FOOTNOTES
[1] It is proper to remark that, the pier at each extremity, of the range of arches of eighty feet span, has an extra thickness, making it a pier of equilibrium; this is also the case with the one in the centre of that range of arches, so that on each shore and in the centre of the river this additional security has been given.
[2] This report was from the pen of Samuel Stevens, Esq.
[3] This Act was drawn up by Myndert Van Schaick, Esq., and its character and suitableness to obviate former difficulties were approved of by the Common Council, and the situation of Mr. Van Schaick, as member of the Senate, no doubt promoted its success.
[4] This Act was prepared by Myndert Van Schaick, Esq., from materials which he had previously collected for the purpose, and it passed into a Law, and is the one under which, as its main foundation, the work has been constructed.
[5] For some general remarks on Water, its economical and dietetical uses, an analysis of the Croton and the comparative purity of that supplied to different cities, the action of water on lead, &c., see [Appendix], which has been kindly furnished by Charles A. Lee, M. D., of New-York.
[6] The Aqueduct is calculated to convey 60,000,000 gallons in twenty-four hours.
[7] This includes, besides the actual cost of constructing the work, the accumulation of interest on loans.
[8] The air in ice and snow water contains 34.8 per cent. of oxygen, while that in rain water contains but 32 per cent.
[9] Report from the Select Committee of the House of Lords, appointed to inquire into the supply of water to the Metropolis, p. 91, 1840. Analysis by R. Phillips, Esq.
[10] Analysis, by Dr. J. R. Chilton, of New-York.
[11] The bad effects of hard water on the animal system, are likewise manifested in horses. “Hard water drawn fresh from the well,” says Mr. Youatt, “will assuredly make the coat of a horse unaccustomed to it stare, and it will not unfrequently gripe, and otherwise injure him. Instinct, or experience, has made even the horse himself conscious of this; for he will never drink hard water, if he has access to soft; he will leave the most transparent water of the well, for the river, although the water may be turbid, and even for the muddiest pool. Some trainers have so much fear of hard or strange water, that they carry with them to the different courses the water that the animal has been accustomed to drink and what they know agrees with it.”
[12] Repository of Patent Inventions, for October, 1841.
[13] It is now well ascertained, that carbonate of lime has only a slight action on soap, and cannot in the proportions in which it exists in potable waters decompose it, by giving rise to the formation of a clotty precipitate, as we observe with sulphate and nitrate of lime, and chloride of calcium—and this is probably owing to the excess of carbonic acid which prevents the re-action of the calcareous carbonate on the oleate and stearate of soda of the soap.
[14] Where water contains a large quantity of carbonic acid, there are some facts which appear to prove, that it may act on lead, to an injurious extent, though there may be present a large amount of neutral salts.
[15] Containing 4.05 grains of solid matter to the gallon, or about one 18,000 part.
[16] “It has been computed that the Boston people have drank sufficient lime, were it all collected, to build the Bunker Hill Monument as high as it was ever designed to be carried.”