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120 APPENDIX.
No. VI.—Letter by Mr. Thomas Taylor, Lecturer on
Chemistry at the Medical School of the Middlesex Hospital,
on the Chemical Qualities of certain Waters.
4, Vere street, Oxford street,
Dear Sir, November, 1850.
Having, by your desire, submitted the following samples of
water to chemical analysis, I now beg leave to lay before you the
result; and also, at the same time, to reply to certain questions
which you likewise proposed.
The samples of water taken for examination were derived from
the following sources :
A. Water supplied by the New Rivet Company.
B. Water supplied by the East London Company.
C. Water from a spring in the neighbourhood of Haslemere,
D. Water from a well in Bishopsgate street. [Surrey.
A. This water was taken from an upright pipe in a court-yard of
the Guildhall. It was slightly opalescent, inodorous, and tasteless ;
numerous small particles floated in it, which took a considerable
time to subside. The matter deposited was of a rust colour, and
consisted of peroxide of iron, with a little sulphate and carbonate
of lime, and organic matter. It is to be observed that, as the
water from this pipe is seldom used, these impurities collect in the
pipe, and are therefore in some measure accidental, although, prior
to collecting the water, a considerable quantity had been allowed
to run away. The water was allowed to free itself from these impurities
bv subsidence, before beiner submitted to analysis.