
Chemical and Assay Laboratory, 31, Moorgate Street, London, E.C.,
September 23rd, 1898.
Report on a sample of drinking water taken from well in Berger.s
Factory by myself, on September 21st, 1898, at 11.30 a.m.
Physical Characters.
Suspended matter—considerable.
Appearance of a column two feet
in length—clear at first, turbid
after standing 2 to 3 hours.
Taste—normal.
Smell—none.
On Analysis, the sample gave the
following results—
Total solid matter—35.0 grains
per gallon.
Non.volatile—27.3 grains per gallon.
Loss on ignition—77 grains per
gallon.
Chlorine—3 6 grains per gallon.
(Equivalent to Chloride of Sodium,
5 9 grs.)
Nitrogen, existing as nitrates and
nitrites—very slight traces.
(Equivalent to Anhydrous Nitric
Acid, 060 grs.)
Lead and other poisonous metals,
none.
Behaviour of Solids on ignition—slight browning.
The sample had a Hardness of 22.5 degrees. (Each degree represents
a soap.destroying power equivalent to that produced by one grain of chalk
per gallon.)
The Oxygen required by the changeable organic and other oxidisable
matter amounted to .2368 parts per million of water.
On Distillation the sample yielded—
Free ammonia,
.48 parts per million.
Albuminoid ammonia,
.12 parts per million.
On cultivation the sample yielded 2,864 colonies per cubic centimetre
after 48 hours incubation, these consisted mostly of one kind and are being
further examined to be further reported on should there prove any pathogenic
germs to be present.
Microscopical examination of the deposit from the water indicated
numbers of moving organisms.
The above analysis and bacteriological examination made within an
hour of the sampling confirms the opinion already expressed by me that the
water is quite unsuitable for drinking purposes.
LEO TAYLOR, F.I.C., Public Analyst.