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The cases following illustrate some of the various kinds of disease which bad waters may cause or help to cause.

PARTIAL ANALYSIS OF WATER FOR G. F. ABBOTT, TILTON, N. H.,

APRIL 9, 1887.

Some odor; milky and turbid color; residue blackens very much on ignition; acid reaction; chlorine, 2.2; free ammonia, .I; albuminoid ammonia, 1.12; no nitric acid; no nitrous acid; very large amount of sediment; water full of bacteria.

Opinion: This water is very badly polluted.

The location and history are as follows:

The well is situated in basement of house, 10 feet from one privy, 25 feet from another, 15 feet from sink-drain, which empties upon the ground. The general health of some of the parties using the water is good; of others poor. Some are troubled with headache and looseness of bowels and nausea.

PARTIAL ANALYSIS OF WATER FOR G. F. ABBOTT, TILTON, N. H., MAY 31, 1887.

Colorless; odor, a little foul; reaction, alkaline; evaporation is foamy; residue, in circles and patches; it blackens on ignition; chlorine, 2; free ammonia, .04; albuminoid ammonia, .146; no nitric acid; no nitrous acid; too much sediment; many bacteria; much disintegrated matter.

Opinion: This water is polluted and unfit for drinking purposes.

The location and history are as follows:

It is a driven well recently made. From sink-drain it is 40 feet; 35 feet from privy. The health of those using the water is good in case of some; poor in case of others. A person was very sick one day after drinking freely of the water the night before; no apparent cause for the sickness.

PARTIAL ANALYSIS OF WATER FOR E. T. HUBBARD, M. D., ROCH

ESTER, N. H., JUNE 25, 1887.

Odor, little foul; color, slightly milky; evaporation, some foamy; residue blackens on ignition; chlorine, .7; free ammonia, 1.224; albuminoid ammomia, .13; some nitric acid; large quantity of nitrous acid; sediment, too much, white, gelatinous, and flaky, and settles slowly; many bacteria.

Opinion: This water is unfit for drinking and cooking purposes. luted with excrementitious matter. It contains urea.

The location and history are as follows:

It is pol

The well is situated 25 feet from privy; 20 feet from stable. Most of the parties using the water are suffering with stomach troubles. Boy had acute Bright's disease. No fevers.

PARTIAL ANALYSIS OF WATER FOR C. L. JUDKINS, HOLLIS, N. H., APRIL 25, 1887.

Odor is slightly foul; color is quite milky and turbid; alkaline reaction; residue blackens much on ignition; chlorine, 2.8; free ammonia, .42; albuminoid ammonia, .65; large amount of nitric acid; very large amount of nitrous acid; much sediment; water full of bacteria; much decaying matter. Opinion: This water is very badly polluted.

The location and history are as follows:

It is a schoolhouse well and is at some distance from privy; no other source of pollution is near. Many of the school children are sick, for which no possible cause can be given.

PARTIAL ANALYSIS OF WATER FOR E. T. HUBBARD, M. D., ROCHESTER, N. H., JUNE 25, 1887.

Odorless; brownish color; evaporation, quiet; residue blackens on ignition; alkaline reaction; chlorine, 2.9; free ammonia, .234; albuminoid ammonia, .I; much nitric and considerable nitrous acid; too much sediment; fungi; rotifers; bacteria; suspicious-looking matter.

Opinion: The water is polluted. The stable and privy are indicated.

The location and history are as follows:

The well is situated in the front yard, 40 feet from sink-drain, 30 feet from privy, and 10 feet from stable. Quite a number of people use the water, and they are troubled more or less with stomach and liver disorders. One is subject to headache after drinking the water.

PARTIAL ANALYSIS OF WATER FOR C. L. JUDKINS, HOLLIS, N. H.,

APRIL 25, 1887.

Color, slight yellowish tint; odorless; reaction alkaline; residue darkens little on ignition; chlorine, 2.7; free ammonia, .08; albuminoid ammonia, .092; some nitric acid; nitrous acid, none; some sediment; disintegrated matter, and bacteria, which in appearance very closely resemble the micrococcus of pneumonia.

Opinion: This water is polluted, and is dangerous to health.

The location and history are as follows:

Schoolhouse well about 90 feet from privy; the land slopes toward the well. Sickness in the school. Health has always been good until the present time. Pneumonia is the prevailing disease. No cause can be given for so many school children being sick. Few cases outside, but mostly confined to the school.

PARTIAL ANALYSIS OF WATER FOR C. L. JUDKINS, HOLLIS, N. H.,

APRIL 25, 1887.

Colorless; odorless; reaction, alkaline; residue darkens little on ignition chlorine, 1.2; free ammonia, .15; albuminoid ammonia, .12; little nitric acid; no nitrous acid; sediment, little; infusoria and some decaying matter. Opinion: This water contains too much organic matter. It is prejudicial to health.

The location and history are as follows:

Town pump. All possible sources of contamination, apparently, are some distance away, but are higher than well, and the land slopes towards it. Sinkdrain, privy, and stable are about 200 feet distant. The nearest vaults are not cemented. School children who have drunk this water are sick without known

cause.

