WATER RESEARCH

Dunstan Times, 13 May 1935, Page 6

WATER RESEARCH

NEW MEASURING DEVICE

Measuring devices which prevent fatigue of the sense of taste and smell and establish with scientific precision the chemical and physico-chemi-cal properties of water too small in magnitude to bo detected by ordinary analytical procedures, are being employed in researches by the Hackensack Water Company of the United States in connection with its study of the effect of stray electric currents upon the quality of water supplies. In determining taste and odours, the nose and tongue, under the older practice, functioned unaided. When exerted for prolonged periods these orgaiis were overtaken by fatigue and Tost their sensitivity. Hence conclusions were incomplete and oltcn untrustworthy, impeding advances in water works science. _ _ To assist the nostrils in identifying the quality of odours in water Gordon M. F air, associate professor of sanitary engineering in Harvard University, has invented the “ osmoscope. In this device is imprisoned the full strength of an odour as it flows from a test flash to the nostrils, preventing any leakage which might destroy tho accuracy of the determination. A new process of dilution, performed with mathematical precision, protects the sensory organs and assures exact measurements of the degree of odour intensity and concentration. r ihe same principle of dilution, employing tastefree water as the diluting agent, is being utilised to determine taste. Jhe now methods provide water analysts throughout tho country with a uniform basis for obtaining data of vital importance to public health. Tho aim of tlie New Jersey tests is to ascertain under laboratory conditions the influence of electricity on the quality of water. Evidence that fugitive current is one of the surreptitious forces which sporadically imparts tastes and odours to water supplies has already been discovered in field investigation’s in Northern New Jersey.