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sence of sewage-products in water at any previous
time renders that water noxious or unfit for use ever
after. Those who adopt this theory can have but
little faith in chemistry, or in the chemical changes
which are going on around us;" and with regard
to the phrase "living organisms," he says, "if water
is to bo condemned as unwholesome and unfit for
domestic use, because 'living and moving organisms,'
i.e., animalcules, are found in it, then there is no
water in the world which can escape condemnation.
The waters of the lakes of Wales and Cumberland
and even the water of Loch Katrine of Scotland,
which is commonly taken as a type of purity for
domestic use, would, on this ground, be pronounced
'undesirable for human consumption.' In short
those who would keep these minute infusorial animalcules
out of any river or lake water on the earth,
must adopt some scheme for preventing water-plants
from growing in the water, or leaves, grass, or other
organic substance from falling into it."
But the Registrar-General is not content with the
use of these objectionable phrases, having reference
to the quality of the water, and which are frequently
associated with some statement respecting the
dangers of cholera or typhus, and the connection of
these diseases with bad water, but the quantities of
the so-called impurities of water are represented in