Water spout

“ The water-spout is then carried by the wind, sometimes gently, sometimes with violence, over the sea, sometimes up into the clouds, and then, bursting asunder, it descends in a deluge. This often happens over the land as well as over the sea; and it sometimes does much damage, but frequently it passes gently away. Now, Jack thought that the little fish might perhaps have been carried up in a water-spout, and so sent down again in a shower of rain. ”

“ From the lashed and rippling sea surface, where it upcones into the base of the spout, some water is carried aloft as spray mingling with the mist of the chilled vapor, but not necessarily in very large proportion, and never rising in solid body to the cloud, as popularly supposed. On the contrary, waterspouts, however massive and formidable looking, are very tenuous, and may occur on land or water indifferently. ”

“ Wo to the vessel that is assailed by one of these meteors! The usual defence at sea, is to fire a cannon shot into the whirling tube, which usually dispels it, and the water falls in a tremendous shower.
Upon land, a water-spout sometimes commits the most fearful ravages: attended both by a furious wind and torrents of water, it often spreads devastation over the country which it visits. In 1839, a considerable district upon the Seine, in France, experienced the most dreadful calamities from a water-spout. ”

“ The water in a waterspout is mostly confined to its lower portion, and may be either salt spray drawn up by the sea surface, or freshwater resulting from condensation due to the lowered pressure in the center of the vortex creating the spout. The air in waterspouts may rotate clockwise or counterclockwise, depending on the manner of formation. They are found most frequently in tropical regions, but are not uncommon in higher latitudes. ”

“ When the spout breaks, a considerable part of the water in the air drops in a torrential deluge. Popular tradition has it that sea water drawn into a spout falls as fresh water—a tradition that is contrary to the facts of the case. ”

“ Where the house is not too large, one five-inch spout will usually take all of the water from the roof. For a small structure a four-inch spout will serve the same purpose. Three and four inches are in common use for carrying water from the main roof where the continuous course of the gutter is interrupted by gables or dormers. The cistern down-spout should be provided with cut-off or preferably a switch spout, which connects by a drain pipe with a dry well or street gutter. Such connections should never be made with the sewer where a down spout is intended to supply a cistern. ”

“ The sketch shows how to place an ordinary sponge in a pump spout, to filter out sand and dirt particles that may come up with the water as it is pumped. A wire is fastened in the sponge so that it can be easily taken out for washing. When washing the sponge give the pump handle a few strokes so that the dirt collected in the spout will be washed out. Do not press the sponge too tightly into the spout, as this will stop the flow of water.—Contributed by Chas. Homewood, Waterloo, Iowa. ”

“ But there are two kinds of water-spouts, the first of which, alluded to above, is no other than a thick compressed cloud, reduced to a small space by contrary winds, which, blowing at the same time from many corners, give it a cylindric form, and causes the water to fall by its own weight. The quantity of water is so great, and the fall so sudden and precipitate, that if unfortunately one of these spouts breaks on a vessel, it shatters it to pieces and sinks it in an instant. ”

“ There is no doubt that waterspouts are to a great extent, if not altogether, due to the presence of electricity in the air. When the clouds have been raging for some time in the skies of tropical regions, rendering the darkness bright, and the air tremulous with their dread artillery, they seem to grow unusually thirsty; the ordinary means of water-supply through the atmosphere do not appear to be sufficient for the demand, or war-tax in the shape of water-spouts, that is levied on nature. ”

“ They resort to extraordinary means to refresh themselves; in tunnel form, when time and opportunity fail to allow them to quench their thirst from the surrounding atmosphere in the usual manner, they descend near the surface of the sea, and appear to lap the water directly up with their black mouths. Water-spouts thus created are often seen in the changing season, especially among small groups of islands, which appear to facilitate their formation, [3] The water-spouts are not always accompanied by strong winds ”

