As to hard and soft water, the latter is always most desirable, as soft
water extracts the flavor of tea and coffee far better than hard, and is
also better for all cooking and washing purposes. Hard water results from
a superabundance of lime; and this lime "cakes" on the bottom of
tea-kettles, curdles soap, and clings to every thing boiled in it, from
clothes to meat and vegetables (which last are always more tender if
cooked in soft water; though, if it be too soft, they are apt to boil to a
porridge).
Washing-soda or borax will soften hard water, and make it better for all
household purposes; but rain-water, even if not desired for drinking, will
be found better than any softened by artificial means.
If, as in many towns, the supply of drinking-water for many families comes
from the town pump or pumps, the same principles must be attended to. A
well in Golden Square, London, was noted for its especially bright and
sparkling water, so much so that people sent from long distances to secure
it. The cholera broke out; and all who drank from the well became its
victims, though the square seemed a healthy location. Analysis showed it
to be not only alive with a species of fungus growing in it, but also
weighted with dead organic matter from a neighboring churchyard.
Pages:
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46