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Medical ArticlesChloroformSee Child-bearing. ... Diet As intimated in the preceding paragraph, the diet during end... Direction Of The Esophagus The esophagus enters the chest in a decidedly backward as we... Action Of The Pack And Bath Rationale The action of the wet-sheet pack is thus easily accounted for... Brain Rest The need for this is often indicated by irritability of temper... Natural Polarization Of Man's Physical Organism The electro-vital fluid, in the animal economy, is subject to... Where The Temperature Is Too Low That Is Below 98-2/5 Deg rub all over with warm olive oil, and clothe in good soft flan... The Sitz-bath May Be Taken In A Small Wash-tub If There Is No proper sitz-bath-tub at hand. It should be large enough to allo... Headache There is a vast variety of ailments associated with what is ca... Rotation Forceps It is sometimes desired to make traction on an irregularly s... Bronchoscopic Appearances In Disease The first look should note the color of the bronchial mucosa... Diet For Middle Age And The Aged In advancing years when less exercise is, as a rule, taken, a ... The Organic Versus Chemical Feud Now, regrettably, and at great personal risk to my reputation... Angioneurotic Edema Angioneurotic edema involving the esophagus, may produce int... On The Adherent Eschar It appears scarcely necessary to describe the immediate and w... Technicalities Of The Pack And Bath Let me give you its technicalities, and the rationale of its ... The Healing Influence Of Music Continued Dr. Herbert Lilly, in a monograph on musical therapeutics, ... Entering The Bronchi The lip of the bronchoscope should be turned in the directio... Flour, And Other Matters Relating To Seeds One of the largest degradations to human health was caused by... Stomach Trouble If you would cure thoroughly, you must first make sure that th... |
Where Our Drinking Water Comes FromCategory: OUR DRINK Source: A Handbook Of Health Water Contained in our Food is Pure. Seeing that five-sixths of our food is water, it is clearly of the greatest importance that that water should be pure. That part of our water supply which we get in and with our foods is fortunately, for the most part, almost perfectly pure, having been specially filtered by the plants or animals which originally drank it, or having been boiled in the process of cooking. Water is Always in Motion. The part of our water supply which we take directly, in the form of drinking water, is, however, unfortunately anything but free from danger of impurities. The greatest difficulty with water is that it will not stay put--it is continually on the move. The same perpetual circulation, with change of form, but without loss of substance, which is taking place in the engine and in our bodies, is taking place in the world around us. The water from the ocean, the lakes, and the rivers is continually evaporating under the heat of the sun and rising in the form of vapor, or invisible steam, into the air. There it becomes cooler, and forms the clouds; and when these are cooled a little more, the vapor changes into drops of water and pours down as rain, or, if the droplets freeze, as snow or hail. The rain falls upon the leaves of the trees and the spears of the grass, or the thirsty plowed ground, soaks down into the soil and seeps or drains gradually into the streams and rivers, and down these into the lakes and oceans, to be again pumped up by the sun. All we can do is to catch what we need of it, on the run, somewhere in the earthy part of its circuit. Why our Drinking Water is Likely to be Impure. Every drop of water that we drink or use, fell somewhere on the surface of the earth, in the form of rain or snow; and if we wish to find out whether it is pure and safe, we must trace its course through the soil, or the streams, from the point where it fell. Our drinking water has literally washed all outdoors before it reaches us, and what it may have picked up in that washing makes the possibilities of its danger. As it falls from the skies, it is perfectly pure--except in large cities or manufacturing centres, where rain water contains small amounts of soot, smoke-acids, and dust, but even these are in such small amounts as to be practically harmless. But the moment it reaches the ground, it begins to soak up something out of everything that it touches; and here our dangers begin. Risks from Leaf Mould. Practically the whole surface of the earth is covered with some form of vegetation--grass, trees, or other green plants. These dying down and decaying year after year, form a layer of vegetable mould such as you can readily scratch up on the surface of the ground in a forest or old meadow; this is known as leaf mould, or humus. As the water soaks through this mould, it becomes loaded with decaying vegetable matter, which it carries with it down into the soil. Most of this, fortunately, is comparatively harmless to the human digestion. But some of this vegetable matter, such as we find in the water from bogs or swamps, or even heavy forests, will sometimes upset the digestion; hence, the natural dislike that we have for water with a marshy, or weedy, taste. Nature's Filter-Bed. When, however, this peaty water soaks on down through the grass, roots, and leaf mold, into the soil, it comes in contact with Nature's great filter-bed--the second place in the circuit where the water is again made perfectly pure. This filter-bed consists of a layer of more or less spongy, porous soil, or earth, swarming with millions of tiny vegetable germs known as bacteria. These eagerly pick out all the decaying vegetable substances of the water and feed upon them, changing them into harmless carbon dioxid water, and small amounts of ammonia. Not only will this filter-bed, or spongy mat of bacteria, burn up and remove all traces of vegetable decay, but if the rain happens to have soaked through the decaying body of a bird or animal or insect, the bacteria will just as eagerly feed upon these animal substances and change them into harmless gases and salts.[13] By the time the rain water has reached the deeper layers of the soil, it is again perfectly pure and has also, in seeping through the soil, picked up certain mineral salts (such as calcium, sodium, and magnesium) which are of use in the body; so that in an open or thinly settled country, the water in streams, rivers, and lakes is usually fairly pure and quite wholesome. That is why, in ancient times, the great majority of villages and towns and camps were situated on the bank of some stream, where a supply of water could easily be obtained. Next: Causes And Dangers Of Polluted Water Previous: Filling The Boiler Of The Body-engine
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