PARTIAL ANALYSIS OF WATER FOR S. A. EVANS, M. D., CONWAY, N. H., JUNE 10, 1887.

Odor, not marked; color, slightly milky; alkaline reaction; residue blackens on ignition; 3.4 grains of chlorine per gallon; free ammonia per million parts, 1.904; albuminoid ammonia, .6; large amount of nitric acid; little nitrous acid; some sediment; microscopic examination showed bacteria, fungi, and vegetable products from hay or straw.

Opinion: This water is extremely bad. A considerable quantity of urea is present.

The location and history are as follows:

The well is situated in the L part of an old farmhouse under the floor, surrounded by various sources of pollution: 30. feet from sink-drain, 25 feet from privy, 30 feet from stable. Somebody sick in the house most of the time, pneumonia, phthisis, quinsy, dysentery, coughs, colds, sore throat, salt rheum, bilious fever, etc. Three deaths in the family the past year -father, of phthisis, two children of complication of obscure diseases.

PARTIAL ANALYSIS OF WATER FOR J. W. STAPLES, M. D., FRANKLIN FALLS, N. H., FEBRUARY 12, 1887.

Odor, disgusting; color, decidedly yellow; residue blackens strongly on ignition; marked alkaline reaction; chlorine, 9.5; free ammonia, 2.38; albuminoid ammonia, .40; considerable nitric acid; much nitrous acid; too much sediment; fungi; infusoria; many bacteria.

Opinion: This water is horribly polluted.

The location and history are as follows:

The well is not sufficiently removed from possible contamination from privy and sink-drain. A most obstinate case of gastritis occurred. The patient was

No

very much emaciated, and it hardly seemed possible for him to recover. case of fever seems to have occurred in the family, and they seem to have been quite free from diseases of a zymotic character.

SANITARY ANALYSIS OF WATER FOR B. B. ROLLINS, HEALTH OFFICER, MEREDITH, N. H., DECEMBER 17, 1888.

Slight odor; color, milky and turbid; residue, yellowish and flaky; evaporation, quiet; residue blackens intensely on ignition; total solids, 29; loss on ignition, 4.2; hardness, 7.5; alkalinity, 7; chlorine, 3.9; free ammonia, .024 ; albuminoid ammonia, .372; large quantity of nitric acid; much nitrous acid; too much sediment; many bacteria.

Opinion: This water is badly polluted.

The location and history are as follows:

The well is under the house, and 8 feet from sink-drain, 40 feet from privy, 20 feet from stable, 40 feet from pig-pen. Land slopes toward the well from the sources of filth. Health of family is miserable. The water affects badly all who use it, causing headache and sore throat. A child has most obstinate constipation, no appetite, no strength, but gains as soon as she goes away from home to see relatives. The man has headache, lips swollen, lips and tongue

smart.

PARTIAL ANALYSIS OF WATER FOR J. W. PRAY, M. D., NORTHWOOD, N. H., MARCH 31, 1887.

Odor, slightly foul; color, yellowish; residue blackens on ignition; reaction, alkaline; chlorine, .5; free ammonia, 1.04; albuminoid ammonia, .16; some nitric acid; little nitrous acid; very little sediment; bacteria; few infusoria; woody fiber.

Opinion: This is very bad water. It is contaminated by the stable and privy.

The history and location are as follows:

The well is on slightly higher ground than the house; distant from privy and stable, 25 feet; sink-drain distant 20 feet, but securely conveyed in iron pipe. Daughter subject to colic, wife subject to headache, husband has frequent attacks of erysipelas.

SANITARY ANALYSIS OF WATER FOR DRS. ALLEN AND POWERS, ACWORTH, N. H., AUGUST 22, 1889.

Odorless; color, very slight yellowish tint; evaporation, quiet; residue, uniform and white, and blackens on ignition; total solids, 10; loss on ignition, 1.6; hardness, 4.6 degrees; alkalinity, 4 degrees; chlorine, 1.8; free ammonia, .70; albuminoid ammonia, .12; nitric acid, .42; nitrous acid, trace; lead, none; sediment, little; infusoria; disintegrated matter; oxygen for oxidation, .1072. Opinion: This water is badly polluted.

Dr. Powers gives the history of the case in the following letter. It is especially interesting from the fact that it illustrates how well water may become polluted when the owner is quite positive that there is no chance for contamination :

Edmund R. Angell:

ACWORTH, N. H., Sept. 18, 1889.

The water sent you was for the reason that two adults in a family of three had slight ailments pointing to bad ingesta of some sort. I examined the water with the nitrate silver test and found it had abundance of chlorides. I told them to stop drinking it. They dug down and found that the frost had broken the sink-pipe, so that it soaked into the ground very near the well wall. They have thought to clean the well, but I told them it would never be safe. The privy vault is over 100 feet away and below the top of the well by some 6 or 8 feet, with a moderate descent that way far below and beyond the vault. The barn offal is below and beyond the privy by another hundred feet, I should think; have been no animals kept there for some years. The well is about 15 feet deep.

G. H. POWERS, M. D.

The following experiments exhibit the results which a good water gives on analysis and those which it gives when polluted with filth from different sources:

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