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124 APPENDIX,
the water contains, illustrates in a very forcible manner the power
the earth possesses of depriving the water that percolates it of
any animal matter it may hold in solution ; and moreover shows
in how complete and rapid a manner this process is effected.
In this case the distance of the well from the churchyard is
little more than the breadth of the footpath, and yet this short
extent of intervening ground has, by virtue of the oxidizing
power of the earth, been sufficient wholly to decompose and render
inoffensive the liquid animal matter that has oozed from the putrefying
corpses in the churchyard.
The result of these analyses confirms the general statement
that the water derived from the sandy districts of Farnham and
Bagshot is of eminent purity, and therefore peculiarly fitted for
all those purposes of domestic and manufacturing economy which
require the use of a very soft water.
When regarded in conjunction with the analyses made by
other chemists, of the water taken from the streams, pools, and
other collections of water in the same locality, it also points out
that, if it be desirable to secure the water in its utmost state of
purity, it should be collected at its very source, before it has had
time to become impregnated with the various mineral and saline
ingredients of the different soils through which it would have to
pass. The total absence of free carbonic acid in these waters is
a very remarkable fact, and one which I believe has not been
hitherto noticed.
It will also be perceived that the principal solid constituent of
the water supplied by the New River and the East London companies
is carbonate of lime, held in solution by an excess of carbonic
acid, an opinion already expressed by several chemists.
These waters also contain an appreciable quantity of oxide of iron.
When the water from these sources is boiled, or simply brought
to the boiling temperature, the excess of carbonic acid is driven
off, and the carbonate of lime being thus deprived of its solvent,
the greater portion of it, together with the oxide of iron, is
thrown down in the form of an insoluble crystalline powder, while
the water is rendered comparatively soft and pure.
Were it therefore possible that means could be devised by
which the quantity of water necessary for the daily supply of
London could be deprived of its excess of earthy carbonates in a
manner sufficiently economic, comprehensive, and effectual, the