“ In hot and dry weather these nauseating deposits pass into the atmosphere in the form of unhealthy vapors, or, pulverized and drifted by the wind, cause inconvenience and poison our lungs. Indeed, in repairing old pavements, a black layer of ground, saturated with sulphuretted hydrogen, is found below the stone blocks, and bears witness to the infection of the subsoil by the soakage of contaminated water. ”

“ This caused stagnation and great foulness, which disappeared immediately the outlet was placed at the lowest level, and stagnation became impossible. Soapy water mixed with urine soon becomes foul if allowed to stagnate in traps, but it has never in my experience been foul if poured upon the earth and allowed to soak away. With a good fall and with the outlets of pipes freely exposed to the air, traps are not necessary, and as all forms of traps are but miniature cesspools, this is a great gain. A trap is never possible in an outside metal pipe because of the fear of frost. ”

“ Changing the position of the watering devices every few days or setting them on wire-covered platforms will aid in providing sanitary conditions near the watering places where filth is likely to accumulate rapidly. A watertight barrel provided with a drip faucet and a trough also makes a good watering device. Shade should be provided to prevent the drinking water from getting hot. ”

“ It is possible, though direct proof is lacking, that the sponge does good in purifying water used for washing the clothes, utensils, and persons of those who drink the same water, by absorbing decaying animal and vegetable matter from it. ”

“ Of the works mentioned, wells have fairly a primary claim upon the notice of the sanitary engineer, for, without undervaluing other sources of supply, the water from them certainly possesses the advantage over that from rivers and surface drainage, of being without organic admixture and unimpregnated with those deadly spores which find their way into surface waters and are so fatal in seasons of epidemic visitation. ”

“ If the pipe is partially obstructed, a lump of crude potash should be placed where water will drip slowly upon it, and so reach the pipe. As water comes in contact with the potash, it becomes hot, thus aiding in dissolving the grease. Potash, in combination with grease, forms a "soft" or liquid soap, which easily flows away. It is also destructive to all animal and most mineral matters.
Some of the most dangerous gases come from wash-basin pipes, being, perhaps, the result of the decay of the soap and the animal matter washed from the skin. ”

“ The placing such ventilators, as well as sewers, in a sandy soil, is always a hazardous experiment. If the principal streets are unpaved, surface-sand is liable to fill the sewer and choke it. And paving will not prevent silting up where there is an insufficient fall to allow hydrostatic pressure to force out incoming waves and tides. When egress of sewer-contents is thus checked, "cela va sans dire" the air is filled with a most distrusting stench.
Unhealthy as this contaminated air is, sea-side visitors incur a more common danger in the pollution of water by sewage. ”

“ If these be poured on the surface, the 'living earth' (i.e. the humus stuffed with animal and microbial life) purges them of their organic matter, and transmits a relatively pure liquid to the deeper layers. If they be taken to the barren subsoil direct, as in underground sewers and cesspools, they escape the purifying action of air and aërobic organisms, and inevitably poison the water. Filthy liquids accumulating in cesspools and leaking under pressure to our wells have cost us health and money incalculable. ”

“ Some special care is taken in puddling the bottom and sides to prevent leakage, and a layer of soot is usually employed to repel boring grubs or worms which would otherwise make their holes through and let the water soak into the thirsty chalk beneath. In wet weather the pond quickly fills; once full, it is afterwards kept up by the condensation of the thick, damp mists, the dew and cloud-like vapours, that even in the early mornings of the hot summer days so frequently cling about the downs. These more than supply the waste from evaporation, so that the basin may be called a dew-pond. ”

“ If there be the slightest 133danger or risk of drain contamination, whenever it be practicable, let the drain be taken up and be examined, and let the defect be carefully rectified. When it be impracticable to have the drain taken up and examined, then let the pump-water, before drinking it, be always previously boiled. The boiling of the water, as experience teaches, has the power either of destroying or of making innocuous the specific organic fecal life poison, which propagates in drain contamination the diseases above enumerated. ”

“ The moisture will ascend by capillary attraction into the walls of the houses; in the evaporation from the inner surfaces, heat will be absorbed from the surrounding objects and this will cause the houses to become damp and cold.
This drainage may be accomplished by placing unglazed porous tiles with the ends in apposition, but not jointed in the subsoil. The fluctuation of ground water is of little consequence in itself; but we can see that in this way the water in wells may become polluted, impure ground air may be forced into houses, and dampness may thus be produced. ”

“ They retain a mass of filth in a decomposing condition deep in the ground, where it is but slightly affected by the bacteria and air of the soil. In seeping through the ground it may be strained, but there can be no assurance that the foul liquid, with little improvement in its condition, may not pass into the ground water and pollute wells and springs situated long distances away in the direction of underground flow. ”

“ Since the effect of the douche depends on the pressure, it will be readily understood that the hose attached to the faucet of the domestic bath-tub is merely a sprinkler, and not a douche, in the proper sense of the word. Such a procedure can only be tolerated by the most robust. In the upper stories of most city houses the pressure is probably not more than from 3 to 10 pounds; the stream of water from the sprinkler is really only a drizzle; the mechanical effects being so slight, there is no reaction produced; the result is that its use is followed by a feeling of chilliness and depression. ”

“ The great and serious danger in connection with shallow wells is their liability to pollution from cesspools and drains, whose liquid contents (fully as poisonous as the solid) filter through the surrounding soil and go to swell the volume of water in the well, especially if, as nearly always happens, the cesspool is much shallower than the well. ”

“ If a gravel seam or loose porous rock lies between the well and the cess-pool, even when these are a considerable distance apart, there is absolute danger, unless the receptacle for the waste products of the household be made thoroughly water-tight. Without this precaution, the well may be safe for a few months or even a year or more, but sooner or later the foul fecal matter will reach the source of water supply, carrying with it disease and death. No odor or taste may mark the inflow of polluted matter. ”

“ Such springs, having their waters laden with nitrates, represent the continuous removal of organic impurities which otherwise would contaminate the air. The evil of spoiled springs, therefore—while it necessitates for every urban population that their water-supply shall be artificially furnished from a distance, has great countervailing advantages. A given organic soakage will cease to vitiate the atmosphere by evaporation, in proportion as it gravitates to lower levels, and undergoes those chemical changes which accompany filtration through the soil. ”

“ The principal additions of the nineteenth century to hydraulic engineering are the collection of larger statistics of the flow of water in pipes and channels, of rainfall, run-off, and available supply. It is now known that the germs of disease can be retained by ordinary sand filters, and it is now an established fact that pure drinking water and proper drainage are a sure preventive of typhoid and similar fevers. Very foul water can be made potable. ”

“ The proper method for the disposal of house sewage is an important question on the farm. Cess-pools, simply pits dug in the ground, are great disease spreaders. The liquids from them seep through the ground, carry germs from the pool to the well, render “the best drinking-water in the country” unfit for use, and often cause the spread of disease. ”

“ R. E. Grant, who was the first to witness it, having put a small branch of living sponge, with some sea-water, into a watch-glass, saw a "living fountain vomiting forth from a circular . cavity an impetuous torrent of liquid matter, and hurling along, in rapid succession, opaque masses, which it strewed everywhere around." Here is a circulation of water answering the same purpose as that of blood in other animals. The sponge takes in food and oxygen through its minute pores, and voids the waste matter through the oscula, or larger orifices. ”

“ In addition to the moisture received from the air, as above described, water is, in a porous soil, drawn up from the wetter subsoil below, by the same attractive force which acts to wet the whole of a sponge of which only the lower part touches the water;—as a hard, dry, compact sponge will absorb water much less readily than one which is loose and open, so the hard clods, into which undrained clay is dried, drink up water much less freely than they will do after draining shall have made them more friable. ”